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DANIELE VOLPE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Guatemala is grieving 13 of its citizens who were shot and burned near the Mexican border with the United States. Pages A10-11.A Violent End to a Desperate Dream

In the coming days, a patentwill finally be issued on a five-year-old invention, a feat of molec-ular engineering that is at theheart of at least five majorCovid-19 vaccines. And the UnitedStates government will controlthat patent.

The new patent presents an op-portunity — and some argue thelast best chance — to exact lever-age over the drug companies pro-ducing the vaccines and pressurethem to expand access to less af-fluent countries.

The question is whether thegovernment will do anything atall.

The rapid development ofCovid-19 vaccines, achieved atrecord speed and financed bymassive public funding in theUnited States, the European Un-ion and Britain, represents a greattriumph of the pandemic. Govern-ments partnered with drugmak-ers, pouring in billions of dollars toprocure raw materials, financeclinical trials and retrofit fac-tories. Billions more were com-mitted to buy the finished product.

But this Western success hascreated stark inequity. Residentsof wealthy and middle-incomecountries have received about 90percent of the nearly 400 millionvaccines delivered so far. Undercurrent projections, many of therest will have to wait years.

Growing numbers of health offi-cials and advocacy groups world-wide are calling for Western gov-ernments to use aggressive pow-ers — most of them rarely ornever used before — to force com-panies to publish vaccine recipes,share their know-how and rampup manufacturing. Public healthadvocates have pleaded for help,including asking the Biden admin-istration to use its patent to pushfor broader vaccine access.

Governments have resisted. Bypartnering with drug companies,Western leaders bought their wayto the front of the line. But theyalso ignored years of warnings —and explicit calls from the WorldHealth Organization — to includecontract language that wouldhave guaranteed doses for poorcountries or encouraged compa-nies to share their knowledge andthe patents they control.

“It was like a run on toilet paper.Everybody was like, ‘Get out ofmy way. I’m gonna get that lastpackage of Charmin,’” said GreggGonsalves, a Yale epidemiologist.“We just ran for the doses.”

The prospect of billions of peo-ple waiting years to be vaccinatedposes a health threat to even therichest countries. One example:In Britain, where the vaccine roll-out has been strong, health offi-cials are tracking a virus variant

MISSED CHANCESTO SHARE DOSESIN POOR NATIONS

A PATENT CONTROL ISSUE

Wealthy Countries AvoidProdding Drug Firms

to Publish Recipes

By SELAM GEBREKIDANand MATT APUZZO

Continued on Page A6

BROOKFIELD, Wis. — SenatorRon Johnson incited widespreadoutrage when he said recentlythat he would have been moreafraid of the rioters who ram-paged the Capitol on Jan. 6 hadthey been members of Black LivesMatter and antifa.

But his revealing and incendi-ary comment, which quicklyprompted accusations of racism,came as no surprise to those whohave followed Mr. Johnson’s ca-reer in Washington or back homein Wisconsin. He has become theRepublican Party’s foremost am-plifier of conspiracy theories anddisinformation now that DonaldTrump himself is banned from so-cial media and largely avoidingappearances on cable television.

Mr. Johnson is an all-accesspurveyor of misinformation onsuch serious issues as the pan-demic and the legitimacy of Amer-ican democracy, as well as invok-ing the etymology of Greenland asa way to downplay the effects ofclimate change.

In recent months, Mr. Johnsonhas sown doubts about PresidentBiden’s victory, argued that theJan. 6 attack on the Capitol wasnot an armed insurrection, pro-moted discredited Covid-19 treat-ments, said he saw no need to getthe coronavirus vaccine himselfand claimed that the United Statescould have ended the pandemic ayear ago with the development ofa generic drug if the governmenthad wanted that to happen.

Last year, he spent months aschairman of the Senate HomelandSecurity Committee seeking evi-dence that Mr. Biden had tried topressure Ukrainian officials to aidhis son Hunter, which an Intelli-gence Community report releasedon Monday said was misinforma-tion that was spread by Russia tohelp Mr. Trump’s re-election.

Untruths FlowFrom Senator,Shaking Trust

Conspiracies Spread byWisconsin’s Johnson

By TRIP GABRIELand REID J. EPSTEIN

Senator Ron Johnson says the“radical left” is targeting him.

STEFANI REYNOLDS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A15

WASHINGTON — WilliamPietri, a software engineer in SanFrancisco, put careful thoughtinto his Christmas box for his fam-ily in Michigan, jamming it withtastes from around the world andother gifts: Indonesian gingercandy, Mexican saladitos conchile, Korean honey butter al-monds, a puzzle that was almostimpossible to find.

But about three months later,the package has never arrived.According to the U.S. Postal Serv-ice, it is still “in transit, arrivinglate.”

Mr. Pietri, 51, is left to guess atthe cause. The coronavirus pan-demic? The politicization of thePostal Service under former Pres-ident Donald J. Trump? “Well-in-formed delays, I would be happywith, but this great mystery is

deeply frustrating,” he said.Months after an election that

thrust problems at the PostalService into the national glare, thebeleaguered agency has failed torestore its target delivery times.In mid-December — awash inChristmas and New Year’s greet-ings — the agency delivered as lit-tle as 62 percent of first-class mailon time, the lowest level in years,according to Postal Service data.The rate had rebounded to 84 per-cent by the week of March 6, butremained far below the agency’starget of about 96 percent.

“It hasn’t really gotten better asmuch as we would have hoped atthis point,” said Dave Lewis, thepresident of SnailWorks, a com-pany that tracks commercial mail

Postal Service Yet to Recover;Plan May Make Delays a Norm

By HAILEY FUCHS

Continued on Page A14

Leave your partner and chil-dren behind. Quarantine for up toa month. Get inoculated with aCovid-19 vaccine from China, ifyou can find one. And prepareyourself for an anal swab.

For the past year, people tryingto go to China have run into someof the world’s most formidablebarriers to entry. To stop the co-ronavirus, China bans touristsand short-term business travelers

outright, and it sets tough stand-ards for all other foreigners, eventhose who have lived there foryears.

The restrictions have ham-pered the operations of manycompanies, separated familiesand upended the lives of thou-sands of international students.Global companies say their ranks

of foreign workers in the countryhave dwindled sharply.

At a time of strained tensionswith the United States and othercountries, China is keeping itselfsafe from the pandemic. At thesame time, it risks further isolat-ing its economy, the world’s sec-ond largest, at a moment when itsmajor trade partners are emerg-ing from their own self-imposedslumps.

“When it comes to measuresthat draconian, you are going todisenfranchise people who are bigChina fans and are not allowed to

return to the country they havemade their home,” said AlexanderStyle, the British owner of aShanghai-based company thatmakes electric vehicle parts forexport, who has been forced to re-locate with his family to New Jer-sey.

Other countries have their owntravel restrictions, though few areas tight. The United States, for ex-ample, bans foreigners travelingdirectly from China unless theyare green card holders or certainimmediate family members of

In a China Walled Off From Covid, the Barriers to Entry Are SteepBy SUI-LEE WEE

and KEITH BRADSHERBorder Controls Upend

Commerce and Lives

Continued on Page A12

Bobby Stuckey flipped throughreceipts this month, surprised tosee a huge increase in cocktailsales, the highest in the 17-yearhistory of his restaurant, eventhough the bar section has beenclosed. The septuagenarians areback.

“Every night we are seeing an-other couple or a pair of couples inthe dining room, and they feel somuch relief,” said Mr. Stuckey, theowner of Frasca Food and Wine inBoulder, Colo. “Covid was hard oneverybody, but you can’t eventhink of the emotional toll in thisgroup. They haven’t gone out.They want to have the complete

experience. It is just joyful to seethem again.”

Older people, who represent thevast majority of Americans whoare fully vaccinated against thecoronavirus, are emerging thisspring with the daffodils, tiltingtheir faces to the sunlight out-doors. They are filling restau-rants, hugging grandchildren andbooking flights.

Marcia Bosseler is back to play-

ing Ping-Pong — and beating allthe men, she says — at her apart-ment complex in Coral Gables,Fla.

Randy and Rochelle Foresterwent out to eat with another cou-ple for the first time in a year, andMs. Forester celebrated the pleas-ure of being “out of sweats, to puton some pretty earrings and lip-stick and be back in the world a lit-tle bit.” Fully vaccinated, LouisManus Jr., an 82-year-old Navyveteran in Rapid City, S.D., is get-ting ready for his first vintage carclub meeting in a year.

The upside-down world inwhich older Americans are drink-ing more martinis inside restau-

Shots in Arms, Seniors Become Life of the PartyBy JENNIFER STEINHAUER

“I am just enjoying my life,” said Robbie Bell, 75, left, out to dinner with her friend Loretta McNeir.SCOTT McINTYRE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

As Young People Wait,Their Grandparents

Are Having a Ball

Continued on Page A7

Abraham Sanchez knew ex-actly how he wanted to spend hisstimulus check.

Like millions of Americans, hehad begun dabbling in the stockmarket during the pandemic. So,soon after $1,400 from the federalgovernment landed in his bank ac-count last week, Mr. Sanchez, a 28-year-old trumpet player in Sacra-mento, moved all but $200 of itinto his Robinhood online tradingaccount. He then used most of it tobuy 80 shares of AMC Entertain-ment, the struggling movie the-ater chain.

“I was like: ‘You know what?Whatever. I’ll give it a shot,’” hesaid. When the stock rose lastweek after AMC announced it waspreparing to reopen theaters inCalifornia, Mr. Sanchez gained$170 on paper. “It was kind ofnice,” he said. The shares havesince fallen, but he’s still sitting ona paper profit of about $120 anddoesn’t plan to sell.

Mr. Sanchez is by no meanswealthy. While the pandemichalved what he used to make fromhis gig in a brass band, he gets by

‘Stimmies’ PayFor Stock PlaysFueling Market

By MATT PHILLIPS

Continued on Page A5

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 59,005 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2021

Seeking another unlikely Final Fourrun, the Ramblers upset top-seededIllinois to reach the round of 16. PAGE D1

SPORTSMONDAY D1-5

Loyola-Chicago Strikes AgainA rampage that impacted women ofAsian descent could be the first test fornew Georgia legislation. PAGE A17

NATIONAL A13-17

Hate Crimes Law May Debut

Can you function as both an agent ofchange and art-world royalty? JulieMehretu’s reign over the fifth floor ofthe Whitney Museum that begins thisweek shows that it’s possible. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Reckoning With SuccessThe pandemic has brought a surge ofbusiness to model train companies aspeople find passion in creating perfectand virus-free miniature worlds insidetheir homes. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-8

Full Steam AheadA coronavirus upsurge around Mumbaihas led to a campaign for more inocu-lations. That could affect suppliesaround the world. PAGE A4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-7

India Deals With Second Wave

Many Israelis feel numbed by anotherelection, while Palestinians are excitedabout their first since 2006. PAGE A8

INTERNATIONAL A8-12

How Mideast Voters Differ

San Antonio was quiet at the start of thewomen’s tournament as disparitiesextended beyond the courts. PAGE D3

A Tip-Off That’s Off the RadarIt’s a significant appointment for aregion insulated from much of the reck-oning over race and policing. PAGE A13

Wyoming’s First Black SheriffMany cities deal with street crime, andsome with dog packs. Kabul deals withboth, on top of a war. PAGE A9

Afghan Dogs Rule the Night

An online shoe seller with a companyculture of “fun and a little weirdness”tries to figure out how to move forwardafter the shocking death of its formerC.E.O. PAGE B1

Zappos Plans Its FutureKaitlyn Greenidge and her sistersachieved success in their respectivefields. In her historical novel, “Libertie,”she focuses on a Black woman whodoesn’t need to be spectacular. PAGE C1

Perfectly Ordinary Will Do

Michelle Cottle PAGE A21

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A20-21

Today, plenty of sunshine, mild, high58. Tonight, mainly clear, low 44. To-morrow, sunshine early, some after-noon clouds, still mild, high 62.Weather map appears on Page A16.

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