Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has moved here.
Michigan is “making progress” in combatting its Covid-19 outbreak, which peaked in November, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on Tuesday.
“The cases are beginning to decrease,” she said at a news briefing. “This dip in cases correlates with the days that the (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’) targeted and temporary safety protocols have been in place.”
With a positivity rate of 12.3%, Covid-19 is still a serious threat in the state, said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive. But cases have been “trending down” for the past 22 days, she said, adding that her office is “cautiously optimistic.”
To date, the coronavirus has infected more than 478,300 people and killed almost 11,500 in Michigan, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have scheduled meetings for this weekend to discuss Moderna’s candidate coronavirus vaccine and the next phases of vaccine distribution.
On Thursday, vaccine advisers at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet to discuss Moderna’s application for emergency use authorization. The application could be granted as soon as Friday.
If the Moderna vaccine receives authorization, on Saturday the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will meet to discuss the candidate vaccine, and whether to recommend that the CDC allows distribution. If that recommendation is accepted, the vaccine could begin delivery starting next Monday.
On Sunday, ACIP has a second meeting, to discuss the next phases of vaccine distribution.
Oregon reported 54 new coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday – the highest daily number of deaths so far, according to the state’s health authority.
The state agency says the death toll is rising following a similar surge of coronavirus cases in November. The previous fatality record was 36, set last week.
Oregon reported 1,214 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.
After a 90-minute meeting, both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy expressed optimism that they were nearing the end of long negotiations for a Covid stimulus bill.
“I think we’ve built a lot of trust. I think we’re moving in the right direction. I think there’s a possibility of getting it done finalizing it out if it’s possible,” he added. When asked if the deal is less than $1 trillion, he replied, “Let us work it all out.”
McConnell echoed his sentiment, saying “significant progress” had been made, but that he wasn’t going to reveal the details of the bill.
“I’m optimistic that we are going to be able to complete an understanding sometime soon,” he said. “Everybody wants to get a final agreement as soon as possible.”
Panama authorized the emergency use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, according to a statement from the country’s Health Ministry.
The vaccine will be rolled out in four phases:
A barcode system will be implemented to keep track of who received a vaccine, and when and where it was administered, according to the Health Ministry.
Panama expects to receive its first lot of vaccines by the first trimester of 2021, the statement added.?Restrictions to curb the spread of the virus remain in place.
Transparency is key to changing skepticism toward the coronavirus vaccine among the American public, actor and activist Sean Penn said on Tuesday.
“I think transparency is a really important thing, and I think it’s a two-way street,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “I do understand people having concerns about this, but what those people also have to have communicated to them is they have to look at their lifestyle and what people they’re going to come in contact with.”
“Are you being diligent with masking and distancing and hand washing? What kind of job do you have that puts you in touch with whom?” he asked. “I have personally very little tolerance with those who don’t exercise that common sense courtesy of public health to others.”
Penn added that he does not have any hesitation about?getting?inoculated, but that skepticism deserves some respectful conversation.
Penn’s non-profit CORE has launched testing sites across the country, and is now looking ahead to supporting vaccine distribution efforts in the future.???
The first vaccine approved for emergency use was administered in the United States for the first time on Monday.?
Watch the interview:
The day after California began its Covid-19 vaccination rollout, the state activated its “mass fatality” program, including the purchase of 5,000 body bags.
In a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the?activation?of the program, which coordinates mutual aid activity between state and local agencies in a crisis, is in direct response to the surge of Covid-19 cases and deaths.
A total of 60 refrigerated storage units, each more than 50 feet long, will be used throughout the state for emergency overflow for coroners and morgues.
Newsom said the program addresses what he called “sobering realities” in the state’s battle against the pandemic.
Rising infections: On Tuesday, California reported its fifth consecutive day of more than 30,000 new infections.
The state’s death toll stands at 21,188. Nationally, the death toll for the pandemic surpassed 300,000 on Monday as health officials warn of no immediate sign of abating.
Los Angeles County reported fewer than 100 intensive care unit beds remaining on Monday, an alarming new low as hospitals in the nation’s most populous county see a record number of patients with coronavirus infections that officials warn could soon overwhelm capacity.?
Data from Los Angeles County Health Services, which operates 26 health centers and four acute care hospitals in the county, reported just 95 beds remaining on Monday, rising slightly on Tuesday to 115.
Health officials reported 4,403 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in the county, about 21% of whom were being treated in intensive care. Hospitalizations in the county have increased four-fold since Nov. 16, rising from 1,049 to more than 4,400 today.
The number of remaining beds available for Los Angeles County’s 10 million residents reached critical lows as the county reported 86 new deaths Tuesday, the highest number since the summer, when the region last saw a surge in new cases and prompted a new round of restrictions.
Overall ICU bed capacity for the Southern California region has also plunged to just 1.7% as the state continued to report more than 30,000 new cases of the coronavirus for a fifth consecutive day.
The L.A. County Department of Health Services “has worked very hard to address the capacity issues by bringing in new staff, canceling procedures and shifting nurses from outpatient areas the hospitals,” a county spokesperson told CNN. “In addition, DHS has transitioned additional space to care for COVID-19 patients.”
Neighboring counties like Riverside and Ventura County are also reporting their current ICU bed capacity at 0% or 1%.
According to Gov. Gavin Newsom, the number of ICU patients has doubled in the state and is putting a strain on the health care system.
The ICU bed capacity in the San Joaquin Valley is also hovering at a dangerously low 1.6%, according to the California Department of Public Health.?
To date, California has reported a total of 1,617,370 confirmed cases of the virus and 21,188 deaths.??
Note: These numbers were released by the California Department of Public Health and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the?Covid Tracking Project.?
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine appears to be “very promising,”?Dr. Paul?Offit, a member of the US Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory group, said Tuesday.
The?FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee?is set to meet Thursday to review Moderna’s vaccine for emergency use authorization.
Offit said it’s heartening to see that the new mRNA technology works in both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, which use different formulations and slightly different dosing schedules.?
He said that in terms of safety and protection, both vaccines appear to be “roughly indistinguishable.”
Even after emergency use authorization, there will be questions left to answer about both vaccines.?
In fact, Moderna filed extra data with the FDA Tuesday that it says indicates its vaccine does prevent infection.?
Offit noted that studies are planned for next year to address that question.
The United States reported?112,816 Covid-19 hospitalizations on?Tuesday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).
This is the fourteenth consecutive day that the US has remained above 100,000 hospitalizations.
According to CTP data, these are the days with the highest hospitalization numbers:
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will award almost $227 million in aid to all 50 states and 64 jurisdictions to help respond to the huge Covid-19 vaccination effort, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The CDC will allocate $140 million for vaccine preparedness and almost $87 million for tracking and testing, HHS said.
“States and other public health jurisdictions are vital partners in the Covid-19 response and especially in the plans for distributing safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.
This latest funding is in addition to $200 million provided in September from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, for critical infrastructure support and Covid-19 distribution, HHS said.
The CDC’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging and Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreement will also “provide critical support” through the Paycheck Protection and Health Care Enhancement Act, HHS said.
HHS said the efforts will focus on three areas: “Increasing the use of advanced molecular detection technologies, such as whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2; strengthening public health laboratory preparedness; and ensuring safe travel through optimized data sharing and communication with international travelers.”
“These are critical investments at a critical time in the Covid-19 pandemic,” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in a statement.
But even including the $200 million allocated in September, this latest round of investment doesn’t even come close to what’s needed,?James Blumenstock, the senior vice president for pandemic response and recovery at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials?(ASTHO), told reporters back in October.
“As it stands now, we do not have any capability to fund the imminent implementation of?the plan,” Blumenstock?said at the time.
ASTHO has asked Congress for $8.4 billion to help with state’s Covid-19 vaccine distribution and administration efforts.
Just over half of all planned doses of coronavirus vaccines have been bought up by high-income countries such as the US, Japan and Australia, which means as much as a quarter of the world’s population will be unable to get vaccinated until 2022, researchers reported Tuesday.
These rich countries have pre-ordered close to 7.5 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, enough to vaccinate 3.76 billion people, Anthony So of the?Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and colleagues found.
“Just over half (51%) of these doses will go to high income countries, which represent 14% of the world’s population,” they wrote in their report, published in the BMJ.
At the time the report was written, the US accounted for one-fifth of all global Covid-19 cases but had reserved 800 million doses of vaccine. Japan, Australia, and accounted for fewer than 1% of cases but had options on 1 billion doses.
The researchers projected that the 13 major vaccine manufacturers working on coronavirus vaccines had the potential capacity for close to 6 billion courses of vaccine by the end of 2021.?
“High income countries have reserved just over half of these vaccine doses from 13 leading vaccine manufacturers. Low and middle income countries have the remainder, despite these countries comprising more than 85% of the world’s population,” they wrote.
There’s one effort that is trying to get around this – COVAX, coordinated by the World Health Organization, global vaccines initiative Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The group is trying to build manufacturing capacity for 2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine.?
“The COVAX Facility could play a key role in ensuring access to Covid-19 vaccines. However, its target of two billion doses by the end of 2021 is still short on premarket vaccine commitments and financing to deliver on this goal,” So’s team noted.
As the first Covid-19 vaccinations are being administered across the country this week, Black Americans remain among the groups that have the least confidence in the vaccine, according to a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The findings come as the nation’s top health leaders urge Black people to trust the vaccine, by hosting live events where Black health professionals are among the first to receive and administer it.
The Kaiser study found that 35% of Black Americans would probably or definitely not get the vaccine if it was determined to be safe by scientists and widely available for free.
Of the Black Americans who are hesitant to get the vaccine, the majority, or 71%, said they were concerned about possible side effects, half were worried they would get Covid-19 from taking the vaccine and 48% said they have a general distrust in vaccines.
Other studies have noted that Black and Latino people cite distrust in the federal government and the nation’s history of racism in medical research as key reasons for their hesitancy.
Sandra Lindsay, a Black critical care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, was one of the first Americans to receive the vaccine on Monday. It was delivered by Dr. Michelle Chester, the corporate director of employee health services at Northwell Health, who is also Black.
Lindsay told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she felt fine after taking the vaccine. Lindsay said the shot felt no different than the influenza vaccine she gets annually.
Nearly 40% of reported Covid-19 cases have been Black and Latino people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Many people of color are concerned the vaccine developers haven’t take into account the needs of their ethnic group, the Kaiser study shows.
It found that 48% of Black adults said they were not confident the needs of Black people were considered and 36% of Latino adults said the same about the needs of Latino people.?
However, people of color overwhelmingly, or 85%, said they would trust vaccine information from their personal doctor or health care provider at least a fair amount, according to the study.
Black doctors have been at the forefront of efforts to build trust around the vaccine with Black people.
Dr. Yves Duroseau, chair of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, was also among the first to receive the vaccine this week. Duroseau told CNN’s Poppy Harlow that he hoped to influence communities that have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19.
“With the rollout of the vaccination there has been, quite frankly, message that we have to be ethical about this, we have to be fair, we have to protect the vulnerable,” Duroseau said.
Ernest Grant, the president of the American Nurses Association, participated in a vaccine trial this fall to combat fears in the Black community with taking the vaccine.
“At some point there’s always that potential that it (Covid-19) could happen to you and if I know there is a cure that could potentially save me from that, I think I would go for the cure,” Grant told CNN last month.
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently acknowledged Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a Black woman and one of the lead scientists who helped develop the vaccine, with hopes that it would convince Black people to trust the process.
“So, the first thing you might want to say to my African American brothers and sisters is that the vaccine that you’re going to be taking was developed by an African American woman,” Fauci said at a National Urban League event earlier this month. “And that is just a fact.”
An Indian Health Service worker in Arizona was the first person to receive the Covid-19 vaccine on the Navajo Nation. Ronald Begay was administered the shot on Monday at the Chinle Comprehensive Health care Facility.?
“Just because this vaccine is here doesn’t mean to stop or put our masks away,” Begay said during a virtual town hall for Navajo residents Tuesday.?“People should ask themselves what their priorities are.”
The Navajo Nation has put some of the most stringent rules in the country in place to deal with the virus, including a 24/7 stay-at-home lockdown for the entire reservation until Dec. 28, with exceptions only for emergencies and essential services.?
The Navy’s top admiral encouraged sailors to get the coronavirus vaccine Tuesday, while adding that he plans to receive it “shortly.”
Because the vaccine has only received emergency use authorization, receiving it is still voluntary for military personnel.
“I will receive the vaccine shortly after it is made available to senior DoD leadership,” Gilday added.
One of the reasons senior leaders were prioritized by the Defense Department in terms of receiving the vaccine was in order to convince military personnel that it was safe and effective.
A 107-year-old Minnesota woman has beaten Covid-19.?
Tillie Dybing was diagnosed with Covid-19 this fall, according to officials at the Ecumen Detroit Lakes community home, where she has lived since 2015.
She told CNN affiliate KARE that when she was diagnosed, she had no symptoms, other than being tired. She recently returned to her apartment at the facility after spending a few weeks away from the general population, Ecumen officials tell CNN.?
Dybing told KARE that her parents got sick during the 1918 flu pandemic just before she was five and she remembers it well. Dybing said she is also a cancer survivor, having beaten uterine cancer at the age of 95, KARE reported.?
Ecumen said they are happy Dybing has recovered and thanked her family for trusting them with her care.?
“We continue to be so grateful to see that smile and hear her infectious laugh each day,” Ecumen Detroit Lakes posted on their its Facebook page. “She is such a blessing to our community!”
Florida is trying to determine what additional shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine will be delivered this month, said Gov. Ron DeSantis, since shipments for the next two weeks are “on hold right now.”
Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, the governor said he didn’t know if Florida would be receiving shipments or not, saying that the root of the delay is “a production issue with Pfizer.” He added that it “has nothing to do with the federal government, or nothing to do specifically with Florida.”
DeSantis said the state sent vaccines to five select hospitals so that mistakes wouldn’t be exacerbated and to “get everything on target the first time.” The governor said hospitals beyond those initial five will start vaccinating their staff this week “without a problem.”
The governor said he expects Covid-19 mortality will “crater” as vaccines start being administered to those most at risk for Covid-19.
DeSantis went on to urge the state to focus on efforts mitigating the risk to more “vulnerable people,” but said imposing mandates is not an option for him.??
Watch here:
Pennsylvania reported 270 additional fatalities from Covid-19 on Tuesday, the state’s highest death count since the pandemic began, according to state health officials.
The Department of Health also reported 9,556 additional infections Tuesday. At least 6,026 Pennsylvanians are currently hospitalized with the disease, with 1,249 of those cases requiring intensive care.
The deaths come as Pennsylvania has begun to administer the first shipments of Covid-19 vaccinations throughout the state,?an effort that Gov. Tom Wolf said would proceed despite expectations of severe winter weather in the region.
More on the vaccine: Wolf said the state is expecting some 97,000 doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine this week, in addition to over 13,000 doses earmarked specifically for Philadelphia. Those doses will be shipped as they become available from the manufacturer, and may be traversing snowy roads this week as the region could see up to two feet of snow.
Wolf urged Pennsylvanians to stay off the roads during the expected winter storm.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the state received 98,475 doses of the?Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine?this week, and more shipments will arrive in the new year.
The state expects to receive?123,000 doses from Pfizer and 201,900 from Moderna next week, the governor said. However, DeWine cautioned during a news conference Tuesday that supplies of the vaccine were limited.
“These vaccinations will take place, one way or another,” DeWine said in response to questions on congressional funding. “There will be nothing to slow these vaccinations down.”
What the numbers look like: Ohio announced 8,755 new Covid-19 cases and 103 deaths on Tuesday. There were 614 new hospitalizations due to the virus, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Hospitalizations have increased steeply since the start of the pandemic, the governor said. Ohio has the nation’s fifth-highest case rate for the past seven days, according to the?Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
DeWine said the state had sent additional guidance to local health departments on Tuesday about whom to prioritize for vaccinations, such as group home residents and staff.
Vice President Mike Pence is likely to receive the coronavirus vaccine by Friday, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN.??
It’s unclear if he will receive it before President Trump.?
Tentative plans are being made for Pence to receive it on camera.?
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made clear again?Tuesday?that Congress will not leave without reaching a deal on a Covid-19 stimulus package.
He reiterated his call to take out the two most controversial provisions – liability provisions, for Republicans, and state and local aid, for Democrats – in order to help passage of Covid relief, when asked ahead of today’s afternoon meeting with congressional leaders whether there will be a deal available with state and local aid.
He said, “It’s pretty obvious the way to get a deal, for weeks, has been as exactly what I said… to drop the two most contentious items for the moment. We all know the new administration’s gonna be asking for yet another package. It’s not like we won’t have another opportunity to debate the merits of liability reform and of state and local government in the very near future.”
On the coronavirus vaccine, the Kentucky Republican spoke about being a polio survivor, how he’s a “huge supporter of being vaccinated” and strongly encouraged Americans to get a vaccine when they are able.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the US needs more resources to deal with the next possible outbreak.
“We do need more resources now, given the lessons learned about how to better prepare for the next outbreak,” he said Tuesday in an interview with Vox’s?Sean Rameswaram.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that he hopes that support for the National Institutes of Health will not only continue but increase.
Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC, received his coronavirus vaccine live on television.?
Phillips said he wanted to “demonstrate to people?how simple and easy this is and?show the importance of it for our?country.”
It only took a few seconds, and Phillips told CNN’s Brianna Keilar that “he didn’t even feel it.”
Phillips said he is “welcome” to any side effects from the vaccine.?
While he has “mixed feelings” about getting a vaccine before others, he said it’s important to keep continuity in health care so they can provide care to others.?
“I’d be a liar to say there?weren’t mixed feelings.?I have a 90-year-old grandmother?who doesn’t have the vaccine yet.?My father is 67 with high blood?pressure. I would prefer that he were getting this today than me,” he said. “But it is?important that we’re able to keep the continuity?of what’s happening in health care?right now.”?
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Covid-19 has been Dr. Anthony Fauci’s worst nightmare as an infectious diseases expert, he said Tuesday, in an interview with Vox’s?Sean Rameswaram.
“And then unfortunately for me, and the world in general, that’s exactly what happened,” he added.?
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that emerging infections are to be expected.
“No one would have anticipated that it was going to be as terrible and horrible as it’s turned out to be,” he said.
Vaccine maker Moderna says its coronavirus shots don’t just prevent symptomatic disease, but can prevent infection in the first place.
The company has submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration with the extra claim – which would give it a leg up on rival Pfizer, which has been able to demonstrate only that its vaccine prevents symptomatic infection, including severe disease. It had not been clear from initial data if either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines prevented infection completely.
The FDA’s own analysis of Moderna’s data confirmed the company’s claim that the vaccine was 94.5% effective at preventing severe disease 14 days after the second dose. The data submitted by Moderna looked only at cases of Covid-19 that exhibited symptoms and found that the vaccine was effective at reducing cases of Covid-19 with severe symptoms.
Now Moderna says it has also shown its vaccine can prevent asymptomatic as well as symptomatic infection.
To determine if the vaccine reduced the rate of overall infection, the researchers took nasal swabs of volunteers before each shot and tested them for Covid-19.?Moderna’s vaccine requires a two shots given four weeks apart.
Moderna found among those participants who tested negative for the virus after the first swab, 14 in the vaccine group and 38 in the placebo group tested positive for Covid-19 when swabbed the second time. None had any symptoms.
The company noted that they did not include this data in the initial emergency use authorization submission to the FDA because it was unavailable at the time. They included it as an addendum.?
The FDA’s vaccine advisory committee will be meeting on Thursday to discuss recommending the use of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine in people 18 years and older.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 40% of all Covid-19 cases exhibit no symptoms.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Tuesday repeated that President Trump would be open to taking the coronavirus vaccine, but would not commit to timing or getting inoculated in public to inspire confidence in its efficacy.
She also confirmed that senior administration officials will be injected with the vaccine in coming days to instill public confidence.
Asked why Trump wouldn’t want to take the vaccine to set an example, that the vaccine is safe, and heed the advice of public health experts, McEnany said, “Because he also wants to show Americans that our priority are the most vulnerable.”
“There will be some senior administration officials taking it publicly to instill that confidence. It is very important … You’ll learn in the next few days who that is,” McEnany added. She later described the officials as “career staff” and “national security staff,” who will be vaccinated for the purposes of continuity of government, as well as a “small group” of senior administration officials.
McEnany also said she would be open to taking the vaccine as well.
The press secretary said Trump is “absolutely” encouraging Americans to get the vaccine. “He wants to see all Americans get this vaccine and he wants to see the most vulnerable among us get it first,” she said.
In an interview Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci repeated that he will likely get vaccinated against Covid-19 within the next few days.
“We just rolled it out yesterday. There were 2.9 million doses that were distributed to about 145 sites, so we’re going to try and do it really as a symbol to get people to appreciate that we’re confident that it’s safe and that it is certainly very efficacious,” he added, citing the efficacy of both Pfizer/BioNTech’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines.
Dr. Valerie Briones-Pryor said getting her first dose of the coronavirus vaccine was “bittersweet,” because as she was walking to receive the vaccine, she heard her 27th patient had died from the virus.?
“I know we still have a hard?fight ahead of us. It’s not?over, but at least for me this?is hope,” she added.
Briones-Pryor said she would not have gotten the vaccine if she didn’t think it was safe and encouraged everyone “to do their part.”?
She said that other than her arm being a little sore, she has no side effects.?
In agreement with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comments, Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, says President-elect Joe Biden should be vaccinated.
This would also show the public that they trust the vaccine and lead by example, he added.
Slaoui also said the administration has a plan to push out public messaging on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine so that the American people trust the vaccine.
President Trump’s role in driving that message is “very important,” he added.
“There’s a whole fringe of the?population that listen to the?President very carefully, and?therefore, he has an important?role. I know he’s?been very supportive of the?vaccine development, so I hope?he will be of course as?supportive of its usage.”
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Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, says he hopes the US Food and Drug Administration will authorize Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use authorization (EUA) this week after it was confirmed to have 94.5% efficacy against the virus.
An advisory committee to the FDA released data in a?briefing?document on Tuesday morning that confirmed the vaccine has a “favorable” safety profile.
The document will be discussed in a meeting this Thursday, during which the?FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will review and provide recommendations on whether the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks for use in adults age 18 and older.
Once approved, Slaoui said the shipment could start 24 hours later. More than 6 million doses of vaccines will be shipped to more than 3,200 sites, he added.
“We’re ramping up to?distribute more vaccines.”
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New York physician Dr. Yves Duroseau, one of the first health care workers to get the Covid-19 vaccine in the US, said he received the vaccine on live television yesterday because he thinks it’s important to be a role model for others.?
Duroseau, the chair of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, said he was sending a message as both a leader and physician who has seen patients suffer from Covid-19, as well as to?“communities who are maybe?reluctant to take the?vaccination.”
Just 20% of Black Americans and 26% of Hispanics said they wanted a coronavirus vaccine right away, according to a survey out today from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Duroseau said a “silver lining” of the pandemic is that the country is having a conversation about health care disparities.?
He said he’s feeling “great” nearly 24 hours after getting the vaccine.?
As someone who lost a family member to the virus, he warned people to not let up on social distancing measures and other guidelines.
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Shawn Hendricks, a Maryland health care worker, always knew she wanted to get vaccinated. Her mother, brother and brother-in-law had already caught the virus, so “it hit home personally,” but work had also shown her the impact of coronavirus.
Hendricks, nursing director of medicine, was the among the first employees at University of Maryland Medical Center to get vaccinated.
“I knew the?impact that the vaccine would?have because we need it.?I always have felt very strongly?that if we don’t widely vaccinate, this pandemic?is going to get worse, the?numbers are going to continue to?increase,” she said Tuesday.
She says she felt good after getting her shot, and she was observed for a period of time to ensure she had no side effects or adverse effects.
The vaccine is being rolled out while there has been hesitancy in the Black and Latino community to take it. Hendricks says she understands their concern, but having dedicated her life to science and medicine and having done her research, she was willing to get vaccinated.
She added:
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Rick Gates,?Walgreens’ senior vice president of pharmacy and healthcare,?told CNN Tuesday that the company is planning on placing freezers that can maintain the temperature needed to store the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.?
“So, we’re planning for it, and it’s all about the storage. Remember, after we store the vaccine – that comes back to preparing and shipping to the long-term care facilities – that’s a pretty standard process, we just have to worry about the storage, which we’re planning for,” he added.
As far as having enough staff to vaccinate the general public, Gates said that starting Monday, Walgreens is hiring 25,000 total team members and about 9,000 pharmacy team members, to ensure they are ready to administer this vaccine.
New York City has already administered 73 first dose vaccines to health care workers, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.
Nearly 41,000 more doses are expected to be available by the end of the day at 42 hospitals.
Frontline healthcare workers and nursing homes remain top priority.
“This is going to really speed up,” he said, calling it “incredibly encouraging.”
GOP Rep. Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Monday asking for there to be a comprehensive vaccine program, especially?for essential workers on the Hill.
Important to note:?CNN asked House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer last week about when members of Congress would get vaccinated. He said there were ongoing discussions at the time but couldn’t provide details.
Separately, a Capitol official tells CNN that Capitol Hill has not been notified regarding how many doses of the vaccine will be available.
The first?Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was administered in?New Hampshire at?Elliot Health System today during an event attended by Gov. Chris Sununu.
Lori Shibinette, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, said the state received “a little over 12,000 vaccinations” and they are hoping to have all of those vaccines “into arms in the next week to two weeks.”?
Vaccinations at long-term care facilities will start on Monday and will take about three weeks for everyone to receive their first dose, Shibinette said.?
Sununu said he will be the first to step up to get his vaccination when it is time, but because he is “fairly young” and doesn’t have any health conditions, he disagrees with getting a dose before those who may need it more.?
Sununu did say if other elected officials are older or have underlying conditions, they should be in the “first mix as well.”?
US stocks opened notably higher Tuesday. Investors continue to express hopes for another federal Covid-19 stimulus package and cheer the arrival of the coronavirus vaccine. That is offsetting lingering concerns that there could be more lockdowns imposed by states and cities if cases continue to spike.
Here’s how the markets opened today:
Six acute care hospitals in New Jersey will have received the first doses of the vaccine by the end of the day Tuesday, according to the state’s health commissioner.
By the end of the week vaccines should be available to an additional 47 acute care hospitals, Judy Persichilli added. The state expects 76,000 doses this week and of those about 20,000 will be released for long term care facilities, she said.
The state plans to have 18 hospitals receive the Moderna vaccine once it’s approved. The full plan covers all 71 of NJ’s hospitals. The anticipation is that the vaccinations reach the general public by April or May, Gov. Phil Murphy said.
Frontline nurse Maritza Beniquez was among the first people in New Jersey to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
The vaccinations were given at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, in the presence of Gov. Phil Murphy among others.
Murphy tweeted Tuesday morning, calling the moment “historic.”
Beniquez is also celebrating her birthday today, Mahen Gunaratna, Murphy’s communications director, tweeted.
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An advisory committee to the US Food and Drug Administration released a?briefing?document on Tuesday morning detailing data on Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate, which will be considered this week for emergency use authorization (EUA) in the United States among adults age 18 and older.
What’s in the document: The document confirms that the vaccine’s efficacy against Covid-19 was 94.5%, occurring at least 14 days after the second dose – an efficacy that had been previously reported by Moderna – and that the vaccine has a “favorable” safety profile.?The proposed dosing regimen is to administer two 100-microgram doses of vaccine one month apart.?
The document also describes the components of the vaccine, which include mRNA – genetic information?about?the novel coronavirus called messenger RNA. The vaccine contains a synthetic mRNA that?codes for a structure called the?“pre-fusion stabilized?spike glycoprotein” of the virus, or the part of the virus that it uses to attach to cells.
Among its other?ingredients, the vaccine also contains fatty materials called?lipids, tromethamine, tromethamine hydrochloride, acetic acid, sodium acetate and sucrose.?
The document goes on to note that the?mRNA-1273?vaccine has “a favorable safety profile, with no specific safety concerns identified that would preclude issuance of an EUA.”?The most common adverse reactions to the?vaccine have been?injection site pain, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain and?chills, according to the document.?Swollen lymph nodes have also been reported.?
There also have been reports of facial paralysis or Bell’s Palsy, but the document notes “currently available information is insufficient to determine a causal relationship with the vaccine.”
Overall, “the frequency of non-fatal serious adverse events was low and without meaningful imbalances between study arms (1% in the mRNA-1273 group and 1% in the placebo group).”?
As of December 3, the document notes that 13 deaths had been reported; six were among people given the vaccine and seven among those given a placebo. “These deaths represent events and rates that occur in the general population of individuals in these age groups,” according to the document, as some were due to pre-existing cardiac disease and other causes.
About this week’s meeting: The document will be discussed in a meeting this Thursday, during which the?FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will review and provide recommendations on whether the benefits of the mRNA-1273 vaccine outweigh its risks for use in adults age 18 and older.
The committee will also discuss what additional studies should be conducted by the vaccine manufacturer following issuance of the EUA, to gather further data on safety and effectiveness.
The Covid-19 vaccine has arrived in the United States, but it has been greeted with some public skepticism. Although the percentage of Americans willing to take the vaccine is rising, health officials are still struggling to combat distrust — especially among the Black community.
Do you have questions about the vaccine? International correspondents and experts will join CNN’s town hall on Friday to discuss the vaccine and why some in the Black community are reluctant to receive it.?
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appearing on ABC this morning, was asked how people can be sure the Covid-19 vaccine is safe when it was developed so quickly.
Fauci said there was “extraordinary investment” in getting the vaccine ready to be distributed as soon as it was proven to be safe and effective.?
“So, people understandably are skeptical about the speed, but we have to keep emphasizing speed means the science was extraordinary that got us here,” he said.?
Dr. Leana Wen breaks down the consequences of taking the coronavirus vaccine before priority groups, like health care and other essential workers.
England has among the highest Covid-19 mortality rates in Europe not only because of the government’s mishandling of the pandemic, but also as a result of its prior deteriorating health situation, especially among minorities, according to a new report.
“Pre-existing inequalities in health, employment, housing, and access to Universal Credit created a ‘perfect storm’ of factors which exacerbated the impact of coronavirus on BAME [Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic] people,” the Institute of Health Equity at University College London report, which was published today, said.
The document argues that the Covid-19 death rate has been higher in deprived neighborhoods that coincide with minority populations because they are more likely to be home to key workers “such as those working in health and social care and public transport.”
As such, those key workers are more likely than white workers to be working outside their homes during lockdowns and “if they logged a safety complaint, they were more likely to be ignored than white British workers,” the report said.
The report further says people from BAME backgrounds more often live in overcrowded households in deprived urban areas with higher rates of air pollution and are also more likely to have pre-existing health conditions.
“Structural racism means that some ethnic groups are more likely to be exposed to adverse social and economic conditions, in addition to the everyday experiences of discrimination – causing a robbery of resilience,” it said.
“The cumulative occupational, living and environmental conditions and low-income risks experienced by many BAME groups are largely responsible for the disproportionately high mortality rates from COVID-19 among these groups,” it adds.
The report argues that existing inequalities prior to the pandemic create a cyclic unequal system, in which the same factors that contributed to a higher death rate among BAME groups will also result in higher rates of post-Covid health complications, as well as deeper social and educational inequalities in the future.
Caroline Nokes, who chairs the UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee, called for more than a dozen structural changes – including improvements to housing conditions, resources to break down digital and language barriers, and changes to sick pay eligibility – in response to the report.
Ethnic groups across the UK also “experienced a worsening of their self-reported mental health” during the pandemic, according to a separate report by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS).
“Financial resilience was lower among Black African or Other Black households before the pandemic, for example, which would explain why these groups found it harder to manage financially during lockdown. Perhaps unsurprisingly, mental health deteriorated across most ethnic groups during lockdown but was most marked in the Indian group,” said Glenn Everett, Deputy Director of ONS’ Sustainability and Inequalities Division.
A separate report published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe journal on Tuesday, also linked poverty in Scotland to higher Covid-19 death rates in the country. The study found that 25% of patients admitted to care units across Scotland between March and June came from deprived areas, a higher proportion than those who came from the least deprived areas (13.6%).
As Covid-19 has spread from big cities to rural communities in the United States, it has stressed not only hospitals, but also what some euphemistically call “last responders.”
The crush has overwhelmed morgues, funeral homes and religious leaders across the US, and has changed the rituals of honoring the dead.
Chad Towner, CEO of St. Joseph Health System, which has two hospitals in northern Indiana, said that there were recently four deaths in an afternoon.
“A priest approached me to say he’d been asked to provide last rites to three patients in one hour,” Towner said, adding that moving bodies from the hospital morgue has been a slower process than usual.
In Montana, the Billings Clinic – which has just two morgue spaces – has dealt with 80 Covid-19 deaths, including seven on the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Chief Nursing Officer Laurie Smith said the hospital is at capacity, despite adding beds by converting office space and building an addition. The hospital, which currently has 335 beds, so far has handled the additional deaths through what she calls a “sad partnership,” with funeral homes, which have been quickly picking up bodies the hospital cannot store.
The hospital does its best to allow relatives to say goodbye, but that often involves family members standing at an interior window outside the patient’s room, using a computer tablet to communicate their last words.
Typical congregational hymns are pretty much gone, as are choirs. “We are using mostly recordings, sometimes a soloist,” said Spitzer.
Funeral home directors who pride themselves on spending time comforting grieving families say they are so busy that some days they have to rush out from one funeral to begin the next one.
Native communities have not only been among the hardest hit with Covid-19 illnesses and deaths, but their grieving rituals have been among the most seriously disrupted.
“Normally a funeral is a two- or three-day process with hundreds of people,” said Josiah Hugs, a Crow tribal member who is the outreach coordinator for Billings Urban Indian Health and Wellness Center.
“Now there is no time to tell stories about the person, not a lot of singing and praying. I’ve been to three recent Covid-19 funerals, and everything was at the burial site, with maybe 30 people sitting in their cars and not getting out.”
The UK government should reverse its decision to relax Covid-19 restrictions over Christmas according to health experts, who warn hospitalizations at New Year could match that of the pandemic’s peak in April unless tighter measures are brought in.?
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) and the Health Service Journal (HSJ) issued a rare joint plea – only the second in more than 100 years – on Tuesday, calling on the government to scrap its “rash decision” to allow household mixing for five days.
Authors Alastair McLellan (HSJ) and Fiona Godlee (BMJ), said it was imperative that the government stops households from socializing?in order to bring down infections and spare the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) from struggling to cope with a third wave.??
“When government devised the current plans to allow household mixing over Christmas it had assumed the Covid-19 demand on the NHS would be decreasing. But it is not, it is rising, and the emergence of a new strain of the virus has introduced further potential jeopardy,” it said.
They advised that rather than lifting restrictions over Christmas as currently planned, the UK should follow the more cautious examples of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
Tiered restrictions should also be reviewed and strengthened as they are currently doing little to suppress the virus, the authors added.
Despite most of the country under Tier 2 “high alert” or the “very high” Tier 3?restrictions, numbers of inpatients have started to rise again.
On Monday, Covid-19 bed occupancy at hospitals in England had climbed to 15,053.
The authors predict that hospitals in England will have just short of 19,000 coronavirus patients on New Year’s Eve, almost exactly the same as the 18,974 peak of the first wave of the pandemic on April 12.
At least 64,500 people in the?UK?have now died after contracting coronavirus.
We’ve long made light of the trauma that kids may face when placed on Santa’s lap, turning their tear-stained faces into Christmas cards and jokes, even click-bait slideshows of upset children.
But the pandemic is giving us a time to rethink the counterintuitive and potentially traumatic practice of allowing strangers to touch our children for the sake of a laugh or the snap of a photo.
We reinforce all throughout our kid’s childhoods to stay away from strangers and then we counterintuitively tell them it’s OK to let this one stranger – Santa – touch you.
After all, 93% of sexual abuse perpetrators are?people who are familiar to the child.?
Oliver Sindall, a clinical psychologist who specializes in children and adolescents says that how traumatized a child might be when forced to sit on Santa’s lap against their will depends on the child’s emotional security, which is largely contingent on whether the parents have secured a safe environment for their child.
A virtual or socially distanced Santa visit can be the “first step in showing us that this new normal can be just as good or fun as the traditional sitting in Santa’s lap,” according to Elizabeth L. Jeglic, a professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Jeglic, who studies child sexual abuse and trauma, underscores the importance of child bodily autonomy and the pitfalls of teaching them that it’s OK for strangers to touch them even when it makes them uncomfortable.
This year “has changed a lot of our behaviors, there is no reason why sitting in Santa’s lap cannot also change – and probably for the better,” she said.
With the new socially distanced Santa, a child can sit a safe distance from the stranger dressed in red and talk about their hopes and dreams and present-filled wish lists without fear of stranger danger.
Consent is magic. Distance is safer.
A man pleaded guilty to defrauding his employer in May by falsely claiming he was infected with Covid-19, according to statement released by the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia on Monday.
Santwon Antonio Davis, 35, of Atlanta, falsely claimed to have contracted the virus and submitted a falsified medical record to his employer, the statement reads.
“In concern for its employees and customers, the corporation closed its facility for cleaning and paid its employees during the shutdown,” it continues.
“The defendant caused unnecessary economic loss to his employer and distress to his coworkers and their families,” said US Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.?“We will take quick action through the Georgia COVID-19 Task Force to put a stop to Coronavirus-related fraud schemes.”
During the Covid-19 fraud investigation, agents uncovered a previous incident in which Davis submitted fraudulent paperwork to obtain bereavement benefits from his employer for the death of his child – a child that didn’t exist. Additionally, while on pretrial release in the original Covid-19 case against him, Davis submitted a mortgage application with numerous fraudulent statements, including a falsified earnings and employment history, the statement reads. The mortgage company discovered the fraud, in part, after seeing the news stories related to his original coronavirus charge.
Davis pleaded guilty to falsely representing he had Covid-19 and also to other fraud offenses that were uncovered during the investigation.
His case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of the Inspector General.?
CNN is attempting to determine whether Davis has legal representation. His sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
Some 71% of Americans say they will “definitely or probably” get a Covid-19 vaccine, according to a survey out Tuesday from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
But Black Americans, people living in rural areas and Republicans are more hesitant about getting the shots.
A third of those surveyed said they want to get a vaccine “as soon as possible,” while 39% said they would “wait and see” how initial vaccination goes before getting a vaccine themselves.?
The non-profit health research group polled 1,676 adults for the survey, which the group is launching as the Covid-19 Vaccine Monitor and plans to update regularly.
About 15% of respondents said they would “definitely not” get a Covid-19 vaccine.
Some 9% of those surveyed, mostly essential workers, reported they would get a vaccine only if it were required by work, school, or other parts of their lives.
The survey also looked at motivations behind vaccine hesitancy, and found that the groups that are the most vaccine hesitant are Republicans, 30-to-39-year-olds, rural Americans, and Black Americans.?
For Republicans, 57% of those surveyed chose “the risks of Covid-19 are being exaggerated” as a major reason they definitely or probably would not get a vaccine.
“Many Americans who are hesitant are simply reserving judgment before they are ready to get vaccinated. However, nearly one in four Republicans don’t want to get vaccinated because they don’t believe COVID poses a serious threat,” said Mollyann Brodie, executive vice-president with the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It will be a real challenge to undo COVID denialism among this slice of President Trump’s political base.”
Congressional leaders are engaged in last-ditch negotiations to?secure a long-awaited Covid-19 relief deal, with expectations growing that Democrats will have to accept a more narrow agreement than they originally pushed for in order to get the package done.
With Capitol Hill leaders racing to?finalize a massive spending bill?to keep the government open past Friday, there were clear signs on Monday that Democrats would be forced to abandon a push for at least $160 billion in aid to cash-strapped states and cities in order to get a bipartisan agreement where some relief provisions could be added to the measure.
Democratic leaders: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer both refused to say that the aid was a red line for them in the talks. During a 22-minute phone call Monday evening, Pelosi told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that the GOP insistence to include lawsuit protections for businesses and other entities “remain an obstacle” to getting an agreement on state and local aid – since Republicans have demanded the two be tied together.
And two senior Democratic sources briefed on the talks told CNN that it appears unlikely that state and local aid will make it into a pandemic relief package.
Republicans will only accept state and local aid if it is paired with?liability protections for businesses and others faced with potential lawsuits during the pandemic – which Democrats have not wanted to support.
If the aid is ultimately dropped from the plan, it would amount to a major concession from Democrats, who had advanced roughly $1 trillion for aid to states and cities as part of a $3 trillion-plus plan?that passed the House in May and that the Senate never considered.
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German Health Minister Jens Spahn has called on the European Medicines Agency to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine before Christmas.
The German government is facing criticism because the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, developed in Germany, has already been granted emergency use authorizations in several countries – but not in the European Union.
“It is difficult to comprehend why the American regulatory authority, the FDA, can manage this in a much shorter time frame than the EMA. If there are further delays, the German government should evaluate whether a national authorization might become necessary,” the Association of German Hospitals wrote in a news release on Sunday.
Germany is currently facing a major surge in infections, hospitalizations and deaths. The country has reported a total of more than 1.35 million cases and 22,600 virus-related deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Moderna has reached an agreement with Singapore’s Ministry of Health to supply its Covid-19 vaccine to the country, according to a news release from the drugmaker on Tuesday.?
The company will supply approximately 500 million to “possibly up to 1 billion doses” of its Covid-19 vaccine starting 2021, the release said.?
It added that Moderna is scaling up global manufacturing to be able to deliver on the agreement.?
No financial details were made available in the release.?
The agreement will “support ongoing efforts to secure access to a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine for the people of Singapore,” the biotechnology company said.
Singapore also approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday, with the first shipment due to arrive in the country by the end of this year.
More than 100 students and staff at a prominent Indian university tested positive for Covid-19 this week.?
Out of 449 people tested at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), 104 tested positive, according to Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan of Tamil Nadu state. A total of 87 were students.?
The Tamil Nadu state government is now testing more than 950 other students and employees who shared student hostels and cafeteria facilities with members of the infected group.
District authorities have traced the outbreak to nine hostels and a guest house on campus, and have scheduled more than 530 tests on Tuesday, Radhakrishnan said.
IIT Madras is a top engineering institute in India, and has been working at a limited capacity due to the pandemic, with only 10% of students in the hostels.?
With the cluster investigation ongoing, all students have been asked to stay in their rooms, according to the university. Packed food is being supplied to students in the hostels. ?
All the people who have tested positive have been admitted to a Covid-19 care center in the city of Chennai.?
Singapore is set to launch a new segregated travel program for business travelers on short-term stays, the country’s Minister for Trade and Industry announced on Tuesday.
Applications for this initiative will open in?mid-January.
“We will ensure that strict health and testing protocols are put in place,” Chan said.
Those participating in the program will have to stay at an appointed facility, undergo regular testing, and follow safety measures, he added.
Chan said the initiative is aimed at boosting Singapore’s?global reputation and supporting the eventual economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more about the scheme:
More than 30% of poll respondents in Japan say next year’s Olympics and Paralympics should be canceled, according to a survey conducted by public broadcaster NHK.
Some 31% of the respondents said they believed the Olympics and Paralympics should be postponed further.
Only 27% say the Games should be held as planned in 2021 in Japan. That’s a steep drop from a 40% support for the Games from a similar poll conducted in October, before the third wave of coronavirus hit Japan.
NHK’s telephone survey was conducted over the weekend. More than 1,200 people participated.
In October, the same poll revealed that 23% wanted the Games to be canceled while 25% said they should be postponed.
For those confused or concerned about how the coronavirus vaccine actually works, here’s one medical expert’s explanation: it’s like Snapchat.
Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna use mRNA (messenger RNA) for their vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine began distribution in the United States on Monday.
Unlike most vaccines, the mRNA vaccines do not contain a live virus, meaning they do not carry a risk of causing disease in the vaccinated person.?The mRNA technology has been studied for about a decade.
Scientist Katali Karikó, senior vice president of BioNTech and a pioneer in mRNA vaccine technology, said she knew the technology would work for the new vaccines. She is receiving her vaccination later this week.
“I expected that it would work because we already had the experiments,”?Karikó told CNN. “I was confident that it would work.”
“Now we are very excited it became a vaccine, part of this vaccine for both companies, and really we will celebrate when this human suffering is over.”
Japan now has the highest number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care since the pandemic began.
A record 588 people are in critical condition from Covid-19 and have been admitted to the ICU, the country’s Ministry of Health announced on Monday.
Japan recorded 1,677 new cases and 58 additional virus-related deaths on Monday.??
That brings the national total to 182,582 infections and 2,656 fatalities.
New measures: In response to the surge in cases and hospitalizations, local governments have strengthened their anti-Covid-19 procedures.?
Tokyo announced late Monday it has requested the 10 p.m. closure of restaurants and bars to be extended through to Jan. 11.?
Osaka prefecture also requested early closures for all restaurants and bars serving alcohol in Osaka city through Dec. 29.?
South Korea recorded 880 new coronavirus cases on Monday, according to the?Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Of the new cases, 32 were imported. The country also recorded 13 additional virus-related deaths.
The new figures raise the country’s total to 44,364 confirmed cases and 600 fatalities.
South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the government was now weighing up whether to introduce the highest level of coronavirus restrictions.
Alert levels in South Korea range from 1 – the least concerning situation – to 3, signifying the toughest measures necessary. Levels rise in increments of 0.5.
Currently, the country is at Level 2 national alert, but the greater Seoul area and the southeastern port city of Busan are at Level 2.5 – the second-highest level.
If the government raises the alert to the highest level, that means a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people, work from home for all non-essential employees, and a shift to online for all schools and church services.?
“Considering the gravity and impact of Level 3 measures, there is a need to calmly check on ourselves first – if we’re abiding by the current measures properly,” Chung said, adding that raising the alert to Level 3 would “come with irreversible pain.”
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said Monday he is worried about vaccine skepticism among minority communities, but is working to help overcome it.
“Nothing has been in my heart more than this issue over the past several weeks to months,” Adams told CNN. “I’ve been working with Pfizer, with Moderna, with AstraZeneca, with Johnson & Johnson to make sure we have appropriate numbers of minorities enrolled in these vaccine trials so that people can understand that they are safe.”
Adams said he’s working with leaders in the minority community, including faith leaders and fraternities and sororities.
Adams said he’s heartened to see the numbers increasing among Americans who say they’ll get the vaccine when it becomes available. That figure is close to 80% today, a sharp rise from just 30% four weeks ago.
History behind mistrust: Adams emphasized that there are now independent review boards and regulations to protect against incidents like the Tuskegee experiment.
Between 1932 and 1972, Black men in the Tuskegee syphilis study were deliberately left untreated so doctors could study the “natural course” of the disease, which can damage the organs as it progresses, including the?brain, other nerves, eyes and heart.
California is expected to receive an additional 393,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine early next week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a short video posted on his Twitter account Monday.
California received its first vaccine shipment of 33,150 doses on Monday, and expects a total of 327,000 doses this week.
The first vaccines were distributed to four locations in the state, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Eureka, and San Francisco, Newsom said.
He added that 24 additional locations will have received vaccines by Tuesday, and five more locations on Wednesday.?
Surging infections:?This comes as California recorded more than 30,000 new Covid-19 cases for the fourth straight day on Monday, continuing an unprecedented surge of infections and hospitalizations that is stretching health care facilities to the brink.
On Monday,?Johns?Hopkins?University?reported?193,454?new cases of coronavirus in the US.
Monday also marked the day that the US gave out the?the first doses?of the?Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Health experts are warning it’s likely the US won’t see any meaningful, widespread impacts from vaccinations until well into 2021.?
CORRECTION: A previous version of this post misreported the number of new Covid-19 cases in the US on Monday. There were 193,454 new cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that the United States surpassing 300,000 Covid-19 deaths on Monday was a “terrible tragedy.”
“I lost my father in April. I wasn’t able to see him for the month and a half before,” Azar said. “I’ve gotten to experience the pain of individuals who can’t be with their relatives, who are in a nursing home, be with their relatives who are dying in intensive care units, what they experience. The pain and the anguish in our health care system in our country is real.”
The first doses of a FDA-authorized Covid-19 vaccine were injected into those at the frontlines of the pandemic on Monday, less than a year after the disease was first detected in the United States.
All 50?states — as well as Washington, DC and Puerto Rico — received their first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, according to statements from the state departments of health, governor’s offices, and local hospitals.???
Operation Warp Speed, a public-private effort, developed the Pfizer vaccine in less than a year, an astonishing feat since?most vaccines take years to develop. Now, the challenge is getting the vaccine to the hospitals and clinics for inoculations.
“As we move into February, we hope to have not only the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, but Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine, AstraZeneca, potentially, that will increase supply even more.”
But it will be several?months before most Americans can get a Covid-19 vaccine.
Operation Warp Speed said roughly 145 sites would receive the vaccine on Monday with another 425 on Tuesday and the remaining 66 deliveries on Wednesday.
Vaccine shipments began on Sunday morning when trucks departed Pfizer’s massive manufacturing facility near Kalamazoo, Michigan.
CNN’s Pete Muntean and Greg Wallace contributed to this report.
