The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Dr. Tom Clark said that as of Saturday, at least 272,001 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been administered in the United States
During a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Clark said that the number was a “minimal estimate,” since there is a lag time in reporting.
Providers are requested to report how many people have been given a vaccine within 72 hours to their local public health office. The public health office then has an additional 24 hours to report that number to the CDC.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has voted to recommend Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use for people ages 18 and older in the United States.
CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield is expected to accept the committee’s recommendation this weekend.
The US Food and Drug Administration granted an EUA for Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine on Friday.
Reports of allergic reactions to Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine are “not abnormal or unexpected,” US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said on Saturday.
Adams advised people with a history of severe allergic reactions to vaccines to consult their health care provider before getting vaccinated against Covid-19.
Health care providers can use as many full doses as they can get from Covid-19 vaccine vials, according to US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn.
On Friday, Hahn said it was possible to squeeze out extra doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from vials if there is solution remaining in them after the standard five doses are given – and those extra doses are safe to use.
Then on Saturday, Hahn posted to Twitter that the same approach could be used for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Every dose of Covid-19 vaccine “makes a difference to overcoming this pandemic,” Hahn tweeted.
“That is why FDA is allowing providers to use as many full doses as can be obtained from multidose vaccine vials – about 6 for Pfizer and about 10 for Moderna,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just received the coronavirus vaccine.
“It’s quick, easy and helpful,” Schumer said as he walked back to his office today from the office of the Capitol Physician.
Other lawmakers: Sen. Lindsey Graham announced in a tweet that he received the coronavirus vaccine as well.
“If enough of us take it, we will get back to normal lives. Help is on the way,” Graham wrote.
An intensive care unit doctor in California said the coronavirus pandemic is the worst he’s seen.
“It’s been horrible … This is by far the worst that it’s been in the last nine months,” said Dr. Thomas Yadegar, ICU director at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in California.
Patients are sicker than he’s previously seen and some are getting intubated while in the emergency room, he said.
Yadegar said he asked a patient this week why he did not come into the hospital sooner, and the patient told him that he didn’t want to take someone else’s bed. ICU bed capacity has plunged to nearly zero in portions of the state.
Watch:
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has told GOP senators on a conference call that negotiators still have not resolved the fight over whether to pare back the emergency lending programs of the Federal Reserve, according to a source on the call.
The source said it’s unclear how close they are to resolving this major sticking point.
Despite that, there is optimism in the Capitol that a deal is within striking distance.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons told reporters that he expects outstanding issues could soon be resolved shortly saying, “look this is all getting resolved well about my pay grade within the coming hour I believe.”
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams on Saturday encouraged the public to get educated about Covid-19 vaccines.
Adams said he got vaccinated publicly to help instill trust in Covid-19 vaccines.
“My arm feels fine. It’s a little bit sore, but no more sore than when I had the flu shot. I didn’t have any side effects at all,” Adams said, noting that it is normal for people to experience a low fever, headache or fatigue after receiving the vaccine.
Adams encouraged the public to seek out information about the vaccines.
“It’s okay to have questions. It’s okay to ask questions,” he said. “What is not okay is to let misinformation or mistrust cause you to make a decision which is going to be bad for your health, or your family’s health, or your community’s health.”
“This vaccine is almost 100% certain to prevent you or your loved one from getting severe disease,” Adams added. “It is the way we end this pandemic.”
A large effort: The US is leveraging every bit of authority and power it has to produce Covid-19 vaccines, Adams said.
“I can tell you, with every degree of certainty from being on the Coronavirus Task Force, that we are doing everything we can to produce these vaccines as quickly as possible,” Adams said during a news conference hosted by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
Adams said the US is on track to have 20 million vaccine doses by the end of December; 50 million by the end of January and 100 million by the end of February.
“That is half of the adult US population,” Adams noted.
He added that he’s more concerned about vaccine confidence than he is about vaccine supply.
“We’ve got to go from vaccines to vaccinations,” Adams said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a Covid-19 vaccination at Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
The vaccination was shown live on Israel television.
Netanyahu is the first Israeli to be vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech shot.
He is also the first sitting prime minister publicly known to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
“It’s a small injection for man, a giant leap for our health,” he said.
Moderna said it has an ongoing study of its Covid-19 vaccine in adolescents ages 12 to 18 that it launched on Dec. 9.
The company discussed the details of the trial at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting on Saturday.
The Moderna vaccine can be used in people who are 18 years and older under the US Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization. Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is authorized for use in people who are 16 years and older.
Moderna said it expects the results from its trial in 12- to 18-year-olds sometime in 2021.
Moderna said it is also in discussions with the National Institutes of Health about designing an additional pediatric clinical trial in younger subjects, ranging from 6 months of age to 12 years old.
Another volunteer in the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine trial has had a serious allergic reaction – but that person was in the placebo group of the study, meaning they did not receive the vaccine, according to a presentation by the company at the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting on Saturday.
Moderna’s Dr. Jacqueline Miller said the company is investigating the incident of the allergic reaction, which happened Friday night.
At the time the company submitted for an emergency use authorization, Miller said there had been two serious allergic reactions among the clinical trial volunteers. One of those cases was also in the placebo group. The other volunteer, who did receive the Covid-19 vaccine, had an allergic reaction 63 days after receiving the second dose of the vaccine. That person reported having a history of allergies to shellfish. It’s unclear what caused the allergic reaction.
More details: Moderna said it has been examining its data to see if any of the other volunteers have had an allergic reaction within 48 hours following vaccination. Four volunteers did report some kind of allergic reaction, but none of those reactions was considered serious.
The US Food and Drug Administration said Saturday that it will alert the public if changes to the authorization of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine are required following reports of allergic reactions in patients who received the vaccine.
The FDA asked the public to remain “vigilant” and to report any suspected reactions.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor today that Congress is “running out of time” to pass a coronavirus relief deal, noting that they now have “until Sunday at midnight to secure a final agreement, draft the legislation and move it through both chambers of Congress.”
“We need to deliver an outcome and deliver it quickly,” Schumer said.
Schumer zeroed in on the dispute over the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending authority, calling it the “number one outstanding issue.”
Schumer added: “What he’s proposing is not about Covid or helping the American people. It’s about tying the hands of the next Treasury Secretary and the next Fed Chairman in a true emergency. I hope our Republican friends can agree to compromise here. Senator Toomey’s legislation is the only significant hurdle to completing an agreement.”
The US Food and Drug Administration will alert the public if any changes to the authorization of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine are required following some reports of allergic reactions occurring after vaccination, FDA’s Dr. Doran Fink said on Saturday.
“Some of these reactions have been confirmed to be serious or anaphylactic reactions, and we are working closely with the manufacturer to identify what the cause of these reactions might be,” Fink said. “We will update the public in a timely manner if we find anything that would cause us to change the conditions of the emergency use authorization or if we need to provide any additional information to inform the public about the benefits and risks of the vaccine.”
Fink added: “However, I want to stress that at this time, the totality of the data continue to support vaccinations under the Pfizer EUA without any new restrictions, and we thank the public for remaining vigilant and reporting suspected reactions to the vaccine using the established mechanisms that have been set up.”
A hospital in a suburb of Chicago has temporarily stopped its Covid-19 vaccination program for frontline personnel after four workers experienced reactions.
Advocate Aurora Health said in a statement obtained by CNN affiliate WLS that as of Friday, four workers at Advocate Condell Medical Center, in Libertyville, Illinois, have experienced tingling and elevated heartrate symptoms shortly after receiving the vaccine.
The health care company noted these four workers represent “fewer than 0.15% of the approximately 3,000 who have so far received vaccinations across Advocate Aurora Health.”
The company said the pause “will allow us time to better understand what may have caused these reactions,” adding vaccination will continue in eight other locations across Illinois and Wisconsin.
Parts of Britain will go back into lockdown during Christmas after a newly identified strain of Covid-19 has proved to spread more quickly than previous strains of the virus.
The British prime minister broke the news Saturday that London and the south east of England where cases are surging, will go into tier 4 restrictions on Sunday, which is akin to a lockdown.
“This is now spreading very fast,” he added. “It is with a very heavy heart that I say we cannot continue with Christmas as planned.”
Johnson outlined that in areas under the toughest restrictions, there will be no possibility for household mixing over Christmas. In areas under tier 3, mixing will now be restricted to Christmas Day. Earlier this week Johnson had ruled that up to three households could mix over the Christmas week.
The entire nation is being asked not to travel and those under the highest level of restrictions will not be allowed to travel abroad except for work purposes.
The United States remains “on track” to allocate 20 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to states nationwide by the end of the year, Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, said during a news briefing on Saturday.
The nation currently has two Covid-19 vaccines – Pfizer/BioNTech’s and Moderna’s – authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration.
“While this second vaccine from Moderna, added on to Pfizer, now allows us as a whole of America to be on the offense, we are a long way from being finished,” Perna said. “Each shipment of vaccine is another few yards gained, but any good player or coach knows that you still need defense, along with offense, to win the game. I join our health professionals in urging Americans to stay diligent in their defense. Wear a mask, wash your hands and stay socially distanced.”
Distribution of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine now has commenced in the United States, Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, said during a briefing on Saturday.
The US Food and Drug Administration authorized the vaccine on Friday.
“Boxes are being packed and loaded today. Trucks will begin rolling out tomorrow, from FedEx and UPS, delivering vaccines and kits to the American people across the United States,” Perna said. “This week, in total, between Pfizer and Moderna, we have allocated 7.9 million doses of vaccine.”
Cavanaugh Bell, 8, used his $600 in savings to start a food pantry in an effort to help neighbors in need during the coronavirus pandemic.
Bell shared some words of encouragement today during CNN and Sesame Street’s coronavirus town hall for other children who may be looking for ways to give back in their communities.
Watch Cavanaugh Bell’s message for children who want to help:
Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, the CEO of Feeding America, shared words of encouragement today during CNN and Sesame Street’s coronavirus town hall for families struggling in the US under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic.
Babineaux-Fontenot added: “It might be different. And it’s okay that we’re going to sometimes feel scared and sometimes upset but think we are going to get through it together because I get to see so many people around the country and around the world who are out there trying to help their neighbors. We are going to get through this because we’re going to do it together.”
Watch Feeding America CEO’s message:
Even if an older family member has received a Covid-19 vaccine, it’s still important for adults and children to wear a mask when around them, Dr. Anthony Fauci said today during CNN and Sesame Street’s coronavirus town hall.
Why Dr. Fauci says you should still wear a mask around vaccinated family members:
Protecting children is very “important” which is why the Covid-19 vaccine has not been administered to them yet, Dr. Anthony Fauci said today during CNN and Sesame Street’s coronavirus town hall today.
Fauci added: “We’re looking at January we’re going to start some trials in children. We’ll start with children who are a bit older and work our way down so that hopefully within a few months, we’ll be able to tell children, what I know we’ll be able to say, the vaccine is safe and effective in you and we’re anxious to get you vaccinated. Hang in there, a couple of more months, and then we’ll be in good shape.”
Watch Dr. Fauci answer children’s Covid-19 questions:
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert in the US, called on Americans to protect themselves from the Covid-19 pandemic this holiday season.
Fauci added: “Although we are in a serious time right now we need to take care of ourselves, we can still have fun and enjoy the holiday season.”
Watch Dr. Fauci’s message about the holidays:
England’s chief medical officer has warned that a newly identified variant of Covid-19 is more contagious than previous strains of the virus, prompting speculation the prime minister will have to order further restrictions before Christmas.
Professor Chris Whitty says “urgent work” is underway to rule out if the new strain, prevalent in the southeast of England, can cause a higher mortality rate.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold a news conference Saturday after meeting with his cabinet on the faster spreading strain. With cases surging, Johnson could announce further restrictions.
The government’s scientific advisory group for Covid-19 has also warned the new strain is a “real cause for concern,” and called for urgent action. On Twitter, Sir Jeremy Farrar said, “Research is ongoing to understand more, but acting urgently now is critical. There is no part of the UK & globally that should not be concerned. As in many countries, the situation is fragile.”
Whitty also urged people to take more precautions.
“Given this latest development it is now more vital than ever that the public continue to take action in their area to reduce transmission,” he said.
In Wales: The Welsh government has brought its planned lockdown forward to Sunday and will curtail Christmas, after a newly discovered strain of Covid-19 in south east England has been determined to be present “throughout Wales.”
Following an emergency cabinet meeting Saturday, the first minister said: “We now know that this new strain is significantly more infectious and spreads more quickly than the original one.”
CNN and Sesame Street team up today their fifth Town Hall as kids and families persevere through the Covid-19 pandemic and prepare for a very different holiday season.
The hour-long special, “The ABCs of Covid-19,” will be hosted by CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Erica Hill along with Sesame Street’s Big Bird and friends today 10 a.m. ET on CNN, CNN International, and CNN en Español.
Familiar faces from Sesame Street and experts from CNN and across the country will be ready to answer children’s questions about staying healthy through the winter months, celebrating the holidays while distanced from extended family and friends, and coping with big feelings as they continue to face unprecedented challenges in their young lives.
How to watch: The special will stream live without requiring a log-in on CNN.com’s homepage and across mobile devices via CNN’s apps for iOS and Android. It can also be viewed on CNNgo (at CNN.com/go on your desktop, smartphone, and iPad and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, and Android TV) and will be available on-demand to subscribers via cable/satellite systems, CNNgo platforms, and CNN mobile apps.
Delhi was experiencing its third wave of coronavirus in November, but is now past it, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said at a news briefing on Saturday.
On Nov. 12, Delhi recorded a single-day rise of 8,593 new cases, including 85 deaths, which was the highest single-day rise in cases recorded by any state in the country, according to the Indian Ministry of Health.
“Delhi has fought the toughest fight against corona in the country, in the last few days Delhi was experiencing its third wave… I am very happy to announce… that the third wave of coronavirus has ended,” Kejriwal said.
Grim milestone: On Saturday, India crossed 10 million total cases of coronavirus with over 9.5 million discharged patients, according to the Ministry of Health.
“India’s Covid-19 pandemic growth has dropped to 2% and case fatality rate is amongst lowest in the world at 1.45%,” Dr. Harsh Vardhan, India’s health minister said at the 22nd meeting of group of ministers on Covid-19 held Saturday, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health.
Vaccine on the horizon: India is preparing a number of task forces to oversee and implement the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine after regulators issued an emergency-use authorisation, with some states hoping to start mass vaccinations as early as January.
“In mid-January, we are hoping that the vaccine program will be rolled out and within a few days, we will be ready to cover about 8 million beneficiaries with the first dose in a minimum of 8-10 days,” G. Srinivasa Rao, the director of public health for the state of Telangana, told an Indian TV news outlet earlier this week.
French President Emmanuel Macron is in stable condition while still presenting with symptoms of Covid-19, officials said Saturday.
Macron tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, and his planned trip to Lebanon next week has been canceled.
The President still suffers from fatigue, cough and body aches but is working normally and fulfilling his duties, a statement from the palace said. Doctors are carrying out clinical examinations regularly and say the results are “reassuring.”
The 42-year-old French leader will self-isolate for a week, and has traveled from Paris to the presidential residence La Lanterne in Versailles for his seven-day quarantine, his office said earlier this week.
Officials and leaders isolate: Macron’s diagnosis sent ripples through the French and European political sphere, with multiple figures now forced to quarantine, including Prime Minister Jean Castex and President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand.
The French President had meetings with a number of other top European leaders in recent days, several of whom announced they would quarantine in the wake of Macron’s diagnosis.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, European Council President Charles Michel and OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said they would go into quarantine as a precautionary measure.
Republican Minnesota State Senator Jerry Relph has died, a statement from his family said Friday night.
Relph, 76, had been diagnosed with Covid-19 after discovering he was exposed at the State Capitol and had been admitted to an emergency room for his symptoms, CNN affiliate WCCO reported.
He died Friday, according to the family statement.
“I’m heartbroken to share that my husband, Jerry Relph, has passed away and entered his heavenly home,” his wife Pegi Broker-Relph said in the statement.
“Jerry was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. He was a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, an attorney, small businessman, and dedicated public servant in the Minnesota Senate.”
The family statement did not elaborate on the cause of Relph’s death and no health details were released to the person who sent the statement.
Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated the date of the Minnesota state senator’s death. He died on Dec. 18.
Switzerland has authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in the country, the Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic said Saturday.
“The data available to date showed a comparable high level of efficacy in all investigated age groups, thus meeting the safety requirements,” Swissmedic said in a statement on its website.
“The safety of patients is an essential prerequisite, especially where the authorization of vaccines is concerned,” said Swissmedic Director Raimund Bruhin in the release. “Thanks to the rolling procedure and our flexibly organized teams, we nevertheless managed to reach a decision quickly – while also fully satisfying the three most important requirements of safety, efficacy and quality,” he added.
The European Medicines Agency, the drugs regulator for the European Union, to which Switzerland does not belong, is still evaluating the vaccine and has called for an exceptional meeting on December 21 to potentially grant its authorization.
New restrictions introduced as situation deteriorates: Switzerland on Friday announced new coronavirus measures that include closing restaurants as well as cultural, sports and recreation centers from December 22 until January 22 to contain the spread of the virus.
Switzerland and neighboring principality Liechtenstein on Friday recorded 4,478 new coronavirus infections within 24 hours, according to the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health. The total tally of Covid-19 infections in Switzerland stands at 403,989, and 6,561 people have died, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
She said the Swiss healthcare system is under strain and “that is why we need additional curbs.”
An otherwise stoic emergency room physician found himself overcome with emotion as he got the Covid-19 vaccine this week.
After months of treating patients ravaged by Covid-19, as well as those who had experienced car accidents and heart attacks, Dr. Andrew Matuskowitz was drained and worn out. The doctor works at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine and the Moderna vaccine, which is expected to be approved this weekend, are showing the country the light at the end of the tunnel. Healthcare workers on the front lines are among the first to get the vaccine, with some already vaccinated and anticipating their second dose in a few weeks.
Gratitude. That’s the word emergency room physician Matuskowitz used to describe how he felt after getting the vaccine on Thursday.
He was surprised when he actually felt the larger significance of the syringe filled with the sought-after vaccine going into his arm.
“I had gone into the day like every other day just kind of being in a rush and getting the kids off to daycare and just worn down with everything,” Matuskowitz said. “I found myself getting really emotional as I was walking to get the vaccine, during the vaccine … and afterward as I was driving home.”
The past six months since South Carolina had its summer wave of Covid-19 meant that Matuskowitz and his colleagues had to keep on going, treating patients with a “business as usual” attitude, he said.
This week it felt the same, but he said he noticed a “flurry of excitement” from his colleagues that the vaccine was coming.
Joy, hope and excitement are some of the emotions these healthcare workers say they are feeling.
Stanford Health Care in California has taken responsibility for “errors” in their vaccine distribution plan that excluded most of their frontline healthcare workers, CNN affiliate KGO reported.
Only seven out of more than 1,300 medical residents and fellows were slated to receive the vaccine, and priority was given to faculty and attending physicians who work from home under Stanford Health’s distribution plan, KGO reported.
This comes as Stanford receives at least 3,900 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, according to KGO.
Residents include doctors in training, who often work more than 80 hours a week and are usually the first in line to treat patients with Covid-19. But to their surprise, the hospital didn’t include many of them in the first round of vaccinations this week.
More than 100 Stanford Health Care resident physicians and fellows held a demonstration outside the hospital, expressing concern about their place in the pecking order.
State faces surge of infections: Since the Thanksgiving holiday, California has faced a surge of Covid-19 infections unparalleled across the United States, leading to continued daily record highs in hospitalizations and deaths.
ICU bed capacity has plunged to nearly zero in vast portions of the state as patients rush into hospitals, which are struggling to manage strains on resources and personnel.
President and CEO of Stanford Health David Entwistle addressed workers at the protest and took responsibility: “We got it wrong. Let’s get you vaccinated,” he told the crowd, “We’ll correct it.”
In a statement, Stanford Health Care apologized for the errors and said they are revising their distribution plan.
“Our intent was to develop an ethical and equitable process for distribution of the vaccine. We apologize to our entire community, including our residents, fellows, and other frontline care providers, who have performed heroically during our pandemic response. We are immediately revising our plan to better sequence the distribution of the vaccine.”
While the nation continues to see record levels of new Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, wealthy patients in Southern California – the epicenter of the state’s Covid-19 crisis – are offering to pay top dollar to cut the line and be among the first to receive a vaccine.
High-end clients are willing to pay for early access: At a number of concierge medical practices in Southern California, doctors say they’ve received calls from their well-off clients asking if they can have early access to the extremely limited supply of vaccine doses in exchange for a financial contribution to a hospital or charity.
Dr. Jeff Toll, whose boutique internal medicine practice has admitting privileges at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said one patient offered to donate $25,000 to the hospital in exchange for an early shot of the vaccine. Toll’s practice services a well-heeled clientele that includes chief executives and entertainment figures, but the doctor said he is telling his patients they too must wait as the first round of vaccines are distributed to those most in need of protection.
First shots administered in the state: Earlier this week, California received 327,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, administering the first shots to front line health care workers battling the virus that has caused more than 22,000 deaths statewide since the start of the pandemic.
“I think one of the difficult things is for physicians who take care of these high-power people to be able to say, no you have to wait,” Toll said.
Toll said his practice has applied with the state of California to become a vaccine distribution center for his clients and has already purchased special ultra-cold freezers in anticipation of storing vials of the Pfizer vaccine.
“They wanted it yesterday”: Dr. David Nazarian, of My Concierge MD in Beverly Hills, said a number of his A-list clients are contacting him, saying that money is no object if it helps them get the vaccine early.
“They wanted it yesterday,” said Nazarian. “We will play by the rules but are doing everything we can to secure and distribute the vaccine when it’s available to us.”
Virus continues to rage through California: Southern California has in recent weeks seen an unprecedented surge of new Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, with hospital intensive care bed capacity plunging to 0% and health officials issuing dire warnings if the virus continues to spread out of control.
The founder of Concierge MD LA, Dr. Abe Malkin, said he’s received over 100 phone calls from people trying to get early access to the initial doses.
“I’d say that 5 to 10% of those were willing to try to make some contribution to a charity to get themselves bumped up in line,” according to Malkin.
Officials push back on queue jumping: When it comes cutting in line, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has warned the state will be “very aggressive in making sure that those with means, those with influence, are not crowding out those that are most deserving of the vaccines.”
“To those that think they can get ahead of the line, and those that think because they have resources, or they have relationships that will allow them to do it. We will be monitoring that very, very, closely,” Newsom said this month.
Read the full story:
A second Covid-19 vaccine will soon be shipped out across the United States – a “remarkable scientific achievement,” according to one expert, that brings the country one step close to the end of a brutal pandemic.
Now that the Food and Drug Administration has authorized Moderna’s vaccine, advisers to the CDC must now vote to recommend it, and the CDC must accept that recommendation before vaccinations can begin. The advisory group is scheduled to meet Saturday morning.
Despite the promising news, it’s not quite the end: In many parts of the US, Covid-19 is still raging across communities.
Read the full story:
Essential workers will be the first to be immunized against Covid-19 when a vaccine roll out begins in China, a spokesman for the State Council Information Office said in a news conference Saturday.
According to the spokesman, those key populations include:
The second step will be to roll out immunization to the larger population when vaccine output increases, officials added.
Vaccine trials: China currently has five coronavirus vaccine candidates from four companies that have reached phase 3 clinical trials, the last and most important step of testing before regulatory approval is sought.
Having largely eliminated the coronavirus inside its borders, Chinese drugmakers had to look abroad for places to test their vaccines’ efficacy. Together, they have rolled out phase 3 trials in at least 16 countries.
The United States reported 249,709 new coronavirus cases and 2,814 virus-related deaths on Friday, the most recorded in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The nationwide totals now stand at 17,459,296 cases and 313,588 fatalities, according to JHU.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, and repatriated cases.
These are the days with the highest number of cases reported:
CNN is tracking US cases:
It’s “essential” that minority communities get vaccinated against Covid-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday on CNN’s town hall.
Fauci added that minorities are also at greater risk of severe infection and death than their White counterparts.
CNN anchor Don Lemon and chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta hosted “The Color of Covid – The Vaccines,” on Friday night – an hour-long special that covered the skepticism of the coronavirus vaccines in communities of color.
The special featured interviews with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Surgeon General Jerome Adams, both of whom answered a broad range of audience questions.
See the town hall in full here:
With a Covid-19 caseload that’s surpassed 10 million people, India is the world’s second worst-hit country by the coronavirus pandemic, trailing only the United States.
But it is aiming to lift itself out of the crisis in the coming months with a massive vaccination drive – covering in its first phase almost as many people as the entire US population.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has identified 300 million people to receive the first doses of the vaccines. The priority group is made up of 30 million health care workers, policemen, soldiers and volunteers, and 270 million vulnerable people – mostly citizens above the age of 50 and 10 million others with serious comorbidities.
The producers of three leading coronavirus vaccine candidates have applied for emergency use authorization, and all of them require two doses to provide sufficient immunity. That adds up to a total of 600 million shots, and Modi’s government wants to complete the whole process by August.
That’s an incredibly ambitious undertaking, especially for a developing country with poor rural infrastructure and an inadequate public health system that is already buckling under tremendous pressure from the coronavirus.
Read the full story:
India surpassed 10 million confirmed coronavirus cases Saturday after adding 25,152 new infections from the past 24 hours, according to the country’s Health Ministry.
India is the second country to hit 10 million cases, after the United States, which has reported more than 17.4 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University.
India’s total number of cases stands at 10,004,599 and the death toll at 145,136 after adding 347 new virus-related fatalities from Friday, the Health Ministry said.
CNN is tracking worldwide cases:
New South Wales announced a lockdown for the Northern Beaches region beginning at 5 p.m. (1 a.m. ET) Saturday until next Thursday, according to a news release from NSW Health.
This comes as the number of coronavirus cases related to a mystery cluster in the area rose to 38 on Saturday. Of the cluster, 15 cases are linked to the Avalon RSL Beach Club, 23 cases are linked to the Avalon Bowling Club, and several patients attended both venues, NSW added.
The first cases of the cluster were reported Wednesday, the first locally-transmitted cases in NSW since December 3. Officials are still investigating the source of the cluster.
NSW Health also issued an urgent call for people who attended Anytime Fitness over December 6, 7, 8, 11, and 12 to get tested immediately after officials found a Covid-19-positive person visited the gym during those days.
The state reported 30 new Covid-19 cases from Friday, 23 of which were locally-transmitted and the other seven imported. NSW has reported 4,523 total coronavirus cases since start of the pandemic.
The United States reported 114,751 current Covid-19 hospitalizations on Friday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).
This is the 17th consecutive day that the US has remained above 100,000 current hospitalizations.
The highest hospitalization numbers, according to CTP data, are:
The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday night authorized a second coronavirus vaccine for emergency use as Covid-19 hospitalizations, cases and deaths are piling up in unprecedented ways.
The FDA had signaled it would issue the authorization quickly for Moderna’s vaccine candidate, after the agency’s vaccine advisers voted Thursday to recommend approval.
“The emergency use authorization allows the vaccine to be distributed in the U.S. for use in individuals 18 years and older,” the FDA said in a tweet.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still needs to green-light the vaccine before shots can be administered – and a CDC advisory panel is meeting this weekend to discuss it.
If all hurdles are cleared, Moderna’s vaccine could be given in the US next week – joining Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine, which rolled out this week, with first doses primarily being given to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
In the US, average daily cases, total hospitalizations and average daily deaths are still rising to levels not previously seen, as hospital staff around the country warn they’re running out of space and energy to provide sufficient care
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The extra doses in Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vials are safe and should be used, US Food and Drug Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said Friday.
It’s possible to squeeze out extra doses of Pfizer’s vaccine from the vials, if there is solution remaining in them after the standard five doses are given, the FDA said earlier this week.
Hahn said that it’s not uncommon for extra solution to be in vaccine vials.
“It’s a very common thing,” he said. “There’s always some overage that occurs, just to make sure that there’s enough for the doses that are said to be within the vial.”
It’s important to plan for anyone who receives one vaccine dose to get a second, Hahn said.
“If you want the 95% protection, the clinical trial shows that the two-dose regimen, 21 days apart, is what you need,” he said. “But given that this overage is in the vials, we believe that that can be factored into subsequent calculations.”
During a virtual event with the Duke Science and Society on Friday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that thanks to science “we will crush” the Covid-19 outbreak.
He continued:
“Just over the past few days, science has allowed us to have a vaccine that when we distribute it to people throughout the country, and hopefully throughout the world, we will crush this outbreak that has really terrorized us for the last 11 months, not only here in the United States, but worldwide, it’s damaged severely, the economy and lead to people suffering things, not necessarily directly related to being ill themselves, but all the secondary consequences that go with the effects of a global pandemic such as this.”
