Pence gets COVID-19 vaccine on live TV to ‘build confidence’ among Americans

5 things you need to know now

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Vice President Mike Pence was inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on live television Friday morning, which the White House said was to “promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and build confidence among the American people.” Pence’s wife, Karen, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams were also vaccinated at the White House event. Pence described the development of a COVID-19 vaccine in less than a year as a “medical miracle” but assured Americans that “while we cut red tape, we cut no corners.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, also described the vaccinations as an “important” symbol to “tell the rest of the country, the time is now to step to the plate and, when your time comes, to get vaccinated.”

Source: BBC News, The Associated Press News item

An advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration determined on Thursday it would recommend the agency authorize Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, saying the benefits outweighed the risks associated with the highly-effective vaccine candidate. The recommendation is a major step in getting a second vaccine approved for emergency use, following the FDA’s authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine last week. The FDA reportedly plans to authorize Moderna’s vaccine on Friday, which would allow 5.9 million doses to begin shipment to 3,285 locations around the United States. Moderna’s vaccine makes for simpler distribution than Pfizer’s because it does not require ultra-cold storage conditions. The smaller batches can be stored in regular freezers, making it more accessible to hospitals in less-populated areas. Wednesday marked yet another record in the country’s daily COVID-19 case count and death toll. The federal government has purchased 200 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine.

Source: The Washington Post, The New York Times News item

California hospitals have nearly run out of intensive-care beds, with capacity at just 1 percent in many counties on Thursday as the state reported a record 379 coronavirus deaths. “I’ve seen more deaths in the last nine months in my ICU than I have in my entire 20-year career,” said Amy Arlund, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center. California had 52,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day, about what the whole United States averaged in mid-October. The state had more than 16,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19, more than three times the number it had a month ago. Nationwide, hospitalizations are at an all-time high of more than 113,000. The total U.S. death toll has surpassed 310,000.

Source: The Associated Press News item

Months after the last COVID-19 stimulus bill expired, lawmakers are about ready to pass a renewal that has support from both parties. They also are finalizing the annual government funding bill, which COVID-19 relief is lumped in with, and expect to pass finalized versions this weekend. While boosted unemployment payments and other provisions expired with the previous CARES Act, additional unemployment programs were set to run out at the end of the year. Also expiring Friday is a one-week continuing resolution funding the government. Senators may unveil an approximately $900 billion relief package as soon as Thursday, though discussions over its final passage may drag into the weekend. The bill is expected to include $600 stimulus checks, boosted unemployment benefits of $300 per week, and $325 billion in aid for small businesses. It does not include a corporate liability shield.

Source: The Washington Post, Axios News item

Security forces in Nigeria rescued more than 300 schoolboys on Thursday, nearly a week after they were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School by suspected gunmen from the Islamist group Boko Haram. The governor of northern Nigeria’s Katsina state, Aminu Bello Masari, said that 344 of the boys who had been held in Rugu Forest had been rescued. “We have recovered most of the boys. It’s not all of them,” he said. The security forces reportedly surrounded the area where the militants were holding the boys and secured their release without firing a shot, Masari said. The mass abduction came six years after Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls in the northeastern town of Chibok.

Source: Reuters

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