Pfizer on Monday announced that its COVID-19 vaccine has proven effective in over 90% of previously uninfected people, and added that it could have 50 million doses available by year-end.
Axios Re:Cap talks to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about vaccine data, distribution, politics, and how he reacted upon receiving the news.
NOTE: This article is provided free of charge by The Washington Post.
The United States surpassed 10 million coronavirus cases Monday, just 10 days after hitting 9 million. For the fifth consecutive day, the country has reported more than 100,000 infections, and public health experts warn that the country is entering the pandemic’s worst phase. At least 237,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus since February.
The milestone came as Pfizer announced its coronavirus vaccine candidate was more than 90 percent effective, which sharply increased prospects that federal regulators will authorize the vaccine on an emergency basis as early as mid-December, and that the first shots will be administered before the end of the year or early next year. Continue reading.
Pfizer announced Monday morning that late-stage clinical trial data show that its vaccine candidate is over 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19.
The announcement was widely greeted as a sorely needed positive development in the fight against the virus, which is raging across the country.
The drugmaker said it conducted an analysis of 94 confirmed cases in trial participants after enrolling 43,538 participants in a larger study. The company added that it hopes to have the amount of safety data required for a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorization by the third week of November. Continue reading.
Dear Neighbors,
I hope this note finds you safe and well. It’s hard to believe it is November already and I want to start by thanking you for your continued trust in me to be your voice in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Happily, though this was an unconventional year, we were still able to cast our votes in a safe and secure manner. In Minnesota, the last of the votes are being counted today, and it looks like our state will continue to have a divided legislature – the only in the nation. In the conversations I’ve had with neighbors throughout the year, you shared that compromise and common-sense solutions are critical as we move forward as a state to work through our challenges, the most prevalent among them being the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the election over, I am able to once again send out these legislative updates on a regular basis. If you’re not subscribed, or know of anyone who would find these helpful, you can sign up to receive them here. Please feel free to forward on to neighbors or friends who may be interested.
A Personal Note
In the midst of an election year and a global pandemic, my husband and I welcomed our fourth child this summer. We’re so grateful to be raising our children in this wonderful community.
Continue reading “Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn Update: November 10, 2020”
The country’s health care system is already buckling under the load of the resurgent outbreak that’s approaching 10 million cases nationwide.
The United States’ surging coronavirus outbreak is on pace to hit nearly 1 million new cases a week by the end of the year — a scenario that could overwhelm health systems across much of the country and further complicatePresident-elect Joe Biden’s attempts to coordinate a response.
Biden, who is naming his own coronavirus task force Monday, has pledged to confront new shortages of protective gear for health workers and oversee distribution of masks, test kits and vaccines while beefing up contact tracing and reengaging with the World Health Organization. He will also push Congress to pass a massive Covid-19 relief package and pressure the governors who’ve refused to implement mask mandates for new public health measures as cases rise.
But all of those actions — a sharp departure from the Trump administration’s patchwork response that put the burden on states— will have to wait until Biden takes office. Congress, still feeling reverberations from the election, may opt to simply run out the clock on its legislative year. Meanwhile, the virus is smashing records for new cases and hospitalizations as cold weather drives gatherings indoors and people make travel plans for the approaching holidays. Continue reading.
President-elect Joe Biden will find himself facing an immediate public health crisis when he takes office in January, putting pressure on his health team now to hit the ground running.
The pandemic is expected to be raging this winter, as cases and hospitalizations are on the rise in the fall months with no sign of slowing as the weather gets colder.
Biden has been receiving briefings for months from health experts, led by Vivek Murthy, surgeon general during the Obama administration, and David Kessler, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner. Other experts who have briefed Biden include Celine Gounder of New York University and Yale’s Marcella Nunez-Smith. Continue reading.
Carson was at the White House for an election night party
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson has tested positive for the coronavirus, a HUD spokesman confirmed.
Carson, who tested positive Monday morning, was at the White House last Tuesday for an election night event, as was White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who also has tested positive for the virus. Carson was around senior administration officials and other Cabinet members during the event.
In a statement, HUD deputy chief of staff Coalter Baker said Carson is in “good spirits” and “feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery.” Continue reading.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has tested positive for the coronavirus, an official familiar with the matter confirmed late Friday.
The chief of staff is the latest high-ranking White House official to test positive for the highly-contagious virus. It was not immediately clear when he first tested positive, but he was at Trump campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday afternoon with dozens of other staffers. He was not wearing a mask.
Meadows was frequently in close proximity to President Trump when the president had his own bout with the virus last month. Several other top aides contracted the virus around the same time as the president, including Stephen Miller, Kayleigh McEnany and Hope Hicks, but Meadows managed to avoid catching it in that time. Continue reading.
Updated capacity figures indicate fewer open ICU beds than previously reported on state dashboard.
More than 1,000 Minnesota hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients for the first time in the pandemic, which has caused 2,591 COVID-19 deaths and 170,307 diagnosed infections in the state.
The totals include 36 more deaths reported by the Minnesota Department of Health on Friday along with a record-shattering one-day total of 5,454 diagnosed infections with the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The state’s updated pandemic response dashboard on Friday showed that 1,038 people with COVID-19 were admitted to Minnesota hospitals, and that 224 needed intensive care due to breathing problems or complications from the infectious disease.
State health officials have urged people to stick with a combination of mask-wearing, avoiding large crowds and social distancing in public to reduce the spread of the virus and keep pressure off hospitals. Dr. John Hick on Friday said a lack of public compliance could force a second statewide lockdown just before the holidays. Continue reading.
Here’s the good news for workers: The unemployment rate fell by a full percentage point to 6.9% last month — in the face of rising coronavirus cases, continued pressure on businesses, and no economic relief in sight from the government.
The bad news: That rapid snapback in employment after initial economic lockdowns eased is over. Job growth has slowed every month since June.
Between the lines: The labor market is still 10 million jobs short of where it was before Covid-19 wrecked the economy. Continue reading.
