Friday, December 18, 2020

The AM Rundown: FDA Expected to OK Moderna's Vaccine



MODERNA'S COVID-19 VACCINE ENDORSED BY PANEL: A second Covid-19 vaccine, which comes from Moderna, was endorsed by a government advisory panel on Thursday for emergency use in those age 18 and older, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said late in the day that the agency would quickly authorize its use. Vaccinations with the first FDA-approved Covid-19 vaccine, from Pfizer, began at the start of this week, and Moderna's, which uses the same new vaccine technology, showed similar safety and strong effectiveness. 


More than a dozen states said yesterday they'd been told to expert far fewer doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week, leading to confusion and concern, with little explanation given. But AP cited two unnamed senior administration officials as saying states will receive their full number of vaccines, but misunderstandings about supply and changes to the delivery schedule to space it out over the week may be creating confusion, with one saying initial numbers given to states were projections, not allocated amounts. 


Meanwhile, there continued to be sobering news Thursday about the coronavirus surge, with more than 3,400 deaths and 14,000 people hospitalized nationwide, a new record for a 12th day, according to The COVID Tracking Project. The total number of deaths is now over 310,000, according to Johns Hopkins University's data. California is being hit particularly hard right now, with few intensive care beds left in many parts of the state as it reported 52,000 new cases yesterday, equal to what the entire country was reporting in mid-October. 


California Crisis: The nation’s most populous state emerges as the latest epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. Health authorities in the state have reported a one-day record of 379 virus deaths and more than 52,000 new confirmed cases. The staggering new figures mean California has seen more than 1,000 deaths in the past five days and nearly 106,000 cases in just two days. Many of the state's hospitals are now running out of capacity to treat the severest cases. California’s pandemic death toll now stands at 21,860. The state has also seen the most cases in the nation with more than 1.7 million confirmed, John Antczak and Amy Taxin report.

Wisconsin Nuns: Eight nuns living at a retirement home for sisters in suburban Milwaukee have died of the virus in the past week, according to the School Sisters of Notre Dame Central Pacific Province. The congregation says there are other confirmed cases of the coronavirus among roughly 100 sisters living there.

➤WEEKEND SESSIONS LIKELY AS CONGRESS TRIES TO GET TO FINAL DEAL ON COVID RELIEF: Negotiation meetings over the weekend are now likely as congressional lawmakers try to reach agreement on a final deal on a new Covid economic relief package. The central parts of the package appear to be $600 in direct payments to most Americans, a $300-per-week bonus unemployment benefit, $300 billion in aid to businesses, including another round of Payment Protection Program money for small businesses, and funds for vaccine distribution, schools, the Postal Service, renters, and people who need food aid. There are still some snags that are slowing down getting to yes, but they aren't expected to derail the deal. 


➤CYBERSECURITY AGENCY SAYS 'GRAVE RISK' FROM RECENTLY DISCOVERED HACK: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the country's cybersecurity agency, warned yesterday of a, quote, "grave" risk to government and private networks from a recently discovered hack into U.S. and other computer systems that went on for months and is suspected to have been carried out by Russian hackers. The federal authorities expressed growing alarm about the intrusion, which they said compromised federal agencies and "critical infrastructure," and which CISA said will be difficult to undo. AP cited one unnamed U.S. official as saying, "This is looking like it’s the worst hacking case in the history of America. They got into everything." After having previously said that the hackers used network management software from the company SolarWinds to carry out the hacking, CISA said yesterday that other methods may have been used as well. Microsoft, which has helped respond to the intrusion, said yesterday that it had identified more than 40 government agencies, think tanks, non-governmental organizations and IT companies that were hacked, 80 percent of them in the U.S. and nearly half of them tech companies. 


➤MORE THAN 300 KIDNAPPED NIGERIAN SCHOOLBOYS FREED: The more than 300 boys who'd been kidnapped from their school in Nigeria last week by members of an extremist group have been freed, a government official announced Thursday, saying the 344 boys had been turned over to security officials. It wasn't disclosed if a ransom had been paid. The jihadist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility, carrying out the kidnapping because it believes Western education is un-Islamic. Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 girls from a school in 2014, and about 100 of them are still missing.


🏈CHARGERS DEFEAT RAIDERS 30-27 IN OT: The L.A. Chargers defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 30-27 in overtime last night, getting the win on a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Justin Herbert. The Chargers got the touchdown after the Raiders scored a field goal on their first possession in OT to go ahead 27-24. Herbert threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns, setting an NFL rookie record with his seventh 300-yard game, and has 27 passing scores for the year, tying Baker Mayfield for the most by a rookie in NFL history. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr left the game in the first quarter with groin injury and was replaced by Marcus Mariota. 


🏒LUNDQVIST TO MISS SEASON WITH HEART CONDITION: Veteran NHL goalie Henrik Lundqvist announced Thursday that he will miss all of next season with a heart condition, saying, "It's still very hard for me to process all of this. And kind of shocking, to be honest." The 38-year-old said he'd been undergoing test for weeks, and tweeted, "The risk of playing without remedying my condition is too high, so I will spend the coming months figuring out the best course of action." 

Lundqvist signed a one-year deal with the Washington Capitals in October after 15 years with the New York Rangers.

🏀NBA INVESTIGATING CLIPPERS, JERRY WEST OVER KAWHI LEONARD RECRUITMENT: The L.A. Clippers confirmed Thursday that the NBA is investigating allegations against the team and against Clippers consultant Jerry West involving the free-agency recruitment of Kawhi Leonard in 2019. A man named Johnny Wilkes who claims to be close to Leonard and best friends with his uncle filed a lawsuit against West and the Clippers, alleging that West owes him $2.5 million in an oral agreement for helping the Clippers sign Leonard. West and the Clippers deny wrongdoing, and Leonard denies any influence by Wilkes on his decision to sign with the team.

🏀NBA KEEPING COACH'S CHALLENGE: The NBA's board of governors voted yesterday (December 17th) to keep the coach's challenge option permanently, which was introduced last year on a one-year trial basis. The league's competition committee had recommended keeping it. Coaches challenged 700 calls last season, with calls overturned at a rate of 44 percent. Teams must have a time-out remaining to use a challenge, are limited to one per game, and retain the time-out only if they win the challenge.

✅RUSSIA CAN'T USE NAME, FLAG OR ANTHEM AT NEXT TWO OLYMPICS: The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled yesterday that Russia won't be able to use its name, flag or anthem at the next two Olympics or at any world championships for the next two years. However, that's half of the four-year ban proposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency in a case that accused Russia of state-ordered tampering of a testing lab database. Russian athletes and teams will still be allowed to compete at next year’s Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, as well as in world championships if they are not banned for or suspected of doping.
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