FDA authorizes Moderna Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use – live

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A nurse prepares a shot as a study of a possible Covid-19 vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc, gets underway in July 2020.




A nurse prepares a shot as a study of a possible Covid-19 vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc, gets underway in July 2020.
Photograph: Hans Pennink/AP






Jessica Glenza

“With the availability of two vaccines now for the prevention of COVID-19, the FDA has taken another crucial step in the fight against this global pandemic that is causing vast numbers of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States each day,” said FDA commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, in a statement.

The Moderna vaccine was found to be more than 94% effective at preventing Covoid-19, in a trial of more than 30,000 patients. Moderna’s scientists said there were two allergic reactions in its trial, one in the placebo arm and another in a vaccine recipient.

In the vaccine arm, the allergic reaction was more than 60 days after the participant received the vaccine, and was found to be related to a separate medical procedure.

Moderna’s vaccine, like Pfizer’s, is be authorized for emergency use with the idea that the company would apply for a full approval in coming months.





Jessica Glenza

The Pfizer vaccine was the first drug authorized by the FDA to prevent Covid-19 in the US. It was earlier authorized by the UK and Canada.

Like Pfizer’s vaccine, the drug developed by Moderna to prevent Covid-19 uses messenger RNA technology. This technology introduces the body to the spike protein coating the surface of the coronavirus.

The vaccine was developed in a joint effort by Moderna Inc and NIAID. It received nearly $2.5bn in US government funding, and the federal government has already purchased 200m doses with an option to buy 300m more.

Emergency approval of the second vaccine will put the US on track to potentially immunize up to 150 million people between now and mid-2021, if the government can effectively roll out the most logistically challenging public health campaign in history.

Both vaccines require two-dose “booster” regimens.





FDA approves Moderna vaccine for distribution

The Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna’s vaccine for emergency use. This is the second coronavirus vaccine to gain approval in the US.

The government can now begin to distribute 5.9m doses of the Moderna vaccine across the US.





Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle said they were optimistic they could reach a deal on a coronavirus stimulus bill this weekend.

The $900bn proposal currently on the table has been held up over an attempt by Republicans to curtail the Federal Reserve’s lending power – limiting its emergency lending efforts amid a deep economic crisis. Democrats said the provision would tie president-elect Joe Biden’s hands as he tries to rein in the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus crisis.

The final proposal will likely include funds for a new round of stimulus payments to Americans – likely $600 for most Americans. Republicans have been trying to use their Federal Reserve provision as leverage, saying they’d agree to double the stimulus check amount if they get their way with the Fed.





Senate approves stopgap measure

The measure has passed hours before the government is headed into a shutdown. Now Trump has to sign the measure.





If the Senate agrees to the stopgap spending bill and Trump signs it, lawmakers will have an additional 48 hours to finalize a coronavirus relief bill.

But the stopgap measure could be held up by even a single senator objecting. Both Republican and Democratic senators weighed whether to do so. On the Republican side, senator Josh Hawley of Missouri expressed frustrations that lawmakers had been left in the dark about aspects of the bill, saying the situation is “beginning to reach the point of absurdity” – but backed off a threat to block the stopgap.

On the other side, Bernie Sanders – who has been vocal in criticizing legislators who’ve dragged their feet on sending out another round of stimulus checks – has been non-committal when asked whether he’ll approve a stopgap.

Updated





House approves stopgap spending bill

The House approved a stopgap spending bill to fund government through Sunday, averting a shutdown for two days.

The bill passed 380-60. It’s now up to the Senate to approve it.





Officials closed the Washington Monument today after interior secretary David Bernhardt, who tested positive for Covid-19 this week, led a private tour of the DC site.

At least two staff working at the moment are in quarantine following exposure, according to the interior department. The Washington Post first reported the story.

The Washington Monument, as the sun rises.

 The Washington Monument, as the sun rises. Photograph: Alexander Drago/Reuters

“As we do in all circumstances when an employee attests to having COVID-19, we work with our public health officials to ensure all guidance from the CDC is followed, such as identifying close contacts and cleaning areas as appropriate,” said interior spokesman Nicholas Goodwin in a statement to media. “The Secretary was recently at the Washington Monument. In working with our public officials and out of an abundance of caution, a couple of employees have quarantined resulting in a temporary workforce reduction at the monument and its temporary closure.”

Updated





Covid-fatigued Texans shrug off mandates for holiday fun

Alexandra Villarreal reports from Fredericksburg, Texas:

Tucked away in the hills of central Texas, the small city of Fredericksburg still feels like a bustling Christmas village this year, mostly unchanged by the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week, a soft pink sunset descended over Marktplatz square, soundtracked by holiday music and children laughing. Tiny tots climbed aboard gingerbread train cutouts as older kids zoomed around a makeshift ice skating rink, their required “face coverings” dangling well below their mouths like scarves.

Along Main Street, where crowds popped in and out of boutiques, one woman savored samples at the specialty food store. A punny T-shirt urging “SOCIALism DISTANCING” hung prominently in one of the shop windows, and at dusk, onlookers from around the state – many of them maskless – gathered close to see the city’s elaborate holiday lights flicker on.

“It looks like we asked more people to come into town, instead of less people,” said Catherine Kuhlmann, the infectious disease control officer for Gillespie county, which includes Fredericksburg. “It’s like ants on a sugar cube.”

Between an influx of Covid-fatigued vacationers taking advantage of touristy holiday attractions and misinformed residents adamantly opposed to wearing masks, Gillespie county has inevitably fallen prey to the same uptick in coronavirus cases that has gripped much of Texas in recent weeks. At least one in 23 members of the rural community has been infected since January, according to the New York Times, and free testing earlier this month yielded a nearly 18% positivity rate.

“I am very concerned for the Hill Country at this point,” Kuhlmann said. “I would like to say that we’ve hit our worst, but I don’t think we have.”

Across Texas, more than 9,500 Covid-19 patients are languishing in hospitals and roughly 264,000 infections remain active, relegating the state to a dangerous “red zone” that merits an aggressive response, the White House coronavirus task force suggested in a report earlier this month.

But even as people continue to pile inside restaurants and bars, getting together with friends and discarding their face coverings, Texas’ Republican leaders have avoided the politically controversial tactics used elsewhere to save lives.

Read more:





In order to protect a waning Democratic majority in the House, Joe Biden may stagger the confirmation of representatives he has chosen to serve in his cabinet, giving congressional Democrats to pass their 100-day agenda.

The AP repoorts:


President-elect Joe Biden’s decision to tap several House Democrats for administrative positions is putting Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a politically tough spot, having chiseled away at the party’s already slimming majority and leaving her potentially without enough votes to pass his legislative agenda.

Democrats already were heading into the new Congress with a razor-thin margin over Republicans. But Biden’s overture to a third lawmaker, Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., as the history-making first Native American interior secretary, set off a fresh round of pained conversations on what to do. Pelosi will start the Biden era with a narrow majority, 222-211, with a few races still undecided.

But Pelosi’s leadership team has a plan.

“We need to manage something like this,” Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the Democratic whip and a top Biden ally, said in an interview with The Associated Press this week.

According to Clyburn, an emerging strategy is to stagger the confirmations: Biden would hold off on formally submitting the nominations all at once so the House numbers don’t immediately drop.

Under the plan, timing would unfold over the first several months of the new Congress, ample time for the House to pass the 100-days agenda, a typically important but symbolic, legislative sprint that takes on new importance aligned with Biden’s presidency.

Biden’s first pick from the House, Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., would join the administration quickly once the president-elect is inaugurated Jan. 20, Clyburn said. Richmond is poised to become a senior adviser, a position that doesn’t require confirmation by the Senate.

Biden would then wait to submit the other two nominees, Haaland and Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, who was tapped as housing secretary, until after the March special election in Louisiana to fill Richmond’s seat.

The lawmakers can remain in the House, voting as members, until they are Senate confirmed. Their nominations could be sent one after the other, in the months that follow.

“Just manage it,” Clyburn said.

The three House seats are in Democratic strongholds and expected to be off-limits to Republicans. But special elections can throw curveballs, and the staggered timing would also give the campaigns ample running room to shore up the candidates and races.

Read more here.

Updated





Pence – Space Force members will be known as ‘Guardians’

Martin Pengelly

Members of the new United States Space Force will be known as “Guardians”, Vice-President Mike Pence announced on Friday, at a ceremony to mark the first birthday of one of Donald Trump’s signature policy initiatives.

“It is my honor,” Pence said, “on behalf of the president of the United States, to announce that henceforth the men and women of the United States Space Force will be known as guardians.

“Soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and guardians will be defending our nation for generations to come.”

On Twitter, the Space Force added: “The opportunity to name a force is a momentous responsibility. Guardians is a name with a long history in space operations, tracing back to the original command motto of Air Force Space Command in 1983, ‘Guardians of the High Frontier.’

“The name Guardians connects our proud heritage and culture to the important mission we execute 24/7, protecting the people and interest of the US and its allies.

“Guardians. #SemperSupra!”

The force’s Latin motto, adopted in July, means: “Always above.”

Pence’s announcement came on the same day a US astronaut aboard the International Space Station transferred from the air force into the space force, but nonetheless it prompted familiar mirth on social media.

As Military.com put it, “space enthusiasts and military members were quick to point out the name Guardians evokes the Marvel Comics’ Guardians of the Galaxy film franchise, about a motley crew of superheroes in space”.

With the Trump administration on its way out of power, the future of the space force seems uncertain. As the Associated Press put it, delicately: “President-elect Joe Biden has yet to reveal his plans for the space force in the next administration.”

Updated





Kaiser Family Foundation Poll: Americans feel the worst is yet to come

About 72% of Democrats and 32% of Republicans said the worst of the pandemic is yet to come, per a Kaiser Family Foundation poll. Among independents, half said the worst lies ahead. The majority of people from all three political leanings said they wore masks when leaving the house.

As coronavirus cases surge across the US, enacting a disproportionate toll on people of color, about three in four Black adults (75%) and Hispanic adults (77%) said they were worried they or a family member would fall ill with Covid-19. About 64% of white adults expressed the same concern.

Read the full findings of the December poll here.





Pinterest’s $22m settlement with executive is a ‘slap in the face’, Black former workers say

Kari Paul reports:

Pinterest announced this week it would pay more than $20m to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit brought by a female executive. But to two Black former employees who had previously lodged similar complaints, the settlement represents a “slap in the face”.

Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica Shimizu Banks had become public figureheads for Pinterest after spearheading widely-heralded policy changes, including adding factchecking features to vaccination content, that predated those from tech rivals like YouTube and Facebook. But internally, both former employees said, they faced pushback.

In June 2020, after quitting their jobs at Pinterest’s policy team, they went public with claims they had to fight to be paid fairly and were retaliated against for advocating for change. Ozoma also said the company failed to protect her when a colleague shared her personal information with hate sites.

Ozoma and Banks ended up leaving the company with half a year of severance pay. But their public comments laid the groundwork for other women and people of color at the company to come forward with similar experiences.

Two months after their departure , the former Pinterest COO Françoise Brougher sued the company for gender discrimination – the case that resulted in the $22m settlement this week.

Read more:





Today so far

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Congress is attempting to pass a stop-gap spending bill to keep the government funded past midnight. If enacted, the legislation would fund the government for another two days as lawmakers continue negotiations over appropriations and coronavirus relief. Congress must pass a spending bill by midnight to avoid a government shutdown.
  • Vice-president Mike Pence received the coronavirus vaccine live on television. House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell also received the vaccine today, and Joe Biden is expected to be vaccinated on Monday in another televised event.
  • The supreme court dismissed a challenge to Donald Trump’s proposal to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census count to apportion congressional seats. The court’s six conservative justices dismissed the challenge as premature, given that it’s unclear what effect the proposal would have. Voting rights and immigrant rights groups have already pledged to file another lawsuit if Trump attempts to implement the policy.
  • The FDA’s emergency use authorization of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine may come later today. The agency’s vaccine advisory panel recommended the vaccine for emergency use yesterday, clearing the way for authorization.
  • The Pentagon and the Biden transition team provided conflicting explanations for a pause in the president-elect’s briefings. While the acting defense secretary, Christopher Miller, cited a “mutually-agreed upon holiday pause” to explain the interruption, Biden’s advisers said they never agreed to such a pause and argued the briefings were more necessary than ever. Axios reported earlier today that Miller had ordered Pentagon officials to stop cooperating with the Biden transition team.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

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