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.
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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:
