Coronavirus Watch: FDA committee reviews Modern vaccine
A second COVID-19 vaccine likely will receive a thumbs-up today from an advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration.
A clinical trial in 30,000 volunteers showed that the Moderna vaccine is more than 94% effective in preventing COVID-19, including serious disease. The vaccine causes frequent side effects like sore arms, fatigue, muscle aches and chills, but all were temporary.
It's Thursday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news that you need to know:
- Vice President Mike Pence is set to receive a COVID-19 vaccine Friday with second lady Karen Pence at the White House. The public event is meant to promote the vaccine's safety and efficacy. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to be vaccinated as soon as next week.
- French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19.
- Two people are dying every hour in the Los Angeles County, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Wednesday. California reported more than 53,000 new cases and 293 deaths Wednesday.
- Two health care workers in Alaska had allergic reactions to the Pfizer vaccine, similar to the two workers in the U.K. who had allergic reactions. One of the workers was still hospitalized for observation Wednesday while the other has recovered.
- New York City-run hospitals canceled elective surgeries as of Tuesday in anticipation of increased hospitalizations due to COVID-19, Dr. Mitchell Katz, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals said. There were almost 11,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday across New York, with hospitalizations reaching over 6,100.
- The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose again last week to 885,000, the highest weekly total since September.
Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported over 17 million cases and over 308,000 deaths, according to a Paste BN analysis of Johns Hopkins data. Globally, there have been over 74.5 million cases and over 1.6 million fatalities. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.
Need some good news? The U.S. might have more doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine than it thought. While each Pfizer vial is supposed to hold five doses of the first vaccine authorized for emergency use by the FDA, pharmacists have discovered some vials may have extra doses.
What do you want to know about the vaccine? Read our Q&A here and send us your vaccine questions through this online form.
– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck