Live updates: FDA advisers recommend second coronavirus vaccine as California becomes U.S. epicenter

9 min readDec 17, 2020

Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine got the greenlight from a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee Thursday, paving the way for authorization of a second shot aimed at slowing a pandemic that has killed nearly 310,000 people in the United States.

The news came as California became the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., posting in the past 48 hours more than 100,000 new infections and setting a new daily death record. In Southern California, a region that includes Los Angeles and San Diego, ICU capacity fell to 0 percent on Thursday.

Here are some significant developments:

Officials in multiple states said they were alerted that their second shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine next week had been reduced.
New research from Germany found evidence that the bodies of some covid-19 victims are contagious for days after death, raising health concerns for front-line workers.
French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Wednesday was the deadliest day for the United States to date, with at least 3,367 fatalities reported across the country.

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4:04 a.m.

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FDA advisers recommend second coronavirus vaccine

By Laurie McGinley and Carolyn Y. Johnson

The panel voted that the benefits of the highly effective vaccine outweighed its risks for people individuals 18 years of age and older. The FDA plans to authorize the vaccine Friday, according to knowledgeable individuals who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the schedule.

Anticipating the authorization decision, Gen. Gustave F. Perna, who is overseeing the federal effort to distribute vaccines, said Monday the government was preparing to ship almost 6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to 3,285 locations in the first week after approval.

3:21 a.m.

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ICU capacity in Southern California falls to 0 percent

By Reis Thebault

California — the country’s most populous and richest state — is the new epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus crisis, with unprecedented surges of seriously infected patients threatening to overwhelm hospitals and overflow morgues.

The state is reporting unnerving numbers: California has set nationwide records for new cases again and again in the past week — most recently on Thursday, when it posted more than 50,000 infections, nearly 100,000 in 48 hours.

On Thursday, the state reported 379 new fatalities, topping its previous high of 293, set the day prior.

The number of available beds in intensive care units is plummeting. In the San Joaquin Valley, hospitals ran out over the weekend, resorting to “surge capacity.” In Southern California, a region that includes Los Angeles and San Diego, ICU capacity fell to 0 percent Thursday.

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2:45 a.m.

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Hundreds of maskless Long Beach police gathered at indoor ‘superspreader’ event, complaint says

By Jaclyn Peiser

Nearly 300 Long Beach, Calif., police officers, uniformed and masked, gathered close together for a group picture on Nov. 5 at the city’s convention center to commemorate the end of a weeks-long tactical training.

But an informal image from that same day captured a different story — the officers are seen standing side-by-side and barefaced, the Long Beach Post first reported earlier this month.

Now, as the department battles dozens of infections in its ranks, two Long Beach community groups are demanding an investigation and accusing the police chief of “knowingly and willfully ordering a super spreader event,” according to a complaint to the city’s Citizen Police Complaint Commission obtained by The Washington Post.

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2:05 a.m.

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States report confusion as feds alter vaccine shipments, and Pfizer says it has ‘millions’ of unclaimed doses

By Isaac Stanley-Becker, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Lena H. Sun

Officials in multiple states said they were alerted late Wednesday that their second shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine next week had been reduced, sparking widespread confusion and spurring the company’s CEO to put out a statement saying it had millions more doses than were being distributed.

The changes prompted concern in health departments across the country about whether Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s vaccine accelerator, was capable of distributing doses quickly enough to meet the target of delivering first shots to 20 million people by year’s end.

A total of 2.9 million doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and the German company BioNTech was allocated this week, and 5.9 million doses of Moderna’s regimen are poised to go out next week if the vaccine is authorized this week, as expected. That will be on top of additional supply from Pfizer, which Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday would amount to 2 million doses.

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1:31 a.m.

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HHS Secretary Azar says there’s no need to fear virus mutations

By Taylor Telford

There is no evidence that variations and mutations are making the coronavirus more dangerous or threatening known treatments, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday.

Reports of a new strain of the coronavirus spreading in the United Kingdom caused some alarm earlier this week. Although there is no proof that these changes are making the virus deadlier, The Washington Post reported, recent research has shown that the virus is not a static target of vaccines.

The virus will need to be watched closely to see how it responds to therapeutic interventions and the human immune system. But in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Azar said that although many variants of the virus have been seen throughout the pandemic, mutation is “not a concern.”

“We’ve got no indication of any type of drift of the virus or mutation of the virus that would impact vaccine or therapeutic strategies at this point,” Azar said. “Obviously we’re always looking at it.”

Mutations are a natural phenomenon. The coronavirus jumped into the human species sometime late last year and may still be evolving as it adapts to the new host. It will continue to change now that millions of people have been infected and developed antibodies and as new interventions such as vaccines and therapeutic drugs are introduced.

The Food and Drug Administration is warning medical providers to watch for allergic reactions to vaccines after a handful of people had severe responses after receiving Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine earlier this week. The individuals are said to have recovered quickly, and some had histories of severe allergic reactions to vaccines.

1:25 a.m.

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Rep. Mike Rogers tests positive for the coronavirus

By Paulina Firozi

Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.) has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Rogers made the announcement Thursday morning and says he immediately consulted with Congress’s attending physician and is self-isolating. In a tweet, Rogers said he is experiencing “mild symptoms” but is in “good spirits.”

This morning I tested positive for COVID-19. I immediately consulted with the Office of the Attending Physician and am currently self-isolating. I am experiencing mild symptoms but otherwise I am in good spirits and looking forward to getting back to work soon.
— Mike Rogers (@RepMikeRogersAL) December 17, 2020

Rogers is at least the second lawmaker to announce a positive test in as many days.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said in a statement Wednesday that he had tested positive, an announcement that came after he delivered remarks on the House floor earlier in the day.

Wilson said he was not experiencing any symptoms.

“Earlier this evening I learned that I have tested positive for COVID-19. I will be taking all necessary precautions, as directed by the House Physician, including quarantining through the Christmas holiday,” Wilson said in his statement, adding: “It is so important that we all do our part to help prevent the spread of this virus.”

Live updates: FDA advisers recommend second coronavirus vaccine as California becomes U.S. epicenter

FDA advisers recommend second coronavirus vaccine

ICU capacity in Southern California falls to 0 percent

Hundreds of maskless Long Beach police gathered at indoor ‘superspreader’ event, complaint says

States report confusion as feds alter vaccine shipments, and Pfizer says it has ‘millions’ of unclaimed doses

HHS Secretary Azar says there’s no need to fear virus mutations

Rep. Mike Rogers tests positive for the coronavirus

Written by Lethuytrangbds