December 13 coronavirus news

Remarking on images of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine being shipped out, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the coronavirus vaccine is "truly historic."

The team at NIAID helped develop Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. Vaccine advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will meet next week to discuss an emergency use authorization for Moderna’s vaccine.  

The science: Both Moderna’s candidate and Pfizer/BioNTech's recently authorized vaccine have been shown to be about 95% effective in preventing symptomatic infections. Both vaccines rely on the same technology, using a synthetic version of mRNA or Messenger RNA, a strand of genetic code.

The Pfizer vaccine is the first vaccine in the world to be authorized using this technology. It is now authorized for emergency use in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.  

California’s Covid-19 surge rolls onward, with Sunday marking the third consecutive day the state has had over 30,000 daily new positive coronavirus cases, according to data released by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on Sunday.

The state reported 30,334 new coronavirus cases on Sunday and 122 new deaths. The rate of positive tests over the last 14-days inched up overnight and now stands at 10.4%

As of Sunday, California has 1,551,766 confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic; there have also been 20,969 virus-related deaths statewide.

More than 30,000 people have died in the US from Covid-19 in the first 13 days of December, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

A total of 30,102 have died this month and a total of 298,147 have died since the beginning of the pandemic, the data showed.

The US has previously seen more than 30,000 deaths in the months of November, May and April. 

As of 1 p.m. ET Sunday, there have been a total of 16,105,795 Covid-19 cases in the US, according to the university.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield has accepted the recommendation of the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine may be given to people ages 16 and older.

This means that shots can now be administered in the United States.

On Saturday: ACIP committee members voted in favor of the recommendation, and to add the vaccine to the CDC’s immunization schedule.

On Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization for Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine.

Pfizer began shipping its vaccine on Sunday, with first shots in arms expected Monday morning.

New Jersey will administer its first Covid-19 vaccines on Tuesday morning at University Hospital in Newark, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Sunday.

The state’s first 76,000 doses will be for health care workers and long-term care facility residents and staff, Murphy said.

Murphy will visit the hospital on Tuesday with Judith Persichilli, the state’s health commissioner, Shereef Elnahal, University Hospital president, and Dr. Robert Johnson, dean of Rutgers Medical School. Vaccinations will be administered during the governor’s visit, according to a news release from Murphy’s office.

University Hospital in Newark has created a “Covid-19 vaccine clinic” in anticipation of the pending vaccine shipment and has the potential of administering at least 600 vaccines per day, the release stated.

Despite the optimistic talk this morning on the Sunday shows, relief talks are going slow and Hill leaders are still far apart on the stimulus, sources in both parties said this morning.

Democrats have not yet dropped their demands for state and local aid, which Republicans have resisted.

And even though senators in the bipartisan group this morning promised to release bill text tomorrow on their $908 billion proposal, they still do not have a deal — and are still struggling to get a deal on liability protections for businesses and others, sources said.

What happens next: Six senators are having calls this afternoon to try to reach an accord on the liability issue after struggling for weeks.

Ultimately it will be up to congressional leaders to decide which provisions will be included in the $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill to keep the government funded past Friday.

Congressional leaders remain at odds, however, on what provisions should be added.

Moncef Slaoui, the head of the US government's effort to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, Sunday congratulated Pfizer and BioNTech for delivering a coronavirus vaccine.

Slaoui said he hopes the US will achieve herd immunity against Covid-19 in May or June.

"We need to have immunized about 75 or 80 percent of the US population before herd immunity can be established," Slaoui said. "We hope to reach that point between the month of May and the month of June."

He said it is critical that Americans decide to take the vaccine, and said he is very concerned about the level of vaccine hesitancy he is witnessing.

"We hope that now that all the data is out and available to be discussed in detail that people will keep their mind open, to listen to the data, and hopefully agree that this is a very effective and safe vaccine, and therefore take it," Slaoui said.

Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, said "studies are being planned or in progress now" regarding coronavirus vaccine for children younger than 16.

He declined to give a direct answer when asked when the vaccine might be available for children.

GOP Senator Bill Cassidy told CNN that the bipartisan stimulus bill will be introduced Monday night. 

“We are going to introduce a bill tomorrow night,” Cassidy said, "the leadership can discard it, I can govern that.”

“There will be a deal,” Cassidy told CNN. 

Democratic senator from West Virginia Joe Manchin also said in an interview on Fox News that the bipartisan group’s bill will be released Monday.

“You will see a complete bill tomorrow before the end of the day,” Manchin said.

Manchin added that negotiations “haven’t fallen apart,” despite concerns on Friday that the group was struggling to finalize a deal. Manchin said the group has been talking over the weekend, and will have another call today. 

However, Manchin also noted that there is “no guarantee” that the bill they present will be passed by Congress. 

“There is no way, no way, that we are going to leave Washington without taking care of the emergency needs of our people,” Manchin said. 

 Watch: