By Emiko Jozuka, Adam Renton, Amy Woodyatt and Sarah Diab, CNN
Updated 11:20 PM ET, Mon December 21, 2020
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9:05 p.m. ET, December 19, 2020
US State Senator Jerry Relph dies after Covid-19 diagnosis
From CNN's Hollie Silverman
Republican Minnesota State Senator Jerry Relph. Minnesota State Legislature
Republican Minnesota State Senator Jerry Relph has died, a statement from his family said Friday night.
Relph, 76, had been diagnosed with Covid-19 after discovering he was exposed at the State Capitol and had been admitted to an emergency room for his symptoms, CNN affiliate WCCO reported.
He died Friday, according to the family statement.
“I'm heartbroken to share that my husband, Jerry Relph, has passed away and entered his heavenly home," his wife Pegi Broker-Relph said in the statement.
"Jerry was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. He was a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, an attorney, small businessman, and dedicated public servant in the Minnesota Senate."
The family statement did not elaborate on the cause of Relph's death and no health details were released to the person who sent the statement.
Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated the date of the Minnesota state senator's death. He died on Dec. 18.
6:37 a.m. ET, December 19, 2020
Switzerland authorizes first Covid-19 vaccine
From CNN's Arnaud Siad and Nadine Schmidt
Switzerland has authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in the country, the Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic said Saturday.
“The data available to date showed a comparable high level of efficacy in all investigated age groups, thus meeting the safety requirements,” Swissmedic said in a statement on its website.
"The safety of patients is an essential prerequisite, especially where the authorization of vaccines is concerned," said Swissmedic Director Raimund Bruhin in the release. "Thanks to the rolling procedure and our flexibly organized teams, we nevertheless managed to reach a decision quickly – while also fully satisfying the three most important requirements of safety, efficacy and quality," he added.
The European Medicines Agency, the drugs regulator for the European Union, to which Switzerland does not belong, is still evaluating the vaccine and has called for an exceptional meeting on December 21 to potentially grant its authorization.
New restrictions introduced as situation deteriorates: Switzerland on Friday announced new coronavirus measures that include closing restaurants as well as cultural, sports and recreation centers from December 22 until January 22 to contain the spread of the virus.
Switzerland and neighboring principality Liechtenstein on Friday recorded 4,478 new coronavirus infections within 24 hours, according to the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health. The total tally of Covid-19 infections in Switzerland stands at 403,989, and 6,561 people have died, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
The situation has deteriorated dramatically in recent days and weeks,'' President of the Swiss Confederation Simonetta Sommaruga told reporters at a press conference.
She said the Swiss healthcare system is under strain and “that is why we need additional curbs.”
5:58 a.m. ET, December 19, 2020
Getting the Covid-19 vaccine was emotional, yet exciting for these healthcare workers
From CNN's Alisha Ebrahimji and Christina Zdanowicz
Andrew Matuskowitz receives the Covid-19 vaccine. Provided by Andrew Matuskowitz
An otherwise stoic emergency room physician found himself overcome with emotion as he got the Covid-19 vaccine this week.
After months of treating patients ravaged by Covid-19, as well as those who had experienced car accidents and heart attacks, Dr. Andrew Matuskowitz was drained and worn out. The doctor works at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
I wasn't expecting to really feel much getting the vaccine emotionally," Matuskowitz, 37, told CNN. "Yet I still felt so overcome with this almost ecstasy about this idea of there is actually an end in sight."
The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine and the Moderna vaccine, which is expected to be approved this weekend, are showing the country the light at the end of the tunnel. Healthcare workers on the front lines are among the first to get the vaccine, with some already vaccinated and anticipating their second dose in a few weeks.
Gratitude. That's the word emergency room physician Matuskowitz used to describe how he felt after getting the vaccine on Thursday.
He was surprised when he actually felt the larger significance of the syringe filled with the sought-after vaccine going into his arm.
"I had gone into the day like every other day just kind of being in a rush and getting the kids off to daycare and just worn down with everything," Matuskowitz said. "I found myself getting really emotional as I was walking to get the vaccine, during the vaccine ... and afterward as I was driving home."
The past six months since South Carolina had its summer wave of Covid-19 meant that Matuskowitz and his colleagues had to keep on going, treating patients with a "business as usual" attitude, he said.
This week it felt the same, but he said he noticed a "flurry of excitement" from his colleagues that the vaccine was coming.
Joy, hope and excitement are some of the emotions these healthcare workers say they are feeling.
Stanford admits "errors" in vaccine distribution plan that excluded most frontline healthcare workers
From CNN's Hollie Silverman
Residents protest outside Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, California, on December 18. KGO
Stanford Health Care in California has taken responsibility for "errors" in their vaccine distribution plan that excluded most of their frontline healthcare workers, CNN affiliate KGO reported.
Only seven out of more than 1,300 medical residents and fellows were slated to receive the vaccine, and priority was given to faculty and attending physicians who work from home under Stanford Health's distribution plan, KGO reported.
This comes as Stanford receives at least 3,900 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, according to KGO.
Residents include doctors in training, who often work more than 80 hours a week and are usually the first in line to treat patients with Covid-19. But to their surprise, the hospital didn’t include many of them in the first round of vaccinations this week.
More than 100 Stanford Health Care resident physicians and fellows held a demonstration outside the hospital, expressing concern about their place in the pecking order.
State faces surge of infections: Since the Thanksgiving holiday, California has faced a surge of Covid-19 infections unparalleled across the United States, leading to continued dailyrecord highs in hospitalizations and deaths.
ICU bed capacity has plunged to nearly zero in vast portions of the state as patients rush into hospitals, which are struggling to manage strains on resources and personnel.
President and CEO of Stanford Health David Entwistle addressed workers at the protest and took responsibility: “We got it wrong. Let’s get you vaccinated,” he told the crowd, “We’ll correct it."
In a statement, Stanford Health Care apologized for the errors and said they are revising their distribution plan.
"We take complete responsibility for the errors in the execution of our vaccine distribution plan," Stanford Health Care said.
"Our intent was to develop an ethical and equitable process for distribution of the vaccine. We apologize to our entire community, including our residents, fellows, and other frontline care providers, who have performed heroically during our pandemic response. We are immediately revising our plan to better sequence the distribution of the vaccine.”
4:45 a.m. ET, December 19, 2020
In California, wealthy patients are offering top dollar to cut the line for a Covid-19 vaccine
From CNN's Jenn Selva
A registered nurse at UCI Health, prepares a dose of Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center in Orange, California, on December 16. Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
While the nation continues to see record levels of new Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, wealthy patients in Southern California -- the epicenter of the state's Covid-19 crisis -- are offering to pay top dollar to cut the line and be among the first to receive a vaccine.
High-end clients are willing to pay for early access: At a number of concierge medical practices in Southern California, doctors say they've received calls from their well-off clients asking if they can have early access to the extremely limited supply of vaccine doses in exchange for a financial contribution to a hospital or charity.
Dr. Jeff Toll, whose boutique internal medicine practice has admitting privileges at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said one patient offered to donate $25,000 to the hospital in exchange for an early shot of the vaccine. Toll's practice services a well-heeled clientele that includes chief executives and entertainment figures, but the doctor said he is telling his patients they too must wait as the first round of vaccines are distributed to those most in need of protection.
First shots administered in the state: Earlier this week, California received 327,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, administering the first shots to front line health care workers battling the virus that has caused more than 22,000 deaths statewide since the start of the pandemic.
"I think one of the difficult things is for physicians who take care of these high-power people to be able to say, no you have to wait," Toll said.
These people don't usually have to wait."
Toll said his practice has applied with the state of California to become a vaccine distribution center for his clients and has already purchased special ultra-cold freezers in anticipation of storing vials of the Pfizer vaccine.
"They wanted it yesterday": Dr. David Nazarian, of My Concierge MD in Beverly Hills, said a number of his A-list clients are contacting him, saying that money is no object if it helps them get the vaccine early.
"They wanted it yesterday," said Nazarian. "We will play by the rules but are doing everything we can to secure and distribute the vaccine when it's available to us."
Virus continues to rage through California: Southern California has in recent weeks seen an unprecedented surge of new Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, with hospital intensive care bed capacity plunging to 0% and health officials issuing dire warnings if the virus continues to spread out of control.
The founder of Concierge MD LA, Dr. Abe Malkin, said he's received over 100 phone calls from people trying to get early access to the initial doses.
"I'd say that 5 to 10% of those were willing to try to make some contribution to a charity to get themselves bumped up in line," according to Malkin.
Officials push back on queue jumping: When it comes cutting in line, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has warned the state will be "very aggressive in making sure that those with means, those with influence, are not crowding out those that are most deserving of the vaccines."
"To those that think they can get ahead of the line, and those that think because they have resources, or they have relationships that will allow them to do it. We will be monitoring that very, very, closely," Newsom said this month.
As FDA authorizes a second Covid-19 vaccine, US reports highest number of daily cases
From CNN's Christina Maxouris
People wait inside vehicles at a drive-through Covid-19 testing site at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, on December 10. Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
A second Covid-19 vaccine will soon be shipped out across the United States -- a "remarkable scientific achievement," according to one expert, that brings the country one step close to the end of a brutal pandemic.
"It is through the dedicated efforts of our federal scientists and their collaborators at Moderna and in academia, the clinical staff who conducted the vaccine's rigorous clinical trials, and the tens of thousands of study participants who selflessly rolled up their sleeves, that another safe and highly effective vaccine to protect against COVID-19 will soon be rolled out to the American public," Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, said in a statement.
Now that the Food and Drug Administration has authorized Moderna's vaccine, advisers to the CDC must now vote to recommend it, and the CDC must accept that recommendation before vaccinations can begin. The advisory group is scheduled to meet Saturday morning.
Despite the promising news, it's not quite the end: In many parts of the US, Covid-19 is still raging across communities.
More than 18,000 Americans died of Covid-19 in the past week. The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects another more than 237,000 Americans will die of Covid-19 over the next three months.
For the 13th day in a row, the country beat its own hospitalization record. There are now more than 114,700 Covid-19 patients across the US, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
For the past week, the US reported an average of more than 219,000 new Covid-19 infections every day. On Friday, the country broke a record, reporting more than 249,700 new infections.
Three Alaska health care workers had allergic reactions after receiving a dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine this week. The FDA has said there is a "remote chance" the vaccine could cause a severe allergic reaction. Because so many people are taking the vaccine at once, the public may perceive these severe reactions as being far more common than they actually are.
A bus driver arrives at a bus terminal during the evening rush hour in Beijing, on September 22. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images
Essential workers will be the first to be immunized against Covid-19 when a vaccine roll out begins in China, a spokesman for the State Council Information Office said in a news conference Saturday.
According to the spokesman, those key populations include:
Cold-chain logistics workers
Customs border inspection workers
Medical disease control workers
Farmers market/seafood market workers
Public transportation workers
Students traveling to medium and high-risk countries
The second step will be to roll out immunization to the larger population when vaccine output increases, officials added.
Vaccine trials: China currently has five coronavirus vaccine candidates from four companies that have reached phase 3 clinical trials, the last and most important step of testing before regulatory approval is sought.
Having largely eliminated the coronavirus inside its borders, Chinese drugmakers had to look abroad for places to test their vaccines' efficacy. Together, they have rolled out phase 3 trials in at least 16 countries.
1:20 a.m. ET, December 19, 2020
US adds nearly 250,000 new Covid-19 cases in single-day record
From CNN's Hollie Silverman
The United States reported 249,709 new coronavirus cases and 2,814 virus-related deaths on Friday, the most recorded in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The nationwide totals now stand at 17,459,296 cases and 313,588 fatalities, according to JHU.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, and repatriated cases.
These are the days with the highest number of cases reported:
Fauci says it's essential that minority communities get a Covid-19 vaccine
From CNN’s Shelby Lin Erdman
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. CNN
It’s “essential” that minority communities get vaccinated against Covid-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday on CNN's town hall.
“The burden of disease, not only of the likelihood of getting infected because of the nature of the jobs that minorities have, they're out there, they're in the community, they're doing the essential jobs,” Fauci said.
Fauci added that minorities are also at greater risk of severe infection and death than their White counterparts.
“They have a double whammy because once they do get infected they have a degree and a relative incidence and prevalence of the underlying comorbidities which make it much more likely for them to have a serious outcome once they are infected,” he said. “[It’s] an extra special reason of why we have to get the minority community vaccinated, not only for their own health, the health of their families, but the health of their community,” Fauci added.
