December 15 coronavirus news

Some 71% of Americans say they will “definitely or probably” get a Covid-19 vaccine, according to a survey out Tuesday from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

But Black Americans, people living in rural areas and Republicans are more hesitant about getting the shots.

A third of those surveyed said they want to get a vaccine “as soon as possible,” while 39% said they would “wait and see” how initial vaccination goes before getting a vaccine themselves. 

The non-profit health research group polled 1,676 adults for the survey, which the group is launching as the Covid-19 Vaccine Monitor and plans to update regularly.

About 15% of respondents said they would “definitely not” get a Covid-19 vaccine.

Some 9% of those surveyed, mostly essential workers, reported they would get a vaccine only if it were required by work, school, or other parts of their lives.

The survey also looked at motivations behind vaccine hesitancy, and found that the groups that are the most vaccine hesitant are Republicans, 30-to-39-year-olds, rural Americans, and Black Americans. 

For Republicans, 57% of those surveyed chose “the risks of Covid-19 are being exaggerated” as a major reason they definitely or probably would not get a vaccine.

“Many Americans who are hesitant are simply reserving judgment before they are ready to get vaccinated. However, nearly one in four Republicans don’t want to get vaccinated because they don’t believe COVID poses a serious threat,” said Mollyann Brodie, executive vice-president with the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It will be a real challenge to undo COVID denialism among this slice of President Trump’s political base.”

Congressional leaders are engaged in last-ditch negotiations to secure a long-awaited Covid-19 relief deal, with expectations growing that Democrats will have to accept a more narrow agreement than they originally pushed for in order to get the package done.

With Capitol Hill leaders racing to finalize a massive spending bill to keep the government open past Friday, there were clear signs on Monday that Democrats would be forced to abandon a push for at least $160 billion in aid to cash-strapped states and cities in order to get a bipartisan agreement where some relief provisions could be added to the measure.

Democratic leaders: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer both refused to say that the aid was a red line for them in the talks. During a 22-minute phone call Monday evening, Pelosi told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that the GOP insistence to include lawsuit protections for businesses and other entities "remain an obstacle" to getting an agreement on state and local aid -- since Republicans have demanded the two be tied together.

And two senior Democratic sources briefed on the talks told CNN that it appears unlikely that state and local aid will make it into a pandemic relief package.

Republicans will only accept state and local aid if it is paired with liability protections for businesses and others faced with potential lawsuits during the pandemic -- which Democrats have not wanted to support.

If the aid is ultimately dropped from the plan, it would amount to a major concession from Democrats, who had advanced roughly $1 trillion for aid to states and cities as part of a $3 trillion-plus plan that passed the House in May and that the Senate never considered.

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German Health Minister Jens Spahn has called on the European Medicines Agency to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine before Christmas.

The German government is facing criticism because the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, developed in Germany, has already been granted emergency use authorizations in several countries -- but not in the European Union.

“It is difficult to comprehend why the American regulatory authority, the FDA, can manage this in a much shorter time frame than the EMA. If there are further delays, the German government should evaluate whether a national authorization might become necessary,” the Association of German Hospitals wrote in a news release on Sunday.

Germany is currently facing a major surge in infections, hospitalizations and deaths. The country has reported a total of more than 1.35 million cases and 22,600 virus-related deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Moderna has reached an agreement with Singapore's Ministry of Health to supply its Covid-19 vaccine to the country, according to a news release from the drugmaker on Tuesday. 

The company will supply approximately 500 million to “possibly up to 1 billion doses” of its Covid-19 vaccine starting 2021, the release said. 

It added that Moderna is scaling up global manufacturing to be able to deliver on the agreement. 

No financial details were made available in the release. 

The agreement will "support ongoing efforts to secure access to a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine for the people of Singapore," the biotechnology company said.

Singapore also approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday, with the first shipment due to arrive in the country by the end of this year.

More than 100 students and staff at a prominent Indian university tested positive for Covid-19 this week. 

Out of 449 people tested at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), 104 tested positive, according to Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan of Tamil Nadu state. A total of 87 were students. 

The Tamil Nadu state government is now testing more than 950 other students and employees who shared student hostels and cafeteria facilities with members of the infected group.

District authorities have traced the outbreak to nine hostels and a guest house on campus, and have scheduled more than 530 tests on Tuesday, Radhakrishnan said.

IIT Madras is a top engineering institute in India, and has been working at a limited capacity due to the pandemic, with only 10% of students in the hostels. 

With the cluster investigation ongoing, all students have been asked to stay in their rooms, according to the university. Packed food is being supplied to students in the hostels.  

All the people who have tested positive have been admitted to a Covid-19 care center in the city of Chennai. 

Singapore is set to launch a new segregated travel program for business travelers on short-term stays, the country’s Minister for Trade and Industry announced on Tuesday.

Applications for this initiative will open in mid-January.

“We will ensure that strict health and testing protocols are put in place,” Chan said.

Those participating in the program will have to stay at an appointed facility, undergo regular testing, and follow safety measures, he added.

Chan said the initiative is aimed at boosting Singapore’s global reputation and supporting the eventual economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

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By Akanksha Sharma, CNN

More than 30% of poll respondents in Japan say next year's Olympics and Paralympics should be canceled, according to a survey conducted by public broadcaster NHK.

Some 31% of the respondents said they believed the Olympics and Paralympics should be postponed further.

Only 27% say the Games should be held as planned in 2021 in Japan. That’s a steep drop from a 40% support for the Games from a similar poll conducted in October, before the third wave of coronavirus hit Japan.

NHK’s telephone survey was conducted over the weekend. More than 1,200 people participated.

In October, the same poll revealed that 23% wanted the Games to be canceled while 25% said they should be postponed.

For those confused or concerned about how the coronavirus vaccine actually works, here's one medical expert's explanation: it's like Snapchat.

Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna use mRNA (messenger RNA) for their vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine began distribution in the United States on Monday.

Unlike most vaccines, the mRNA vaccines do not contain a live virus, meaning they do not carry a risk of causing disease in the vaccinated person. The mRNA technology has been studied for about a decade.

Scientist Katali Karikó, senior vice president of BioNTech and a pioneer in mRNA vaccine technology, said she knew the technology would work for the new vaccines. She is receiving her vaccination later this week.

“I expected that it would work because we already had the experiments,” Karikó told CNN. “I was confident that it would work.”

“Now we are very excited it became a vaccine, part of this vaccine for both companies, and really we will celebrate when this human suffering is over.”

Japan now has the highest number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care since the pandemic began.

A record 588 people are in critical condition from Covid-19 and have been admitted to the ICU, the country's Ministry of Health announced on Monday.

Japan recorded 1,677 new cases and 58 additional virus-related deaths on Monday.  

That brings the national total to 182,582 infections and 2,656 fatalities.

New measures: In response to the surge in cases and hospitalizations, local governments have strengthened their anti-Covid-19 procedures. 

Tokyo announced late Monday it has requested the 10 p.m. closure of restaurants and bars to be extended through to Jan. 11. 

Osaka prefecture also requested early closures for all restaurants and bars serving alcohol in Osaka city through Dec. 29.