December 15 coronavirus news

Pennsylvania reported 270 additional fatalities from Covid-19 on Tuesday, the state's highest death count since the pandemic began, according to state health officials.

The Department of Health also reported 9,556 additional infections Tuesday. At least 6,026 Pennsylvanians are currently hospitalized with the disease, with 1,249 of those cases requiring intensive care.

The deaths come as Pennsylvania has begun to administer the first shipments of Covid-19 vaccinations throughout the state, an effort that Gov. Tom Wolf said would proceed despite expectations of severe winter weather in the region.

More on the vaccine: Wolf said the state is expecting some 97,000 doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine this week, in addition to over 13,000 doses earmarked specifically for Philadelphia. Those doses will be shipped as they become available from the manufacturer, and may be traversing snowy roads this week as the region could see up to two feet of snow.

Wolf urged Pennsylvanians to stay off the roads during the expected winter storm.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the state received 98,475 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine this week, and more shipments will arrive in the new year.

The state expects to receive 123,000 doses from Pfizer and 201,900 from Moderna next week, the governor said. However, DeWine cautioned during a news conference Tuesday that supplies of the vaccine were limited.

"These vaccinations will take place, one way or another," DeWine said in response to questions on congressional funding. "There will be nothing to slow these vaccinations down."

What the numbers look like: Ohio announced 8,755 new Covid-19 cases and 103 deaths on Tuesday. There were 614 new hospitalizations due to the virus, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Hospitalizations have increased steeply since the start of the pandemic, the governor said. Ohio has the nation's fifth-highest case rate for the past seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

DeWine said the state had sent additional guidance to local health departments on Tuesday about whom to prioritize for vaccinations, such as group home residents and staff.

Vice President Mike Pence is likely to receive the coronavirus vaccine by Friday, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN.  

It’s unclear if he will receive it before President Trump. 

Tentative plans are being made for Pence to receive it on camera. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made clear again Tuesday that Congress will not leave without reaching a deal on a Covid-19 stimulus package.

He reiterated his call to take out the two most controversial provisions – liability provisions, for Republicans, and state and local aid, for Democrats – in order to help passage of Covid relief, when asked ahead of today’s afternoon meeting with congressional leaders whether there will be a deal available with state and local aid.

He said, “It's pretty obvious the way to get a deal, for weeks, has been as exactly what I said… to drop the two most contentious items for the moment. We all know the new administration's gonna be asking for yet another package. It's not like we won't have another opportunity to debate the merits of liability reform and of state and local government in the very near future.”

On the coronavirus vaccine, the Kentucky Republican spoke about being a polio survivor, how he’s a “huge supporter of being vaccinated” and strongly encouraged Americans to get a vaccine when they are able.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said the US needs more resources to deal with the next possible outbreak.

“We do need more resources now, given the lessons learned about how to better prepare for the next outbreak,” he said Tuesday in an interview with Vox’s Sean Rameswaram.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that he hopes that support for the National Institutes of Health will not only continue but increase.

Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC, received his coronavirus vaccine live on television. 

Phillips said he wanted to “demonstrate to people how simple and easy this is and show the importance of it for our country.”

It only took a few seconds, and Phillips told CNN’s Brianna Keilar that “he didn't even feel it.”

Phillips said he is “welcome” to any side effects from the vaccine. 

While he has “mixed feelings” about getting a vaccine before others, he said it’s important to keep continuity in health care so they can provide care to others. 

“I’d be a liar to say there weren’t mixed feelings. I have a 90-year-old grandmother who doesn’t have the vaccine yet. My father is 67 with high blood pressure. I would prefer that he were getting this today than me,” he said. “But it is important that we’re able to keep the continuity of what's happening in health care right now.” 

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Covid-19 has been Dr. Anthony Fauci’s worst nightmare as an infectious diseases expert, he said Tuesday, in an interview with Vox’s Sean Rameswaram.

“And then unfortunately for me, and the world in general, that's exactly what happened,” he added. 

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that emerging infections are to be expected.

“No one would have anticipated that it was going to be as terrible and horrible as it's turned out to be,” he said.

Vaccine maker Moderna says its coronavirus shots don’t just prevent symptomatic disease, but can prevent infection in the first place.

The company has submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration with the extra claim – which would give it a leg up on rival Pfizer, which has been able to demonstrate only that its vaccine prevents symptomatic infection, including severe disease. It had not been clear from initial data if either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines prevented infection completely.

The FDA’s own analysis of Moderna’s data confirmed the company’s claim that the vaccine was 94.5% effective at preventing severe disease 14 days after the second dose. The data submitted by Moderna looked only at cases of Covid-19 that exhibited symptoms and found that the vaccine was effective at reducing cases of Covid-19 with severe symptoms.

Now Moderna says it has also shown its vaccine can prevent asymptomatic as well as symptomatic infection.

To determine if the vaccine reduced the rate of overall infection, the researchers took nasal swabs of volunteers before each shot and tested them for Covid-19. Moderna’s vaccine requires a two shots given four weeks apart.

Moderna found among those participants who tested negative for the virus after the first swab, 14 in the vaccine group and 38 in the placebo group tested positive for Covid-19 when swabbed the second time. None had any symptoms.

The company noted that they did not include this data in the initial emergency use authorization submission to the FDA because it was unavailable at the time. They included it as an addendum. 

The FDA’s vaccine advisory committee will be meeting on Thursday to discuss recommending the use of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine in people 18 years and older.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 40% of all Covid-19 cases exhibit no symptoms.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Tuesday repeated that President Trump would be open to taking the coronavirus vaccine, but would not commit to timing or getting inoculated in public to inspire confidence in its efficacy.

She also confirmed that senior administration officials will be injected with the vaccine in coming days to instill public confidence.

Asked why Trump wouldn’t want to take the vaccine to set an example, that the vaccine is safe, and heed the advice of public health experts, McEnany said, “Because he also wants to show Americans that our priority are the most vulnerable.”

“There will be some senior administration officials taking it publicly to instill that confidence. It is very important … You’ll learn in the next few days who that is,” McEnany added. She later described the officials as “career staff” and “national security staff,” who will be vaccinated for the purposes of continuity of government, as well as a “small group” of senior administration officials.

McEnany also said she would be open to taking the vaccine as well.

The press secretary said Trump is “absolutely” encouraging Americans to get the vaccine. “He wants to see all Americans get this vaccine and he wants to see the most vulnerable among us get it first,” she said.