The Washington Post: First Coronavirus Vaccine Shots Given In U.S., Starting In New York 
With a quick jab to a nurse’s left deltoid, America entered a new phase in its fight against the coronavirus on Monday. The injection to Sandra Lindsay’s arm at Long Island Jewish Medical Center made her the first American to receive the coronavirus vaccine outside a clinical trial. The small dose of mRNA represented a giant leap in efforts to beat back the virus, a moonshot worth of hope amid a pandemic that has infected more than 16 million and killed more than 300,000 nationwide. (Guarino, Eunjung Cha, Wood and Witte, 12/14)

CNN: ICU Nurse In New York Among The First People In US To Get Authorized Coronavirus Vaccine
Later, Lindsay told CNN's Anderson Cooper that she feels "great." "I have no fear," she told CNN. "I trust the science. My profession is deeply rooted in science. I trust science. What I don't trust is getting Covid-19, because I don't know how it will affect me and the people around me that I could potentially transfer the virus to." Dr. Michelle Chester, the corporate director of employee health services at Northwell Health [who] delivered the shot, said the vaccine kit to administer the shot "worked perfectly." Lindsay and Chester, both Black women, were flanked on stage by Michael Dowling, the president and CEO of Northwell Health, who noted the regional hospital system has seen over 100,000 patients with Covid-19. (Levenson, 12/14)

The New York Times: U.S. Starts Vaccine Rollout As High-Risk Health Care Workers Go First 
Ms. Lindsay, who has treated patients throughout the pandemic, said that she hoped her public vaccination would instill confidence that the shots were safe. “I have seen the alternative, and do not want it for you,” she said. “I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history.” (12/15)

The Washington Post: Why New York Nurse Sandra Lindsay Got One Of The Country’s First Coronavirus Shots 
It was fitting for so many reasons that Sandra Lindsay became the face of the country’s first coronavirus vaccinations Monday. With the coronavirus killing people of color at disproportionate rates, she was a Black woman eager to prove the shot’s safety to those still hesitant about being vaccinated. ... But what made Lindsay an especially poignant choice, her brother said, was that she had dreamed her whole life — since a 6-year-old in their home country of Jamaica — of finding a way to help others. (Guarino and Wan, 12/14)

The New York Times: Sandra Lindsay, The First To Be Vaccinated, Hopes To Persuade Skeptics 
When officials at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center asked for staff volunteers to be among the first to take the coronavirus vaccine, Sandra Lindsay raised her hand. Because of lingering skepticism about the vaccine, even among some on her own staff, Ms. Lindsay, the director of critical care nursing, said she wanted to lead by example — particularly as a Black woman who understands the legacy of unequal and racist medical treatment and experimentation on people of color. ... Growing up in Jamaica, before she immigrated to the United States 30 years ago, Ms. Lindsay helped take care of her grandmother, her primary caregiver, who had hypertension and diabetes. She was often asked by teachers what she wanted to be when she grew up. The answer was always: a nurse. (Otterman, 12/14)

AP: 'Healing Is Coming': US Health Workers Start Getting Vaccine
With a countdown of “3-2-1,” workers at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center gave initial injections to applause. And in Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis personally opened a delivery door to the FedEx driver and signed for a package holding 975 precious frozen doses of vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech. The shots kicked off what will become the largest vaccination effort in U.S. history, one that could finally conquer the outbreak. Dr. Valerie Briones-Pryor, who has worked in a COVID-19 unit at University of Louisville Hospital since March and recently lost her 27th patient to the virus, was among the first recipients. “I want to get back to seeing my family,” she said. “I want families to be able to get back to seeing their loved ones.” (Neergaard, 12/15)

Politico: Covid Vaccinations Begin In The United States As Deaths Surpass 300,000 
“First Vaccine Administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!” President Donald Trump tweeted. ... Several of the Trump administration’s top public health officials were out in front Monday trumpeting the development in an effort to assure the public of the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. “It’s a great day, frankly, for science,” Moncef Slaoui, who led the administration's effort to accelerate vaccine development, said on Fox Business. “It’s a great day for humanity. It’s a great day for the ecosystem of biotech and pharmaceutical industry. And it’s a great day for America.” (Niedzwiadek, 12/14)

Reuters: 'Race Against Time': First Americans Vaccinated As U.S. Death Toll Passes 300,000 
Similar scenes played out at select hospitals in other cities, including Los Angeles, where California Governor Gavin Newsom applauded as a Kaiser Permanente emergency room nurse rolled up her sleeve for a needle jab on live television. “It’s been an incredible morning. It’s historic,” said Dr. Leonardo Seoane after he received a shot at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, where he has led some of the clinical trials that found the vaccine 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 illness. (Allen and Borter, 12/14)

The New York Times: ‘A Shot Of Hope’: What The Vaccine Is Like For Frontline Doctors And Nurses
As Dr. Rishi Seth rolled up his left sleeve on Monday to receive one of the United States’ first Covid-19 vaccines, he thought of his patients back in the Special Care Unit. There was the Uber driver who had walked out of the hospital after being on a ventilator. The dying father who said goodbye to his two college-age daughters on a video chat. The four coronavirus patients Dr. Seth had treated just on Monday morning, checking their oxygen levels and reviewing treatment plans before he stripped off his protective gear and joined a first wave of health care workers to get vaccinated in hospitals across the country. “That’s why today is so emotional,” said Dr. Seth, an internal-medicine physician with Sanford Health in North Dakota, a state that has been ravaged by the virus. “You’re still fighting a battle, but you’re starting to see the horizon.” (Healy, Tompkins and Burch, 12/14)

Lexington Herald Leader: These Health Workers Got The First COVID-19 Vaccines In KY
Five University of Louisville frontline health care workers made history Monday morning by becoming the first people in Kentucky to receive a vaccine to protect against the novel coronavirus. (Acquisto, 12/14)

Also —

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Vaccine’s Initial Scarcity Leads To Tough Choices For Hospitals 
Emergency room doctor Stephanie Gonzalez spent this month eagerly waiting to hear if she would be one of the first to get the Covid-19 vaccine. Throughout the pandemic, she said, she has feared bringing the virus home to an adult daughter with autism who needs her mother’s help to dress, shower and eat. Michelle Mitcheson, a nurse, felt apprehension about getting a vaccine that had been authorized for emergency use but not fully approved by federal regulators, but said she would get one. “I am willing to take some degree of risk in order to do the most good for the majority of the population,” she said. (Evans, 12/14)

CNN: US Coronavirus: Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout Was A Moment Of Hope In Pandemic's 'Darkest Days,' Expert Says. But The Dark Days Aren't Yet Over 
For many Americans, Monday felt like a sigh of relief. After 10 nightmarish months, the first Covid-19 vaccinations began, a historic milestone in a brutal battle. "I never would have imagined that within a year of identifying ... a new virus, we would have a vaccine that is being administered to people, that is safe, and is effective and it gives us hope," said Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "On one of the darkest days in this pandemic, we finally have a ray of hope." (Maxouris, 12/15)

USA Today: US Nursing Homes, Confused By Initial COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout, Will Begin Immunizations Next Week, CDC Says
The vast majority of nursing homes in the United States won't start vaccinating staff and residents against COVID-19 until Dec. 21, and some won't start until Dec. 28, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Monday's rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine brought confusion nationwide as it became clear long-term care facilities and nursing homes were not taking part in the initial immunizations, despite the CDC's decision last week to include residents in the first phase of distribution. (Weise and Mooney, 12/14)

Modern Healthcare: CVS, Walgreens To Start COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics For Long-Term Care
CVS and Walgreens expect to start COVID-19 vaccination clinics in long-term care facilities in a week. Since the Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech, the major pharmacy chains are working with skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities to coordinate on-site vaccinations. That "work is already underway," Ruth Link-Gelles, an epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a webinar on vaccine rollouts Monday hosted by Argentum, a national association for professionally managed senior-living facilities. (Christ, 12/14)

The New York Times: The Next Covid Vaccine Challenge: Reassuring Older Americans 
He can barely see or hear, but 95-year-old Frank Bruno lives on his own terms: alone, unafraid and now — thanks to the coronavirus vaccine — “ironclad,” as he describes it. Mr. Bruno, an artist and World War II veteran, volunteered for the Moderna clinical trial only because his nephew was doing so. He thought he may have received the vaccine and not a placebo because he had some mild side effects; he became certain after he tested positive for antibodies. (Mandavilli, 12/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Are Coronavirus Vaccines Safe For Nursing Home Residents? Here’s What The Experts Say
COVID-19 vaccines are being studied in older adults with underlying health conditions, but long-term care facility residents have not been specifically studied, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, issued in early December. Long-term care residents are often excluded from clinical trials for drugs and vaccines because researchers want to test new drugs under ideal circumstances. Some medical experts worry there is not enough data showing the vaccine is safe and effective among long-term care residents, specifically. This could mean the approved doses may not work as well or may prompt different side effects in this population. (12/14)

Stat: A Guide To Who Can Safely Get The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine
With the first doses of Covid-19 vaccine being administered across the United States, questions abound about who can safely get them. Expect answers to those questions to evolve as the vaccines go into broader use. But here’s what is known so far, and what experts at or advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend regarding their use at this point. (Branswell, 12/14)

Also —

The Hill: McEnany Says Situation Room Staff, Members Of Congress Will Receive Vaccine Access Early 
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday that personnel in the White House situation room and certain members of Congress would receive early access to the coronavirus vaccine, after President Trump halted plans to deliver some of the first doses to high-ranking staffers. “What the president decided is, look, front-line workers need to come first. Our residents in long-term care facilities need to come first,” McEnany said on Fox News. “We will still have continuity of government. Key officials like Situation Room staff, among others, will have access to this vaccine, certain members of Congress.” (Chalfant, 12/14)

Politico: Washington Navigates Ethical Minefield On Getting First Covid Shots 
The first Covid shots will soon be available to top officials and essential staff in the White House, the Pentagon and Congress. But they’re already facing a political and ethical dilemma over who should be at the front of the line. While most of the scarce Pfizer vaccine is now on its way to hospitals and nursing homes across the country, some of the first tranche was reserved for federal leaders to ensure the government can continue to function as U.S. deaths and hospitalizations peak. President Donald Trump, President-elect Joe Biden and leaders in Congress could help themselves to it in the coming days. The question is: should they? (Ollstein, 12/14)

AP: US Vaccinations Ramp Up As Feds Weigh 2nd COVID-19 Shot
Hundreds more U.S. hospitals will begin vaccinating their workers Tuesday as federal health officials review a second COVID-19 shot needed to boost the nation’s largest vaccination campaign. Packed in dry ice to stay at ultra-frozen temperatures, shipments of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine are set to arrive at 400 additional hospitals and other distribution sites, one day after the nation’s death toll surpassed a staggering 300,000. The first 3 million shots are being strictly rationed to front-line health workers and elder-care patients, with hundreds of millions more shots needed over the coming months to protect most Americans. (Perrone, 12/15)

NPR: Millions More COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Are On The Way, U.S. Officials Say
At least 55 immunization sites across the U.S. received doses of Pfizer and BioNTech's long-awaited vaccine Monday morning, says Army Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed. The effort to get the vaccine into medical professionals' hands, he said, has gone "incredibly well." Perna credited a number of people for the success, from volunteers who helped to test the vaccine to those who worked over the weekend to prepare, ship and deliver the doses, which must be stored at very cold temperatures to remain viable. (Chappell, 12/14)

Politico: Senate Democrats Press Trump On Possible Vaccine Shortage 
Senate Democrats are pressing the Trump administration to explain whether the United States could soon face a critical shortage of Covid-19 vaccine doses, citing recent reports that the White House passed on Pfizer’s repeated offers to purchase additional shots. "We are concerned the failure to secure an adequate supply of vaccines will needlessly prolong the COVID-19 pandemic in this country, causing further loss of life and economic devastation," a group of senior lawmakers wrote to leaders of Operation Warp Speed, the government’s vaccine accelerator, in a letter shared with POLITICO. (Diamond, 12/14)

The Hill: Pfizer Negotiating With Trump Administration For Additional 100M COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Next Year 
Pfizer is negotiating with the Trump administration to deliver 100 million additional doses of its coronavirus vaccine next year, the company's CEO said Monday, but nothing has been agreed to yet. During an interview with CNN's Sanjay Gupta, Albert Bourla said Pfizer will be able to deliver that amount, but they are still working out the timeline with the administration. (Weixel, 12/14)

In updates from other vaccine makers —

Politico: 2 More Vaccine Developers Could Seek FDA's Green Light By February 
The Trump administration anticipates two more vaccine developers could seek FDA authorization for their shots by the end of February. That would mean the U.S. would have four Covid-19 vaccines available — including the first vaccine to only require one shot — to meet its goal of immunizing 100 million people by the end of March. (Roubein, 12/14)

Also —

The Wall Street Journal: Getting Covid Vaccines To People Will Cost States Billions They Don’t Have 
State leaders say they are short billions of dollars in funding needed to successfully provide Covid-19 vaccinations to all Americans who want to be inoculated by health officials’ June goal. The federal government is providing the vaccine, along with syringes, needles, face masks and shields. But state leaders say they must hire medical workers, provide community outreach and education, set up vaccination clinics and ensure storage capacity for vaccines. Some states are also concerned about having enough supplies, such as gloves and gowns, to protect health-care workers as well as people getting vaccinated. (Armour and Calvert, 12/13)

Fox News: Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Complexity Lies In Packaging, Not Storage Requirements, Azar Says
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the complexity associated with Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is not the sub-freezing storage requirements, but instead the large volume of 975 doses per package. Azar told reporters on a call Monday that the media frequently questions Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine’s ultra-low cold chain. The vaccine must be stored at temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 F) or below. To handle that issue, and others that might arise during transportation, Pfizer has specially designed temperature-controlled thermal shippers using dry ice to maintain that temperature. Also, the containers will use GPS-enabled thermal sensors with control towers to track the location and temperature of each vaccine shipment. (Rivas, 12/14)

CNBC: FDA Staff Endorses Emergency Use Of Moderna’s Covid Vaccine In A Critical Step Toward Approval
The staff of the Food and Drug Administration endorsed the emergency use of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine in a report released Tuesday, a critical step forward in winning formal clearance to be administered to the public as early as next. It comes two days before the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, a group of outside medical advisors, is scheduled to review Moderna’s vaccine. The group recommended Pfizer’s vaccine for emergency use last Thursday, and the FDA approved it for emergency use the next day. (Lovelace Jr., 12/15)

The New York Times: Moderna Vaccine Is Highly Protective And Prevents Severe Covid, Data Show
Based on the encouraging findings, the agency intends to grant emergency authorization for use of the vaccine on Friday, people familiar with the F.D.A.’s plans said. The decision would give millions of Americans access to a second coronavirus vaccine beginning as early as next week. (Weiland, Grady and Zimmer, 12/15)

Reuters: U.S. FDA Staff Raises No New Concerns With Moderna's Coronavirus Vaccine
The FDA staff said a two-dose regimen of Moderna’s vaccine was highly effective in preventing confirmed cases of COVID-19. The comments were made in documents prepared for Thursday’s meeting of outside experts, who will discuss whether to endorse a U.S. emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Moderna vaccine. The FDA reviewers did not raise any specific safety issues with using the vaccine in adults over the age of 18. They said that serious side effects in the trial of the vaccine represented medical events that occur in the general population at a similar frequency as observed in the study. (12/15)

The Hill: Moderna To Distribute 6 Million COVID-19 Vaccines As Soon As Friday Upon FDA Emergency Approval 
U.S. officials said on Monday they are planning to ship just under 6 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine once it receives emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. CNBC reports that McKesson, a medical supply company, will receive doses of the Moderna vaccine for packaging and distributing to 3,285 sites, according to Gen. Gustave Perna who is in charge of logistics for Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s COVID-19 vaccine program. Perna said that UPS and FedEx have been tasked with getting the vaccine doses to their final locations. (Choi, 12/14)

USA Today: Pfizer COVID Vaccine Ingredient List: 'Nothing Too Surprising There'
Experts say the ingredients in the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, which was authorized Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, looks pretty standard for a vaccine. In a letter to the FDA, Pfizer listed the ingredients in its vaccine. (Rodriguez, 12/14)

Stat: Inside The Frantic And Secretive Sprint To Name The Covid-19 Vaccines
The United States has a Covid-19 vaccine, the result of science carried out at breakneck speed. Now, whether the country knows it or not, it’s awaiting the results of another whirlwind effort: one to come up with brand names for products that will literally change the world. (Garde, 12/15)

In other vaccine news —

CNN: Most Americans Will Likely Get A Covid-19 Vaccine, Survey Finds 
A large majority of Americans, 71%, say they will "definitely or probably" get a Covid-19 vaccine, according to a survey out Tuesday from the Kaiser Family Foundation. That's up from 63% in September - indicating a steady increase in trust as regulators worked to authorize the vaccine and held public meetings to discuss data supporting their use. (Langmaid and Grayer, 12/15)

The Hill: Republicans Four Times More Likely Than Democrats Not To Get COVID-19 Vaccine: Poll 
A poll released on Monday determined that Republican respondents were four times more likely than Democrats to say they would never get the COVID-19 vaccine as immunizations begin to be administered across the country. An ABC News-Ipsos poll found that a respondent's party identification was directly related to their willingness to take the vaccine. A total of 26 percent of Republican respondents said they would never get the COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 6 percent of Democrats and 14 percent of independents. (Coleman, 12/14)

The Hill: Surgeon General Urges Vaccine Education Among Communities Of Color 
Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Monday stressed the need for education about the COVID-19 vaccine in communities of color, specifically in Black communities, which have justifiably low levels of trust in health care institutions. “Having a vaccine is only the first step. We must now move from vaccines to vaccinations. And it would be a great tragedy if disparities actually worsened because the people who could most benefit from this vaccine won't take it,” Adams said at a press conference from George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. (Johnson, 12/14)

The Hill: DC First Responders To Be Vaccinated On Camera In Confidence-Building Push 
A group of five Washington, D.C., first responders will publicly get the COVID-19 vaccine as part of a confidence-boosting effort, The Washington Post reported. The group, which includes the acting fire chief, three firefighters and the department’s medical director, will be among the first people in the city to receive the vaccine. Other firefighters will receive theirs later in the week. (Budryk, 12/14)

KHN: Pediatricians Want Kids To Be Part Of COVID Vaccine Trials 
If clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines aren’t expanded soon to include children, it’s unlikely that even kids in their teens will be vaccinated in time for the next school year. The hurdle is that COVID vaccine makers are only in the early stages of testing their products on children. The Pfizer vaccine authorized for use by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday was greenlighted only for people ages 16 and up. Moderna just started trials for 12- to 17-year-olds for its vaccine, likely to be authorized later this month. (Allen, 12/15)

CNN: Covid-19 Now Kills More Than 1 American Every Minute. And The Rate Keeps Accelerating As The Death Toll Tops 300,000
Every day, the number of families mourning the death of a loved one to Covid-19 keeps growing at a devastating rate. More than 300,000 people in the US have died from coronavirus since the first known death on February 6. That's an average of more than 961 deaths a day. But this holiday season has been especially brutal, with more than 50,000 deaths in just the past month, according to Johns Hopkins University. (Yan, 12/14)

AP: Vaccine Comes Too Late For The 300,000 US Dead
It took four months for the virus to claim its first 100,000 American lives. But with cold weather driving people inside, where the virus spreads more easily, months of reluctance in many states to require masks, and an increase in gatherings over the holidays, some public health experts project 100,000 more could die before the end of January. (Geller and Hollingsworth, 12/14)

USA Today: Comprehending The 300,000 People Killed By Coronavirus In America
It's easy to become numb to the unrelenting deaths — the scale of our losses to the coronavirus is overwhelming. But let us please take a moment to remember. (Zarracina, Haseman, and Petras, 12/14)

KHN: Behind Each Of More Than 300,000 Lives Lost: A Name, A Caregiver, A Family, A Story
More than 300,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States. It is the latest sign of a generational tragedy — one still unfolding in every corner of the country — that leaves in its wake an expanse of grief that cannot be captured in a string of statistics. (Stone, 12/15)

In related news —

Houston Chronicle: White House Coronavirus Task Force Urges Texas To Tighten Limits On Gatherings
“This surge is the most rapid increase in cases; the widest spread of intense transmission, with more than 2,000 counties in COVID red zones; and the longest duration of rapid increase, now entering its 8th week, that we have experienced,” say the reports, sent to Texas and other states on Dec. 6. “Despite the severity of this surge and the threat to hospital systems, many state and local governments are not implementing the same mitigation policies that stemmed the tide of the summer surge; that must happen now. (Wermund, 12/14)

Houston Chronicle: Turner: Nearly 1 In 7 Houstonians Have Been Infected With Coronavirus
Nearly 1 in 7 Houstonians have been infected with the coronavirus, city officials announced Monday, the infection’s true prevalence according to a study of antibodies in blood samples taken from people at their homes. The study, conducted by Baylor College of Medicine and the city health department, found 13.5 percent of people tested had antibodies to the virus in their blood in mid-September, about four times the number revealed through diagnostic testing at the time. (12/14)

Los Angeles Times: California Again Shatters Single-Day Coronavirus Case Record: More Than 42,000 Cases
California has shattered another grim record — more than 42,000 coronavirus cases in a single day, breaking a record set just a week ago. A Los Angeles Times county-by-county tally tallied 42,129 coronavirus cases across the state Monday. That’s the first time more than 40,000 cases have been reported by the state’s local health agencies in a single day. And it breaks the single-day record set on Dec. 8, when 35,400 coronavirus cases were recorded. (Lin II and Murphy, 12/14)

Also —

CIDRAP: Politics—Not COVID Threat—Held More Heft In US Decisions To Stay Home 
Two new studies show that political affiliation had much more influence on Americans' decisions to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic than did the relative numbers of infections in their communities. In the first study, led by Vanderbilt University researchers and published Dec 12 in Science Advances, researchers randomly surveyed 1,135,638 Americans from Apr 4 to Sep 10 about their political affiliation and if they had participated in social activities that could hasten the spread of COVID-19, such as eating at a restaurant, visiting family or friends, or shopping for groceries in person. (Van Beusekom, 12/14)

The Hill: COVID-19 Deaths Hit Hardest In Rural America 
The fall surge of coronavirus infections and deaths related to COVID-19 has hit hardest in rural areas across the country that had largely been spared the worst of the initial waves in April and June as health care systems in smaller communities struggle to keep up with so much sickness. A new analysis conducted by the Pew Research Center finds that rural areas that are sparsely populated now account for about twice the number of coronavirus-related deaths as the most densely populated cities. (Wilson, 12/14)

KHN: High-Poverty Neighborhoods Bear The Brunt Of COVID’s Scourge 
Over the course of the pandemic, COVID-19 infections have battered high-poverty neighborhoods in California on a staggeringly different scale than more affluent areas, a trend that underscores the heightened risks for low-wage workers as the state endures a deadly late-autumn surge. A California Healthline review of local data from the state’s 12 most populous counties found that communities with relatively high poverty rates are experiencing confirmed COVID-19 infection rates two to three times as high as rates in wealthier areas. By late November, the analysis found, about 49 of every 1,000 residents in the state’s poorest urban areas — defined as communities with poverty rates higher than 30% — had tested positive for COVID-19. By comparison, about 16 of every 1,000 residents in comparatively affluent urban areas —communities with poverty rates lower than 10% — had tested positive. (Reese, 12/15)

NBC News: Fauci Predicts 'Herd Immunity' For U.S. By Late Spring Or Early Summer
Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted Monday that the United States could achieve herd immunity against Covid-19 by "the end of the second quarter 2021" after vaccines are more widely deployed. Speaking to MSNBC's Hallie Jackson, Fauci — director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — said that, depending on the "efficiency of the rollout," the Covid-19 vaccines should be widely available to most Americans by spring. (Fitzsimmons, 12/14)

The Hill: Fauci Warns People Not To Drop Normal 'Public Health Measures' As Vaccinations Begin 
Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), warned Monday that the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine doesn't mean people should drop "normal, standard public health measures." In an interview with MSNBC, the White House coronavirus task force member told viewers not to let down their guard as it pertains to necessary preventative measures to stop the spread the coronavirus despite the vaccine becoming available for some Americans for the first time this week. (Bowden, 12/14)

New York Post: Dr. Fauci Says He Could Get COVID-19 Vaccine 'Within A Week'
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday that he could get his own COVID-19 vaccination in the next few days. “I think it could be within a week,’’ the nation’s top infectious diseases doc told MSNBC. (Sheehy, 12/14)

The Baltimore Sun: A UMBC Grad Got A Shoutout From Dr. Fauci For Her Work On The Coronavirus Vaccine. Here’s Who She Is.
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently spoke out about the input of Black scientists in the coronavirus vaccine process and highlighted a Baltimore college graduate’s work. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was quick to give credit to Dr. Barney Graham and his colleague, Dr. Kizzmekia “Kizzy” Corbett, and urged Black people, who have been disproportionately infected with and killed by the virus, to trust the vaccine. (Oxenden, 12/15)

WTOP: ‘Historic, Unprecedented Achievement’: Fauci On Vaccines And A Return To Normal
Fauci hopes to know by the second quarter of 2021 if the nation has a veil of immunity due to the vaccine. And by the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022, he hopes to find out if the vaccines will be a one-time thing, or if booster shots will be needed down the road. When it comes to scaling back health restrictions, Fauci said he believes a clearer picture of that will emerge as widespread vaccinations take place. (Murillo, 12/14)

The Washington Post: DHS, State And NIH Join List Of Federal Agencies — Now Five — Hacked In Major Russian Cyberespionage Campaign 
The Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and the National Institutes of Health on Monday joined the list of known victims of a months-long, highly sophisticated digital spying operation by Russia whose damage remains uncertain but is presumed to be extensive, experts say. The list of victims of the cyberespionage, which already included the Treasury and Commerce departments, is expected to grow and to include more federal agencies and numerous private companies, said officials and others familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it is under investigation. (Nakashima and Timberg, 12/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Suspected Russian Hack Said To Have Gone Undetected For Months 
On Monday the list of known impacted agencies grew substantially. The Department of Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health and the State Department were all hacked as well, people familiar with the matter said. ... It couldn’t be learned how SolarWinds itself was hacked. The company said in its SEC filing that its Microsoft Office 365 email systems had been compromised and that this incident “may have provided access to other data contained in the company’s office productivity tools.” In a Sunday blog post, Microsoft said that it hadn’t identified any vulnerabilities in its products as a result of its investigation into the incident. (Volz and McMillan, 12/15)

Politico: 'Massively Disruptive' Cyber Crisis Engulfs Multiple Agencies 
Companies in critical infrastructure sectors have begun assessing their systems to see if they, too, were affected. Executives in the electric power sector held a “situational awareness call” on Monday, and the Department of Health and Human Services held a conference call Monday afternoon with health care organizations to explain the SolarWinds vulnerability, according to an invitation seen by POLITICO. (Geller, 12/14)

New York Post/Reuters: Russian Hackers Hit DHS, DoD, NIH, State Department
One of the people familiar with the hacking campaign said the critical network that DHS’ cybersecurity division uses to protect infrastructure, including the recent elections, had not been breached. DHS said it was aware of the reports, without directly confirming them or saying how badly it was affected. DHS is a massive bureaucracy among other things responsible for securing the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. (12/15)

The Washington Post: Russian Hack’s Sophistication Impresses Even The Experts
Some kinds of online aggression are “noisy,” almost certain to draw attention, as the multifaceted Russian attack on the 2016 presidential election was. And some are “quiet,” more reminiscent of the subtle spy-vs.-spy operations fictionalized in the novels by the great John le Carré, who died Dec. 12. The far-reaching Russian hack that sent U.S. government and corporate officials scrambling in recent days appears to have been a quietly sophisticated bit of online spying. Investigators at cybersecurity firm FireEye, which itself was victimized in the operation, marveled that the meticulous tactics involved “some of the best operational security” its investigators had seen, using at least one piece of malicious software never previously detected. (Timberg and Nakashima, 12/14)

And a cyberattack in Europe reportedly accessed vaccine documents from Moderna —

Reuters: Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Documents Accessed In EMA Cyberattack 
Moderna Inc said on Monday it was informed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) certain documents related to pre-submission talks of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate were unlawfully accessed in a cyberattack on the medicines regulator. The EMA, which assesses medicines and vaccines for the European Union, said earlier this month that it had been targeted in a cyberattack, which also gave hackers access to documents related to the development of the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. (12/14)

Fox News: Biden Admits To A 'Bit Of A Cold' After Electoral College Victory Speech 
President-elect Joe Biden confirmed that he is battling a slight cold following a speech on Monday night in which he stopped several times to clear his throat while addressing the nation on the Electoral College’s vote to formally confirm his victory. Biden’s voice was slightly hoarse during the address, which took place shortly after he surpassed the 270-vote threshold required to win the White House. The president-elect admitted feeling under the weather during a virtual call with supporters after the speech. (Barrabi, 12/14)

Newsweek: Viewers Of Biden's Post-Electoral Vote Speech Concerned About His Coughing
President-elect Joe Biden coughed and cleared his throat multiple times during a Monday speech about his victory in the electoral college, leading some social media users to comment about the interruptions. Biden obtained 306 votes in the electoral college on Monday, more than the 270 votes needed to be certified as the next U.S. President. Biden at times sounded hoarse and excused himself after a few small audible coughs during his address acknowledging his victory. "Jeez! Somebody hand him a glass of water!" tweeted filmmaker and activist Michael Moore. (Martin, 12/14)

The Independent: Biden Coughs His Way Through First Speech Since Being Confirmed As President-Elect: ‘Hand Him A Glass Of Water!’
Joe Biden’s first address to the nation shortly after state electors declared him president-elect was overshadowed by persistent bouts of coughing and throat-clearing, as he mounted a scathing attack on President Donald Trump for his efforts to undermine the election. ... In a live stream after his speech, Mr Biden insisted a minor cold was to blame saying: 'Thank you, I have a little bit of a cold." (Singh, 12/15)

In other news about the presidential transition —

Politico: How Biden’s Team Botched His Cabinet Debuts 
The news that Biden would not be selecting the Latina governor of New Mexico to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — a step that came after she fell out of favor with the transition team for rejecting another position — prompted backlash from members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which criticized Biden’s allies for leaking the details. (Korecki and Cassella, 12/14)

The Hill: Bipartisan Group Unveils Two-Part $908 Billion Coronavirus Package 
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Monday unveiled its $908 billion coronavirus relief package as Congress faces a time crunch to pass more aid. The proposal is split into two parts: One $748 billion piece includes another round of Paycheck Protection Program assistance for small businesses, an unemployment benefit, and more money for schools, vaccine distribution and other widely agreed-upon items. The second $160 billion piece ties together the two most controversial elements of the coronavirus negotiations: more money for state and local governments and protections for businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits. (Carney, 12/14)

The Washington Post: Momentum Grows On Capitol Hill For Economic Relief Package As Bipartisan Group Releases Two Bills 
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Monday released two bills they said would provide the nation with emergency economic relief as senior congressional officials sounded more hopeful about the odds of approving new relief than they have in weeks. The bipartisan group unveiled one $748 billion package that includes new unemployment benefits, small business aid and other programs that received broad bipartisan support. The second bill includes the two provisions most divisive among lawmakers — liability protections for firms and roughly $160 billion in aid for state and local governments — with the expectation that both could be excluded from a final deal to secure passage of the most popular provisions. This second bill could end up falling out of the final deal if lawmakers don’t rally around it amid broad opposition among Democrats to approving the liability shield. (Stein, DeBonis and Min Kim, 12/14)

In related news on COVID's economic toll —

The New York Times: What Happens To The Unemployed When The Checks Run Out 
When jobless workers get their last unemployment check, the effect on spending is sharp and swift. Unemployed workers’ spending on food, clothes and other so-called nondurable goods immediately drops 12 percent, about twice as much as when they lost their job and went on unemployment insurance, University of Chicago researchers have found. Spending at drugstores falls 15 percent. Co-payments for visits to the doctor fall 14 percent. Spending on groceries falls 16 percent, or $46.30 a month, on average. Millions of Americans are less than two weeks from cutbacks like those. (Porter, 12/14)

NPR: For Hungry Americans Across The Country, Food Insecurity Crisis Deepens
Nine months into the pandemic, and lines outside food pantries are still a common sight around the country: families waiting in row after row of cars, snaking as far as the eye can see. Last year, more than 35 million people experienced food insecurity. But because of the pandemic, that number could be as high as 50 million for this year, according to the hunger relief organization Feeding America. And with multiple federal aid programs set to run out soon, many pantries fear they will run out of food, too. (Mehta and Chang, 12/14)

Also —

The Washington Post: Rep.-Elect Bob Good Calls The Pandemic ‘Phony.’ Covid-19 Has Killed More Than 300 In His District.
Rep.-elect Bob Good took the stage at Freedom Plaza on Saturday afternoon and looked out at a sea of masklessness. Thousands had come to march for President Trump — some carrying signs declaring the novel coronavirus a hoax.They were just the kind of group, Good told the crowd, who “gets that this is a phony pandemic.” “It’s a serious virus, but it’s a virus. It’s not a pandemic,” said Good (R), who will become Virginia’s newest congressman in the 5th Congressional District on Jan. 3. “It’s great to see your faces. You get it. You stand up against tyranny.” (Flynn and Vozella, 12/14)

The Washington Post: Maine Senator Suggests Keeping People Home During The Holidays With Free Movies And TV Shows
Wouldn’t more people stay safely ensconced in their own homes over the holidays if they had access to free Hulu, HBO Max and Netflix? That’s the argument being put forward by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who on Monday urged six major streaming services to consider making shows and movies available to nonsubscribers as a “public service.” (Noori Farzan, 12/15)

AP: Interest Is Lively At Deadline For 'Obamacare' Sign-Ups
A crush of sign-ups expected Tuesday on the last day of open enrollment for HealthCare.gov could help solidify the standing of “Obamacare” as an improbable survivor in the Donald Trump years. In 36 states that use HealthCare.gov,- Dec. 15 is deadline day for coverage that starts Jan. 1, while another 14 states and Washington, D.C., have later dates. Analysts and advocates who follow the annual insurance sign-ups say interest has gotten stronger with the coronavirus pandemic gripping the nation. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/15)

CNN: Obamacare: Tuesday Deadline Looms For Signups 
Americans are flocking to sign up for 2021 health coverage on the Obamacare exchanges, but the window is closing fast. Open enrollment in the 36 states that use the federal exchange, healthcare.gov, ends on Tuesday. More than 3.8 million people selected plans through December 5, according to the most recent federal data, despite a looming Supreme Court challenge. The average number of consumers signing up daily is running about 14% ahead of last year's pace. (Luhby, 12/13)

Dallas Morning News: Texans Are Flocking To Obamacare Amid The Pandemic, And Tuesday’s The Last Chance To Sign Up For 2021 Coverage
Elected leaders in Texas have always opposed the Affordable Care Act, consistently rejecting Medicaid expansion and leading the way with the latest lawsuit to challenge the 2010 law. But the state’s residents are going a different way, signing up for Obamacare for 2021 at a higher pace than ever before. From November through Dec. 5, the average daily number of Texans enrolling on HealthCare.gov shot up 22% compared with last year. That’s the largest gain of any state on the federal exchange and roughly twice the average increase for all states over the same period, according to the website ACASignups.net. (Schnurman, 12/14)

In other news about the health insurance industry —

Modern Healthcare: Insurers Concerned Biden Administration Could Mean More Testing Costs
Some insurers worry that the Biden administration could put them on the hook for more COVID-19 testing costs. The Trump administration issued guidance stating that insurers' responsibility to pay for COVID-19 tests is limited to tests that are medically necessary, despite Democratic lawmakers' insistence that they intended to institute a broader requirement. However, that interpretation could change under a Democratic administration. (Cohrs, 12/14)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Ends Referral Requirement For Faith-Based Providers
The Trump administration on Monday approved a rule that allows faith-based health and social service providers to receive federal funds without requiring them to inform clients about services they don't provide for religious reasons or refer clients to alternative providers that offer such services. It also clarifies that HHS will not discriminate against faith-based organizations on applications for grants or awards based on the organization's religious policies. That could affect Title X reproductive healthcare funding for pregnancy counseling groups that oppose contraception and abortion. (Brady, 12/14)

In other news about the health care industry —

AP: Gov. Halts Breakup Of Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Gov. Jay Inslee has stopped an effort to dissolve the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department by signing a proclamation Monday that pauses the termination of health departments during the COVID-19 pandemic.“ This proclamation puts a pause, in effect, on efforts to terminate a health district or a city-county health department, such as what is currently taking place in Pierce County,” Inslee said at a news conference. (12/15)

KHN: Pandemic Backlash Jeopardizes Public Health Powers, Leaders 
Tisha Coleman has lived in close-knit Linn County, Kansas, for 42 years and never felt so alone. As the public health administrator, she’s struggled every day of the coronavirus pandemic to keep her rural county along the Missouri border safe. In this community with no hospital, she’s failed to persuade her neighbors to wear masks and take precautions against COVID-19, even as cases rise. In return, she’s been harassed, sued, vilified — and called a Democrat, an insult in her circles. (Barry-Jester, Recht, Smith and Weber, 12/15)

North Carolina Health News: More Psych Patients Are In Handcuffs. Why? 
When Sonia Padial’s grieving son swallowed too many Tylenol, she took him to the hospital for help. She says her son, Andrew — whose name has been changed to protect his identity — has autism. He struggles to process emotions, especially around loss. He’s an introvert and forms stronger bonds with animals than other people. So when his dog died a week after his 18th birthday last year, Andrew took it harder than most. (Knopf, 12/14)

North Carolina Health News: Preventative Care Has Not Yet Bounced Back 
As the coronavirus quickly spread across the United States in February and March, hospital systems, fearing a flood of patients and worried about having enough personal protective equipment for their workers, suspended many routine appointments and elective procedures in a move to conserve resources. When clinics and hospitals resumed appointments and surgeries in late spring, most patients were hesitant to return. But even as health systems report a return to business as usual, it appears that some patients have stayed away. (Engel-Smith, 12/15)

Politico: Trump's Drug Cards Clear Key Hurdle Following Pressure From White House 
President Donald Trump’s stalled campaign promise to send $200 drug-discount cards to seniors has new life after an obscure-but-important industry panel on Monday night gave its blessing, ending weeks of resistance to the plan. The Trump administration has been trying to revive the Medicare discount cards after the plan, abruptly announced in September, ran into resistance inside the administration over questions about its cost and legality. But as POLITICO reported last week, a new hurdle had recently emerged: an industry consortium that helps the Internal Revenue Service oversee benefit cards balked at the plan, raising concerns that Trump's promised, one-time drug discounts didn’t meet typical standards for health-benefit cards. (Diamond, 12/14)

And in news from the pharmaceutical industry —

Stat: PhRMA Took In A Record $527 Million In 2019, New Records Show 
PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry trade group, took in nearly $527 million in revenue last year, a $68 million increase from 2018 that came as the industry faced unprecedented opposition in Washington. The new revenue figure, made public late this year in PhRMA’s federal tax disclosures, highlights the group’s diverse efforts to influence Washington in a year when both the White House and newly empowered Democrats in the House of Representatives were intent on capping drug prices. (Facher, 12/15)

Stat: Sackler Family Members Agree To Testify At House Hearing On Opioid Crisis
In an unexpected development, two members of the Sackler family, which controls Purdue Pharma, will testify at a House hearing on Thursday about the role the company played in fueling the opioid crisis. Former Purdue board members David Sackler and Kathe Sackler, along with Purdue chief executive officer Craig Landau, will appear virtually at the hearing scheduled by the Committee on Oversight and Reform. (Silverman, 12/14)

Stat: Here Are The Nominees For Best Biopharma CEO Of 2020 
A year like no other requires a new way of drafting a list of Best Biopharma CEOs. For 2020 — the 13th iteration of this list — Covid needed its own category. The worst public health crisis of our lives has triggered an unprecedented response from biotech and pharma companies developing vaccines and drugs against the novel coronavirus. (Feuerstein, 12/15)

Stat: FDA Approves Genetically Altering Pigs, Potentially For Drugs Or Transplants
Genetically engineering pigs so they lack a certain sugar on the surface of their cells that triggers meat allergies or organ rejection won approval from the Food and Drug Administration Monday. The regulatory clearance — the first of an intentional genomic alteration in a product with both food and medical uses — means the animals could be safer sources of not just food but also treatments such as the blood-thinner heparin. (Cooney, 12/14)

CNN: Genetically Modified Pig For Allergy-Free Medical And Food Products Approved By FDA 
The US Food and Drug Administration said Monday it has approved a genetically modified pig whose body doesn't make a component that can trigger allergies in people. The pigs should produce meat that is safe to eat, and organs and tissues safe for transplants and for the other biomedical uses for people allergic to the compound -- a sugar found on the surface of animal cells known as alpha-gal, the FDA said. (Fox, 12/14)

In other science and research news —

NPR: 1st Patients To Get CRISPR Gene-Editing Treatment Continue To Thrive
The last thing a lot of people want to do these days is get on a plane. But even a pandemic would not stop Victoria Gray. She jumped at the chance to head to the airport this summer. "It was one of those things I was waiting to get a chance to do," says Gray. She had never flown before because she was born with sickle cell disease. She feared the altitude change might trigger one of the worst complications of the devastating genetic disease — a sudden attack of excruciating pain. (Stein, 12/15)

The New York Times: Google Delays Return To Office And Eyes ‘Flexible Work Week’ 
With the pandemic still in full swing and the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine just starting to ship in the United States, Google has pushed back the planned return to the office by a few months, to September 2021. But even as it extends the remote work period for most of its staff, Google is laying out a series of proposed changes that may substantially alter how its employees and people at other technology companies will work. (Wakabayashi, 12/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Poses Christmas Quandary For Families 
Christmas marks the high point of the festive calendar for many Christians around the world. But this year, families face a dilemma: Whether to reunite despite the risk posed by the Covid-19 pandemic or play it safe and scale things down, at the expense of tradition. Many try to land somewhere in between, planning smaller festivities and lowering risks by using common sense honed by a year spent playing hide-and-seek with the virus. (Bender, 12/13)

CNN: Your Home Is A Hotspot For Covid-19, Studies Say 
A new analysis that looked at 54 studies in over 20 countries found homes where someone was sick with Covid-19 continued to be hotspots for virus transmission, even if overall community spread was down. ... Spouses were at higher risk than other family members, likely due to sleeping in the same room, intimacy and prolonged contact, according to the study published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open. (LaMotte, 12/14)

The Hill: Americans Far Less Likely To Wear Masks Indoors With Non-Household Members Than In Public: Poll 
Americans are far less likely to wear a mask indoors among non-household members than in public spaces, although majorities say they do both, according to new polling from Gallup. While 56 percent of U.S. adults said they “usually” or “always” wear masks indoors with acquaintances from outside their immediate households, 89 percent said the same of public settings such as stores or businesses. (Budryk, 12/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Perfume. Wrist Buzzers. Hypnosis. How People Try To Stop Touching Their Faces. 
Nine months into a pandemic and you’re still touching your face? Wearable devices, meditations, athletic gear and tchotchkes want to help you kick the habit. Nose itching, coughing, nail biting, mustache twirling, eye rubbing and hair flipping are among the reasons people touch their faces, often without realizing it. One study from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, published in 2015, found participants touched their faces an average of 23 times per hour. (Byron, 12/14)

In other public health news —

The Washington Post: Dairy Queen Drive-Thru Act Of Kindness Chain Ends After 900 Cars 
It started with an older gentleman who pulled up to the Dairy Queen Grill & Chill drive-through window in Brainerd, Minn., at the height of the lunch hour on a Thursday. “I’d also like to pay for the car behind me,” cashier Darla Anderson said the customer told her on Dec. 3. “Whatever they’ve ordered, I’ll cover it.” ... In the end, it spanned more than 900 cars over 2½ days. (Free, 12/14)

The Washington Post: Disney World Was Digitally Adding Masks Onto Maskless Parkgoers In Ride Photos 
Photos from Walt Disney World rides are a well-known travel souvenir .... But during the coronavirus pandemic and with a strict mask policy in place, Disney World created a new rule for riders who want to purchase an image of themselves mid-ride: no mask, no photo. ... A Disney spokesperson confirmed to The Washington Post on Friday that Disney World tested adding digital masks to riders’ PhotoPass images where masks had shifted mid-ride. The trial aimed to allow those riders to be able to purchase a ride photo that would not depict them as unmasked, and in a violation of park rules. (McMahon, 12/11)

The Washington Post: Catholic Parishes That Didn’t Go Online During Covid-19 Crisis See Giving Fall Way Down 
The coronavirus shutdown is affecting giving to Catholic parishes around the country in dramatically different ways, data shows, with some expected to see their offertory — parishioners’ donations, typically given at weekly services — down 50 percent, while others have had an increase. A study says a big factor is whether parishes switched to online services or decided to wait the virus out. (Boorstein, 12/14)

In sports news —

AP: NFL Won't Be Cutting In Line For Coronavirus Vaccine
The NFL won’t be cutting in line to get the coronavirus vaccine. “No one should be thinking about the vaccine going anywhere other than our first responders and the most vulnerable people right now,” said DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association. “We’re in complete harmony with the union in that we feel that it’s vital that frontline healthcare workers and another essential service workers are at the front of the line,” said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer. (Stapleton, 12/15)

AP: Florida's Johnson 'Following Simple Commands' After Collapse
Florida forward Keyontae Johnson was “following simple commands” Monday after being transferred from Tallahassee Memorial to UF Health in Gainesville, the school said. Officials added that Johnson is undergoing further tests and remains in critical but stable condition two days after he collapsed on the court during a game at Florida State. Johnson was moved to Gainesville via helicopter with his mother by his side. ... Like many of his Florida teammates, Johnson tested positive for COVID-19 during the summer. Although the cause of Johnson’s collapse was not immediately known, the coronavirus can lead to myocarditis, a viral infection of the heart muscle. At its most severe, myocarditis can lead to sudden cardiac arrest and has been a documented cause of death for young, otherwise healthy athletes. (Long, 12/15)

Anchorage Daily News: The Biggest Coronavirus Outbreak In Alaska Is Unfolding In A Prison. Will The Incarcerated Be Prioritized For Vaccines?
The largest Alaska outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic so far is unfolding right now, within the walls of a prison in the Mat-Su Borough. At Goose Creek Correctional Center, 708 inmates had active coronavirus infections as of Monday. Other jails face worsening outbreaks, too: 112 inmates at the Anchorage Correctional Complex and 68 in Yukon-Kuskokwim Correctional Center have the virus. Statewide, 19 incarcerated people have been hospitalized during the pandemic. Three have died. With a limited supply of vaccines now arriving, a debate over when incarcerated people should receive the vaccine is playing out across the country -- and in Alaska. The question: Should prisoners be seen as a vulnerable population living in a congregate setting and given priority access to the vaccine? (Theriault Boots, 12/14)

The AP: With His Star Dimmed, California’s Newsom Could Face Recall
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has had a rough year. The next one might be even tougher as a recall effort appears to be gaining momentum, fueled partly by outrage over the first-term Democrat dining with friends at an opulent restaurant while telling state residents to spurn social gatherings and stay home. It’s not uncommon in California for residents to seek recalls but they rarely get on the ballot — and even fewer succeed. Several launched against Newsom faded but another attempt is drawing greater attention as his fortunes change while he enters a critical stretch in his governorship. (Blood, 12/14)

Reuters: U.S. Finds First Case Of Coronavirus In Wild Animal, A Utah Mink
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday that it confirmed the first known case of the coronavirus in a wild animal, a mink. The discovery increases concerns about outbreaks in mink as the virus has killed more than 15,000 farmed mink in the United States since August. ... The USDA said in a notice that it confirmed the case in a “free-ranging, wild mink” in Utah as part of wildlife surveillance around infected farms. Several animals from different wildlife species were sampled and all tested negative, the USDA added. (Polansek, 12/14)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly’s COVID-19 Hotels For Homeless People Are Shutting Down Over Loss Of Federal Funding
Citing funding constraints, Philadelphia officials will move the residents of two COVID-19 hotels — temporary housing for seniors or people with serious medical issues that put them at high risk for severe illness — elsewhere in the city in the coming days. Housing activists and some residents of the hotels have decried the decision, saying the city hasn’t communicated effectively with the people living there about the move. They said the confusion had driven at least one hotel resident to go sleep on the streets again, and feared there would be more. (Whelan, 12/15)

Meanwhile, in Detroit, officials are considering a behavioral health-police partnership.

Detroit Free Press: Program Aims To Help Detroit Police Respond To Mental Health Issues
The city of Detroit announced Monday a partnership with the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network that it hopes is a step toward fixing a "broken system" by adding behavioral health support to police, 911 call takers and homeless outreach workers. Detroit Police Chief James Craig said he is passionate about and has long sought this program, because it is personal to him: His best friend was killed in the line of duty by someone who had been in and out of mental health treatment. (Witsil, 12/14)

AP: Poor Countries Face Long Wait For Vaccines Despite Promises
With Americans, Britons and Canadians rolling up their sleeves to receive coronavirus vaccines, the route out of the pandemic now seems clear to many in the West, even if the rollout will take many months. But for poorer countries, the road will be far longer and rougher. The ambitious initiative known as COVAX created to ensure the entire world has access to COVID-19 vaccines has secured only a fraction of the 2 billion doses it hopes to buy over the next year, has yet to confirm any actual deals to ship out vaccines and is short on cash. (Cheng and Ghosal, 12/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Rollout Of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine Slows In U.K. Due To Allergic-Reaction Monitoring 
British doctors say rolling out the Pfizer Inc. -BioNTech SE Covid-19 vaccine beyond hospitals will take longer than anticipated because of logistical challenges and complications thrown up by news in the U.K. of allergic reactions after the injection. Following two severe allergic reactions on Dec. 8, the first day of the U.K. vaccination campaign last week, doctors were told to monitor patients for 15 minutes after each injection. (Sugden, 12/14)

NPR: Canada Administers Its 1st COVID-19 Vaccine Shots
Canada began administering doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, with elderly people and front-line workers among the first to receive shots. In Quebec, 89-year-old Gisèle Lévesque, a resident of the Saint-Antoine nursing home in Quebec City, became the first person in the province hit hardest by the pandemic to receive a vaccine, at around 11:30 a.m. Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu appeared outside the Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal in the afternoon, with newly vaccinated 78-year-old Gloria Lallouz. (Jacobs, 12/14)

In other global developments —

NPR: U.K. Will Make It Easier For Gay And Bisexual Men To Donate Blood
Britain has announced changes that will allow more gay and bisexual men to donate blood – a major victory for campaigners who had sought changes to the rules they said treated all gay and bi men as posing an increased risk of infection. Previously, the government's donor policy dictated that men who have sex with men had to abstain for three months in order to donate. The new rules do away with asking about gender and sexuality, and instead focus on individual behaviors to assess risk. The changes will go into effect in summer 2021. (Wamsley, 12/14)

Stat: Don't Repeat The Mistakes Of Past Vaccine Distribution Supply Chains 
When it comes to planning how Covid-19 vaccines will be delivered to the people who need them, I hope hindsight will be used to learn from the past and the U.S. and other countries won’t repeat the many problems with vaccine supply chains encountered in the past. (Bruce Y. Lee, 12/15)

The Washington Post: The Vaccine Scientists Got The Job Done. Now The Messengers Need To Do Theirs.
I am not the weepy kind, and prior to Thursday, I had cried from happiness only twice in my life: on the day I got a job after two years of unemployment; and on the day I married my husband. Then my mother called me just as I finished watching the livestreamed proceedings of a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel that had met to consider Pfizer/BioNTech’s application for emergency approval of their covid-19 vaccine. “They did it,” I told her, and to my surprise, my voice broke and my eyes teared up. “They voted to give us the vaccine.” Sorry for getting maudlin, but as you well know, it has been a long nine months. (Megan McArdle, 12/14)

Axios: Many Americans Are Hesitant About A Coronavirus Vaccine, But Few Are Truly Dug In
Many Americans are hesitant about a coronavirus vaccine, but few are truly dug in against one, according to our new KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor. Why it matters: This is encouraging news, and suggests that people may be more willing to get vaccinated if they get more information from sources they trust. The big picture: Four groups jump out as vaccine hesitant: Republicans, rural Americans, Black adults and essential workers. (Drew Altman, 12/15)

CNN: Doctors: After Initial Concern, This Is Why We Trust The Covid-19 Vaccine 
The two of us, as emergency physicians, will be among the earliest recipients of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19. We have both been asked how and why we made the choice to get our shot. We, like many fellow health care providers, were initially concerned about political pressure being put on the US Food and Drug Administration. Ultimately, though, four reasons, based on our years of experience in emergency medicine, public health and clinical trials, informed our decision to trust the vaccine -- and get vaccinated. (Megan L. Ranney and Esther K. Choo, 12/14)

The Hill: Build Trust In Vaccines By Investing In Community Workers 
When the workers at a pistachio packing plant in California’s Central Valley started falling ill last spring, they turned to Veronica Perez with questions. Ms. Perez is not a doctor or public health official — she’s a trained outreach volunteer from the nonprofit Líderes Campesinas. In the past, her neighbors and coworkers might have asked her for help locating a food pantry, applying for social services, or understanding where they could get affordable medical care. This time, their questions were about COVID-19. (Rishi Manchanda and Claire Qureshi, 12/14)

Los Angeles Times: Among Those Slated To Get Vaccinated Now, We'll Have To Prioritize. Who Should Be Last In Line?
What if what makes a difference in how quickly the pandemic ends isn’t who gets vaccinated first, but who gets vaccinated last? There are more than 16 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in the United States and more than 1 million new confirmed cases are accruing each week. At the current pace, we are likely to enter the new year with approximately 20 million confirmed cases. And the true number of infected individuals is thought to be even higher, by some estimates three to 10 times higher. A best guess is that somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 million Americans have already had a SARS-CoV2 infection, and given the current increase in cases, many of them will have been infected recently. (Amit Kaushal, Jiayin Xue and Robert M. Kaplan, 12/15)

The Washington Post: As Americans Die By The Thousands, Trump Cronies Cut In Line For Coronavirus Treatments And Vaccines 
Rudy Giuliani is a horrible human being. I’m not talking about his hair-dye malfunction, his cruelty about Hunter Biden’s drug problems or his outing to the landscaping business hard by the porn shop. I’m talking about this: Somebody may very well be dying right now because of his recklessness. (Dana Milbank, 12/14)

The Hill: Real COVID-19 Relief? Use All Tools To Invest In The 'Care Economy' 
As Congress works to cut a deal on COVID-19 relief legislation, there are disturbing reports that lawmakers may ignore the economic needs of millions of Americans struggling to care for children and other loved ones who depend on them. If lawmakers don’t step up to help them now, new data from the 2020 elections suggest they could pay a price at the polls next time. (Lisa Guide, 12/14)

The Wall Street Journal: After Covid-19
Stocks rallied Monday morning on the vaccine news. And for some reason many investors also seem to want another round of debt-fueled Washington spending. It seems likely that at some point there will be a reckoning in the value of the dollar and/or the size of federal tax bills from the 2020 Beltway Covid response. But for now unfortunately the question is whether the response should be expanded still further. Fortunately not everyone is eager to accept Beltway premises. (James Freeman, 12/14)

Bloomberg: Covid Is Killing People In More Ways Than One
As if the 300,000 dead in the U.S. from Covid-19 weren’t horrific enough, consider how many more have died from the pandemic’s indirect effects. Evidence from the Centers for Disease Control suggests mortality is higher in 2020 than expected for reasons beyond coronavirus infections. Most of the excess deaths are health-related, but they extend as far as motor vehicle crashes. A recent analysis based on the CDC data shows that 40,000 more Americans than expected died this year from diabetes, Alzheimer’s, high blood pressure and pneumonia. Some of these deaths may have been caused by the virus and just recorded improperly. But a large share may reflect the effect of people getting less health care. (Peter R. Orszag, 12/14)

Stat: Racial Disparities In Covid-19 Are Bad. They're Worse In Cancer 
Many people are aware of the dire — and disproportionate — consequences that Covid-19 has had on the Latinx and Black American communities. New research shows that newly diagnosed Black cancer patients are at a higher risk of severe Covid-19 than white patients. But cancer statistics on their own have consistently painted a grim picture of the wide gaps in cancer care that exist for people of color. (Warren A. Whyte, 12/15)

Los Angeles Times: Thanks To Everyone Who Made A COVID Vaccine Possible In 2020
That we have reached this point just a year after SARS-CoV-2 was first identified is a remarkable feat of science, political will and government mobilization. And for this we are profoundly grateful to the many people whose hard work, vision and personal sacrifice made it possible. Thank you to the scientists who started working on the vaccine in February, even before it was clear how widespread the pandemic would become. Thank you to the thousands of clinical trial volunteers who risked their health to take an experimental vaccine for the benefit of others. Thank you to the government officials who worked to limit the bureaucratic red tape that typically makes vaccine development a years-long process, and for doing it without compromising safety controls. And thanks, too, to President Trump. (12/14)

Dallas Morning News: Texas’ Fallen Pandemic Warriors Sacrificed For Us
The coronavirus pandemic this year delivered a deadly unseen adversary to our shores, and health care workers — doctors, nurses, EMTs and countless others — surged to meet this danger, often without adequate protective equipment, and for unimaginable stressful hours surrounded by death and misery. And as they sought to heal others, some of these heroes also fell victim alongside those they had worked so hard to save. For their selfless impact in the service of others, Texas’ fallen healthcare warriors are finalists for 2020 Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year. Thanks to the good work of “Lost on the Frontline,” an impressive data collaboration between Kaiser Health News and The Guardian, family obituaries and media accounts, we have stories that illustrate the spirit with which some of Texas’ healthcare heroes lived and sacrificed for their fellow Texans. (12/15)

Bloomberg: Covid-19 Is Only The First On Biden's Long Crisis List 
Just as the universe is turtles all the way down, Joe Biden’s presidency could be crises all the way down. It was born of crisis and faces several emergencies at the start. Even his transition is in crisis, thanks to a predecessor who doesn’t want to leave. The most obvious disasters, the pandemic and its associated recession, at least have immediate fixes. Vaccines are on the way. Those will help the economy. But other emergencies will be far thornier to solve. (Mark Gongloff, 12/14)

CNN: Why The Astonishing Vaccine Rollout Broke The Speed Record 
On Friday evening, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the first Covid-19 vaccine, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, for emergency use. On Sunday, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention accepted the FDA recommendation for the emergency use of the vaccine for those 16 years and older. After many months of growing death tolls, overwhelmed hospitals, lockdown fatigue and economic strife, this is a momentous moment. (Barry R. Bloom, 12/14)

The Washington Post: As Covid-19 Vaccines Roll Out, What Should Americans Expect Next?
Critical-care nurses and other front-line health-care workers began receiving the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine Monday, marking a major turning point in the pandemic battle just as the United States passes the horrific milestone of 300,000 coronavirus deaths. Although rollout of a first vaccine means the end of the pandemic is coming into sight, it’s imperative that people do not misunderstand the news to mean that they can now let down their guard. Here are six things to expect in the days and weeks ahead. More good news. It’s a remarkable triumph of science that a safe and effective vaccine has been developed for a virus that wasn’t even identified one year ago. The Food and Drug Administration is likely this week to authorize emergency use of a second vaccine. (Leana S. Wen, 12/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Isn’t The One Politicizing Science
Politics has infected many issues over the past four years and has now reached the supposedly objective halls of official medicine. In an editorial for the Journal of the American Medical Association, “Misguided Use of Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19: The Infusion of Politics Into Science,” Dr. Michael Saag claims that “the politicization of the treatment” was more important than the science in promoting the use of the antimalaria drug to treat Covid-19. This evidence-free claim is contradicted by information in the same editorial and the scientific literature. Dr. Saag doesn’t cite a single source to support his claim that President Trump’s April 4 promotion of the drug influenced physicians’ prescribing decisions. (Joel Zinberg, 12/14)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Another Court Calls Out Missouri's Stifling Of Abortion-Rights Efforts
Once again, a court has seen through Missouri Republicans’ campaign to prevent the public from challenging the state’s draconian new abortion restrictions. A circuit judge ruled earlier this month that the set of laws Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft used to stymie a referendum effort are in fact unconstitutional. The ruling comes too late to save the referendum, but it exposes the depths to which the GOP has sunk in its quest to ensure its radical anti-choice agenda isn’t subjected to public review. The law that Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed last year bans abortions at eight weeks into pregnancy, a point at which some women don’t even know they’re pregnant. It makes exceptions for medical emergencies but not for victims of rape or incest. It’s one of the most restrictive abortion laws in America. (12/13)