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VIRUS TODAY: 2nd vaccine draws closer to FDA approval

Posted December 17, 2020 6:00 am

By The Associated Press

A medical worker passes a medical tent outside the emergency room at UCI Medical Center, Thursday, Dec 17, 2020, in Irvine, Calif. California health authorities reported Thursday a record 379 coronavirus deaths and more than 52,000 new confirmed cases. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) The Associated Press

Here's what's happening Thursday with the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.:

THREE THINGS TO KNOW TODAY

- A second COVID-19 vaccine moved closer to joining the U.S. fight against the pandemic as a panel of experts endorsed its safety and effectiveness, paving way for a final decision by the Food and Drug Administration on emergency use.

- An overwhelming amount of false information clung to COVID-19 as it circled the globe in 2020, from speculation that the coronavirus was created in a lab to hoax cures.

- The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose again last week to 885,000, the highest weekly total since September, as a resurgence of coronavirus cases threatens the economy's recovery from its springtime collapse.

THE NUMBERS: The seven-day rolling average for daily new deaths in the U.S. increased over the past two weeks from 1,606 on Dec. 2 to 2,570 on Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

DEATH TOLL: The U.S. death toll stands at 309,334 people, or about the population of St. Paul, Minnesota.

QUOTABLE: 'œThis is coming much faster than what anybody thought. Something that might have otherwise taken several years - to take this new vaccine technology and test it and approve it - was compressed into within a year.'ť - Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, former chief of the FDA's vaccine division.

ICYMI: The Associated Press' pandemic atlas offers a look at the coronavirus in the U.S. by the numbers.

ON THE HORIZON: The FDA's green light for emergency use of the Moderna vaccine is expected quickly. Moderna would then begin shipping millions of doses, earmarked for health workers and nursing home residents, to boost the largest vaccination effort in U.S. history.

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Find AP's full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

Medical workers remove a stretcher from an ambulance near medical tents outside the emergency room at UCI Medical Center, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, in Irvine, Calif. California health authorities reported Thursday a record 379 coronavirus deaths and more than 52,000 new confirmed cases. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) The Associated Press

Nicole Wesley, a nurse anesthetist, receives one of the first five Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shots at McLaren Flint Hospital, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, in Flint, Mich. (Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal via AP) The Associated Press

Ravinder Singala, a physican and UM-Flint graduate, receives a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shot at McLaren Flint Hospital, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, in Flint, Mich. Singala was one of the first five frontline workers at the hospital to receive the vaccine. (Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal via AP) The Associated Press

Nurse Reynaldo Pella, left, was one of five staff members to simultaneously receive the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, N.J., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. The hospital received almost 1000 doses of the vaccine in the middle of a snowstorm which blanketed much of the Northeast in snow. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) The Associated Press

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