American reset could arrive soon as COVID vaccines emerge from trials

BY JACK CROWE

November 16, 2020

AS REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS on Capitol Hill prepare for leadership elections this week, and the Biden administration hopes to begin its transition in earnest, more evidence is emerging that there may soon be a broader reset in American life to accompany the political recalibration brought about by the 2020 election.

Moderna Inc. announced Monday that its experimental vaccine has proven 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19, making it the second U.S. company in just a week to exceed expectations regarding the effectiveness and delivery date for a vaccine that could return the country to something resembling normal life.

Pfizer announced last week that its vaccine has proven more than 90 percent effective but unlike Moderna's version, Pfizer's must be refrigerated, making distribution more difficult.

The announcement, which is based on late-stage clinical trials with 95 participants, raises the possibility that the U.S. could have two vaccines available for emergency use before the end of the year. Moderna said it would have 20 million doses ready for injection by the end of 2020 and Pfizer said it will have 50 million by then, enough for some 35 million Americans to be vaccinated, since both vaccines require two doses.

"We are going to have a vaccine that can stop COVID-19," Moderna President Stephen Hoge told Fox Business.

It is now looking more likely that Joe Biden will enter office amid a national vaccine distribution effort that will, if successful, eventually allow state governors to begin lifting COVID restrictions, giving the Biden administration a momentum boost and some breathing room to focus on non-COVID related priorities. Not to mention the lift to the stock market and broader economy that would likely materialize once the vaccine's effects begin to show up in falling case numbers, hospitalizations, and death rates.

A successful vaccine might also rescue Biden from having to make hard choices about how to balance economic and personal liberty concerns against public health considerations. It would save him from having to choose between the advice of two of his coronavirus advisers: Dr. Michael Osterholm, who last week advocated a four to six week national lockdown with the government picking up the tab for lost wages, and Dr. Vivek Murthy, who said Sunday that a national lockdown was a "measure of last resort."

The timing of Pfizer's announcement, coming as it did on the first full business day after the race was called for Biden, prompted President Trump to accuse the "medical deep state" of conspiring to hold the good news so that his campaign wouldn't benefit from it. Trump and some in the conservative press, Tucker Carlson most prominent among them, have implied that the FDA colluded with Pfizer to delay the announcement.

During a segment last week, Carlson's guest, WMAL's Vince Coglianese, pointed out that Pfizer's executives, like the rest of their pharmaceutical industry colleagues, overwhelmingly supported Biden for president, and implied partisanship may have motivated their timeline. Coglianese also pointed out that the Biden campaign said they learned the good news Sunday evening while Trump administration officials found out from the press on Monday morning.

No evidence has yet emerged to support the claim that the vaccine was delayed; Pfizer's CEO claims he was not informed of the news until Sunday afternoon and couldn't have coordinated the timing of its release if he wanted to.

The right is not alone in emphasizing the political dynamics surrounding the vaccine's development and distribution: Governor Andrew Cuomo is already threatening to sue the federal government to ensure the vaccine is equitably distributed among New York's "black and brown" communities.

Political implications aside, the vaccines cannot get here soon enough. Last week, the U.S. experienced a record-high weekly average of 145,401 daily cases and more patients — 69,400 — are currently hospitalized with the virus than at any other point in the pandemic.

Trump Says Biden 'Won' — Then Claims Race 'Rigged' and Refuses to Concede

President Trump appeared to admit on Sunday that Joe Biden won the general election, but then claimed the race was "rigged" and refused to concede defeat.

Major networks including the Associated Press, Fox News, CNN, and NBC, projected on November 7 that Joe Biden would win the election. However, the president has claimed that Democrats engaged in widespread voter fraud and that the election was "stolen" from him.

"[Biden] won because the Election was Rigged," Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday morning. The president went on to criticize the "Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion," which sells electronic voting machines and tabulators.

National Lockdown to Contain COVID 'Measure of Last Resort,' Biden Health Advisor Says

Dr. Vivek Murthy, a top coronavirus advisor to President-elect Joe Biden, said on Sunday a national lockdown of businesses and schools is a "measure of last resort" and that any lockdown that would occur now would look different than those of the spring.

"In the spring we didn't know a lot about COVID, we responded, in a sense, with an on-off switch," Murthy, a former U.S. surgeon general, said in an appearance on Fox News Sunday. "We just shut things down because we didn't know exactly how this was spreading and where it was spreading, but we learned a lot more since then."

Moderna Says Coronavirus Vaccine Is Nearly 95 Percent Effective, Trial Data Shows

Moderna announced Monday that its coronavirus vaccine is 94.5 percent effective against the illness, according to early phase three trial data, making it the second drug maker to announce an extremely high success rate for its experimental vaccine.

"This is a pivotal moment in the development of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate," CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement, calling the news a "game-changer."

"Since early January, we have chased this virus with the intent to protect as many people around the world as possible. All along, we have known that each day matters. This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease," Bancel said.

Moderna's shares spiked more than 17 percent as the news broke.

Cuomo Threatens to Sue Trump Admin. To Ensure Vaccine Is Distributed to 'Black and Brown Communities'

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday threatened to sue the Trump administration if it does not change its coronavirus vaccine distribution plan to allow for more equitable delivery among "black and brown communities" hardest-hit by the virus.

"The Trump administration is designing the distribution plan, and their plan basically has private health care companies administer the vaccines," Cuomo said in a speech at Manhattan's Riverside Church. "The president talks about CVS and Walgreens and national chains. Sure. But they are mainly located in rich communities, not in poor communities."

He continued: "My friends, we cannot compound the racial injustice that COVID has already created. And let me be clear — the black and brown communities that were first on the list of who died cannot be last on the list of who receives the vaccines, period."

GOP State Legislative Leaders Rule Out Appointing Pro-Trump Electors in Defiance of Vote

Republican state legislative leaders in several swing states are ruling out a long-shot strategy to reelect President Trump that would involve the GOP-led state legislatures overruling the popular vote and choosing electors that would vote for Trump over President-elect Joe Biden.

However, the Republican majority leaders of the state legislatures in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina indicated to the New York Times this week that they do not see such a scenario occurring.

The Electoral Count Act stipulates that in the event of "failed elections," state legislatures may step in and appoint electors.