News: Axios PM: 🚨 Trump teases 2024 — Hope for COVID winter

Monday, November 9, 2020

Axios PM: 🚨 Trump teases 2024 — Hope for COVID winter — Zoomsgiving

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Presented By UnitedHealth Group

Axios PM

By Mike Allen ·Nov 09, 2020

Good afternoon: Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 580 words, a 2-minute read.

🚨Situational awareness:

Scoop: President Trump has already told advisers he's thinking about running for president again in 2024, Jonathan Swan reported this afternoon.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper "has been terminated," Trump tweeted today.
More COVID in Trumpworld: HUD Secretary Ben Carson and outside adviser David Bossie have tested positive.

🎬 Join us at 11 p.m. ET/PT tonight for our "Axios on HBO" post-election blockbuster: Valerie Biden Owens ... House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy ... House Majority Whip James Clyburn ... Georgia Senate candidate Jon Ossoff ... and Rep. Ro Khanna.

See a clip.

1 big thing: Vaccine gives hope during COVID winter

Data: Our World in Data; Chart: Naema Ahmed/Axios

Hope in a pandemic: Pfizer said its vaccine trial prevented symptomatic COVID-19 infections in 90% of previously uninfected people, without any serious safety concerns.

"The results are really quite good, I mean extraordinary," said Dr. Anthony Fauci.
"I'm encouraged," said Paul Offit, a physician and vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Stock markets surged on the news, with the Dow up nearly 3%.

Pfizer expects to release safety data next week, CEO Albert Bourla told Axios' Dan Primack on the Re:Cap podcast.

Bourla says he would've released vaccine data before the election if possible.
The company plans to let public health officials determine who receives initial doses.
Pfizer did not accept government money for research and development, in order to better "liberate our scientists" and to "keep Pfizer out of politics."
Full transcript.

The big picture: The pandemic is surging in North America and Europe, with the U.S. recording more than 100,000 new cases a day since last week.

Total U.S. cases surpassed 10 million today.

The good news: A successful Pfizer candidate bodes well for some of the other vaccines that are currently in trials, writes STAT's Helen Branswell.

Its 90+% reported efficacy rate is far higher than the 50% bar set by the FDA, which could ease the task of getting people to sign up for a first-generation vaccine.
It uses the same tech and targets the same protein as other vaccines, suggesting that those approaches could work too.

Potential obstacles, flagged by Bloomberg's Drew Armstrong.

"The vaccine may work better in some groups than in others."
"There could be safety concerns that limit its use — including rare side effects that take two or three months to emerge."
"And the shot must be stored at ultra-low temperatures, a logistical challenge that will make distribution harder and slower."

The bottom line: "I was nervous," Bourla told Axios on the prospect of the vaccine failing to work as intended.

"[I]f we're not successful, we are going to lose the billion dollars. But if we're unsuccessful, the world is losing hope."

2. Pic du jour

Photo: Sebastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images

A message probably lost by a carrier pigeon in 1910, sent by a German officer and miraculously found by chance in 2020 in eastern France.

A message from UnitedHealth Group

Leading in the development of a next-generation health care system

For more than 20 years, UnitedHealth Group has advocated for universal coverage.

Learn more about three solutions to build on the existing health care system to cover 28 million more people.

We're committed to expanding access to high-quality, affordable health care.

3. Catch up quick

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defended Trump's refusal to concede to Joe Biden." Go deeper.
GM is pulling ahead the launch of two future electric vehicles and plans to add 3,000 new software jobs by early next year. Go deeper.
The right-leaning social network Parler is now topping the free app download charts. Go deeper.
The billionaire son of one former Lebanese prime minister and brother of another tells Axios his younger brother must not cut any political deals with Hezbollah in order to form a new government. Go deeper.

4. 🦃 The year of Zoomsgiving

Photo: Getty Images/Stock

For once, electronic devices will be socially acceptable at the Thanksgiving dinner table, since so many families will be feasting virtually. A few COVID-era hacks, via USA Today:

Put more guests on one side of the table than usual, so more of them are in camera range.
Keep it interesting for virtual guests by moving your device around during the meal.
Coordinate recipes, so distant tables have the same Parmesan roasted Brussels sprouts or scalloped sweet potatoes.