Year: 2020

Distribution of the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine could be mere months away. But how that distribution will work remains a massive logistical puzzle that is still coming together piece by piece.

NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin reports on how drug companies and the federal government are planning to ship and store vaccines that must remain frozen, some at temperatures that require special freezers.

NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston outlines the federal government’s $590 million plan to avoid shortages of crucial vials and syringes.

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During President Trump’s first year in office, 42,000 Americans died of drug overdoses linked to heroin, fentanyl and prescription opioids. After a minor decrease in 2018, deaths rose to a record 50,042 in 2019. That number will likely be even worse for 2020.

NPR’s Brian Mann reports on the surge of synthetic fentanyl, especially in the western U.S.

And NPR’s Emily Feng unveils a web of Chinese sellers exporting individual chemical components to produce fentanyl.

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Data from two leading COVID-19 vaccine trials indicate they may be between 90 and 95% effective. Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientist in charge of the U.S. government’s vaccine development program, Operation Warp Speed, tells NPR he’s optimistic there is “a light at the end of the tunnel.“

Dr. Anthony Fauci told NPR the results are worth celebrating — but that they should not be seen as a signal to pull back on public health measures. He also said the first vaccine doses may be available next month.

But it will still be months longer before any vaccine is widely available. Two former government health officials — Scott Gottlieb and Andy Slavitt — tell NPR that in the meantime, the pandemic is could kill 200,000 more Americans.

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Former President Barack Obama talks with NPR’s Michel Martin about his time in office, President Trump’s pandemic response, the 2020 election and what he thinks President-elect Joe Biden says about the United States right now.

In Obama’s new memoir, A Promised Land, he writes about his first term in the White House.

Read NPR’s full interview with Obama here.

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The U.S. is entering the worst of the pandemic. For many, pandemic fatigue set in months ago. Others are struggling anew with cases spiking dramatically almost everywhere in the country.

Psychotherapist Gina Moffa and NPR’s Linda Holmes answer listener questions about mental health, processing the news, and keeping ourselves occupied.

Linda hosts NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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President Trump’s refusal to engage in any meaningful national security transition is dangerous, say two former national security officials.

Kori Schake with the American Enterprise Institute served on George W. Bush’s National Security Council and in senior posts at the Pentagon and the State Department. Harvard’s Nicholas Burns served at the State Department and on the National Security Council in every administration from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush.

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The governors of North Dakota, Ohio and Utah all delivered the same message this week: hospital resources normally used for patients with heart attacks, strokes or emergency trauma will soon be overrun by patients with COVID-19.

KCUR’s Alex Smith reports on rural hospitals that are already at capacity, forcing them to transfer patients to city hospitals.

Lydia Mobley, a traveling nurse working in central Michigan, says she sees multiple patients every shift who say they regret not taking the coronavirus more seriously.

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We know President Trump lost the election. What we don’t know is what will happen between now and Inauguration Day if he refuses to accept the results.

In the short term, the Biden transition team cannot access certain government funds, use office space or receive classified intelligence briefings without official recognition of Biden’s victory from a government agency called the General Services Administration. NPR’s Brian Naylor has reported on the delay.

At the Department of Justice, the top prosecutor in charge of election crimes, Richard Pilger, resigned from his position this week. A former DOJ colleague of Pilger’s, Justin Levitt, tells NPR that the department is enabling the president’s baseless claims of widespread election fraud.

And Washington Post columnist David Ignatius explains what might be happening at the Department of Defense, where Trump’s election denialism has coincided with a number of high-level firings and a debate over the release of classified information.

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President Trump may be on his way out, but Republicans will have to rely on his voters to hold power in the Senate. If Democrats win two runoff elections in Georgia on January 5, they will win a narrow Senate majority.

Stephen Fowler of Georgia Public Broadcasting explains how Republicans in Georgia are attacking the state’s election process.

Natasha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, explains how Democrats in Georgia turned out voters in the presidential race.

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In 2008, then President-elect Obama and President Bush set up a join task force to help the incoming administration deal with the financial crisis they were about to inherit. Brown University’s Ashish Jha tells NPR a similar effort is needed now to deal with the coronavirus. But so far, there’s no sign of any cooperation from the Trump administration.

President-elect Biden has established his own task force of scientists and physicians to work on his administration’s response to the pandemic. Task force member Dr. Nicole Lurie tells NPR one goal of their effort will be to convince Americans the virus is the enemy — not each other.

The Biden administration will also inherit Operation Warp Speed, the government’s vaccine development program. Gus Perna is the Army general in charge. He explains how vaccine distribution might work.

The pandemic won’t be the only public health challenge facing the Biden administration if millions of people lose their health care coverage. That’s what could happen if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act, explains Erin Fuse Brown with Georgia State University’s College of Law.

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