The first vaccinations to be given in the U.S. outside of a clinical trial have begun. The momentous occasion came at lightning speed less than a year after the declaration of the global coronavirus pandemic. In spite of the fact that President Donald Trump had said that New York wouldn’t receive the vaccine until later, the state hardest hit in the early days of the pandemic was the first to administer shots. Healthcare workers at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens began receiving the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine at 9 am on Monday, just 3 days after the US Food and Drug Administration—under threat from the White House — approved it for use. Nursing home residents and workers will also be among the early receivers of the vaccine. Nursing homes have lost a whopping 110,000 people – almost a third of the entire national death toll. AP reports that there are fears among seniors about taking the vaccine, saying, “Some who live and work in homes question if enough testing was done on the elderly, if enough is known of side effects and if the shots could do more harm than good.” Still, overall skepticism about the vaccine appears to be falling with a new poll showing a large majority of Americans now saying they will get the vaccine. The Ipsos poll found 40% of the population wanting the vaccine as soon as it becomes available to them, another 44% saying they want to wait to get it and about 15% saying they will never get it. 

Plans for the White House to be first in line to get the vaccine were inexplicably scrapped, perhaps to undercut the perception that Trump and his staff have placed themselves above ordinary Americans in access to cutting-edge treatments. “People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary,” tweeted Trump after the New York Times reported on the plans. He added, “I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time.” Pfizer’s CEO says his company will produce 50 million doses this year and another 1.3 billion next year. In other Covid-related news, new research suggests that people with certain genetic makeup are more vulnerable to the fatal risks of the coronavirus. The study is the biggest of its kind so far and the Washington Post summarized its results saying, “people with blood type A were at higher risk of severe infections, while having blood type O was somewhat associated with a protective effect. It also noted a location on chromosome 3 linked to respiratory failure.” 

The electoral college met on Monday to cast their votes as per official state election results for the November 3rd presidential race. The date of the meeting is set by law and electors are set to cement Joe Biden as the...