 Welcome to Monday’s Overnight Health Care. If it’s Monday, that seems to mean good vaccine news these days. But at the same time, the pandemic is surging. There’s also a new push around a certain Health and Human Services Secretary in President-elect Joe Biden's administration. We’ll start with the vaccine. Moderna to apply for emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccine candidate on Monday Moderna announced that it will apply for emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate on Monday. The company said in a statement that testing showed its vaccine candidate was 94.1 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 and was 100 percent effective against severe COVID-19. It also said "no serious safety concerns" have been identified to date. Some trial participants have experienced reactions like pain at the site of the injection or fatigue. What’s next: The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is likely to meet on Dec. 17 to review the Moderna vaccine candidate’s safety and efficacy data, according to the company. The drugmaker expects to have made about 20 million doses of the virus available in the U.S. by the end of the year. Pfizer, meanwhile, has announced its own candidate is 95 percent effective, following interim data showing it was 90 percent effective against the virus. The extremely high efficacy of two different vaccines is welcome news in the fight against the pandemic, but there are still several tough months before it will be available on a broad scale. Read more here.
Hospitals brace for COVID-19 surge Hospitals are facing rising pressure from a surge of coronavirus cases that is threatening to overwhelm their capacity, as the country braces for further escalation following Thanksgiving. Over 93,000 people are in the hospital with coronavirus, a record level, and the number is only continuing to rise, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. The country is also recording over 150,000 new cases every day, and the numbers are likely to only get worse given a burst of gatherings and travel from Thanksgiving. Hospitals around the country are steeling themselves for an already-strained situation to get even worse. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which represents academic medical centers across the country, sent a document to its member hospitals last week reminding them of “crisis standards of care,” which are used to cope with an overwhelming number of patients. “From everywhere, I’m hearing an increasing, growing concern,” said Dr. Janis Orlowski, AAMC’s chief medical officer. “I expect we are going to have another significant surge in numbers and this is on top of what is already an extraordinary number of hospitalizations.” Read more here. US more than doubles highest number of monthly COVID-19 cases The U.S. more than doubled its highest number of monthly new COVID-19 cases in November, according to data from NBC News. As of 9 a.m. on Monday, the country has confirmed more than 4.2 million coronavirus cases this month, easily topping the record from October of almost 1.95 million, according to NBC News’s count. Before the fall, July had the most confirmed new cases with almost 1.93 million. Throughout the month, the U.S. has seen a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases, documenting at least 100,000 cases per day since Nov. 4. The day following Thanksgiving, the country surpassed 13 million total confirmed cases throughout the pandemic — six days after reaching 12 million cases. The country has also seen record coronavirus-related hospitalization statistics this month, with more than 93,000 people currently hospitalized, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Hospitalizations first reached the 90,000 threshold on Black Friday. Read more here. Bipartisan Senate group holding coronavirus relief talks amid stalemate Coronavirus relief talks have been stalled for months. Now one bipartisan group of senators is trying to change that. The talks, confirmed to The Hill by four sources, are one of the first signs of life for a potential coronavirus agreement as congressional Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the White House have remained far apart on both the price tag and the policy details. The group includes Republican Sens. Mitt Romney (Utah), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Susan Collins (Maine) as well as Democratic Sens. Chris Coons (Del.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mark Warner (Va.), Michael Bennet (Colo.) and Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat. Senators involved in the talks are eyeing an eventual government funding deal as a vehicle for coronavirus relief. Congress has to fund the government — either with a full-year omnibus or with a short-term continuing resolution — by Dec. 11. The standoff: McConnell has stood firm at pushing for a roughly $500 billion spending package similar to what has been blocked twice in the Senate. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) say $2.2 trillion is the starting line for any negotiations. Read more here.
Hispanic leaders coalesce in support of Lujan Grisham as HHS secretary Hispanic political leaders are banding together in support of New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), who they see as the most qualified candidate to be President-elect Joe Biden's secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). In a letter to Biden on Sunday, a broad majority of Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) members called on Biden to appoint Lujan Grisham, who led the CHC as a member of Congress before becoming governor, and was New Mexico's top health care official. "For more than 30 years, Governor Lujan Grisham has worked tirelessly to improve health care access and quality for New Mexicans and all Americans. The governor’s extensive record in public service and public health is a national model for leadership," wrote the CHC members. Lujan Grisham is said to be one of three candidates under consideration for the position, along with former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D). Context: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) said on the floor Monday Biden will announce his health team “soon.” Read more here. What we’re reading: The long darkness before dawn (The New York Times) Who gets the vaccine first and who decides? 3 things to know (ABC News) Divisions emerge among US officials over first COVID-19 vaccine (STAT) State by state Number of Iowa nursing homes reporting coronavirus outbreaks increases to 156 (Des Moines Register) 'Am I dying?': Wisconsin nurse describes acting as family to COVID-19 patients who worry and suffer alone (USA Today) Rural Ohio counties seeing COVID-19 rates that rival urban areas (Columbus Dispatch) The Hill op-eds Is America breaking its health care promise to you? | 
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