Today’s Headlines and Commentary
The Food and Drug Administration is aiming to issue an emergency authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine by Friday evening, reports the New York Times. Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, today announced that Americans may receive vaccinations as soon as Monday or Tuesday of next week. The announcement comes as the daily coronavirus death toll in the United States broke the 3,000 mark on both Wednesday and Thursday.
An extraordinary lawsuit filed by the state of Texas against four battleground states—Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—seeks to overturn the results of the presidential election, according to the Times. Texas asked the Supreme Court to consider the case and temporarily prohibit the four states from having their electors cast votes in the Electoral College. Legal experts say the Supreme Court is likely to reject the Texas lawsuit given the case’s procedural and substantive shortcomings.