See just numbers. Easy to become numb to all of this. Which is why we will repeat over and over each number represents someone. Many of them probably purchased Holiday Gifts for loved ones, were probably like the rest of us impatiently awaiting a new year that theyll no longer see. People like fill mean a, she was 44 years old when she passed away friday after an intense battle with coronavirus. A third grade teacher who spent her last days conducting virtual classes while wearing an objection gener oxygen mask. I understand many of you provide the same care you would for family, are tired, frustrated. You have to bear the burden of loss now and forever. Theres nothing i can give you in honor of your commitment, courage and compassion. I can simply say i appreciate you and am thankful for all you do. That hard, frustrating work is likely to grow even more taxing because there are no signs the spread of covid19 is slowing. America added 250,000 cases yesterday. We know nearly a year into this deaths lag behind cases, that means more hospitalizations are coming. Hope is on the horizon. An Fda Advisory Panel is reviewing the Moderna Vaccine right now and millions of doses are ready to be shipped as soon as it is authorized. Here in washington, congressional leaders say a deal on covid relief will happen soon. Well have much more on what the deal could include in a moment. First, i want to get to the promise of a second vaccine. I want to talk about it with cnn chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta. Thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it. I want to ask first about whats happening now. The Fda Advisory Committee recommended emergency use authorization for the pfizer vaccine. They are talking about doing it for moderna. What issues are they discussing now . Well, it looks very promising, first of all, dana. I think thats the headline. I think it is looking likely the emergency use authorization will be given, which is terrific news. There may be some caveats. We have been hearing a lot about allergic reactions, for example. Theres a lot of discussion happening now around the allergic reactions, what is driving them. We understand that people that had allergic reactions recovered just fine. The type of situation theyre in, making sure epinephrine is close by. And trying to figure out is there something about the vaccines that may be causing allergic reactions. For example, the moderna trial, they did not exclude people with previous history of allergic reactions. They had excluded them in the pfizer trial. In the moderna trial, there was a person in the placibo group and vaccine that got it. The allergic reaction happened more than two months after the vaccine, almost assuredly not related to that. To give an idea of the gran u larity of the conversation, thats whats happening now. Very much like what we saw last week, lots of people weighing in, lots of discussion around this, probably a recommendation at some point maybe even tonight to the fda about whether or not to authorize it. Again, it looks promising. Interesting. There are obviously differences between the vaccine that we have been seeing going into peoples arms all week and what theyre talking about now at the fda. What are the big differences between moderna and pfizer . We put together this list of things to give you some of the key sort of qualities of the vaccines. We can show you that theyre very similar. Both are messenger rna platform. Both require two doses. Both have similar efficacy or effectiveness. The moderna one is four weeks apart for two doses versus three for pfizer. Moderna can be kept at slightly warmer temperatures that may make it easier to distribute. It is for people 18 and older. Remember, last week there was discussion around the right age to authorize the pfizer one was authorized for 16 and older. Something else, with Moderna Vaccine, this has come up recently, it doesnt have to be diluted or mixed once you take it out, it can be stable at Room Temperature for about 12 hours. That may offer more ease of actually administering vaccines. With the pfizer vaccine, you heard theres supposed to be five doses each bottle, you dilute it with saline and inject it. Couple extra steps with the pfizer vaccine. Relatively minor differences for the person receiving the vaccine, shouldnt feel any different, process shouldnt seem any different. If the fda approves the second vaccine from moderna tonight or tomorrow, what does it mean for real people, what will the impact be in terms of availability . We have been working with numbers based on projected mf S Manufacturing capabilities. A lot of people said, 40 million doses by the end of the year. That was always counting on the idea that both pfizer and moderna would be authorized. I think the number still holds. You had 6. 4 or so million doses of pfizer that were available, about half that went out. With moderna, they have a certain number of doses that go out and manufacturing continues. It is a rolling thing. When you add it up, you get 40 million doses, 20 Million People potentially by end of the year. Alex azar, health skt, said he thinks everyone in longterm care facilities should be able to be immunized by epidemic of the year. Then you have to sort of project forward how many doses would be available from other vaccine makers, how likely would they be manufactured and all of that. Again, it is really remarkable that we are sitting here before 2020 is over and people are getting shots in the arm, and we could have a second vaccine available. Thank you so much for walking us through what it all means. A second vaccine approval cant come soon enough. There are more than 113,000 people in hospitals now being treated for coronavirus. Thats the highest number of hospitalizations weve ever seen in this pandemic. Ten different states are hitting record highs. Joining me to discuss that, cnn medical analyst dr. Seema yasmin. Thank you for joining me. Alarming numbers of new infections, new deaths, hospitalizations, all at the same time we have this hope i was just talking about with sanjay. So the question is, will the shots be enough to stop the spread were seeing now. I think i know the answer to that question. Its going to take some time, unfortunately. For us, we are talking about a vaccine series that needs to be two doses spread out between three weeks. Even then, takes one to two weeks before your body develops the kind of immunity that can protect you from infection. The other thing is were still learning whether the vaccine and whether the Moderna Vaccine, too, can stop people asymptomatic from shedding and spreading the virus to others. Thats why it is important that those people that received vaccines already, you must continue to wear your mask. So important to follow the guidelines. We need herd immunity. We are not out of the woods yet. It is hard to hold those two things, hope offered by science but also grim numbers. We talked about 3600 americans dying just yesterday from covid19. More than the death toll from 9 11. And were seeing this dayin and dayout. Were going to have to hunker down over christmas and the holidays. It will take a few more months. We are really trying to turn the numbers into human beings because it is hard when you have such huge numbers and it is dayin and dayout. I want you to listen to an icu nurse what shes seeing on the ground in iowa city. We are seeing people who are getting incredibly sick from this virus. It seems like the second wave has hit people harder than the first. I dont know if thats just because the numbers are so much bigger this time around, so we are seeing more and more ill people, but people are getting incredibly sick, infecting not just their lungs, their hearts, brains, kidneys, every aspect of their life. Doctor, why is that . Do we know scientifically why it seems worse now during the second wave . I think were just seeing larger numbers, but were also starting to understand more and more that this virus doesnt just cause pneumonia or chest infection, it can latch on receptors of the kidneys, heart, other parts of the body. It is hard to hear that especially from iowa, we see a new report from White House Task force shows that iowa out of the whole of the u. S. Has the highest death rate from covid19 per population, so really hard hit. I think it is important that we think about human stories and also look at individual states because when we talk about the national numbers, yes, theyre awful, average of 209,000 americans newly infected every day last week, but you can see with hope, thats 1. 8 increase from the week before. You think maybe it is starting to level out, but then look to california where i am speaking to you from. We have seen a 40 increase in number of new infections from this week compared to last week, so we are so not out of the woods yet. National numbers might be starting to level out, thats not the case here and nine other states. We will talk later to an official in los angeles county. I was reaching down for my mask to emphasize what you said. Yes, hope is on the way, help is on the way, wear a mask, wear a mask, wear a mask. Cant say it enough. Doctor, thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. Thank you. And coming up, congressional leaders trying to reach a deal on Coronavirus Relief. 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Congressional leaders promise to reach a deal on a second round of covid relief at least before end of the year, hopefully they say sooner. Senior Congressional Correspondent manu raju is live on capitol hill. You have been chasing down every lawmaker you see. I know you know what is going on behind closed doors. Give us the scoop. Things are moving along slowly. Appears a deal when it is reached, still expectation the deal will be reached, could be a matter of days before you see something or matter of days before congress will pass something. Now theres talk among Republican Leaders and Democratic Leaders of extending a key deadline tomorrow to essentially another few days in order to give more time for talks to play out. The deadline, if they dont extend the deadline, the government will shutdown. Theyre trying to covid relief issue and funding bill to get this done, trying to sort out key issues. One of the big sticking points, how to structure checks, direct payments to individuals. About 600 what theyre talking about, one time payment for individuals under a certain threshold. John thune said theyre talking about trying to restrict it further to ensure that in his view people that get the money need the money, and theres still discussion back and forth on that point. This proposal would include 300 per week for jobless benefits. So many people are effected by expiring jobless benefits. Talking about adding 330 billion for businesses, Small Businesses hit hard by the pandemic. What will not be in the proposal is state and local aid that democrats are pushing for. Theres debate about using fema to dole out money to states and localities on an emergency basis. That continues to play out. Dana, key sticking points remain. Optimism a deal can be reached but expectation now this could be a few more days, anything could happen. People eagerly await action from congress. As we know, this is much, much, much delayed negotiating thats happened, months in the making. Before novembers election, it seemed as though Republican Leaders felt comfortable waiting because their party was so divided on this. I know you have new reporting how the outstanding Georgia Senate races are factoring into the sudden burst of negotiations. Reporter thats right. Mitch mcconnell behind closed doors told his conference yesterday on a conference call, he said that david and kelly are getting hammered on this issue, referring to david perdue and kelly loeffler, talking about the issue of direct payments. It is a big issue in the race. Democratic candidates are hammering the republican incumbents. Mcconnell watches the ads closely, recognizes it. Perhaps one reason it is driving a possible deal on the issue of direct payments which will almost certainly get into the final package, dana. Manu raju, thank you so much. Joining me now, democratic congresswoman barbara lee of california, former chair of both Congressional Black Caucus and progressive caucus. Thank you so much for joining me. Your reaction to outlines of the emerging Coronavirus Relief bill . Sure. First, dana, let me thank you for inviting me to be with you. I think were getting close. This really basically is what some of us are calling a survival package. We have been working on this for months. Enhanced 300 a week in unemployment compensation, 600 survival payment, making sure our Small Businesses dont go under any more than what has happened in terms of them going out of business. It is so important. Believe you me, we are going to stay here until it is done. It really is something that the American People need desperately. I know our speaker is negotiating day and night to try to make this the best package that we could provide given the bipartisan nature of the provisions of it. You are part of a group of progressive lawmakers that wrote congressional leaders this week and you said that a relief package should include direct payments of at least 2,000 for all working individuals and families. You just heard manu report that theyre talking about, at least republicans, john thune in particular, second ranking republican said a cap of 600 for individuals and maybe even targeted to a certain income group. Would you vote for that . Let me say, we havent seen a bill yet quite frankly but we know that this is a survival package until the Biden Harris Administration comes in, then we have to do a heck of a lot more. Some of us believe not only do we need direct assistance survival payment but this should extend to the end of the pandemic. We dont know when this is going to end. People need money, need money in their pockets, need to take care of their families, need to be sure that theyre safe and healthy, and businesses need some surety as to Economic Impacts and down sides of whats taking place. We have to see this in the longer term and we need more. But we are trying to do what we can do now so People Living on the edge can survive just for the next month. I mean, this is a matter of survival now for everybody in this country. And real quick, the other deadline is tomorrow, which is funding the government, a basic function of congress that congress has not done the way it is supposed to for many, many years. Do you feel confident that congress will avert a shutdown . Nobody wants a shutdown, dana. I think that were going to make sure there is no shutdown. We have to keep working. Were going to work hard until this is done. When you look at the fact that 8 million more people have fallen into the ranks of the poor, i chair the task force on poverty and opportunity. Were trying to lift people out of poverty. We have food lines, people who have never had to seek help. Our government needs to step up and help. Were going to work, were not going to shut the government down, were going to work until we take care of those that are desperate now that need our help. Thats what government should be about. Before i let you go, i want to ask about the senate seat from california. You are from california. It is soon going to be open when Kamala Harris is sworn in as vice president. Your colleague congresswoman presley tweeted we cannot go backwards with election of Kamala Harris to vp elect, gavin newsom must prior ties Leadership Perspective and representation in the vacated senate seat and appoint a black woman, barbara lee, thats you, karen bass, seasoned policy makers. Do you agree her successor should be a black woman representing california and number two, do you want the job . Well, let me say, there are several wonderful people, including congresswoman karen bass on the list as i understand it, i would be honored to serve my state, to serve my country. There are perspectives and experiences black women bring to our public policy, to our legislative agenda, and our country would be strengthened by those perspectives and there will not be one africanamerican woman in the senate, only been a total of ten years since 1789 that two africanamerican women served. So i would be honored. But of course, i respect the decision of the governor. But sounds like youre saying yes, it should be a black woman . Im saying i would respect the decision of the governor. I believe that that void that is going to be left by Kamala Harris needs to be filled because it is a void that will be necessary to move our country forward and to solve the countrys problems. Congresswoman barbara lee, thank you so much. Appreciate you joining me. My pleasure. Thank you. Up next, the dire Economic Impact of covid19 as unemployment climbs and lawmakers as we were just talking about are still squabbling about relief efforts. A must in your medicine cabinet less sick days cold coming on . Zicam® is clinically proven to shorten colds highly recommend it zifans love zicams uni