₦airaland Forum

In less than a year, more Americans will die of COVID-19 than died during World War II, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
In the 1,347 days from the attack on Pearl Harbor to V-J Day, 405,399 Americans died fighting in World War II, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. In less than a quarter of that time, at least 400,022 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19.
These historic tragedies are connected solely by the scale of death and injuries – except for a few soldiers who fought in the war but lost their battle against the coronavirus and the few who survived both.
Still, looking at the two moments together perhaps helps us remember the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of young U.S. soldiers and recognize the serious threat the coronavirus pandemic poses.
In recent weeks, COVID-19 deaths have risen so steadily that the rate of American deaths could be measured in seconds. An American died every 19 seconds on Jan. 12 – the only time the rate fell below 20 seconds.
That's even faster than the death rate all the Allied forces soldiers suffered (a death every 20 seconds) on D-Day, June 6, 1944, when more than 4,400 soldiers died during the invasion.
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, left 2,403 Americans dead. COVID-19 deaths have exceeded that toll nearly 30 times since Dec. 1.
President-elect Joe Biden pledged that his administration would accelerate the U.S. vaccination rate in his first 100 days. About 40% of the 31.2 million doses had been administered as of Jan. 15, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Track vaccine distribution by state: How many people in the USA have received a shot?
Infections, which have portended higher death rates, remain at the highest levels since the pandemic arrived in the USA nearly a year ago. That will probably keep this country as a world leader in infections and deaths in the days, or potentially weeks, to come.
Now that COVID-19 has supplanted World War II, this pandemic ranks as the third-deadliest event in the history of the United States, behind the Civil War of 1861-1865 and the flu pandemic of 1918, also known as the Spanish flu.
Projections suggest that reaching or exceeding either milestone is unlikely, according to an update Jan. 15 by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. 
That said, the CDC announced Jan. 15 that any forecasts could be negated by the emergence of more contagious variants of the virus that could become the dominant strain in the USA by March. Conversely, the development of therapeutics might lessen the disease’s worst effects.
This pandemic has has a historic impact on the country's life expectancy.
U.S. life expectancy has been falling compared with other wealthy nations since the 1980s. A study released Jan. 14 by the University of Southern California and Princeton University suggests U.S. life expectancy fell by a full year in 2020 largely because of COVID-19 deaths. 
As 2021 begins with these unsettling statistics, the push for more daily vaccinations, more therapeutics and continued social distancing and mask use, the IHME forecasts new infections and subsequent deaths could begin declining within the next two weeks.
Maybe in the coming months, Americans can celebrate together the end of another hard-fought victory.

The U.S. surpassed 22 million coronavirus cases Friday and set a record for new cases in a single day, according to NBC News' tally.
The records come as cases and deaths reach new highs in the United Kingdom after a mutant strain of Covid-19 was detected there. At least 50 cases of the more contagious variant have been identified so far in the U.S.
The U.S. reported 269,420 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, a new record. Two states also set new daily highs: Maine with 41 deaths and New York with 18,687 cases.
There have been more than 369,000 deaths in the U.S.
As cases and deaths climb, American scientists are working around-the-clock to determine how widespread the U.K. variant is. Since the strain was found late last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has promised to ramp up genetic sequencing in the U.S., which is needed to find new strains.
A spokesperson for the CDC said the agency is working with state health officials and academic and public health laboratories to double the number of samples sequenced every week.
In the U.K., the strain is pushing hospitals to their breaking points.
"Our hospitals are under more pressure from Covid-19 than at any time since the start of the pandemic," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
Paramedic Ben Schischa said the situation has become "completely crazy" and that the number of people confirmed or suspected to have Covid-19 has "exploded exponentially" compared to even a week or two ago.
Schischa has been on the front lines of the pandemic since March and said he has seen patients wait in ambulances for hours until a hospital had enough space for them.
"That's just an example of what's going on at the moment. And that's the same everywhere — London, Kent, Essex," Schischa said, referring to counties in southeast England that are among the hardest hit. "It's become like a war zone again."
The virus has killed more than 76,000 people in the U.K., the worst death toll in Europe and the fifth worst in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Britain is already facing a medical collapse, how far is the United States? Before the people and the government agree on how to correctly face the epidemic and take effective actions, we cannot see the future direction of the United States.
What I want to say is that our country has done a good job, at least not as bad as the United States and Britain. I don't believe that vaccines can solve everything, especially when vaccines are basically controlled by developed countries. Friends, let's respect science more and reduce meetings and gatherings.

(Ecofin Agency) - Bradford Lee Smith, Head of Microsoft Corporation, announced on January 7 his company is ready to help Nigeria revive its economy after the Covid-19 pandemic. This was during a virtual meeting with Yemi Osinbajo (pictured).
Developed and approved in June 2020, Nigeria's Economic Recovery Plan is the government's response to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. In its report "Rising to the challenge: Nigeria's Covid response" published in December 2020, the World Bank revealed that as a result of the double shock of the Covid-19 outbreak and associated containment measures, as well as the subsequent global oil price shock, economic activity in Nigeria declined by 6% in the second quarter of 2020 and 3.1% in the third quarter, with a cumulative contraction of 2.5% in the first three quarters of 2020.
By participating in Nigeria's economic recovery plan, Microsoft will have the opportunity to further strengthen its presence in the country where it has already invested through a digital development center. This new investment will boost competition with Google, Facebook, and Huawei.
According to Bradford Lee Smith, although the terms of the cooperation between Microsoft and Nigeria are yet to be defined, the vision of the American company's investment in the country remains oriented towards the creation of the most viable technology ecosystem in Africa; An ecosystem that will help make Nigeria's technology sector a source of wealth and employment for the youth.

He stated this at the commemoration of the 16th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas convention, also known as the Indian diaspora day, held in Abuja on Saturday.
Thakur said the supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses to Nigeria could be an “important area of collaboration” between the two countries.
“We will be rolling out next week as the vaccines are already announced. So, we will be quite keen to apply for the necessary registration with the regulatory authorities of Nigeria,” NAN quoted him to have said.
“And we will be very happy to supply, on either concessional terms, or any other needs that may be projected by the government of Nigeria.
“In fact, we will like to go out and engage the external world, particularly because we have performed well not only during the COVID period, but in earlier pandemics and contributions to anti-AIDS drugs for Africa.
“We will be ready to collaborate when the registration process, as may be required, is completed, and I am sure this will be an important area of collaboration between our two countries.
“We will have to discuss this with the government of Nigeria. Let it be registered first, and we will have to get the approval process.”
On January 3, Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, announced the approval of two COVID-19 vaccines produced by Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech.
“A decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited fight! DCGI granting approval to vaccines of @SerumInstIndia and @BharatBiotech accelerates the road to a healthier and COVID-free nation. Congratulations India. Congratulations to our hardworking scientists and innovators,” he had posted in a tweet.
Some scientists had, however, expressed concern about the “rushed” approval of the vaccines, especially Covaxin, produced by Bharat Biotech — the phase 3 trial test results were said to have not been received at the time of approval.
Vineeta Bal, an immunologist at India’s National Institute of Immunology, had described the approval of a vaccine without phase 3 data as “unconscionable”.
But at a media conference, V.G. Somani, drugs controller-general of India, said even though testing had not been completed on Covaxin, he was approving it as an “abundant precaution”.
He said both vaccines were produced for restricted use only, and that the manufacturers would continue with clinical trials.

A list of 100 passports has been published by the Federal Government who denied COVID-19 tests on post-arrival, according to a report by Nairametrics.
Reportedly informing the passport owners, PTF said that the owners are being informed about the suspension on their traveling since they would not be allowed to travel out of Nigeria for the next six months.
Followed by the denial of the following 100 passport holders who refused to undergo a COVID-19 second test right after their arrival in Nigeria. Boss Mustapha, the Chairman of PTF, signed the announcement earlier on Tuesday, as per the report.
"With effect from Jan. 1, 2021, passports of the first 100 passengers, who failed to take their day-seven post-arrival polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, would be published in the national dailies," he said.
Focusing on the emerging national pandemic crisis, Mustapha said, "our National Response is passing through a challenging phase due to the seriousness of the second wave of infections in Nigeria. Week 52 has so far given us the highest number of infections in a single week to date. Our analysis shows that 16 out of every 100 tests carried out are positive. We are also seeing increasing transmission among younger people and this is not considered good and safe. We must, therefore, exercise utmost restraint by taking responsibility".

We should strictly enforce the government system, especially when Covid-19 is threatening our lives. We should be responsible for our lives. Because the pandemic is not over yet.

The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has predicted a significant increase in coronavirus infections in Nigeria by January, 2021.
“We just faced the worst week since we started responding to this outbreak. We had more cases in Nigeria last week than in any other previous week since the beginning of the outbreak.
“Pictures and videos from across the country paint a very disheartening situation because it appears that our messaging, our appeals to Nigerians over the last few months have not been heeded and we have gone ahead with business as usual. Events centres are full, social activities are full and so it is no surprising that cases are rising.
“January will be a tough month, no doubt about it. So, we have to brace ourselves for the consequences of the activities that we decided to carry out in December. Our colleagues, the Chief Medical Directors CMDs are here today because of the pressures that we face across the country”, he said.
Ihekweazu added: “Our treatment centres are filling up, we are struggling to keep up, we are struggling to find the facilities and oxygen to manage. Every night we are faced with phone calls of patients desperate for care.
”So, unfortunately, January will be a tough month for all of us. It will be tough, but we still have an opportunity to do what we need to do, liaising with state governors to be more purposeful in implementing the measures that we have collectively agreed on.
“We have seen some of them doing that but many of the states in the country haven’t and pretend as if there will be no consequences. This is the reality we face and so we have got to brace ourselves for January.”
The NCDC boss noted that in terms of the new variant of the virus, there was no change in the presentation of symptoms, except that it was more transmissible which would mean more cases, including critical ones, and the possible increase in fatalities.

Novavax on Monday announced the start of the Phase 3 trial of its COVID-19 vaccine in the United States and Mexico. It is the fifth company to launch a large-scale trial of a coronavirus vaccine in the United States.
The trial for the vaccine candidate, known as NVX-CoV2373, will evaluate safety, efficacy and immune response in up to 30,000 people age 18 and older. It builds on Phase 1/2 studies that demonstrated that the vaccine provoked an immune response and appeared to be safe.
The trial is examining whether the vaccine prevents COVID-19 symptoms, as well as moderate or severe COVID-19 symptoms. All participants will be followed for 24 months following their second injection.
Two-thirds of participants will be assigned to randomly receive two injections of vaccine administered 21 days apart, the remaining one-third will receive a placebo. The trials sites are in locations that currently have high transmission rates "to accelerate the accumulation of positive cases that could show efficacy," the release says.
Novavax says it aims for at least 25% of the study population to be age 65 or older, at least 15% to be Black, at least 10 to 20% Latinx and 1-2% American Indian.
"With the COVID-19 pandemic raging around the globe, this trial is a critical step in building the global portfolio of safe and effective vaccines to protect the world's population," Stanley C. Erck, president and chief executive officer of Novavax, said in a news release.
The trial is being funded with up to $1.6 billion from Operation Warp Speed.
Novavax is also currently conducting a Phase 3 clinical study in the United Kingdom, a Phase 2b trial in South Africa and a Phase 1/2 continuation in the U.S. and Australia, data from which are expected as soon as early first quarter 2021.
Two vaccines, from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, have received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Both began Phase 3 trials in the U.S. in July and enrolled over 30,000 participants. Both are two dose vaccines and have been shown to have 95% and 94.1% efficacy respectively.
AstraZeneca began the Phase 3 U.S. trial of its coronavirus vaccine in September. Johnson & Johnson, which is testing a single-dose vaccines, expects efficacy results from its Phase 3 trial by January or February.

According to the Constitution of Nigeria, her motto is “Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress.” It also states that one of the responsibilities of her citizens is to “make positive and useful contribution to the advancement, progress and well-being of community of residence.” The more than 50 thousand worded document further states that anyone who wants to naturalise to become a Nigerian citizen must prove s/he is able to make “useful contribution to the advancement; progress and well-being of Nigeria.” The word progress is used only three times in the Constitution of Nigeria as I have quoted above.
Sadly, Nigerians at home do not seem to make measurable progress when they are within the territorial borders of Nigeria. It doesn’t matter that globally Nigeria has produced the finest brains in every field from music to arts and medicine including cutting edge technology. However, as soon as our Nigerian youths are able to get outside our shores by hook or crook, they progress beyond even the wildest dreams of some parents. Given an enabling environment, Nigerians can also land on the moon and on Mars.
Teni, the singer got it right in her song, Billionaire that “Otedola o lori meji” i.e Otedola, the billionaire does not have two heads. Similarly, our young men and women that seem to “wake up/soji” in foreign lands do not have two heads although it may appear so. It is the same “head” they had in Nigeria that they took to the foreign lands. The difference was in the environment, in the leadership and political will of the receiving foreign land that enabled their “head” to make it. At the same time, we do have Nigerians who have traveled abroad and did not make it there due to institutional racism or other distractions. They do come back to Nigeria and have rebounding successes.
I would stay only on the positive progress because we do have Nigerians that have stepped out of our borders and descended into the abyss of negative progression if we can call it that. These are the ones who have allowed their exceptional brains and the lure of a foreign way of life lead them into scams and legitimately, unenviable lifestyles.
Going back to Nigerians who make exceptional progress abroad, I would like us to examine why the same person is not able to achieve similar successes in Nigeria. Quick answers to that will be that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU) nine- month strike is a case in point, endless colossal loss of lives from consistent, lack of security, ubiquitous unemployment, weakened and non-existent infrastructures. These are just a tip of the iceberg. Like the iceberg phenomenon, beneath the tip lies something much bigger than can be seen casually; the generational roll-over effect of poor leadership and mismanagement of all of our resources. Like our telephone service providers allow roll over of unused phone credits, the foundational crux of the matter has been a rolling over of bad leadership that makes the environment anemic to progress.

A World Bank survey has revealed that 45% of school-aged household members (aged 5-18 years) have not engaged in any education or learning activities since mid-March.
The survey that revealed this is part of a World Bank global effort to support countries in their efforts to monitor the impacts of COVID-19.
The fact that 45% of school-aged household members have not engaged in leaning activities since mid-March emphasizes the importance of helping children catch-up for the time they missed at school.
Thus, it is imperative that schools resume as soon as possible in order to ensure that students in general, especially those not currently learning from home catch-up quickly.
This is also key considering that there are certain barriers to learning from home. Nairametrics, while discussing the recently concluded Nobel Week Dialogue pointed to some of these concerns.
The winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018, Frances Arnold, noted that students can learn at home, but not all the time. She cited that science, for example, is all about collaboration and learning from experience and experiments, and that’s pretty hard to do from home.
Also, while commenting on the future of education, Prof Asha Kanwar, CEO of the intergovernmental Commonwealth of Learning, said parents could play a key role in schooling, while academic and computer scientist, Daphne Koller pointed out that not all parents had the time or skills for that task, which could further deepen inequities in education.
These points appear to confirm that quick resumption of students is key to the development of students going forward.

Officials with Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government program to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to Americans, had to slash the number doses for several states due to confusion over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s certificate of analysis requirement for vaccine rounds.
The federal government’s error disrupted vaccination distribution plans in at least 14 states and frustrated governors and state health officials who said they were caught off guard upon learning of shipment shortfalls.
Operation Warp Speed has allocated 2 million Pfizer vaccine doses for this coming week’s shipment, after the U.S. shipped 2.9 million doses last week. Officials also plan to send out 5.9 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine this week.
Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief advisor of Operation Warp Speed, said the agency mistakenly assumed Pfizer’s vaccine was ready to ship when there was actually a two day lag period in which the FDA requires a certificate of analysis on each set of vaccines.
“That lag period has resulted in differences in the plan and what was actually done,” Slaoui said Sunday in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We have addressed that and optimize everyday what we are doing.”
The FDA requires a certificate of analysis for each round of Pfizer’s vaccines at least 48 hours prior to distribution, but doesn’t require the certificate to be reviewed prior to shipment. The certificate includes quality control test results and is required with Pfizer’s emergency authorization use under the FDA.
Operation Warp Speed Chief Operating Officer Gen. Gustave Perna, who is in charge of logistics for sending out the vaccines, repeatedly apologized on Saturday for smaller vaccine deliveries and took responsibility for the “planning error.”
“The mistake I made is not understanding with exactness — again my responsibility — on all the steps that have to occur to make sure the vaccine is releasable,” Perna said at a press briefing.
States that will experience a smaller number doses than expected include Washington state, New Jersey, Virginia, Idaho, Michigan, Connecticut, California, Nevada, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Massachusetts, Iowa and Oregon.
Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington said on Thursday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention informed him the vaccine allocation for his state was cut by 40% and that other states would have similar shortfalls.

Every American can get the vaccine for free, and now that the number of doses in the covid-19 vaccine program and the actual number distributed will not match, there is a big question of how to distribute it.

The Lagos States Government has directed public and private schools in the state to vacate on Friday.
Director-general Lagos State Office of Education Quality Assurance, Ministry of Education, Abiola Seriki-Ayeni announced the directive in a statement.
“The 2020/2021 First (1st) term academic session for public and private schools comes to an end on Friday 18th December, 2020,” Seriki-Ayeni said.
“Therefore, all public and private schools below tertiary level in the state are to close for the Christmas and New Year holiday on that day.
“Schools are to resume back on Monday 4th January, 2021 in compliance with the Lagos State harmonized academic calendar.”
She noted that students in boarding schools are to resume on Sunday, January 3, 2021 while academic activities commences immediately.
Prior to the order, some private schools had closed for the term since Tuesday, December 15 while public schools are expected to close on Friday, December 18.
Seriki-Ayeni stated that all schools must ensure that they submit their safety plans on the Office of Education Quality Assurance website: www.oeqalagos.com.
The plans, according to her, include operational, academic, health and safety, data and communication plan. She said the plans are to be uploaded on the website to complete the online registration process.
She advised parents to ensure strict adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols at home while all school proprietors and school administrators are enjoined to also ensure compliance to COVID-19 safety protocols when schools resume for 2nd term on Monday, January, 4 2021.

PHILADELPHIA -- In mid-March, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) pulled all 32 of its product safety inspectors across 18 U.S. ports in response to COVID-19, according to an investigative report published Friday by USA Today. The expose says the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which employs the inspectors known as “toy police,” was still allowing products into the country unchecked this month in New York, Chicago and three other major ports. The agency made this decision privately, without notifying Americans. This action calls into question the safety of many toys and household products on store shelves this holiday season. USA Today reports that huge name-brand retailers including Walgreens, Amazon and Target all received overseas shipments while these inspections were suspended.

In the three months leading up to the pandemic, these same 32 agency inspectors found significantly more lead violations in the products entering the United States than during the same period the previous year. If that trend continued at the same rate, inspectors would have found 200 more port violations this year than they had in 2019.
The average American has neither the equipment nor the knowledge to detect lead, so it’s unclear how many toys and consumer products containing this hidden hazard have slipped into stores and homes across the country. In addition, many of the products that evaded inspection may bear improper -- or no -- warning labels and may present choking or other hazards.

(Reuters) -The first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine left on trucks and planes early on Sunday, kicking off a historic effort to stop a surging pandemic that is claiming more than 2,400 lives a day in the United States.
Mask-wearing workers at a Pfizer Inc factory in Michigan began packing the first shipments of the vaccine developed with German partner BioNTech SE in dry ice shortly after 6:30 a.m. ET (1130 GMT) on Sunday.
Trucks carrying pallets of boxed, refrigerated vaccine began rolling away from the Kalamazoo facility, escorted by body armor-clad security officers. The shots then were loaded onto FedEx and United Parcel Service planes that will whisk the precious cargo across the country.
“Today, we’re not hauling freight, we’re delivering hope,” said Andrew Boyle, co-president of Boyle Transportation, which was hired by UPS to help ferry vaccine from the factory to a waiting plane in Lansing, Michigan.
Boyle employee Bonnie Brewer, 56, said decades of experience hauling chemotherapies and other life-saving drugs prepared her for Sunday’s historic run.
“It feels amazing,” Brewer told Reuters after the cargo was safely handed off.
U.S. hospitals are preparing for the first shots to go into arms on Monday, but it will take months before most Americans can get a COVID-19 vaccine. Healthcare workers and elderly residents of long-term care homes are first in line to receive the inoculations of a two-dose regimen given about three weeks apart.
More than 100 million people, or about 30% of the U.S. population, could be immunized by the end of March, U.S. Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.
That would still leave the country far short of herd immunity that would halt virus transmission, so masks and social distancing will be needed for months to control the rampaging outbreak.
Health officials will also have to overcome widespread hesitancy about the new vaccines, with many Americans concerned the record speed at which they were developed may have compromised safety. Only 61% of U.S. respondents said they are open to getting inoculated, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
“It is however critical that most of the American people decide and accept to take the vaccine,” Slaoui said. “We are very concerned by the hesitancy that we see.”

President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday promised that his administration would oversee the injection of 100 million shots into the arms of Americans within his first 100 days as president and vowed to reopen a “majority” of schools across the nation in the same timeframe.
Biden, who spoke from Wilmington, Del., at an event in which he also announced the top members of his health care team, promised that educators, along with health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, would be among the targets for the first round of Covid-19 vaccinations.
Biden again said he would call on Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days of his administration.
"Masking, vaccinations, opening schools,” Biden said. “These are the three key goals of my first 100 days.”

State police brandishing firearms Monday raided the Tallahassee home of Rebekah Jones, the former Department of Health data scientist who built the state's much-praised COVID-19 dashboard before being fired over what she said was refusing to "manipulate data."
"They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids," Jones tweeted shortly before 5 p.m.
Jones — who launched her own COVID-19 dashboard after she was fired, and used crowdsourcing to raise money to support it — said the agents knocked on her door around 8:30 a.m. that morning, took all her "hardware and tech" after showing her a warrant based on a complaint filed by the Florida Department of Health.
A video accompanying the post shows Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents in vests at the front door with guns drawn, asking who else was in the house. She said her husband and two children were inside as they escorted her out of the house.
The video shows an agent entering the house with his gun drawn, calling for her husband to come down the stairs. When an agent told her to calm down, Jones said, "He just pointed a gun at my children!"
FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger sent a statement confirming the seizure of computer equipment at Jones's Tallahassee home and said agents are investigating.

Trump has always advocated the "America First" policy. This time he has given priority to providing the American people with the COVID-19 vaccine. I wonder if Americans are willing to get vaccinated?

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday to ensure that priority access for COVID-19 vaccines procured by the U.S. government is given to the American people before assisting other nations, a senior administration official said on Monday.
Trump, who has faced sharp criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, is eager to take credit for the speedy development and distribution of a vaccine.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that the order would set up a framework for U.S. government agencies to help other countries procure the vaccine as well.
It was unclear why an executive order was needed to ensure that the vaccines would be distributed in the United States.
The White House is holding a summit event on Tuesday to highlight the distribution process through Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, which has been organizing the effort.
Trump has followed an “America First” motto as president, and his aides want to make clear that that same policy is at work with vaccine distribution.
Officials from Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team were not invited to the summit. Trump, a Republican who lost the Nov. 3 election to Biden, has refused to concede.
Trump and other officials will speak at the Tuesday event, which will focus on informing the public about how distribution of the vaccine will work.
Some 85 percent of long-term care and assisted living facilities around the country had signed up for a mobile vaccination service provided by CVS and Walgreens, another senior administration official said.
The official said the U.S. government was concerned about cyber attacks related to the vaccine and had protected itself against them.

Although most African countries have, to date, been largely successful in fighting the spread of COVID-19, with far fewer reported cases and deaths from the disease than Europe, Asia, or the Americas, the pandemic has still had substantial socioeconomic impacts on African citizens. Policy measures to limit the spread of the disease, such as travel restrictions, lockdowns, and school closures—while both necessary and effective at limiting health impacts—have slowed economic activity worldwide. As a result of the health and economic effects of the pandemic, up to 49 million more Africans could be pushed into extreme poverty in 2020. To study the potential socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 on African countries, the World Bank published a working paper, “Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 in Four African Countries,” in early November. The paper analyzes data from a series of phone surveys undertaken every month since May 2020 with a national sample of households in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda.

The former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi has said the cost of governance in Nigeria is too high, and urged that it should be reduced to have enough funding for critical sectors like education and health.
He also called on the FG to step back in infrastructure funding and provide the enabling environment for private-sector led infrastructural development in Nigeria.
Peter Obi disclosed this during an interview with Arise TV this morning.
He said, “The cost of governance in Nigeria is unacceptable anywhere in the world. I have operated it and I know that the cost is too much. People cannot put food on their table, whereas our leaders are still drinking champagne. These are the things we should be bothered about and reduced.”
He added that the cost need to be reduced to make way for more funding in education, citing the Covid-19 pandemic which exposed Nigeria’s deficit in human development spending compared to other developing nations as populated as Nigeria.
“We need to reduce it to have money for critical areas of education. What happened with Covid-19 has shown us the consequences of several years of bad leadership and not investing in the education or health sector. You could see it, countries spending billions on education, while we are spending nothing.
“Indonesia is investing $50 billion in education annually, and they are 250 million. We are 200 million and not even spending $2 billion on education. Comparing both populations, we are supposed to spend at least $35 -$40 billion on education, meanwhile that is our entire National budget,” he said.
He disclosed that as Governor, he cut costs of governance by buying government vehicles from local manufacturers, especially Innoson.
He urged for a focus on debt burden of the private sector, which is a sign that the private sector is taking the risks to grow the economy.
“We need to make the economy productive, and its not rocket science. All we need to do is check nations where debt increased in private sector; South Africa is $490 billion in the private sector compared to less than half of that for the public sector, which shows an economy that is working. In Nigeria’s case, its the reverse and we need to support the engine of growth,” he said.
He also added that the private sector be made to take off pressure from the FG in infrastructure debt by building roads and regaining revenue through means like tolling.
“For infrastructure development, the private sector needs to be brought in to drive the process of gaining funding from capital markets for infrastructure construction and get the revenues through tolls. Nigerians are willing to drive around in good roads that are tolled.
“It must be private-sector led to make it more effective, FG’s role is to support. It’s not rocket science, it has been done before in Anambra. What we need is to have people who are competent and wealth creators. Let’s do what others are doing to get their economy productive, we have people making money without doing anything,” he said.

The Los Angeles Times reports that health officials have issued a temporary stay-at-home order Friday that will take effect Monday and will last for three weeks.
“Residents are advised to stay home as much as possible and always wear a face covering over their nose and mouth when they are outside their household and around others,” the county health department said.
Public and private gatherings with individuals not in the same household are prohibited under the order, except for church services and protests.
Beaches, trails and parks currently remain open, but gatherings there with non-household members are similarly banned.
The new restrictions come two days after restaurants in L.A. County were ordered to suspend outdoor dining, a decision not supported by restaurant owners and some elected officials, who called the rules too restrictive for the already struggling restaurant industry.

The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) on Wednesday evening, 25th November 2020, confirmed 198 new cases of coronavirus disease infection in Nigeria.
Naija News reports that the new cases of COVID-19 infection were confirmed via a statement on the official Twitter handle of the health agency.
The development brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to 66,805 which includes 62,493 discharged cases and 1,169 deaths.
Below is the breakdown of the latest cases according to states with Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recording the highest number of new confirmed cases, followed by Lagos and Ogun.

Cases of COVID-19 are rising at an alarming rate in nearly every state as the nation approaches Thanksgiving.
The cumulative case count passed 12 million on Saturday, six days after the previous million mark was crossed, which was six days after the previous million.
On Friday alone, there were more than 195,000 new confirmed cases and 1,878 deaths reported, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
More than 255,000 people have died in total, as of Saturday afternoon.
And more than 1,000 hospitals, across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, say they are "critically" short on staff, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. And that number is expected to increase after the holidays.
To avoid an even starker increase in the spread of the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging people to not travel for Thanksgiving at all. The CDC says Thanksgiving should be spent only with people actively living in your own household for at least 14 days before the holiday, advice many medical professionals are echoing.
"Travel may increase your chance of getting and spreading COVID-19," the CDC said on Thursday. "Postponing travel and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others this year."
Meanwhile, two COVID-19 vaccines appear to be highly effective. The first, created by pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, is reported as being 95% effective. The second, created by the biotech company Moderna Inc., has been reported as being 94.5% effective.
On Friday, Pfizer formally asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve its vaccine for emergency use. Moderna is expected to do the same soon. Vaccines could be available for medical workers as soon as December.
But even once they are approved, wider distribution of the vaccines could take months and face logistical issues with shipping the vaccine, storing it and avoiding shortages. And some medical professionals argue that while potential vaccines can sound promising, treating so many virus patients can take a toll on hospital staff.
"At this point, it's going to depend on more than just the availability of drugs, but the availability of staff," said Dr. Abraar Karan, an internal medicine physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
"A lot of us are exhausted," Karan told Morning Edition.
This comes as two federal pandemic jobless relief programs, which are currently providing a lifeline for millions of Americans, are at risk of expiring as Congress hangs in a stalemate over a new relief bill. About 12 million Americans could lose their assistance the day after Christmas.
More than 25 members of Congress, at least 150 Capitol Hill workers, President Trump and multiple people in Trump's orbit have tested positive for the virus. This week, Donald Trump Jr. announced on Instagram that he, too, "got the 'rona."
"You wouldn't know it based on anything that I felt or have seen," he said on Instagram on Friday. "I've been totally asymptomatic."

Compared with other countries horizontally, our number of infections and deaths are in the middle, and we are still far away from the exaggerated data of the United States, Brazil and other countries, but this is far from our lucky moment. The good news is that we can know from the speeches of the governors that fighting COVID-19 is always an important content.

The Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed yesterday visited the Nigeria Governors' Forum Secretariat as part of her tour of some West African States including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.
Welcoming the DSG to the NGF Secretariat in Maitama Abuja, the Chairman of the NGF and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr John Kayode Fayemi enumerated some of the challenges of governance in the country and how the pandemic affected the nation's economy and whittled down its super structure at the subnational level.
Fayemi said that although the virus hit Nigeria in March 2020, later than other countries, its impact has been ravaging with over 64,090 confirmed cases and 1,154 deaths.
Other impacts, he said, include the fall in oil prices, contracting tax base, loss of sources of livelihood, unemployment, youth restiveness (ENDSARS Protest), increasing inflation rate, worsening exchange rate, decline in productivity due to necessary lockdown measures initiated globally and nationally.
Explaining how the various states handled the pandemic at the subnational level, Fayemi stated that as a responsive group, "we worked collaboratively, co-opting ideas and welcoming support from critical stakeholders including partners and the private sector.
"At the wake of the pandemic, we worked with the federal government to ensure the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), Presidential Task Force (PTF), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development got all the support it required in delivering swift containment measures".
At the National Economic Council (NEC) level, he continued, "we developed a COVID-19 response plan encompassing health, economic and socio-economic, immediate to medium term measures needed to combat the virus and its impact."
Explaining that this is a period to turn adversity into opportunity, Fayemi said: "At the subnational level, we set up intervention funds, social investment programmes, distributed palliatives, launched tax incentive programmes to protect and support livelihoods as well as businesses.
"This is reflected in our 2020 amended State budgets of which 10 percent was earmarked for COVID-19 response expenditures and the recent partner interventions undertaken by states including the World Bank $750 million States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) additional financing, $750 million COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) programme for results and the $100 million Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE)".

As COVID-19 numbers continue to rise around the United States, many cities and states have started rolling back and placing restrictions on activities that put people inside, including indoor seating at bars and restaurants.
Last week, Oregon announced a "Two-Week Freeze" aimed at slowing infections in the state. This will take place from November 18-December 2, and involves, among other things, making restaurants delivery- and take-out only, as well as limiting grocery stores and pharmacies to 75 percent capacity.
San Fransisco announced it was going to "roll back the reopening of indoor dining" as of last Friday, saying that "indoor dining at restaurants or bars serving meals in any context including standalone restaurants, food courts in shopping centers, and dining establishments in hotels, museums or other venues" must stop until further notice. The city said in a statement that it has seen a 250 percent increase in COVID-19 cases since October 2.
The city of Chicago announced that it was essentially going back into lockdown, issuing stay at home orders as of this week. It had already suspended indoor dining or service at bars or restaurants as of the end of October. New Mexico ordered on-site dining closed until November 30 as of this week, though restaurants can still provide take-out and delivery. Washington state announced that restaurants and bars must close for indoor service as of this Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. This will remain in effect until December 14.
New York and New Jersey both issued mandates last week in response to climbing cases, though they have not completely shut down indoor dining or reduced capacity. In New York, all bars and restaurants will be required to close from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. Delivery and takeout food can still be sold after 10, but takeout cocktails cannot. In New Jersey, restaurants and bars will have to close indoor services from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. but outdoor dining, takeout, and delivery services may continue past 10. In Maryland, indoor dining capacity has been reduced from 75 percent to 50 percent as of last week.
Closing and restricting restaurant operations has been a tough topic in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. On one hand, indoor dining is seen by many experts as one of the more high-risk things you can do. A recent study tracking cellphone data in 10 cities from March to May found that “restaurants were by far the riskiest places, about four times riskier than gyms and coffee shops, followed by hotels,” Stanford University computer scientist Jure Leskovec told reporters, according to The New York Times. The United States has been reporting more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases daily, with 135,187 as the most recent daily number of new cases as of this writing.
But restrictions on capacity and hours—as well as closing indoor dining outright—can have an enormous financial impact on these restaurants and bars, most of which have already been hugely impacted by the pandemic.
“Any call for limiting restaurant operations must be coupled with a call to provide stimulus, otherwise they are not going to be around when it’s OK for them to reopen,” executive director of New York City Hospitality Alliance Andrew Rigie told the Times.