Axios AM

December 15, 2021
🐪 Hello, Wednesday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,198 words ... 4½ minutes. Edited by Zachary Basu.
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1 big thing: Booster gap traps millions


Health officials are stressing the importance of coronavirus vaccine booster shots as the Omicron variant spreads around the world. But millions of vaccinated Americans aren't yet eligible for another dose, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes.
- Some experts warn that giving a booster shot too soon could diminish its effects.
Why it matters: Two doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines (or one J&J) aren't very protective against Omicron infection, according to preliminary data — although they likely prevent severe illness.
Where it stands: Anyone 16 and older who got their second Pfizer or Moderna shot at least six months ago is eligible for a booster shot in the U.S., as are people who received a J&J shot at least two months ago.
- But 58 million Americans received their second shots within the last six months, per CDC data.
- Children ages 5-11 just became eligible for vaccines last month, meaning none of them are yet eligible for a third shot.
⚡ Adults in the U.K. are now eligible for booster shots three months after their second dose, rather than six.
2. Companies give up on return-to-office
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
In the 22 months since U.S. companies sent workers home, they've collected droves of poll data, paid billions to workplace consultants, and drafted plan after plan.
- But they still know little more about post-pandemic work than in March 2020, Erica Pandey writes for Axios What's Next.
"[E]mployees are wanting transparency. They want a plan," says Brad Bell, director of the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies at Cornell. "But every time we think we're coming out of this, and companies go to flip the switch on return-to-work, something comes up."
- In June, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said he'd be "very disappointed" if his workforce wasn't back in the office by Labor Day 2021.
- But this week, he told CNBC: "I was wrong on this. ... Everybody’s still finding their way."
Firms that have pushed back return-to-work dates in the past week include Ford, Lyft and DocuSign, The New York Times' Emma Goldberg writes in "The End of a Return-to-Office Date" (subscription).
- DocuSign's planned return on Jan. 10 — now postponed — was its fourth attempt at setting a date to bring employees back.
3. Fox hosts target 1/6 committee

Two Fox News prime-time hosts tore into the House's 1/6 investigative committee last night as they spoke about their own texts during the siege.
- Their texts had been turned over to the committee by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
- The hosts spoke 24 hours after committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney read the texts aloud during a hearing on holding Meadows in contempt.
Last night, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham both played tape of themselves on 1/6 as they condemned violence.
- Ingraham said: "The more they talk about January 6th, the stronger Trump and the GOP are becoming in the polls."
- Hannity spoke next to a graphic saying: "SHAM COMMITTEE."
The House voted 222-208 just after 11 p.m. to hold Meadows, a former House member, in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the 1/6 committee.
- Only two Republicans — Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois — joined Democrats in voting for the resolution.
Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said during the floor debate: "[I]f you’re making excuses to avoid cooperating with our investigation, you’re making excuses to hide the truth from the American people about what happened on January 6th."

⚡ Reality check: An AP review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Trump has found fewer than 475 — a number that would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election.
- President Biden won Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and their 79 Electoral College votes by a combined 311,257 votes out of 25.5 million ballots cast for president.
- The disputed ballots represent 0.15% of his victory margin in those states.
Go deeper: State-by-state breakdown.
4. Pics of the day

Congressional leaders — both chambers, both parties — hold a moment of silence on the Capitol steps last evening, as America's COVID death toll passed 800,000. Video.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who holds the fate of President Biden's Build Back Better agenda in his hands, is followed to his car by reporters after voting yesterday.
5. First woman NYPD commissioner
Cover: New York Post
New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams chose Keechant Sewell — chief of detectives in Nassau County, on Long Island — as his NYPD commissioner.
- Why it matters: Sewell, 49, will be the first woman and third Black commissioner in the New York City Police Department's history.
Adams, a former NYPD captain, will be inaugurated Jan. 1 at the 92-year-old Kings Theatre in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
- "Keechant Sewell is a proven crime fighter with the experience and emotional intelligence to deliver both the safety New Yorkers need and the justice they deserve," Adams told the New York Post.
6. Tesla tests Dogecoin

Elon Musk says Tesla will experiment with accepting the cryptocurrency Dogecoin for merchandise — but he didn't mention cars.
- Why it matters: Musk has 66.5 million Twitter followers, and his continuing embrace of crypto helps fuel alternative finance.
Musk tweeted: "Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes."
- The Tesla Shop sells floor mats, roof racks, bomber jackets, a Giga Texas Belt Buckle ($150; out of stock) + an electric Cybersquad ATV for kids, with a top speed of 10 mph ($1,900; also out of stock).
Dogecoin (pronounced DOHJ-coin) raced up after the tweet, Reuters reports.
- Musk's tweets on Dogecoin, which started as a joke, have helped the meme coin soar 5,859% over the past year, according to Coinbase data.
Backstory: Tesla said in February that it had invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, and reported $1.26 billion in "digital assets" at the end of Q3.
- Tesla said in the February disclosure that it planned to begin accepting Bitcoin for products soon. But Musk tweeted in May that Tesla had "suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin," citing "increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions."
7. Cyberthreat: A world without trust

Jacquelyn Schneider, a Hoover Institution fellow, writes in a special "Digital Disorder" issue of Foreign Affairs (Jan./Feb.) that the foremost danger posed by cyberattacks is the way they "undermine the trust that undergirds modern economies, societies, governments, and militaries":
The key to success in cyberspace over the long term is not finding a way to defeat all cyberattacks but learning how to survive despite the disruption and destruction they cause.
8. 📷 1 for the road: Instagram @ 2 billion


Instagram hit 2 billion monthly active users worldwide this fall, Axios Media Trends author Sara Fischer writes from a CNBC report.
- Why it matters: Instagram joins an exclusive club of just four social apps that have hit that milestone. Meta owns three of the four.
What to watch: In hitting 2 billion users, Instagram has proven it can still grow despite increased competition, notably TikTok.
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