National

Americans 75 and older along with roughly 30 million "frontline essential workers" should be next in line to get coronavirus vaccinations, a group of experts that make recommendations to the CDC voted on Sunday, per the New York Times.

Why it matters: Adults over 75 are eight times more likely to be hospitalized after contracting the coronavirus. Essential workers are at an elevated risk for COVID-19 infections and are disproportionately people of color, who face higher mortality rates from the coronavirus than white people. 

Driving the news: Health care workers were the first to receive inoculations of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine last week.

By the numbers: Adults 75 years and older account for 25% of all U.S. hospitalizations associated with the coronavirus as of Dec. 5, per the CDC panel.

CDC panel says adults over 75, essential workers should be next in line for vaccine

Adults over 75 are eight times more likely to be hospitalized after contracting the virus.

A hand holds a vial of the COVID vaccine up to the camera

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Falmouth Health Centre on Dec. 20 in Falmouth, England. Photo: Hugh Hastings/Getty Images

Health Care

Coronavirus vaccines

Coronavirus

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

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SoftBank on Monday will file to raise between $500 million and $600 million via an IPO of its first SPAC, Axios has learned from multiple sources. 

Look ahead: The investment giant is said to be prepping at least two additional SPACs, which are blank check vehicles that raise money to buy a company and take it public via a reverse merger.

Details: As Axios previously reported, the SPAC is intended to buy a company in which SoftBank has not previously invested.

The SPAC sponsor will be SoftBank Investment Advisers, which manages the $100 billion Vision Fund and Vision Fund 2 (unknown size, funded entirely from SoftBank's balance sheet). 

SoftBank has never before raised a SPAC, but it did have portfolio company OpenDoor agree in September to be acquired by a SPAC at a $4.8 billion enterprise value. It also recently lost a pair of partners to Gores Group, where they'll focus on SPACs.

Underwriters on the offering are expected to be Citi, Deutsche Bank and Cantor Fitzgerald. [Correction: An earlier version of this article mentioned Goldman Sachs, but sources say it is no longer involved].

A SoftBank spokesperson declined to comment.

Scoop: SoftBank to file for SPAC on Monday

Expect this to be the first of several SoftBank SPACs.

Illustration of a hand about to sign a blank check that reads SoftBank

Business

Softbank Group

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Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

There were "raised voice levels and animated conversation" during a chaotic Friday night meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office, a source familiar with the meeting tells Axios.

Driving the news: As the N.Y. Times first reported yesterday, the meeting included — at various times — Rudy Giuliani, Gen. Michael Flynn and conspiracy-minded election lawyer Sidney Powell. 

Chief of staff Mark Meadows and counsel Pat Cipollone pushed back strenuously on some of the more far-out ideas, including impounding voting machines and making Powell special counsel for election fraud. 

"It's basically Sidney versus everybody," the source said. "That is why voices were raised. There is literally not one motherf—r in the president’s entire orbit — his staunchest group of supporters and allies — who doesn't think that Sidney Powell should be on that first rocket to Mars."

"These are the hardcore defenders. This is the one thing that has united people."

Between the lines: The obvious exception, of course, is the president of the United States.

Inside the West Wing: Raised voices during chaotic Oval Office meeting

"It's basically Sidney [Powell] versus everybody," a source said.

Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Politics

Donald Trump

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

President Trump's closest confidants no longer expect him to imminently announce he's running in 2024, three sources who've recently discussed the matter with the president tell Axios. 

Driving the news: Trump doesn’t want to announce a run before Jan. 20 — an idea he had initially toyed with — because it would show his base he’s given up his fight to overturn the election. 

And while Trump definitely wants to hold out the possibility of running, he is not sure he wants to go through the official FEC process anytime soon, a person familiar with Trump’s thinking said.

Scoop: Trump shifts 2024 thinking

Doing so would show his base he’s given up his fight to overturn the election, sources tell Axios.

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It's a fitting end to a crappy year: White House officials are calling us in a panic about President Trump’s erratic behavior. England is panicking about a possible super-spreading virus strain. And vaccine distribution is hitting bumps. 

Why it matters: Incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain was right when he warned of a "very, very, very dark winter."

Winter technically starts tomorrow. But it's already clear that in the 31 days until the inauguration, American institutions will be tested like never before.

Axios yesterday sent two alerts with Jonathan Swan's jaw-dropping reporting from Trump's inner circle, with diehard loyalists now telling us they're alarmed about what Trump might try over the next month. 

A senior administration official told Swan: "Most of us have rolled our eyes at the media histrionics the last few years about Trump’s supposed tyrannical ambitions."

"But when he's retweeting threats of putting politicians in jail, and spends his time talking to conspiracy nuts who openly say declaring martial law is no big deal, it’s impossible not to start getting anxious about how this ends."

On top of loose Oval Office talk about martial law first reported by the N.Y. Times' Maggie Haberman and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Trump tweeted yesterday that the cyber hack "is well under control." 

Top administration officials tell me it's anything but — that the damage may take months and billions to detect and repair. 

After Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned yesterday of a coronavirus strain that is 70% more transmissible, England finds itself increasingly cut off: 

Italy, the Netherlands and Austria banned flights from the U.K., and Eurostar trains between London, Brussels and Amsterdam are being canceled.

The virus is out of control, regardless of any new variant.

With governors around the country complaining that they're being shorted on vaccines they've been promised, a government official yesterday did something rare — admitted there was a problem, and took total blame.

Army four-star Gen. Gus Perna, COO of Operation Warp Speed, apologized for "miscommunication" with states and told reporters: "I failed. I'm adjusting."

The bottom line: In these times, even an optimist has no choice but to become a realist. 

Go deeper, with Swan's living-history dispatches: "Officials increasingly alarmed about Trump’s power grab" ... "Giuliani asks DHS about seizing voting machines."

America's "very dark winter" begins

In these times, even an optimist has no choice but to become a realist.

The first shipments of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine were sent from a distribution center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, on Sunday morning, AP reports.

Why it matters: The planned delivery of millions of doses of the Moderna vaccine, which has a 94.1% efficacy rate, comes amid a dangerously high coronavirus caseload across the country that could be exacerbated by holiday travel. 

Driving the news: The Moderna vaccine will be distributed to thousands of cities, Army Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, said at a news conference on Saturday. 

Roughly 2.9 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is about 95% effective, were shipped last week. 

The McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, on Dec. 20. Photo: Paul Sancya/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

A worker hauls boxes of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine in a warehouse 

A person carries a box by hand while walking through a warehouse near an assembly line 

First doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine have shipped in the U.S.

The planned delivery of millions of doses comes amid dangerously high coronavirus caseload.

Two masked employees stand on opposite sides of an empty assembly line

Boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, on Dec. 20. Photo: Paul Sancya/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Instacart has asked public health authorities to include its workers as part of the essential workers who'll get COVID-19 vaccines, according to letters it provided to Axios. Uber, Lyft and DoorDash have made similar requests in recent days. 

Why it matters: These workers are disproportionately bearing more exposure and risk than many of their customers, who have the luxury of staying home and having their groceries and food delivered.  

Yes, but: The companies have actively fought not to classify their workers as employees, which would give them full benefits, such as health care coverage and sick leave.

The companies have provided workers with some safety supplies throughout the pandemic and limited pay if they get sick with the virus, but workers have complained of problems in accessing these resources. 

Instacart is sending letters to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as all 50 governors. 

Between the lines: Getting their workers vaccinated earlier rather than later could help the companies' bottom lines if more drivers feel comfortable giving rides and doing deliveries, and if it makes ride-hailing passengers more comfortable booking rides.

The bottom line: It remains to be seen what the states, which are in charge of doling out the vaccines, will do and how they would provide shots to gig workers given that many of them don't work a set number of hours and they often work for multiple companies. 

Instacart is latest gig company to request early vaccines for workers

Gig workers are disproportionately bearing more exposure and risk than many of their customers.

Illustration of a waiting ticket with the number 19 on it and a symbol of a syringe.  

Gig economy

Latino

Axios Latino

States are the new battleground in the growing national movement to protect people of color from hairstyle discrimination.

Driving the news: Advocates are taking the fight local as legislation in Congress has stalled, gaining state-by-state workplace and school rights for people who wear Afros, braids, cornrows, dreadlocks and headwraps.

The big picture: Seven states have passed hair anti-discrimination laws since 2019, and at least five more will consider bills next year.

Nationwide demonstrations this year over systemic racism and new commitments by corporations and universities to rethink policies may work in their favor.

Details: High-profile cases of people of color being forced to change hairstyles garnered outrage this year.

In August, a federal judge in Texas blocked a school district from forcing a Black teenager to cut his dreadlocks according to the district's dress code.

In 2018, a Black high school wrestler in New Jersey was ordered to cut his dreadlocks at a match or forfeit. The referee in the case was later suspended for two years.

That same year, an Albuquerque teacher allegedly cut a portion of a Navajo female student's hair in class, drawing anger from the Navajo Nation. The ACLU later filed a lawsuit against the district.

Between the lines: Black women, especially, are disproportionately likely to be sent home from work because of their hair, according to a 2019 Dove survey. 

80% of Black women in that survey say they've changed their hair from its natural state to fit in at the office.

Flashback: A group of women attending the 2018 ESSENCE Festival met and later formed the CROWN Coalition to fight hair discrimination nationwide. Dove, owned by London-based Unilever, signed on as a founding member. The coalition grew to 70 groups.

CROWN stands for "Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair."

Esi Eggleston Bracey, Unilever's North American executive vice president and COO of personal care, said Dove employees were heartbroken over news stories on hair discrimination. 

Where it stands: The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill this year prohibiting discrimination based on a person's hair texture or hairstyle if that style is associated with a particular race or national origin, but the measure stalled in the Senate.

California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Washington and Colorado have passed anti-hair discrimination state laws since 2019. 

Lawmakers in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Texas and Tennessee are pushing for similar state laws in their upcoming sessions. 

More than a dozen states have seen anti-hair discrimination bills fail to pass, but advocates say they will keep pressing. 

What they’re saying: "Hair is not protected under some civil rights laws because it's believed you can change your hair," said Adjoa B. Asamoah, legislative strategist for the CROWN Coalition. "But why should you?"

New York State Rep. Tremaine Wright, who sponsored New York's law, said some Black women get passed over for jobs or promotions because their hair "didn't fit" a company's image. "This is just another form of discrimination, and we have created a movement to end it."

"We are committed to federal legislation, and we are not going to stop until it passes," Bracey said.

California becomes first state to ban discrimination against natural hair

Akron City Council passes legislation that makes hair discrimination illegal

Wrapped, dreads or natural: Hair-rights fight moves to states

New commitments by corporations and universities to tackle structural racism may work in their favor.

Attendees clap during a press conference at the Maryland House Office Building in Annapolis, Maryland, March 6, 2020, in advance of a bill fighting hair discrimination. 

Advocates in Annapolis, Maryland, celebrate the advancement of an anti-hair discrimination measure. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein for the Washington Post via Getty Images

Racial discrimination

Latin America and Latinos

Race and Equity

About 21 million people entered full lockdown restrictions in London, southeast and eastern England and Wales Sunday to curb the spread of a highly infectious new strain of COVID-19.

For the record: The World Health Organization tweeted that it's in "close contact" with British officials on the variant, as the Dutch government introduced a ban on passenger flights from the United Kingdom, effective Sunday morning through Jan. 1, after finding a case with the same strain in the Netherlands.

Driving the news: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday although there's "considerable uncertainty," the new strain "may be up to 70% more transmissible" than the original version of the disease. England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty said the strain accounted for over 60% of new cases in London over the past week.

Johnson said during the news conference that an expected Christmas Day reprieve — a planned postponement of restrictions that would permit up to three households to convene in "Christmas bubbles" — would be canceled for Tier 4 zones.

The move means London, southeast and eastern England moved from Tier 3 restrictions to Tier 4 restrictions from Sunday. Non-essential retailers must temporarily shutter to help combat the rapidly rising coronavirus infection rate.

Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford said the country would also lock down from Sunday as "hundreds of people" had caught this new "more aggressive" strain, the BBC reports.

The state of play: The British government is urging people to stay home and advised people to work from home whenever possible.

People will not be allowed to leave or enter Tier 4 areas, and residents are prohibited from traveling abroad.

Nonessential retail, indoor gyms, leisure facilities and personal care services will close, but religious gatherings will be allowed to continue.

Social gatherings must be limited, while people living in Tier 4 areas are strongly advised to remain within their own households.

What he's saying: "It seems that the spread is now being driven by the new variant of the virus," Johnson said. 

"Our advisory group on new and emerging respiratory threats, NERVTAG, has spend the last few days analyzing this new variant — there's no evidence that it causes more severe illness or higher mortality, but it does appear to be passed on significantly more easily."

There's no evidence to suggest the COVID-19 vaccine will be any less effective against the new variant, Johnson noted.

"When the virus changes its method of attack, we must change our method of defense," he added. "We have to act on information as we have it, because this is now spreading very fast."

The big picture: Johnson held an emergency meeting with his Cabinet on Saturday to settle on the latest restrictions. British health officials have shared data on the suspected strain with the World Health Organization, the prime minister said in his announcement.

Worth noting: The new measures are effectively designed "to cut off the capital and its surrounding counties from the rest of England," the New York Times writes.

"They are the most severe measures the government has taken since it imposed a lockdown on the country back in March, and they reflect a fear that the new variant could supercharge the transmission of the virus as winter takes hold."

By the numbers: The U.K. surpassed 2 million coronavirus cases on Sunday morning and had reported over 67,000 deaths, per Johns Hopkins University data.

The nation reported 28,560 daily cases on Friday.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details, including comment from the WHO, Drakeford, the Dutch government and Whitty, along with new coronavirus data.

21 million Brits enter Christmas lockdown to fight "new variant" of virus

"It seems that the spread is now being driven by the new variant of the virus," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

Picture of U.K. Primer Minister Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson. Photo: Matt Dunham - WPA Pool/Getty Images

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Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

President-elect Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador discussed in a phone call Saturday working together on a "new approach" to migration that "offers alternatives to undertaking the dangerous journey" to the U.S.

Why it matters: The statement from Biden's transition team on the call details represents a key part of the president-elect's plans to overhaul President Trump's aggressive border policy.

Biden has vowed to end Trump's "Remain in Mexico"  policy that saw tens of thousands of asylum-seekers forced to wait for their court dates in Mexico, but Axios' Stef Kight notes this faces complications, including a possible spike of migrants at the border.

The transition team said in its statement that Biden reiterated in the call that he "stands by the commitments he made on the campaign trail and noted that it would take time and resources to implement those commitments effectively."

Details: "The President-elect emphasized the need to reinvigorate U.S.-Mexico cooperation to ensure safe and orderly migration, contain COVID-19, revitalize the economies of North America, and secure our common border," the transition statement said.

"The two leaders noted a shared desire to address the root causes of migration in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and southern Mexico and to build a future of greater opportunity and security for the region." 

Biden said he'd work closely with Mexico and other regional partners in the early months of his administration "to build the regional and border infrastructure and capacity needed to facilitate a new orderly and humane approach to migration that will respect international norms regarding the treatment of asylum claims," the statement added.

What they're saying: "We reaffirmed our commitment to working together for the wellbeing of our peoples and nations," Lopez Obrador said in a Twitter post.

Mexican foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard, who was present during the call, tweeted that the conversation was "cordial," adding there would "be extensive bilateral cooperation and a very good relationship between" López Obrado and Biden.

Worth noting:  López Obrador was one of the last holdouts among major world leaders to congratulate Biden's election win as Trump's legal challenges played out. He confirmed last Tuesday that he'd sent the president-elect a letter.

Go deeper: Surge in border crossings spells early test for Biden’s immigration plans

Biden and Mexico's López Obrador discuss "new approach" to migration issues

Biden will work "to facilitate a new orderly and humane approach to migration" with Mexico and other partners, his transition said.

Combination images of President-elect Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador

Combination images of President-elect Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images/Joshua Roberts/Getty Images

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