--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning from a very snowy New York. It's Thursday, December 17th.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: And I'm Duarte Giraldean with my sweater on.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Today, we're expecting an FDA advisory panel to recommend the U.S. government issue an emergency authorization for Moderna's coronavirus vaccine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, a second vaccine would be welcome news with the coronavirus spreading fast. California just set a national record for cases.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: But big questions still loom over how to distribute vaccines fairly. And California is at the center of an interesting debate.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We talked a lot on this show about who gets vaccinated first, health care workers, people who are elderly or vulnerable. And you may agree, folks like teachers and grocery workers should be next in line.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: But when it comes to the rest of us, what's fair? California is committed to equitably distributing the vaccine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in this case, that word equitable does not mean everyone gets the vaccine at the same time. For example, the state is promising to vaccinate hospital health care workers in low-income areas before those in wealthier areas.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: It's also set up an advisory committee to work with community organizations to design a so-called equitable distribution plan.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But as California is finding out, ranking people based on their infection risk is not easy.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: NPR reports some community groups want the state to consider historical injustices.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For example, give the vaccine to indigenous populations first, because in the past they've suffered from diseases like smallpox.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Now, critics of this idea say affirmative action doesn't have a place in public health.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They warn that California could face a flurry of lawsuits.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Instead, they're saying we should use factors like poverty, housing density, or access to education to determine what's fair.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Then there are the migrant laborers and Central Valley farm workers. Labor activist Dolores Huerta calls them the invisible workforce.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: These are people who live in crowded conditions and have no work-from-home option.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They're essential to keeping California's economy up and running. And often, if you're able to get fruits and veggies, it's because they're in the fields picking them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: So should they get vaccine priority? Or how about people in prisons?
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Guardian notes that this has been one of the worst-hit populations in California.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Since March, 30,000 people who are incarcerated in the state have been infected with COVID, and more than 100 have died.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The virus has also hit prison staff very hard.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: One advocate told The Guardian if the state is committed to holding these people captive, they should also be held accountable for their health.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's not just California trying to figure this out. Lots of states are going to confront questions of who gets put where in the vaccine line.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: 18 states say they'll use the CDC's recommended Social Vulnerability Index to decide.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It looks at socioeconomic measures to determine who's most at risk.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: But none of this is going to be easy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And how states ultimately decide who gets prioritized may end up feeling like our government is also making a statement about which of our lives matters more.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Pharmacists around the country were among the first ones to notice. Many of the vials used to hold Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine have as much as two extra doses.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As Politico reports this week, medical professionals tossed out hundreds of these extra doses because they didn't want to violate the FDA's rules.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Now, federal authorities are rushing to update their guidance.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some vials meant to hold five doses are being found with enough vaccine for six or even seven treatments.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Now, Politico reports pharmaceutical companies often fill vials with a little bit extra to account for possible spills.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So this is not outside the norm.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: But given how critical it is to get everyone vaccinated, there's a lot of pressure to avoid waste.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday, the FDA announced pharmacists should use those extra doses.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Politico estimates that these could expand the supply by as much as 40 percent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And as state and local officials race to get frontline workers vaccinated, every single shot counts.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Once at a climate conference in Moscow, Vladimir Putin told the crowd global warming might not be a bad thing for Russia.
--:-- Shamita Basu: With a few more degrees, Russians could spend less on fur coats and the grain harvest would go up.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: You know, he was sort of right.
--:-- Shamita Basu: While climate change could devastate huge areas of our world, Russia stands to benefit from a warming planet.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: That's according to Abram Luskarten.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He's been working with ProPublica and The New York Times for two years on a series of deeply reported pieces on where climate change is taking us.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: And in his latest article, he asks who will benefit from a warming planet.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He says as optimal conditions for human life start to creep out toward the poles, power may shift to northern nations like Canada, Norway, Iceland, but especially Russia.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: The fact is, Russia has the largest landmass of any country.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And as the earth gets warmer, Russia's land is becoming more suitable for growing.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: For centuries, most of the land in eastern Russia was impossible to farm.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The soil was just too cold.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: But a transformation is happening slowly.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Already, spring is coming earlier in this part of Russia.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: So while crop yields are expected to drop in the United States and other countries, Russia's yields are expected to increase.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And Russia has been explicit about its plans to use climate change to its advantage.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: The country's National Climate Action Plan, published this year, acknowledged extended growing seasons are a boon to the country.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A few years ago, Putin imposed sanctions on European imports, which sounds counterintuitive, like it would hurt Russia.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: But it was intentional.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He wanted to encourage domestic food production.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: And according to Luskarton's reporting, that move worked.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Over the past five years, Russia's wheat exports have gone up by 100 percent to about 44 million tons.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: That's more than the United States and Europe.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Putin said last fall, Russia was exporting more agricultural products than weapons.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: This article makes the case as our planet warms and it becomes more difficult to grow food, countries with lots of land and ideal growing conditions will hold far greater influence on the global stage.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This week, our colleague was telling us how she and her family went Christmas tree shopping, and it was just a big fail.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: The tree farm was nearly sold out.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The only things left were these oversized Christmas rejects.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: The funny-looking ones, you know, the ones you can barely call trees.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They're more like a holiday bush.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: And apparently, this is happening all over the country right now.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Amanda Mull writes about it for The Atlantic.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: And this is signature Amanda Mull.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She takes something that we all sort of vaguely know to be true and she captures it in this really concrete way.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: In this case, trees are selling out and tree farmers seem to be caught off guard.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Like a lot of businesses this year, Christmas tree sellers thought there might be a slowdown.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: One seller tells The Atlantic they were preparing for the worst, that they might have to shut down this year completely.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But with just a week to go until Christmas, some sellers told The Atlantic they're closing for an entirely different reason.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: They're completely sold out.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And here's one possible explanation.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Unlike past years, families are not getting together this year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So instead of one family getting together and having a large, beautiful Christmas tree in one home, now it's just a lot of small gatherings, which means more trees.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: We saw something similar at Thanksgiving, with a lot more people looking to buy a lot of small turkeys.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Another reason people just want something to celebrate, to look forward to.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Because even if you do end up with a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, decorating that tree, throwing up ornaments and lights.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It makes me smile.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: Maybe you'll smile too as we close out the year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Duarte Giraldean: And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
