--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Monday, December 14th. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We start today with an extraordinary moment. How are you feeling?
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: I'm feeling great. The audio is a little rough, but you can hear a round of applause as Sandra Lindsay officially becomes the first person in the United States to get the Pfizer vaccine. This moment marks the start of the most ambitious vaccine distribution effort in American history. And this week, the same FDA advisory group which recommended Pfizer's drug be approved is planning to meet to discuss giving the green light to Moderna's vaccine. So soon, there could be not one, but two coronavirus vaccines.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You probably have questions like, when will I get one? And how soon will life go back to normal? The Washington Post has some answers.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Let's start with the big question, are the vaccines safe? The Post explains no serious safety concerns have been reported in either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine trials. And there will be intensive safety monitoring as these vaccines are rolled out more widely. Some possible side effects include fatigue, chills, fever, and maybe a little pain where you get the shot. The CDC recommends for people who've had serious allergic reactions to vaccines, they should check with their doctors before getting the Pfizer shot.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Next question. When is your turn to get the shot? Well, it depends. If you're a health care worker, a teacher, or someone considered an essential employee, you're closer to the front of the line. Same if you're older or high risk. But if you're relatively healthy and young and do not have a high-risk job, don't expect to get the vaccine up until April at the earliest. The New York Times has this tool to help you find your approximate place on the list. So for me, a healthy person living in New York based on my age, it says 268 million people are ahead of me.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: By the way, most coronavirus vaccine trials did not include children though Pfizer is expanding its trial to people 12 and older. So as of right now, kids are likely to be last in line.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, once you get a vaccine, can you finally stop social distancing? The answer to that is not at first. It's going to take some time before enough people are immunized to stop spreading the virus. So in the meantime, keep up the distancing. Keep your masks on. As far as cost goes, good news here. The government purchased hundreds of millions of doses and is promising you and I won't have to pay. It's going to be free.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Today, the 538 members of the Electoral College meet to cast their votes for president and vice president of the United States. In the past, this day has sort of come and gone pretty quietly. But this year, things are different. There's President Trump's unsuccessful legal challenges to President-elect Joe Biden's victory. And yesterday, Michigan closed legislative offices due to credible threats of violence, just as their state electors are getting ready to vote. There were dozens of arrests over the weekend after pro-Trump protests in D.C. turned violent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: All of this has put a spotlight on the nitty-gritty details of how we elect our presidents. The Wall Street Journal breaks down what's going to happen today.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You know, each state has its own process for choosing electors. Some are picked at state party conventions. Others are handpicked by party leaders. 33 states, plus Washington, D.C., require electors vote for the candidate who won their state's popular vote. Several states penalize electors who don't do this. 14 states have rules to cancel the vote of so-called faithless electors and replace them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, it's pretty rare for electors to go rogue, but even when they do, it usually a small number not enough to change the outcome of an election Some electors are familiar names people like Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton They both New York electors Stacey Abrams is a Georgia elector But there are also many lesser-known names, like Rachel Powley from suburban Atlanta. She's the president of the Young Democrats organization and an elector in Georgia. Or Taman Hamlet from Texas. He's a 19-year-old political science student at the University of Houston. And because Trump carried Texas, Taymon will drive three hours to Austin to cast his electoral vote for Trump.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That's one of the reasons this article caught my eye, because of these lesser-known electors. Take Mary Arnold. She's a Democrat and will cast one of Wisconsin's 10 electoral college votes for Joe Biden. She's in her 70s, is a retired social worker and leads her county's party organization. This is her first time being a part of the Electoral College. When the chairperson of the Wisconsin Democratic Party called her earlier this year asking if she'd like to be an elector, she says she was blown away. She never thought she'd be selected. She was told she'd been chosen after demonstrating excellent local leadership.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Republican Lauren Culp lost his race for governor in Washington state by 13 percent of the vote. But he's not conceding. He's insisting there was voter fraud. And last week, he sued the Secretary of State. Buzz Patterson, a Republican in California, lost his race for Congress by a similar margin, he's also refusing to throw in the towel. He claims something was wrong with the voting machines. There are similar stories in a half-dozen states across the country.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Political writes about how other members of the GOP are now using Trump's strategy, you know, refusing to concede, claiming voter fraud without evidence, suing, and then fundraising off the issue. What we may be seeing, according to Politico, is a new era of politics where it's normal for candidates not to concede. Politico spoke with one Republican strategist John Thomas who says he can understand a candidate refusing to concede if the margin of victory was literally razor-thin. Anything other than that, he says, is just a strategy for sore losers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And he worries it'll hurt their reputations if they decide to run again. But it's clear some of these losing Republicans don't see it that way. They see this strategy working for Trump. And by working, political makes it clear. We're not talking about overturning election results now. We're talking about how Trump may have successfully convinced people to question the integrity of U.S. elections. A majority of Republicans now say they believe the November election was not free and fair. And this tactic is turning into an effective fundraising tool for Trump and other losing candidates who are alleging voter fraud.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Politico says this is throwing the whole concession speech playbook out the window. Now losing candidates keep talking, possibly setting the stage for a future run.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Cleveland's Major League Baseball team will drop the name Indians. As The Wall Street Journal reports, the move comes after decades of protests from Native American groups. Earlier this year, Washington's NFL team dropped its nickname, which was a racial slur. Across pro sports teams, the Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Chiefs, and Chicago Blackhawks say they have no plans to change their names.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Cleveland's name change follows this decision last year to scale back the appearance of its red-faced mascot. It did this by removing it from uniforms and its signs. It's not clear what the team's new name will be. One contender is the Spiders, which was the name of a Cleveland baseball team from the late 19th century, which had a Native American player.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more on the Apple News app. And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories. We'll talk with you again tomorrow. Thank you.
