Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine poised to get full FDA approval next week
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is poised to fully approve Pfizer Inc.’s coronavirus vaccine early next week as President Joe Biden’s administration tries to woo more Americans to get the shot.
The approval likely will come on Monday or Tuesday, according to one official familiar with the plans, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. Pfizer’s vaccine has been in use in the U.S. based on an emergency authorization.
The White House referred questions to the FDA, which didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The development was first reported by Politico.
Biden has called for approval. He believes it will ease doubts about the vaccine and also give firmer footing for companies and schools to require inoculations, officials familiar with his thinking say.
“My plea is that for those who are not vaccinated: Think about it,” Biden said earlier this month. “God willing, the FDA is going to be coming out in a reasonable time frame to say this vaccine is totally safe.”
Biden has yet to nominate a permanent head of the FDA. The administration has privately decided against nominating the acting commissioner, Janet Woodcock, people familiar with the plans have said.
—Bloomberg News
Judge strikes down part of Georgia voting law that banned photography of ballots
ATLANTA — A federal judge ruled against a broad ban on photographing voted ballots Friday, throwing out a part of Georgia’s new voting law while allowing the rest of it to stand.
The decision is the first time a judge has invalidated a section of the 98-page voting law, which also limits ballot drop boxes, requires more ID to vote absentee and allows the state government to take over county elections.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee rejected the law’s sweeping prohibition of photographing or recording any filled-out ballot,finding that such far-reaching restrictions violate freedom of speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Boulee upheld other parts of the law fought in the lawsuit, including a requirement that voters request absentee ballots at least 11 days before election day and a prohibition on election observers communicating information to anyone other than election officials.
“The court recognizes that a preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy that should be granted sparingly, especially when it enjoins enforcement of a statute, but finds it is appropriate here given the constitutional rights at stake and plaintiffs’ satisfaction of the requisite burden,” Boulee wrote in a 39-page order.
Boulee’s decision came in a lawsuit filed by the Coalition for Good Governance, an election security organization that contested Georgia’s voting law, Senate Bill 202, before this fall’s upcoming municipal elections.
Seven other lawsuits opposing the law, including a case by the U.S. Department of Justice, are also pending.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Supreme Court rejects bid to halt Obama Presidential Center construction in Chicago
CHICAGO — The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a request by a Chicago parks preservation group for a temporary halt to construction of the Obama Presidential Center, which officially kicked off in Jackson Park on Monday.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett issued the decision Friday without comment, declining to provide the emergency injunction sought by Protect Our Parks.
Supreme Court intervention was considered unlikely, but the group’s lawsuit will continue.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision is disappointing, but not surprising. We still believe that preserving the status quo is fundamental to preventing irreparable harm in Jackson Park,” Michael Rachlis, a lawyer for Protect Our Parks and other plaintiffs on the suit, said in a statement.
“Nonetheless, our core arguments seek to protect the long-term environmental and historical resources in Jackson Park, and we look forward to presenting our evidence and these arguments in the appellate and district court in the coming weeks.”
The group, whose bid for an emergency halt to construction was rejected by a lower court, has advocated for an alternate location in Washington Park and has argued in court that current plans will clear-cut 1,000 mature trees, disrupt migratory bird patterns and contribute to more harmful air emissions by snarling traffic.
—Chicago Tribune
US cites Nord Stream 2, Navalny attack with new sanctions on Russia
WASHINGTON — Washington hit the Kremlin with a new round of sanctions on Friday, some for Russia's backing of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the other to punish individuals involved with last year's poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.
The sanctions related to Navalny came a year to the day after Navalny fell ill on a plane. International experts say attackers lined his underwear with the nerve agent Novichok, which Russia disputes.
The attack on Navalny — who has since landed in prison for violating the terms of parole on another charge, because he was recuperating from the poisoning in Germany — has already prompted rounds of international sanctions.
New sanctions announced on Friday set up new controls on the imports of certain Russian arms and bans the export to Russia of certain nuclear and missile-related goods and technology.
The other sanctions apply to Nord Stream 2, which the U.S. sees as a gambit to make Europe dependent on Russian energy while weakening Ukraine, against which Russia harbors animosity because recent governments have tried to move Ukraine out of Russia's sphere of influence.
The topic is touchy, because the undersea gas pipeline would lead to Germany, a key U.S. ally. America has agreed not to punish Germany for the project, so long as efforts are undertaken to make sure Ukraine is not financially harmed.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel brought the subject up on Friday during a visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The new U.S. sanctions target a Russian vessel and two Russian individuals involved in the pipeline's construction.
—dpa
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