November 16, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

The U.S. is facing both despair and hope regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. With total infections over 11 million nationwide, the virus is continuing to wreak havoc, leading to rising hospitalizations and deaths -- and reimposed restrictions. But at the same time, the drug company Moderna announced encouraging early results in a study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. William Brangham reports.

Early results from Pfizer and Moderna vaccine candidates are very encouraging. But even if a successful vaccine is developed, challenges around production and distribution remain -- not to mention public trust and willingness to receive it. Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the advances and how Americans can fight the pandemic now.

With Moderna reporting encouraging early results from its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, we take a personal look at what it’s like to be part of the research process. The NewsHour’s John Yang is participating in Moderna’s clinical trials. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss what motivated him to volunteer, how he has felt after each of the two shots and what comes next for the study's participants.

Only weeks remain before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated. In a speech Monday, Biden focused on how he would act to rebuild the U.S. economy after the damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. But meanwhile, he and his team are concerned about how President Trump’s denials of his victory could slow progress around a COVID-19 vaccine. Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

President Trump still refuses to concede the presidential election, more than one week after the Associated Press called the race for President-elect Joe Biden. Trump spent the past weekend on the golf course and on Twitter, repeating his angry and defiant objections to the results. Thousands of his supporters gathered in D.C., with violence leading to 21 arrests. Yamiche Alcindor reports.

In our news wrap Monday, fighting in Ethiopia has escalated. The capital of the Tigray region was reportedly bombed after firing rockets into neighboring Eritrea -- an ally of Ethiopia. Some 25,000 refugees have fled to Sudan. Also, Hurricane Iota developed into a Category 5 storm, with winds of 160 miles per hour. It threatens the same Central American regions recently battered by Hurricane Eta.

The race to develop vaccine candidates to prevent COVID-19 represents an unprecedented national and global effort. President Trump and some public health experts say encouraging early results from Pfizer and Moderna suggest the approach is working. But there are also questions about the risks of ramping up vaccine research and development at this scale and on this timeline. Miles O’Brien reports.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including President Trump’s continued resistance to conceding the election, what his refusal to authorize the transition means for the incoming Biden administration, the pandemic’s effect on voters and the outlook for additional federal coronavirus relief.