Hello and welcome to the Oster Home Update, COVID-19, a weekly podcast on the COVID-19

pandemic with Dr. Michael Oster Home. Dr. Oster Home is an internationally recognized

medical detective and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy

or CITRAP at the University of Minnesota. In this podcast, Dr. Oster Home will draw on

more than 45 years of experience investigating infectious disease outbreaks to provide

straight talk on the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm Chris Doll, reporter for CITRAP News. I'm your

host for these conversations.

It's December 10th, and though the United States is currently in the midst of the worst phase

of the coronavirus pandemic since the virus first came to our shores, by this time next

week we could be looking at a much brighter future. Later today, the Food and Drug Administration's

vaccine and related biological products advisory committee will meet to review data on the

COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and Biontech, and emergency use authorization could come within

days of that meeting. Then, distribution of the initial doses of the vaccine to healthcare

workers and nursing home residents will begin. It's a time of hope, but amid that help,

there are going to be challenges. On this episode of the Oster Home Update, we're going

to focus on those challenges. And what questions need to be answered as we go from a vaccine

to vaccination. We'll also take a look at the state of the pandemic in the US, and what

impact the Thanksgiving holiday has had on the trajectory of cases and hospitalizations,

discuss other world hotspots, explore what we know and don't know about coronavirus transmission

in schools, and celebrate a life lost to COVID-19. But first, we'll begin with Dr. Oster

Oster, I'm welcome and dedication.

Thank you, Chris, and welcome to everyone to this week's podcast. Before I go any further,

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