COVID-19

No One’s Throwing Away Their Shot

Yesterday, a panel of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that the agency authorize the vaccine created by Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency use. The FDA doesn’t have to follow through with the panel’s recommendation, but it usually does. 

• One knotty ethical question for the Eleanor Shellstrops out there: The committee debated whether participants in the vaccine trial who had unknowingly been taking a placebo should be “unblinded,” or told it was a placebo and given an actual vaccine. 
• Unblinding would hamstring the research process...but it would also get people vaccinated. 

Now comes the hard part 

Pfizer, BioNTech, and other manufacturers have generated lifesaving products at a breathtaking speed...and with the federal government not providing clear vaccine guidance, it’s up to the states to decide who gets jabbed first. 

Zoom out: The stakes are as high as they’ve ever been—Covid deaths in the U.S. reached a new record high this week. 

Some states have drafted plans for distribution, but many of them don’t match up. And industry reps are fighting for spots at the front of the line: A cadre of airline industry groups wrote to U.S. health officials arguing that their members deserved priority status, given their importance in distributing the vaccine across the country. 

• Uber sent letters to all 50 state governors and President-elect Joe Biden aiming to secure the same priority status for its drivers. 
• At least 22 different industries, from cleaning suppliers to meat packers, have written to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices making similar cases for their workers. 

Bottom line: It will ultimately fall to the states to decide which workers are “essential” enough to receive the first, limited doses of the vaccine. Currently, the only clear directive is that healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities go first—and no industry reps dispute that. 

ENTERTAINMENT

Disney's Getting Busy

Thirty thousand layoffs. $7+ billion in losses from the pandemic. And...shares at an all-time high. What’s up with the House of Mouse? 

At its investor day, CEO Bob Chapek said the company's Disney+ streaming service has racked up 86.8 million subscribers in just 13 months.

To keep the momentum going...Disney+ will add more “mature” content from the likes of 21st Century Fox, ABC, and FX under the upcoming “Star” brand. And in the next few years, it’ll release…

• 10 Marvel series
• 10 Star Wars series
• 30 series or features under Disney Animation and Pixar 

Movies are where it’s really mixing things up

Covid-19 disrupted Disney’s release schedule, and next year it’s trying its first simultaneous streaming + theater premiere in March with Raya and the Last Dragon. 

• Sound familiar? WarnerMedia is planning joint theater-HBO Max premieres next year. 

But Disney isn't planning to follow WarnerMedia down that path just yet. Blockbusters like Black Widow will likely stick to traditional theater debuts, but Disney+ could be more popular for releases of live-action remakes, which have largely disappointed in theaters.

Zoom out: Disney’s streaming unit is growing rapidly, but still incurring big losses ($2.8 billion in fiscal year 2020) that analysts expect to peak in the next two years. 

ECONOMY

How’s That Ole Recovery Going?

Let’s sync up on the latest economic numbers for U.S. workers and households. 

Jobs: Applications for state unemployment benefits rose to 853,000 last week, the highest level since mid-September. Applications from self-employed and gig workers for a federal program rose 48%, but that program expires Dec. 26. 

Housing: A homebuying boom has added a collective $1 trillion in homeowner equity this year (an average of $17,000 per homeowner), according to CoreLogic. 

• But a crisis is brewing in the rental market: 11.4 million households are behind on rent, and Americans could owe $70 billion in rent, fees, and utility bills after a federal eviction moratorium expires this month, Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told Bloomberg.

Wealth: In Q3, net household wealth rose 3.2% to $123.5 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve, aided by rising real estate and stock portfolio values. But household debt rose 5.6% to $16.4 trillion as relief programs ended. 

Big picture: That slowing recovery isn’t expected to perk up over the holidays. Surveys of economists show rising pessimism about employment and growth prospects in Q1, especially as stimulus negotiations stall again. 

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EMPLOYERS

The Holiday Party Industrial Complex Meets Covid

It’s December 11, and you know what that would mean in ordinary times: the start of a marathon of non-mandatory-but-mandatory holiday work parties.  

But ordinary times these are not. So instead of slogging through a series of alcohol-drenched gatherings, we are...not. 

• Only 23% of employers plan to hold holiday celebrations, per Challenger, Gray & Christmas surveys. 

Of the companies that are celebrating, some are opting for online events, including trivia contests, virtual gift swaps, and something called “Gingerbread Wars,” the WaPo writes. The NYT describes a holiday singalong aboard a double-decker bus organized by production company Consultancy Media. 

• Many employers say they’re forging ahead with holiday parties because they know how tough a year it’s been. 

One benefit of an online holiday party? “At corporate holiday parties, you typically get a handful of folks who end up drinking too much and do something embarrassing,” Ryan Costello of Event Farm told the WSJ.  “If you’re drinking at home by yourself, you’re not going to have that experience.”

We aren’t so sure. What is Slack’s video function but an opportunity for embarrassment waiting to happen? 

+ If you’re an employer and still don’t have plans to entertain your employees, we created a super fun virtual trivia night for your team to play. You’ll find everything you need right here. 

QUIZ

Quizlore

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew's Weekly News Quiz has been compared to getting >20 likes on a tweet.

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Airbnb said “jump” and investors said “how high?” The company’s shares surged 112% in its first day of trading to reach a valuation of $86.5 billion
• President-elect Joe Biden will name Susan Rice, a former national security adviser, to lead the Domestic Policy Council.
• Lululemon’s Q3 sales jumped 22% from a year ago because it’s okay to wear ABC Pants to board meetings now. 
• Insurer MassMutual added $100 million of bitcoin to its investment account in the latest institutional boost for the crypto.
• Ben & Jerry’s unveiled a new Colin Kaepernick-inspired ice cream flavor, “Change the Whirled.” 

BREW'S BETS

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Cure your tech headaches. The boardroom is virtual. And figuring out the right tech needed to improve collaboration and communication is daunting. So Nasdaq has put together a guide to help boards identify and solve for five tech headaches. Learn more here.*

Today’s playlist: Taylor Swift wasn’t the only one who made great music this year. Here are NPR personality Bob Boilen’s 40 favorite songs of 2020.

Dept. of warm fuzzies: It’s the end of the week, so you should watch this video.  

Follow Friday: Today’s recs are for parents, by parents.

• Instagram: Working Momkind, Scary Mommy, The Dad, Feeding Littles, Black Moms Blog, and Taking Cara Babies
• YouTube: Dad Verb

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GAMES

Friday Puzzle

ANSWER

Boston and Austin