Good morning, readers of NBC News.
This morning, we’ll take a look at the chaotic launch of the vaccine in America, the timeline that led to the explosion of GameStop-Robinhood-WSB and the legacy that Cicely Tyson left behind.
Like late doses, missed requests and last-minute allocations delayed vaccine release
Since the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine began last month, every week has been a test of patience for Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert.
“We don’t know how many doses we will receive, so we don’t know how to organize the team or how many volunteers we need,” said Ruppert, health commissioner in Rockland County, New York.
Ruppert is not alone. Health clinics across the country were left unsure how many doses they would receive, forcing them to struggle at the last minute to schedule appointments – making the distribution of the life-saving vaccine a logistical nightmare.
“Think of it this way: we are the last in line for information, but we are the first in line for the public,” said Lori Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
It all happens when scientists warn that the United States is running out of time to vaccinate as many people as possible before other potentially more worrying variants of the coronavirus emerge.
The first American cases of the South African variant were found in South Carolina on Thursday, health officials announced.
In other developments:
A look at how GameStop-Robinhood-WSB reached this boiling point
The stock market frenzy surrounding GameStop took years to form, NBC News technology reporters David Ingram and Jason Abbruzzese report.
The seemingly sudden explosion actually reflects the parallel growth of two extreme online communities: users of the Robinhood stock trading application and members of a Reddit message board.
Check out the timeline of how r / wallstreetbets, also known as WSB, and Robinhood emerged.
On Thursday, online brokers restricted GameStop trading in an effort to protect users, but ended up infuriating them.
MSNBC anchor and senior business correspondent for NBC News, Stephanie Ruhle, investigates how a Reddit chat room “played” the stock market in its latest podcast.
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More
Think about it
Trump’s rise and fall has unified the two most pernicious racist myths about America, Phillip Gorski, a professor of sociology and religious studies at Yale University, writes in an opinion article.
Live better
Can I travel after having the Covid-19 vaccine?
Shopping
Godiva announced that it will close all its stores in North America. A frequent visitor describes how he will miss the simple, sweet break from life he has always provided.
RIP Cicely Tyson
We lost another legendary actress yesterday with the death of Cicely Tyson.
The innovative film, television and theater actress known as “Sounder” and other roles, died Thursday at the age of 96, her family said.
Tyson, who was born and raised in Harlem, was first discovered as a model for Ebony Magazine. She gained fame in the early 1970s, when black women were finally starting to land leading roles.
In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded Tyson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s largest civilian tribute.
“Cicely made a conscious decision not just to say lines, but to speak openly,” Obama said as he presented Tyson with the tribute.
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Thank you Petra
