Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Vaccine news from the CDC: “People shouldn’t get the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine when the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots are available, an advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.”
* The latest increase in Covid-19 cases: “The country is reporting more than 120,000 new cases a day on average, according to a New York Times database — a 40 percent increase from two weeks ago, and 70 percent more than when cases stopped falling in early November.”
* A difficult process: “The Biden administration walked away from negotiations to financially compensate families separated at the border by the Trump administration, three lawyers for the families told NBC News on Thursday.”
* Climate crisis: “An Antarctic ice shelf could crack and disintegrate within the next decade, allowing a Florida-sized glacier to slide into the ocean and raising sea levels by feet, scientists warned Wednesday.”
* At the White House today: “An Army sergeant who helped rescue six soldiers out of a burning vehicle in Iraq despite being engulfed in flames himself was one of three soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor on Thursday by President Joe Biden.”








