Fauci would take a vaccine. Would you take a vaccine for Fauci?

Vaccine makers are racing the clock amidst a surge in COVID-19 cases. School’s ~physically~ out for New York City. And People’s Sexiest Man Alive is … Michael B. Jordan. 🔥

It’s Ashley. Let’s talk news.

But first, it pays to be George Clooney’s pal: The actor had a pretty thoughtful way to thank his 14 closest friends for their support through the years: a gift of $1 million each.

The Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe here!
Fauci talks vaccine. We listen.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert who has guided the U.S. through the pandemic, projected that many Americans could expect their first doses of an approved coronavirus vaccine as early as April. Front-line health care workers are expected to get their first doses by the end of December or early January, followed by at-risk individuals and eventually the healthy general population, Fauci told the USA TODAY Editorial Board on Wednesday. If most of the population is vaccinated by summer and fall, Fauci said, people can start looking forward to returning to pre-pandemic normalcy. But to get there, vaccine hesitancy must be addressed. “When it gets approved by the FDA … I would take the vaccine and I would recommend that my family take the vaccine,” Fauci said.

Pfizer to seek approval for vaccine within days: Pfizer and BioNTech, now saying its candidate vaccine is 95% effective, plan to submit a request “within days” to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency-use approval of the vaccine. You read that right: days. The companies hope to provide 50 million doses by year’s end and 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

Fun fact: Minus 112 is so cold, rubber shatters, metals can become brittle and exposed skin freezes almost instantly. It’s also the temperature required to store what’s expected to be the first COVID-19 vaccine.