Late Edition Today, partly cloudy after patchy fog, warm, high 72. Tonight, mostly cloudy, mild, low 62. Tomorrow, mostly cloudy, rain later, high 70. Weather map appears on Page B12. VOL. CLXX .... No. 58,873 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020 $3.00 BIDEN CALLS FOR UNITED FRONT AS VIRUS RAGES McConnell Impugns Vaccine Is Over 90% Urges All Americans Results That Gave Effective, Pfizer’s to Wear Masks as G.O.P. Wins, Too Early Data Says Hospitals Fill Up By NICHOLAS FANDOS This article is by Katie Thomas, By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and EMILY COCHRANE David Gelles and Carl Zimmer. WILMINGTON, Del. — Corona- Leading Republicans rallied on The drug maker Pfizer an- virus cases surged to a record on Monday around President nounced on Monday that an early Monday, with the United States Trump’s refusal to concede the analysis of its coronavirus vac- now averaging 111,000 cases each election, declining to challenge cine trial suggested the vaccine day for the past week, a grim mile- the false narrative that it was stol- was robustly effective in prevent- stone amid rising hospitalizations en from him or to recognize Presi- ing Covid-19, a promising develop- and deaths that cast a shadow on dent-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ment as the world has waited anx- positive news about the effective- victory even as party divisions iously for any positive news about ness of a potential vaccine. burst into public view. a pandemic that has killed more As the number of infected Senator Mitch McConnell of than 1.2 million people. Americans passed 10 million and Kentucky, the top Republican in Pfizer, which developed the vac- governors struggled to manage Congress, threw his support be- cine with the German drug maker the pandemic, President-elect Jo- hind Mr. Trump in a sharply BioNTech, released only sparse seph R. Biden Jr. tried on Monday worded speech on the Senate details from its clinical trial, based to use his bully pulpit — the only floor. He declared that Mr. Trump on the first formal review of the tool at his disposal until he re- was “100 percent within his MARK ABRAMSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES data by an outside panel of ex- rights” to turn to the legal system perts. places President Trump in 72 days — to plead for Americans to set to challenge the outcome and The company said that the anal- hammered Democrats for expect- ysis found that the vaccine was aside the bitterness of the 2020 ing the president to concede. more than 90 percent effective in election and wear a mask. In his first public remarks since preventing the disease among “It doesn’t matter who you Mr. Biden was declared the win- trial volunteers who had no evi- voted for, where you stood before ner, Mr. McConnell celebrated the dence of prior coronavirus infec- success of Republicans who won tion. If the results hold up, that lev- election to the House and the Sen- el of protection would put it on par ate. But in the next breath, he with highly effective childhood treated the outcome of the presi- vaccines for diseases such as dential election — based on the measles. No serious safety con- same ballots that elected those cerns have been observed, the Republicans — as unknown. company said. “President Trump is 100 per- Pfizer plans to ask the Food and cent within his rights to look into Drug Administration for emer- allegations of irregularities and gency authorization of the two- weigh his legal options,” said Mr. dose vaccine later this month, af- McConnell, the majority leader. ter it has collected the recom- “Let’s not have any lectures about mended two months of safety how the president should immedi- data. By the end of the year it will AMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMES ately, cheerfully accept prelimi- have manufactured enough doses President-elect Joseph R. Bi- nary election results from the to immunize 15 to 20 million peo- same characters who just spent ple, company executives have den Jr. moved to take charge. four years refusing to accept the said. validity of the last election.” “This is a historical moment,” Election Day,” Mr. Biden said in In Georgia, where the continu- said Kathrin Jansen, a senior vice Delaware after announcing a KATHRYN GAMBLE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES ing vote count showed Mr. Trump president and the head of vaccine Covid-19 advisory board charged losing the state’s electoral votes, research and development at Pfi- with preparing for quick action Senators David Perdue and Kelly zer. “This was a devastating situa- once he is inaugurated. “It doesn’t Loeffler — both Republicans now tion, a pandemic, and we have em- matter your party, your point of facing January runoffs to keep barked on a path and a goal that view. We can save tens of thou- their seats — took the extraordi- nobody ever has achieved — to sands of lives if everyone would nary step of calling on the state’s come up with a vaccine within a just wear a mask for the next few top election official to resign. De- year.” months. Not Democratic or Re- claring Georgia’s handling of the The news comes just days after publican lives — American lives.” election an “embarrassment” and Joseph R. Biden Jr. clinched a vic- Hours before Mr. Biden’s re- citing vague “failures” in an echo tory over President Trump in the marks, the drug maker Pfizer an- of Mr. Trump’s evidence-free presidential election. Mr. Trump nounced that an early analysis of charges of stolen votes, they said had repeatedly hinted a vaccine its coronavirus vaccine trial sug- Brad Raffensperger, the Republi- would be ready before Election gested the vaccine was robustly can secretary of state, had failed Day, Nov. 3. This fall, Pfizer’s chief effective in preventing Covid-19, a the state. executive, Dr. Albert Bourla, fre- promising development that sent Mr. Raffensperger bluntly re- quently claimed that the company stock prices soaring. The world jected their calls, declaring the could have some indication of has waited anxiously for any pos- senators’ claims “laughable” and whether the vaccine worked by itive sign that there will be an end suggesting that they were merely October, something that did not to the pandemic that has killed disgruntled because Mr. Trump come to pass. more than 1.2 million people might lose and their jobs were on Stocks surged on the news. The worldwide. the line. S&P 500 gained 1.2 percent Mon- “It’s extraordinary,” Dr. Antho- The intraparty feuding under- day, ending the day just short of a ny S. Fauci, the government’s top Continued on Page A19 high reached in early September. infectious disease expert, said on Shares of companies that stand to CNN. “It is really a big deal.” gain most from the return of nor- Mr. Biden called the develop- BARR WADES IN The attorney JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES mal activity — like airlines and ment “excellent news” but cau- general freed prosecutors to open From top, diners in New York, ballet students in Iowa and a church service in Texas. The nation is shopping mall operators — tioned that the country was still voter fraud inquiries. PAGE A19 averaging 111,000 new coronavirus cases a day, and over 10 million Americans have been infected. Continued on Page A5 Continued on Page A7 Looking to End ‘America First’ Trump Fires Esper Amid Fears Experts Warn of ‘Time Bombs’ And Re-engage With the World Of a Purge at Security Agencies As Students Travel for Holiday By DAVID E. SANGER Biden’s Strategies on a This article is by Helene Cooper, F.B.I. and C.I.A. Heads By SHAWN HUBLER Virus Likely to Spread WASHINGTON — President- Eric Schmitt and Maggie Ha- As Thanksgiving approaches, elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. makes no Global Approach berman. Could Be Next to Go millions of Americans are weigh- at Family Gatherings secret of the speed with which he WASHINGTON — President ing the risk of pandemic travel plans to bury “America First” as a Trump fired Defense Secretary against the yearning to visit guiding principle of the nation’s But mostly, Mr. Biden said in a Mark T. Esper on Monday, upend- was not finished, and that Christo- friends and family. But one group As has been true with so much foreign policy. statement to The New York ing the military’s leadership at a pher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, seems all but certain to be head- of the nation’s pandemic re- He says he will re-enter the Iran Times, he wants to bring an end to time when Mr. Trump’s refusal to and Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. direc- ing home in large numbers just in sponse, the answer is a patchwork nuclear deal, assuming the Irani- a slogan that came to define a concede the election has created a tor, could be next in line to be fired. time for turkey and holiday gath- of policies, with a minority of ans are willing to reverse course United States that built walls and rocky and potentially precarious Removing these senior officials — erings: college students. schools mandating that students and observe its limits. made working with allies an after- transition. in effect decapitating the nation’s Since the start of the fall semes- test negative for the coronavirus He would sign up for another thought — and, in Mr. Biden’s Mr. Trump announced the deci- national security bureaucracy — ter, most universities have before they can leave campus — five years of the only surviving view, undermined any chance of sion on Twitter, writing in an would be without parallel by an planned to end in-person classes and many more offering little nuclear arms treaty with Russia forging a common international abrupt post that Mr.