Bad Weather Slows Shots; U.S. Vaccine to Double: Virus Update

(Bloomberg) — Covax, the global effort to fund vaccinations in lower-income countries, is getting a major boost as the U.S. plans to contribute as much as $4 billion while France will donate 5% of its secured supplies. The U.K. also will announce its commitment during a Group of Seven call on Friday.

The U.S. vaccine supply is poised to double in the coming weeks and months, according to an analysis by Bloomberg. Winter storms across the country continue to slow the inoculation drive.

A single dose of the Pfizer Inc. vaccine significantly reduced symptoms in the first four weeks after injection, according to an analysis. Brazil became the third country in the world to breach 10 million cases.

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Singapore has started taking applications for a program that will allow people to enter the island for business and official purposes without having to quarantine for 14 days. The catch? They’ll have to stay in a bubble-like facility near Changi Airport, and can’t leave.

The first visitors under the so-called Connect@Changi program are expected to arrive next month, Alan Thompson, joint head of strategic development at Temasek International, said Thursday. Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s state investment firm, is supporting the initiative.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce on Friday that the U.K. will donate surplus coronavirus vaccines to developing countries to boost the global battle against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The “majority” of any future U.K. surplus coronavirus vaccines will be shared with the World Health Organization-backed Covax program, Johnson’s office said late Thursday in a statement. That’s on top of the 548 million pounds ($766 million) the country has already donated to the program, which is aimed at supplying some of the world’s poorest nations with inoculations.

Johnson on Friday will host a video call among the leaders of the Group of Seven nations, during which he’ll encourage them to increase their Covax funding, according to the statement.

A single dose of the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE significantly reduced Covid-19 symptoms in the first four weeks after injection, according to an analysis that gives early support to efforts to extend scarce doses.

Among health-care workers who got the vaccine, symptomatic infections were reduced by 85% in the 15 to 28 days after the first dose, compared with those who didn’t get a shot, according to the report in The Lancet medical journal. While most workers received a second dose on schedule — about three weeks after the first — the booster would only have just started to kick in by the end of the study, so it was essentially looking at the effects of one dose, researchers said Thursday.

The result gives preliminary support to health officials who recommend postponing second shots to quickly get first doses to as many people as possible.

Novavax Inc. will supply 1.1 billion doses of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine to Covax, a global alliance many low and middle-income countries are relying on to protect their populations from the virus.

The Covax Facility is an effort led by the World Health Organization, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Novavax, along with its manufacturing and distribution partner the Serum Institute of India, announced the commitment in a statement on Thursday, sending shares of the U.S. drugmaker up 7% in post-market trading. Novavax and Gavi haven’t yet finalized the advanced purchase agreement for supply of the two-shot regimen.

“This agreement brings the Covax Facility one step closer to its goal of supplying vaccines globally and ending the acute phase of the pandemic,” said Seth Berkley, chief executive officer of Gavi. “It helps us close in on our goal of delivering two billion doses in 2021 and increases the range of vaccines available to us as we build a portfolio suitable for all settings and contexts.”

Los Angeles shut down vaccine distribution on Friday at some of its largest sites, including Dodger Stadium, due to supply shortages. Approximately 12,500 residents were to receive an email or text message telling them of the delay, Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement Thursday.

Winter storms in the central part of the country are causing the shortages, he said. It is the second time this month the city has shut distribution sites due to supply curtailments. America’s second-largest city is trying to administer second doses to the elderly and health-care workers before moving on to other high-priority groups such as teachers and food service workers.

The U.S. will contribute as much as $4 billion to Covax, the global effort to fund vaccinations in lower-income countries, but doesn’t plan on shipping any of its own vaccines abroad until the nation’s own demand has been met, officials familiar with the matter said.

President Joe Biden will announce during a Group of Seven call on Friday that the U.S. will commit $2 billion immediately to the program and pledge another $2 billion with conditions designed to spur contributions from other countries, said the officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.

Florida is poised to pass 30,000 total fatalities, the fourth state in the U.S. to do so.

The state hit 29,990 deaths, combining residents and non-residents, on Thursday amid declining cases, hospitalizations and, more recently, fatalities. In order, the states with the most deaths are California, New York and Texas, each with more than 40,000.

Brazil cases surpassed 10 million, with infections picking up speed in recent weeks as a new variant spreads amid a shortage of vaccines.

Latin America’s largest nation reported 51,879 new cases Thursday, pushing the total confirmed to 10,030,626, according to Health Ministry data. It’s a toll that lags only the U.S. and India. Deaths rose by 1,367 to 243,457, the second-highest globally.

“Brazil’s situation is really bad, with contagion at high levels. We’re seeing health systems in several states either in collapse or close to it,” said Estevao Urbano, an infectious disease expert and director at Brazil’s Infectology Society.

Mexico issued a warning on the alleged illegal application of Pfizer’s vaccine in the state of Nuevo Leon, according to health agency Cofepris.

Th vaccine has not been authorized for sale to the private sector, so any substance acquired through an intermediary is false, it said.

The U.S. vaccine supply is poised to double in the coming weeks and months, according to an analysis by Bloomberg, allowing a broad expansion of doses administered across the country.

Currently, the U.S. is administering 1.6 million doses a day, constrained by the recent supply of about 10 million to 15 million doses a week. But Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers and U.S. officials have accelerated their production timelines and signaled that the spigots are about to open, providing hundreds of millions of doses to match the growing capacity to immunize people at pharmacies and mass-vaccination sites.

A review of drugmakers’ public statements and their supply deals suggests that the number of vaccines delivered should rise to almost 20 million a week in March, more than 25 million a week in April and May, and over 30 million a week June. By summer, it would be enough to give 4.5 million shots a day.

France is committing to donate 5% of its secured Covid-19 vaccine supplies to poorer countries through the World Health Organization-backed Covax program.

A multilateral approach via Covax — a global alliance many developing nations are relying on for inoculations — is the most efficient way to show solidarity, a French official who asked not to be named in line with protocol, said Thursday.

France hopes the U.S. will make financial commitments regarding vaccines during a Group of Seven summit on Friday, the official added.

Canada has begun to accelerate its vaccine rollout after delivery disruptions became a major political headache for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In an update by public-health officials Thursday, the government announced the pace of deliveries of both the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc. shots is ramping up as of this week.

As many as 14.5 million of Canada’s 38 million people should be inoculated by the end of June, according to an updated timeline, up from the 13 million the government expected previously.

Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease doctor in the U.S., said winter storms and bad weather have brought vaccinations to a “grinding halt” in some places.

Vaccines have been administered below the daily average of 1.6 million shots, measured over a week, for the last three days, according to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said snowstorms and bad weather resulted in the loss of several days of vaccine supply, as well as the delayed open of two vaccination sites.