Pfizer Vaccine: What You Need to Know
(…) “It seems to be a proof of principle that we can make a vaccine, that it can make an immune response, that it does look safe in individuals that have been studied so far and that it actually works in the real world to protect against Covid,” said Dr. Buddy Creech, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program in Nashville, Tenn., said in an interview. “That’s all you can hope for in any vaccine. And for it to have occurred this quickly and this rigorously is really encouraging.” (…)
The analysis took place too soon for researchers to figure how long the protection conferred by the vaccine will last; the data only looked how well the vaccine worked seven days after subjects got a second shot. (…) “Is this going to be a handful of months, like the flu vaccine? Is it going to be like measles or smallpox where it’s lifelong immunity?” It also is unclear whether the vaccine worked at protecting against severe Covid-19 disease. Nor is it clear whether the vaccine worked in all the different populations that would be in line to get one, including the elderly, children and various racial and ethnic groups. Pfizer and BioNTech are expected to release additional data later.
- “The results are really quite good, I mean extraordinary,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci.
- More than a dozen economies have inked supply deals with Pfizer and BioNTech for their vaccine. The duo expects to be able to produce 1.3 billion doses of their shot, enough for 650 million people, by the end of 2021. About 50 million doses are expected to be available this year. (Bloomberg)
- The U.S. government has already purchased 100 million doses, with an option to buy another 500 million. That could theoretically cover America’s 255 million adults, and most of those under 18. (Axios)
France, Germany, Italy?…
Eli Lilly’s Covid-19 Antibody Drug Gets FDA Green Light Authorization of the drug addresses a hole in Covid-19 treatment, providing options for the infected before they require hospitalization
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Eli Lilly LLY -0.29% & Co.’s antibody drug should be used for patients ages 12 and up with mild to moderate Covid-19, based on a study showing it helped improve symptoms and kept many patients out of the hospital.
The FDA said the drug is authorized for patients at high risk of progressing to severe Covid-19, including people 65 and older, or who have certain chronic medical conditions. The drug shouldn’t be given to hospitalized patients, the FDA said, because it showed no clinical benefit in a study among such patients. (…)
Brazil Suspends Trials of Chinese Vaccine The clinical trials were halted following a ‘severe adverse event’
(…) Sinovac said in a statement Tuesday that it was still confident in the safety of the vaccine and that it was in contact with Butantan, which told the firm that it doesn’t believe the event is related to the vaccine. Sinovac spokesman Liu Peicheng said it hasn’t found any adverse cases in other ongoing trials for the vaccine. (…)
Data: Our World in Data; Chart: Naema Ahmed/Axios
Small Business Optimism Remains Steady in October, but Owners’ Uncertainty Increased
The NFIB Optimism Index remained at 104.0 in October, unchanged from September and a historically high reading. Four of the 10 components improved, 5 declined, and 1 was unchanged. Although all of the data was collected prior to Election Day, a 6-point increase in the NFIB Uncertainty Index to 98 was likely driven by the election and uncertain conditions in future months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and possible government mandated shutdowns. The uncertainty reading was the highest reading since November 2016.
Small business owners uncertain of survival without new stimulus
The positive news about a possible coronavirus vaccine could prove to be a negative for many struggling small business owners, as economists worry that it could reduce the urgency for Congress to pass a new fiscal relief package.
A new survey from Goldman Sachs through its 10,000 Small Businesses program provided first to Axios finds that more than half of small business owners (52%) have stopped paying themselves in a bid to keep their businesses afloat and four in 10 (42%) already have begun laying off employees or cutting worker pay.
- 33% have dipped into personal savings to stay operational.
- 28% say the legislative uncertainty has caused them to consider closing their business.
Moving forward, 38% of those surveyed said they will have to lay off more employees or cut employee compensation and 20% said they will not be able to pay their commercial rent through the end of the year without additional help from Congress. (…)
China consumer price inflation hits lowest level in more than a decade Official data raise spectre of deflation in wake of Covid-19 pandemic
The consumer price index rose 0.5 per cent year-on-year in October, official data show, lower than economists’ expectations of 0.8 per cent. That compared to a 1.7 per cent rise in September and 2.4 per cent in August. (…)
Core CPI inflation, which excludes food and energy, was 0.5 per cent in October and has remained at that level — its lowest since 2010 — for several months. (…)
ANOTHER CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP?
Yesterday, stocks closed well off their best levels. DJIA +2.95%, S&P 500 +1.17%, NASDAQ -1.52%, S&P 600 +4.88%.
Energy and Financials won big from their bottom of the 2020 performance ranks. The potential vaccine could change the narrative away from “tech companies are the only growers during a pandemic” to a “back to normal, where’s growth at a reasonable price” market.
Reproduced from Charles Schwab; Chart: Axios Visuals
- The 30-company Dow was boosted by Disney, Boeing and Chevron, which each gained more than 11% on the day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq had its worst day since Oct. 30 and was led downward by companies like Netflix, which fell by around 9%, as well as Zoom and Peloton, which both declined by almost twice that much on the day.
- Value and cyclical stocks outperformed growth and momentum stocks by the most in a single session since 2000 by some measures, according to FactSet. (Axios)
Not meaty enough: Beyond Meat shares fell by as much as 27% in after-hours trading after releasing underwhelming earnings that showed the company returning to a quarterly net loss and revenue that badly missed expectations. (CNBC)
U.S. vs. China in 5G: The Battle Isn’t Even Close China is leading the way in the size and consistency of its 5G network
China has more 5G subscribers than the U.S., not just in total but per capita. It has more 5G smartphones for sale, and at lower prices, and it has more-widespread 5G coverage. Connections in China are, on average, faster than in the U.S., too. (…)
Where China has a definite edge is in the nuts and bolts of 5G. By year’s end, China will have an estimated 690,000 5G base stations—boxes that blast 5G signals to consumers—up and running across the country, compared with 50,000 in the U.S., according to Handel Jones, chief executive of International Business Strategies Inc., a research firm. (…)
In China, 5G phones are less expensive, too: $458, on average, in the second quarter of this year, compared with $1,079 in the U.S., according to Canalys. (…)
The top-down approach has led to a more uniform version of 5G throughout the country, compared with the U.S., and more consistent speeds, says Wayne Lam, director of research at CCS Insight. “There’s a lot more central planning” behind China’s approach, Mr. Lam says.
The U.S., by contrast, has more-fragmented 5G coverage and uneven speeds. For example, while superfast 5G known as “millimeter wave” exists in a few crowded hot spots, like stadiums—and is not yet available to consumers in China—5G is slower everywhere else in the U.S.
(…) China’s 5G network covers only 8% of the population. In South Korea, by comparison, 5G covers 25% of the population, said Mr. Ding, who added that China’s 5G network is also slower than those of South Korea, Switzerland and other countries. (…)
“At present, China has built the world’s largest 5G network,” Mr. Ding said. However, he added, when compared with South Korea, Switzerland and a handful of other countries on the cutting edge of 5G, China still has room for improvement. (…)
Boeing Jets, Other U.S. Goods Worth $4 Billion Face EU Tariffs The European Union will impose tariffs on $3.99 billion of Boeing jets and other U.S. goods annually as part of a long-running trade dispute, the bloc’s trade chief said.
Silicon Valley Gets Another President Skeptical of Big Tech As a candidate, Joe Biden lambasted Facebook for what he considered failures to contain the spread of misinformation. His presidential election win puts him in a position to do something about it.
Amazon Faces New EU Antitrust Charges Amazon.com faces a fresh legal battle with the European Union, with the bloc set to file formal charges against the online retailer for alleged unfair business practices Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Election latest. Attorney General William Barr authorized the DOJ to open probes into potential irregularities, while acknowledging there’s no conclusive evidence. His elections crime chief Richard Pilger quit in response, saying the move “abrogated the forty-year-old non-interference policy.” Joe Biden’s team threatened legal action if the White House doesn’t declare him the winner. (Bloomberg)
