Merck ends its vaccine development; Google offers offices for vaccination sites

Moderna said it is working on a Covid-19 booster vaccine to help protect people against a variant of the virus recently discovered in South Africa, reports CNBC Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

“With great caution and taking advantage of the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are promoting an emerging variant reinforcement candidate against the variant first identified in the Republic of South Africa to the clinic to determine whether it will be more effective to increase titers against it. and potentially future variants, “Moderna CEO CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement.

The biopharmaceutical company also said that its current vaccine offers some protection against the newly found strain.

–Fred Imbert

CVS Health has completed the administration of the first round of vaccination against Covid-19 at approximately 8,000 nursing centers in the United States, reports Reuters.

The administration of second doses was ongoing and was expected to be completed within four weeks.

Pharmacy CVS has administered nearly 2 million doses to date, but has the capacity for 20 million to 25 million injections per month, the company told Reuters, adding that its vaccination effort for long-term care remains on track.

–Terri Cullen

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Sunday that the federal government does not know how much coronavirus vaccine is available for the country, adding yet another complication to the new government’s efforts to mitigate the crisis, reports Amanda Macias of CNBC. .

“I cannot tell you how much vaccine we have, and if I cannot tell you, then I cannot tell the governors and I cannot tell the state health officials,” the CDC’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky told ” Fox News Sunday “.

“If they don’t know how much vaccine they are getting, not just this week, but next week and the week after, they can’t plan. They can’t figure out how many sites to deploy, they can’t figure out how many vaccinators they need, and they can’t figure out how many queries to make to the public, “said Walensky.

President Joe Biden has set a goal for the country to administer 100 million vaccines in the president’s first 100 days.

–Fred Imbert

Merck said it would end the development of its two Covid-19 vaccines, Reuters reported.

In the first tests, two of the company’s vaccines generated lower immune responses than those seen in people who recovered from Covid-19, as well as those reported for other Covid-19 vaccines, according to Reuters.

The drugmaker said it plans to focus its pandemic research on treatments, with initial data on the effectiveness of an experimental oral antiviral expected in late March, the news agency said.

–Terri Cullen

Google will make some of its own facilities available to open new coronavirus vaccination sites in the U.S.

The company said it has partnered with network of health clinics One Medical and public health officials to open vaccination sites in Los Angeles; San Francisco; Kirkland, Washington; and New York City. The technology giant also plans to open vaccine centers abroad.

Google has also committed $ 100 million in advertising donations to the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organization and non-profit organizations, as well as a $ 50 million investment to help public health agencies reach underserved communities with information about vaccines.

Google said it would begin including Covid-19 vaccination sites in Google Search and Maps in the coming weeks, starting with Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The information will include details such as the need for an appointment or referral and whether the location has a drive-through.

—Ryan Browne