• The global coronavirus death toll exceeds 2.5 million.Source
• The US FDA allows frozen, undiluted vials of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to be stored and transported at conventional pharmaceutical freezer temperatures for up to two weeks, rather than the ultra-cool temperatures initially required. (Thawed, undiluted vials can be stored in a refrigerator for up to five days; after dilution they can be stored in the refrigerator or at room temperature and must be used within six hours). Source
• Moderna announces that it can produce an additional 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine in 2021, to reach 700 million- and is aiming to produce a billion doses by the end of the year and 1.4 billion doses by the end of 2022. The company’s total revenue for 2020 was $803 million (versus $60 million in 2019), with a fourth quarter high of $14 million. Source
• Alice Visperas, director of the labour ministry’s international affairs bureau in the Philippines, announces that the country is considering lifting its 5,000-person limit on medical professionals allowed to leave the country – in exchange for coronavirus vaccines from Germany and Britain (which replied with its gratitude to the 30,000 Filipinos working for the NHS – but declined to trade vaccines for healthcare workers). Jocelyn Andamo, Secretary General of the Filipino Nurses United responded by saying that they were “…disgusted on how nurses and health care workers are being treated by the government as commodities or export products.” Source
• Pfizer notifies authorities in Hong Kong that its coronavirus vaccine shipment is delayed and will be sent “as soon as possible.” Source
