Friday Morning Briefing: Inside Europe's fight for COVID-19 vaccines

The coronavirus

In a meeting last week in the Europa building in Brussels, home of the European Union’s political leadership, diplomats for the 27 member states were desperate.

A week earlier, the EU had set a target to vaccinate 70% of adults against COVID-19 by the end of summer, a potential ticket out of lockdowns that have cost countries billions. As the impact of the vaccine shortfall became clear, the bloc embarked on a campaign to shame drugmakers hit by production delays into releasing more supply.

“This is a catastrophe,” French ambassador Philippe Leglise-Costa told the Jan. 27 meeting, according to a diplomatic note seen by Reuters.

Track daily COVID-19 infections and deaths data for 240 countries and territories around the world.

The number of people infected by the coronavirus in Tokyo may have increased nine-fold since last summer, antibody tests showed, as Japan tries to rein in the country’s third and most lethal wave of the pandemic ahead of the Olympics in July.

Pfizer said it had withdrawn an application for emergency-use authorization of its vaccine in India, after failing to meet the drug regulator’s demand for a local safety and immunogenicity study.

Johnson & Johnson said it has asked U.S. health regulators to authorize its single-dose vaccine for emergency use, and it will apply to European authorities in coming weeks.

Australia’s biggest state will exit a snap five-day lockdown after reporting no cases for five straight days, as the national cabinet decided to lift the temporary caps on citizens returning from overseas from the middle of this month.

New Zealand said it will start receiving refugees again this month, nearly a year after it shut its borders to stop the spread of COVID-19. A group of 35 refugees will arrive in February, with about 210 refugees expected to enter the country by June 30, Immigration New Zealand and officials said.

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Top News

‘America is back’
President Joe Biden's drive to enact a $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill gains momentum as the U.S. Senate narrowly approves a budget blueprint allowing Democrats to push the legislation through Congress with or without Republican support.

Global shares are approaching record highs as U.S. stimulus hopes and vaccine progress prompt bets on further normalization in the global economy.

The House of Representatives has voted to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of two high-profile committee assignments, punishing the Republican congresswoman for incendiary remarks that included support for violence against Democrats.

Biden promised a new era after the scattershot foreign policy of his predecessor, declaring “America is back” on the global stage in his first diplomatic address as president. He told Russia that the United States would no longer be “rolling over” in the face of aggressive action by Moscow.

Asia News

Myanmar police have stepped up arrests as anti-coup protests grow. Teachers have become the latest group to join a civil disobedience campaign that started among medical workers.

Tokyo's governor says the Olympics are facing a 'major issue' after sexist remarks by Yoshiro Mori, head of the organizing committee. Mori apologized yesterday about comments he made on women talking too much, but said he would not resign.

Hong Kong has unveiled controversial guidelines for schools in the Chinese-ruled city that include teaching students as young as six about colluding with foreign forces and subversion as part of a new national security curriculum.

Business News

'To the moon' or to a lawyer - GameStop investors are trying to cope with the stock's rollercoaster ride. Meanwhile, a swath of industry participants may be swept up in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's review of the trading frenzy.

An unexpected dollar bounce and some indications of a broader resurgence are confounding market players who took bearish positions on the U.S. currency on a bet that it was headed for a multi-year downtrend.

Danish brewer Carlsberg is banking on a beer-drinking summer free of COVID-19 restrictions after a bruising 2020.

German police have seized $60 million of bitcoin from a fraudster. But there's a slight problem - he won't give them the password.

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