Archives of “COVID-19” category

rss

UK’s Gove: If AstraZeneca vaccine rollout goes well, we’ll be in a place to lift restrictions quickly

  
Analysis, COVID-19

Gove building up further optimism going into the new year

The UK is widely expected to approve the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine in the coming days, with the rollout then set to begin in the first week of January. The announcement is expected some time this week, as early as tomorrow so watch out for that.
While I wouldn’t doubt the optimism as more vaccines are rolled out, I would take Gove’s remarks with a pinch of salt. Up until Christmas eve, there has been just over 600,000 people that have been vaccinated in the UK.
While the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine may be easier to store/transport and is cheaper, it doesn’t take away the fact that it is still going to take a long while before we see the impact of the vaccines on the health crisis in general.
In the meantime, the UK still has to deal with a staggering amount of cases and it is tough to see how the government can change things up despite such remarks by Gove.
UK

Deutsche Bank argues that COVID-19 vaccine is USD positive

  
Analysis, COVID-19

A Friday note from DB on how the coronavirus vaccine will impact on the USD. Its a no question positive for the dollar the analyst argues:

  • If the vaccine fails (DB thinks this is a low probability likelihood) to lead to ‘herd immunity’ it would reverse the risk-on trade and strengthen the dollar
  • But, if the vaccine proves to be effective it will cause the Federal Reserve to tilt to less dovish, prompting a stronger dollar (by pulling forward “not only a retreat in QE, but a rate hike expectations”)
As for timing:
  • the optimistic vaccine scenario “is not likely to be a factor for at least three months”
  • “This leaves a decent time gap of at least 3 months for the market to trade in ‘vaccine smile’ terrain that remains risk-positive and weighs on the USD – where there is great promise of a strong global growth rebound, but without the policy penalty of tighter policy”

Pfizer has applied for approval of its COVID-19 vaccine in Japan

  
Analysis, COVID-19

The Pfizer / BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is already being distributed in the US and UK, the firm applying in Japan today.

The Japanese government has already agreed with Pfizer to receive a supply of 120 million vaccine doses (the two-course vaccine means that’s enough for 60 million people, which is about half of Japan’s population).
Japan is expected to make the vaccine available at no charge.
The Pfizer / BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is already being distributed in the US and UK, the firm applying in Japan today.

About 140,000 people in the UK have been vaccinated so far

  
Analysis, COVID-19

An update to the vaccine situation in the UK after the rollout on 8 December

There are 137,897 people that have received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine so far across the UK, with lawmaker, Nadhim Zahawi, tweeting out that:

A really good start to the vaccination program. It’s been 7 days and we have done: England: 108,000 Wales: 7,897 Northern Ireland: 4,000. Scotland: 18,000 U.K Total 137,897. That number will increase as we have operationalised hundreds of PCN (primary care networks)

The number is going to pick up once the procedures are standardised and more vaccines are introduced to the general public. But this serves as a reminder that it is going to take a long time for this to have a major impact on the health crisis.

There are more than 52 million adults in the UK so while the vaccination program has kicked off, this weekly figure is still far too low for now.
Also, this is just the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Those who had it will require a second dose after 21 days. So, that may yet double any expected timeline.

World Health Organisation hedges their portfolio

  
Analysis, COVID-19

Of vaccines

Of vaccines
  • Wants a diversified portfolio of vaccines
  • Making sure to hedge bets
  • WHO’s Aylward looking at expanding manufacturing capacity of monoclonal antibodies for use against COVID-19
  • In talks with Pfizer and Moderna on whether their products can be part of an early roll out of Covax vaccines at prices’s ‘appropriate’ to populations
  • ‘Strong committment’ from Pfizer CEO to make vaccine prices work for lower income countries.

Weekend news – Peru suspends Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine trial after ‘adverse event’

  
Analysis, COVID-19

This is from the weekend, posting as an ICYMI on China vaccine developer Sinopharm Group.

  • is conducting trials in Peru
  • with around 12,000 volunteers
But trials have been suspended due to a “serious adverse event” that occurred with one of the volunteers. The event is “under investigation to determine if it is related to the vaccine or if there is another explanation”.

Germany moves closer to harder lockdown – report

  
Analysis, COVID-19

Germany set to move from ‘lockdown light’ to a harder lockdown

Germany
The German virus situation looks to be taking a turn for the worse in the past week, with a record amount of daily cases reported on Friday alongside the deadliest day of the pandemic as the death count continues to rack up.
In the past week alone i.e. 7 to 13 December, Germany reported 3,015 virus deaths and that accounts for nearly 14% of the total virus deaths since the pandemic began.
German news outlet, n-tv, is reporting that the federal and state governments have largely agreed on tougher restrictions and a harder lockdown, which should go into effect starting from Wednesday, 16 December next week.
The measures should initially apply until 10 January, with an extension to be discussed on 5 January. The final decision will be made later this morning.
Some of the details from the report reveal that Germany will close retail shops barring essentials, schools are also to be closed or at least attendance be made non-mandatory, and there will be a ban on consumption of alcohol in public.
Again, this will have a negative impact on economic prospects and the overall outlook going into Q1 2021. However, the ECB has already responded accordingly with its “recalibration” measures all the way through to June 2022 at least.
The central bank measures may yet be enough to get the market to “ignore” the ongoing pessimism and keep with vaccine optimism. But just be mindful that the more negative news that we get in the meantime, it will slowly and surely add up.

Japan signs final agreement with AstraZeneca for supply of 120 million doses of coronavirus vaccine

  
Analysis, COVID-19

The latest on the vaccine front

That puts Japan in good stead one there is a mass rollout of the vaccine in the future. Japan also has a deal in place with Pfizer for 120 million doses of its vaccine as well.
Getting the supply is the first step, so at least they are nearing that stage. The implementation and getting the shots to everyone though, will still take some time.
Go to top