Biden team confident it can vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days
CNBC’s Meg Tirrell reports President-elect Joe Biden’s top health officials are confident the U.S. will have enough vaccines to meet his goal of inoculating 1 million people per day during his first 100 days in office.
—Melodie Warner
Biden to block Trump’s plan to lift Europe, Brazil travel ban
President-elect Joe Biden will block an effort by outgoing President Donald Trump to rescind travel restrictions for most non-U.S. citizens visiting from Europe, the U.K. and Brazil. Airlines, devastated by the pandemic, have repeatedly asked the Trump administration to replace travel bans with pre-flight Covid testing.
Trump issued a proclamation late Monday that would lift the rules he put in place early in the pandemic, which were an effort to slow the spread of the virus. Less than an hour later, Biden’s incoming press secretary tweeted: “With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel.”
Trump’s proclamation came less than a week after the U.S. said it would require travelers, including U.S. citizens, flying to the U.S. from abroad, to test negative for Covid-19 before flying. That requirement takes effect on Jan. 26 — the same day the travel restrictions would be lifted.
—Leslie Josephs
UK hospitals use blockchain to track temperature of coronavirus vaccines
Two hospitals in the U.K. are using blockchain technology to help maintain the temperature of coronavirus vaccines before administering them to patients.
The National Health Service facilities are working with tech firms Everyware and Hedera Hashgraph on the initiative, which aims to keep a tamper-proof digital record of temperature-sensitive vaccines, like the ones developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The hospitals would, in theory, be able to pick up on any irregularities in the storage of the vaccines before administering them to patients.
Blockchain saw much hype back in 2017, as the value of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin skyrocketed. It led to several projects from major companies including IBM and Walmart, as well as governments, lured in by the promise of replacing various old, paper-based processes for record keeping. Now, it appears to have found a purpose in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
—Ryan Browne
Germany identifies new Covid variant among 35 hospital patients
An ambulance stands behind snow in front of the entrance to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Clinic’s emergency aid. A new variant of the coronavirus may have been discovered at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen hospital. Currently, samples are being examined at the Charite in Berlin, the hospital announced on Monday.
Angelika Warmuth | picture alliance | Getty Images
Germany is the latest country to discover a new mutation of the coronavirus, with a new variant identified among a group of hospital patients in an alpine town in Bavaria.
On Monday, hospital officials reported that an unknown variant of the coronavirus had been discovered among 35 patients at a hospital in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southeast Germany.
The altered virus was found in 35 of 73 newly-infected people in the hospital, Bavarian news outlet BR24 reported Monday. Samples are now reportedly being examined at the Charité university hospital in Berlin.
Officials said the variant is different from recently discovered variants in the U.K. and South Africa and they do not know yet whether the variant makes the virus more transmissible, or more deadly. Variants found in Britain and South Africa are known to make the virus spread more easily but are not more dangerous.
—Holly Ellyatt