European Commission calls for reciprocity on vaccine exports with the UK March 19, 2021 European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen has called for reciprocity on vaccine exports amid an ongoing row with the UK and US over jab deliveries. “I ask for greater openness as Europe is among the regions in the world that exports the most, but reciprocity is needed,” she told Italian newspaper la Repubblica. She [...]
Britain to trial vaccine passports to reopen sports venues March 19, 2021 Britain will pilot vaccine passports to encourage the return of fans to sports events, the culture minister has announced, as he claimed the future of the sporting industry depended on crowds filling seats this summer. In an interview with The Sun, Oliver Dowden said: “We are working to make sure we can get as many [...]
Wetherspoons in the red as Tim Martin calls for end to lockdown ‘mayhem’ March 19, 2021 Pub giant JD Wetherspoon today reported a half-year pre-tax loss of £46.2m as Covid restrictions forced hundreds of its pubs to close through key holiday seasons. Wetherspoon’s operating loss hit £20.7m, while revenue sunk by more than 53 per cent to £431.1m Like-for-like sales were also down by almost 54 per cent for the six [...]
Roadmap out of lockdown sends consumer confidence to near 12-month high March 19, 2021 Roadmap out of lockdown sends consumer confidence to near 12-month high
France, Spain, Italy and Germany to resume Astrazeneca vaccinations after EU regulator rules jab is ‘safe and effective’ March 18, 2021 France, Spain, Italy and Germany are among the European countries that have confirmed they will resume rolling out the Astrazeneca vaccine after the EU medicines regulator said there is “clear scientific” evidence that the jab is both “safe and effective”. Emer Cooke, executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), earlier today said the agency remains [...]
Zoom: What’s next for the Covid-19 pandemic’s biggest winner? March 18, 2021 There is a moment all marketers dream of when a product becomes so commonplace that the brand name becomes a verb. This achievement was last year bestowed on Zoom, the previously obscure video conferencing platform that almost overnight became relied upon for both work and socialising. It was a year of eye-watering success for the [...]
Covid-19 vaccine shortage: India manufacturing shortfall will delay 1.7m doses to the UK March 18, 2021 A spike in demand for vaccines from a manufacturer in India will leave a hole of more than 1.7m vaccine doses in the UK’s vaccine supplies over the coming months. A shipment of 1.7m doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine expected from the Serum Institute of India has been held up by four weeks, the health [...]
Existing Covid jabs may protect against Brazilian coronavirus mutation, study finds March 18, 2021 Existing coronavirus vaccines may prove effective against the Brazilian Covid variant that scientists previously feared would be resistant to antibodies, a University of Oxford study has found. Researchers studied the impact of natural and vaccine-induced antibodies on different strains of coronavirus. They specifically tested the Astrazeneca and Pfizer/Biontech vaccines on different mutations. They determined that [...]
The Covid-19 vaccine race in numbers: UK leads the global pack March 18, 2021 With many countries being at different phases of their response to the ongoing pandemic, City PM looked at Covid-19 policies and vaccination numbers around the world, based on data provided by the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. The interactive map below offers a visual representation of practically every country’s Covid-19 response, [...]
UK on course to meet vaccine targets despite ‘lumps and bumps’ in supply, says minister March 18, 2021 Britain is on course to meet its vaccination targets despite major “lumps and bumps” in supplies expected over the next few months, the housing minister has said. The UK will see a “significant reduction” in Covid-19 vaccine supplies from 29 March onward, a letter from the NHS to local vaccination centres revealed yesterday. The NHS [...]
