Drug executives: Big jump in vaccine supply is coming soon

WASHINGTON (AP) — COVID-19 vaccine makers told Congress on Tuesday to expect a big jump in the delivery of doses over the coming month, and the companies insist they will be able to provide enough for most Americans to get inoculated by summer.

By the end of March, Pfizer and Moderna expect to have provided the U.S. government with a total of 220 million vaccine doses, up sharply from the roughly 75 million shipped so far.

“We do believe we’re on track,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said, outlining ways the company has ramped up production. “We think we’re at a very good spot.”

Researchers still investigating loss of smell problems among some of Covid victims

 ... A year into the coronavirus pandemic, doctors and researchers are still striving to better understand and treat the accompanying epidemic of COVID-19-related anosmia — loss of smell — draining much of the joy of life from an increasing number of sensorially frustrated longer-term sufferers like Forgione.

Even specialist doctors say there is much about the condition they still don’t know and they are learning as they go along in their diagnoses and treatments. Impairment and alteration of smell have become so common with COVID-19 that some researchers suggest that simple odor tests could be used to track coronavirus infections in countries with few laboratories.

Dozens of institutional investors push for 'equitable' Covid-19 response “The economic and financial damage triggered by Covid-19 knows no border,” said Marco Morelli, executive chairman of AXA Investment Managers. Ed Silverman STAT

Nearly 150 institutional investors that oversee combined assets worth more than $14 trillion have issued a joint call for a “fair and equitable” global response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and they intend to huddle with health care companies to make progress on that goal.

Johnson & Johnson ready to provide doses for 20M Americans by end of Johnson & Johnson said Monday that it plans to have enough doses of its vaccine for more than 20 million Americans by the end of March if its vaccine is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. Peter Sullivan TheHill

Johnson & Johnson said Monday that it plans to have enough doses of its vaccine for more than 20 million Americans by the end of March if its vaccine is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.