Pfizer and Moderna expect to double vaccine shipments by spring
23 February 2021
Moderna and Pfizer plan to significantly boost vaccine shipments to the U.S. government by this spring, according to written testimony from company executives released Tuesday ahead of a House committee hearing on vaccines.
Where it stands: Pfizer expects to increase its weekly vaccine delivery from 4-5 million doses at the start of February to more than 13 million doses by mid-March, said John Young, Pfizer's chief business officer.
- Moderna is working to deliver more than 40 million doses per month, doubling its current shipment, and aims to ship another 100 million doses by the end of May, said Moderna president Stephen Hoge.
Of note: Both companies are studying potential booster shots in response to emerging coronavirus variants. Their vaccines have shown to be effective against the highly transmissible strains first seen in the U.K. and South Africa.
Pfizer is also studying booster effects in trial participants who have been fully vaccinated, Young said.
- Moderna hopes to provide vaccinations to adolescents by the fall and is currently testing its vaccine's safety for children ages 12 to 18.
Be smart: The more Americans that are fully vaccinated, the faster that herd immunity will be reached — making it more difficult for the virus to spread.
What's next: Executives from the companies are slated to testify before the Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday morning.
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Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.