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World to Spend $157 Billion on COVID-19 Vaccines Through 2025

U.S. News and World Report reported:

Total global spending on COVID-19 vaccines is projected to reach $157 billion by 2025, driven by mass vaccination programs underway and “booster shots” expected every two years, according to a report by U.S. health data company IQVIA Holdings Inc released on Thursday.

IQVIA, which provides data and analytics for the healthcare industry, said it expects the first wave of COVID-19 vaccinations to reach about 70% of the world’s population by the end of 2022. Booster shots are likely to follow initial vaccinations every two years, the report said, based on current data on the duration of effect of the vaccines.

The United States is preparing for the possibility that a booster shot will be needed between nine to 12 months after people receive their first full inoculations against COVID-19, a White House official said earlier this month. Pfizer Inc has also said boosters may be needed within 12 months.

EU Vaccine Injury Reporting System Shows More Than 330,000 Adverse Events Following COVID Vaccines

The Defender reported:

VAERS, which operates under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S. In the EU, suspected drug reactions are reported to EudraVigilance, which also tracks reports of injuries and deaths following the experimental COVID vaccines.

Health Impact News compiled the latest EudraVigilance data on reports of COVID vaccine-related injuries and deaths and found — as of April 17 — 7,766 reports of deaths and 330,218 reports of injuries following injections of the four COVID vaccines approved for emergency use in the EU: Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, marketed under the Janssen brand.

BioNTech Expects Vaccine Trial Results for Babies by September

Al Jazeera reported:

BioNTech expects results by September from trials testing the COVID vaccine it developed with Pfizer on babies as young as six months old, German magazine Spiegel cited the company’s CEO as saying.

“In July, the first results could be available for the five-to-12-year-olds, in September for the younger children,” BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin told Spiegel. He added it takes about four to six weeks to evaluate the data.

“If all goes well, as soon as the data is evaluated, we will be able to submit the application for approval of the vaccine for all children in the respective age group in different countries,” he said.

Now That 16- and 17-Year-Olds Are Eligible For COVID Vaccine, Some Families Are Divided Over Whether It Makes Sense

The Boston Globe reported:

Less than two weeks after 16- and 17-year-olds became widely eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, the debate over the wisdom of getting the shot is growing complicated in households across Massachusetts.

Megie-Maddrey just got her second shot, but her husband has not been vaccinated and is “dead set” against it, she said, citing a mistrust of the medical system rooted in the infamous Tuskegee study that withheld treatment for decades to Black men with syphilis.

The couple’s 18-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter echo their father, and repeat stories they’ve seen on social media about unproven, potential long-term side effects from the vaccine.

Vaccinations Are High, and so Are New COVID Cases. Here’s a Look at What’s Driving That.

Bangor Daily News reported:

Even as Maine has weathered the pandemic better than many states and been a leader in vaccinations, a complicated set of factors has kept its new case counts steadily high in recent weeks.

It is among 14 states that have seen rising case counts in the last two weeks, according to the New York Times. It is also seeing some of the biggest hospitalization increases, with the state averaging 29 percent more admittances now than it did two weeks ago, according to that tracker. 

These factors all present a challenge for state health officials in the days leading up to a major shift in Maine’s reopening plan. Starting Saturday, all Americans will be able to travel to Maine without having to quarantine. Businesses will soon be allowed to operate at a higher capacity as long as they follow certain public safety guidelines.

Moderna to Boost COVID-19 Vaccine Production to Meet Rising Global Demand

The Wall Street Journal reported:

Moderna Inc. plans to spend billions of dollars to boost production of COVID-19 vaccines and potentially triple its yearly output of doses in 2022, as the company seeks to meet rising global demand.

The Cambridge, Mass., biotech company said Thursday it could produce up to three billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines in 2022, compared with a projected output of up to one billion this year.

Moderna also said it would make no less than 800 million doses this year, up from a minimum 700 million it had forecast previously.

1,300 Vaccine Doses Set To Go to Waste in Philadelphia

CBS News on MSN News reported:

More than 1,000 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine are set to expire in Philadelphia on Thursday. If they remain unclaimed by the end of the day, they will no longer be viable and go to waste, according to local health officials. 

The Pennsylvania Convention Center has roughly 1,3000 doses on hand, but no takers for the inoculations as supply of the vaccine starts to outpace demand in Philadelphia and other cities across the U.S.