N.Y. Positivity Rate at Record Low; Moderna Order: Virus Update

(Bloomberg) -- Moderna Inc. said the U.S. government would buy 200 million more doses of its vaccine in a deal that included the potential for buying other Covid candidates in testing, including booster shots.

European Union government envoys agreed to lift travel restrictions for U.S. residents, a diplomat familiar with the meeting said, the latest step toward a return to normal. Japan’s government decided to lift the state of emergency for Tokyo and other areas.

The U.K. Parliament will vote on prolonging England’s pandemic restrictions, with members of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s conservative party saying this extension must be the last, 15 months after the country first went into lockdown.

Key Developments:

• Global Tracker: Cases exceed 176.7 million; deaths pass 3.8 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 2.42 billion doses administered
• Japan’s ‘Dr. Fauci’ damps olympic mood with call to ban fans
• Pockets of unvaccinated Americans threaten to prolong pandemic
• ‘Phuket sandbox’ offers model for Asia as travel bubbles fail
• Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here.

CureVac Covid Shot Falls Short (4:45 p.m.)

CureVac NV said its Covid-19 vaccine was 47% effective, falling well short of the high bar set by other messenger RNA shots in a preliminary analysis of a large study muddied by the spread of virus variants.

The interim analysis of data from about 40,000 volunteers included 134 Covid cases, the German company said in a statement. CureVac declined to say how many who got the shot got sick or how many received a placebo. But the results suggest the vaccine works less well for older people than in a younger population, Chief Technology Officer Mariola Fotin-Mleczek said in an interview Wednesday.

Though preliminary, the results throw the future of the vaccine into question as wealthy nations around the world move swiftly to inoculate their populations with shots already available. Still, CureVac will finish its trial and plans to gain approval, Chief Executive Officer Franz-Werner Haas said.

South Africa Cases Up Most Since January (4:35 p.m. NY)

South Africa, which is battling a third coronavirus wave, recorded 13,246 new cases over the past 24 hours, according to data released by the Health Ministry. That’s the highest daily increase since January.

N.Y. Positivity Rate Matches Record Low (2:05 p.m. NY)

New York state had a Covid-19 positivity rate of 0.35% on Tuesday, matching the record low set Saturday, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.

“As we acknowledge how far we have come in our battle with Covid thanks to the courage of our heroic essential workers and the determination of all New Yorkers who helped bend the curve, we must also recognize that our work continues,” Cuomo said in a statement.

To date, New York has administered nearly 20.3 million coronavirus vaccines. The state officially hit Cuomo’s benchmark of 70% of New York adults receiving at least one Covid-19 shot on Tuesday, allowing nearly all coronavirus mandates to be lifted immediately. The only precautions still in place are recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, such as wearing masks on public transit.

U.K. to Mandate Shots for Care Home Workers (1:15 p.m. NY)

Nursing home workers in England will be required to have a Covid-19 vaccination or risk losing their jobs.

New legislation will require people working in Care Quality Commission-accredited care homes to be fully vaccinated with two doses from October, the Department for Health and Social Care said on Wednesday in a statement. The measure won’t apply to those who are medically exempt, and is subject to parliamentary approval, it said. There will also be a 16-week grace period.

U.K. Extends Commercial Eviction Ban (1:10 p.m. NY)

The U.K. extended its ban on evictions of commercial tenants by nine months to protect Covid 19-hit businesses from losing their premises while pandemic restrictions are still in place.

The ban had been due to end on June 30, but Chief Secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay on Wednesday told the House of Commons the government would extend it until March 25 next year. In the meantime, he said, the government plans to establish a binding arbitration protest for tenants and landlords who are unable to reach agreement on repayment programs.

Germany to Exceed 50% Threshold This Week (10:20 a.m. NY)

Germany will this week pass the threshold of vaccinating 50% of the population against Covid-19 with at least one dose, according to Health Minister Jens Spahn.

“This shows that we continue to set a very good pace, especially on second doses,” Spahn said at a news conference after talks with regional counterparts. “We are seeing with the delta variant in the U.K. that it’s above all the second dose that provides full protection and it’s therefore very, very important that it happens at the right time.”

Through Tuesday, 48.9% of the German population, or 40.7 million people, had received at least their first shot, and just under 28% were fully vaccinated. Spahn said Germany is aiming to inoculate 75%-80% as not everyone will want to get immunized.

Moderna Says U.S. Buys More Vaccine Doses (8:08 a.m. NY)

Moderna said the U.S. government’s deal to purchase of an additional 200 million vaccine doses came with an option to purchase other candidates from the drugmaker’s pipeline.

The new doses bring the total amount of Moderna vaccine ordered by the U.S. to 500 million doses, of which 217 million doses had already been delivered as of June 14, the company said.

Pandemic to Last Two Years for U.K.’s Hopkins (7:10 a.m. NY)

Coronavirus variants will continue to emerge and “we will not be through this pandemic until the whole world has the ability to get vaccinated,” Susan Hopkins, deputy director of Public Health England’s National Infection Service, said at a House of Commons science committee meeting. “And that realistically is two years away.”

EU Doesn’t See J&J Meeting Deliveries (7:09 a.m. NY)

The European Union doesn’t expect Johnson & Johnson to fulfill its commitment for 55 million vaccine deliveries this quarter, a spokesman of the bloc’s executive arm said. While the European Commission isn’t in a position to give a precise estimate of how many vaccines the drugmaker will deliver this quarter, its spokesman told reporters in Brussels that the delay won’t derail the bloc’s plans to vaccinate 70% of its adult population this summer.

Moscow Orders Inoculations as Infections Spike (6:48 a.m. NY)

Moscow ordered service-sector and municipal workers to get vaccinated amid a spike in infections, as the Kremlin denied any reversal in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s opposition to compulsory inoculation. At least 60% of workers at consumer-facing businesses and city employees, including health professionals and teachers, must receive a dose of one of Russia’s domestically developed vaccines by July 15.

Japan to Lift Virus State of Emergency (6:56 a.m. NY)

Japan decided to lift the coronavirus state of emergency for Tokyo and other areas, excluding Okinawa prefecture, when it expires June 20, broadcaster NHK reported.

Strong virus measures will be in place for the seven of the nine areas where the emergency is lifted, including the capital and Osaka, the report said.

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