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MW UPDATE: Global case tally for COVID climbs above 110.4 million as G-7 gathers to discuss vaccine equity

Ciara Linnane

U.S. will commit $4 billion to the World Health Organization's Covax program

The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus-borne illness COVID-19 climbed above 110.4 million on Friday, as the leaders of the G-7 economies were scheduled to meet and discuss the effort to get COVID vaccines to the world's poorest countries.

The administration of President Joe Biden said it will commit $4 billion to the World Health Organization's Covax program, which aims to ensure vaccine equity for lower-income countries, which so far have been left behind as wealthier countries have snapped up the bulk of the vaccine supply.

The European Union said it will double its Covax funding to one billion euros and pledged another 100 million that will be earmarked for African countries. In an interview with the Financial Times, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed that Western countries transfer 3% to 5% of their stock of vaccine to Africa.

The U.K. holds the G-7 presidency this year, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is meeting virtually with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and the United States to discuss international challenges -- chief among them the pandemic that has killed almost 2.5 million people around the world, the Associated Press reported .

The head of the United Nations on Thursday sharply criticized developed countries for hogging COVID-19 vaccines and called for a global effort to get all people in all countries vaccinated as soon as possible.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres slammed the "wildly uneven and unfair" distribution of vaccines, with 10 countries administering 75% of all vaccinations to date, leaving 130 countries without a single dose.

Guterres comments echo those of World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has repeatedly called on richer nations to join the WHO's Covax program, which aims to ensure vaccine supply for lower-income countries. The agency says Covax needs $5 billion in funding in 2021 alone.

"We need global leadership to scale up vaccine production and achieve vaccine equity," Tedros said in a joint statement issued last week with UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. "COVID-19 has shown that our fates are inextricably linked. Whether we win or lose, we will do so together."

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On Friday, Tedros welcomed the new commitments to Covax.

"This can't be business as usual and there is an urgent need for countries to share doses and technology, scale up manufacturing and ensure that there is a sustainable supply of vaccines so that everyone, everywhere can receive a vaccine," he said in a statement.

There was positive vaccine news from Pfizer Inc. $(PFE)$ and its German partner BioNTech SE (BNTX), which said they are requesting a regulatory change to the storage requirements for their COVID-19 vaccine, as MarketWatch's Jaimy Lee reported .

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The companies said they have new data showing their vaccine is still stable when stored in pharmaceutical freezers and refrigerators for up to two weeks, between the temperatures of negative 13 degrees Fahrenheit and 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Right now their vaccine must be stored in ultra-low temperature freezers between the temperatures of negative 112 degrees Fahrenheit and negative 76 degrees Fahrenheit.

"The data submitted may facilitate the handling of our vaccine in pharmacies and provide vaccination centers an even greater flexibility," BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said in a statement.

Separately, Johnson & Johnson $(JNJ)$ said it has submitted an application for its experimental single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to the World Health Organization for emergency authorization. J&J's vaccine will be reviewed by a group of vaccine experts next week as part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's regulatory process. The company also submitted a regulatory application for its coronavirus vaccine in the European Union on Feb. 15.

A Mayo Clinic report found that both of the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. -- the Pfizer/BioNTech one and a separate one developed by Moderna Inc. $(MRNA)$ that uses the same mRNA technology -- are nearly as effective at preventing infections with SARS-CoV-2 in the real world as they were in clinical trials.

The study, which was published Thursday as a preprint, found that both COVID-19 vaccines had an effective rate of 88.7% in the roughly 62,000 people included in the retrospective analysis. It also found that people who had been vaccinated had lower hospitalization rates if they did get sick.

In other news:

-- Life should return to normal -- more or less -- by Christmas, Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted Thursday. In an interview with MSNBC that things will start getting back to normal "by the end of the year, by Christmas." It may not be exactly like pre-pandemic life, though. Fauci said theaters and restaurants will likely still have reduced capacity, and "Maybe you'll still have to wear masks" in public.

Read now: How COVID-19 is keeping kids away from the dentist -- especially children on Medicaid

-- It's very rare for someone to get infected with the coronavirus causing the disease COVID-19 a second time, but the few confirmed cases of reinfection tell us that immunity to the virus isn't guaranteed 51 confirmed cases of reinfection along with roughly 11,000 suspected or probable reinfections. Reinfection is thought to occur when protective antibodies wane in people who have previously contracted the virus or in people who contracted the virus without developing antibodies.

--New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was widely praised for his handling to the pandemic when his state was the epicenter last spring, is facing a growing chorus of criticism over his administration's failure about his conversation with the governor.

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February 19, 2021 11:19 ET (16:19 GMT)

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