Coronavirus Watch: The biggest vaccine deal yet
The United States on Friday announced it's biggest vaccine deal yet.
The U.S. will pay French pharmaceutical company Sanofi and Great Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline up to $2.1 billion to test and produce 100 million doses of an experimental coronavirus vaccine.
The deal is part of Operation Warp Speed, a White House-led initiative aimed at getting a vaccine to stop SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
It's the fourth deal in which the federal government has committed to buy doses if companies develop successful vaccines, following previous deals with British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca, U.S.-based Pfizer and U.S.-based Novavax.
It's Friday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here is the most significant news of the day, as of 2 p.m. ET:
- Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress on Friday that experts are "cautiously optimistic" that by late fall or early winter a COVID-19 vaccine now being tested would be deemed safe and effective. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the vaccine began Phase 3 testing last week involving 30,000 individuals that will last several months.
- Dozens of kids at an overnight Georgia summer camp tested positive for the coronavirus after the camp did not implement several precautionary measures, providing further evidence that children of all ages are susceptible to infection and "might play an important role in transmission," according to a CDC report Friday.
- A deadlocked Senate on Thursday exited Washington for the weekend without acting to extend a $600 per-week expanded jobless benefit that has helped keep both families and the economy afloat.
- The European Union extended its travel ban on Americans for the second time this month.
- A Florida couple was arrested after breaking COVID-19 quarantine and were declared an "immediate danger."
- Buddy the German Shepherd has died. He was the first pet dog in the U.S. to test positive for COVID-19.
Today's numbers: There are more than 4.4 million confirmed cases in the U.S. and more than 152,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Worldwide, cases have surpassed 17.3 million with more than 674,000 deaths. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.
What do Democrats and Republicans want in the new stimulus package? We break down in graphs how the proposals differ on unemployment assistance, direct payments, reopening schools, health coverage and more. The coronavirus stimulus is expected to more than triple the original 2020 projected budget deficit to $3.5 trillion.
Do you have questions about the coronavirus? You can submit them through this form.
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– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck