More than a million Americans received the first dose of their Covid-19 vaccines, a milestone in the biggest immunisation drive in US history that came even as officials admitted the pace of implementation was slipping behind schedule.
The news comes as cases surge across the country with the death toll going past 320,000, making Covid-19 the third leading cause of deaths this year.
We're going where the risk is greatest
Robert Redfield, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said jurisdictions logged the first million shots with his agency since the drive started on December 14.
"While we celebrate this historic milestone, we also acknowledge the challenging path ahead," Mr Redfield said.
"There is currently a limited supply of Covid-19 vaccine in the US, but supply will increase in the weeks and months to come."
About three million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were shipped last week, and the official goal for this week was two million more Pfizer doses, and six million from Moderna.
Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser of the government's Operation Warp Speed, said the objective of injecting 20 million people this month was "unlikely to be met" and a delay was beginning to emerge between doses being distributed to sites and the vaccines reaching arms.
Even so, he was confident of being able to inoculate 100 million people in the first quarter of 2021, and another 100 million by the second quarter.
While the goals are ambitious, the Warp Speed programme has already delivered on its objective of bringing vaccines from the laboratory bench to authorisation within the space of the year.
Many experts doubted this feat was possible.
It required running the various stages of testing in parallel and mass producing doses even before they were proved safe and effective, in case they succeeded. If the Covid-19 vaccinations proceed smoothly, it might be possible to achieve widespread population immunity in the United States by next summer, top infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said.
Dr Fauci suggested people could host weddings as early as June or July.
He said he believed priority populations – such as nursing-home residents, healthcare workers, critical workers, the elderly and people at high risk – should receive inoculations by March or early April.
"We could start in April doing what I call 'open season' on vaccinations – namely anybody in the general population who wants to get vaccinated will get vaccinated," Dr Fauci told WebMD on Wednesday.
"By the time we get into the middle or end of the summer, I believe we will have, if we do it correctly, we could have 70 per cent to 85 per cent of the population vaccinated," he said.
"When that occurs, there will be an umbrella of protection over the entire country."
Meanwhile, the Trump administration on Tuesday announced it had bought an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with inoculations scheduled to be delivered by July.
That brings the current US supply of Covid-19 vaccine to 400 million doses – half from Pfizer and half from Moderna – allowing the country to immunise 200 million people under the two-shot regimens.
The agreement includes options for an additional 400 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
The US and other countries are also hoping for more vaccines to be approved, with products from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca potentially next in line.
On Sunday, an expert committee said people 75 and older should be the next vaccinated along with 30 million "frontline essential workers", including teachers, grocery store employees and police.
But the southern state of Florida, home to a high number of pensioners, decided on another way, announcing on Wednesday that people over the age of 65 would be done before essential workers.
"Many of them are very young," Governor Ron DeSantis said of the workers.
"We're going where the risk is greatest and where we think the impact will be most consequential," he said of the over-65s, who make up 20 per cent of the state's population.
They can start getting inoculations on Monday.
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How to increase your savings
- Have a plan for your savings.
- Decide on your emergency fund target and once that's achieved, assign your savings to another financial goal such as saving for a house or investing for retirement.
- Decide on a financial goal that is important to you and put your savings to work for you.
- It's important to have a purpose for your savings as it helps to keep you motivated to continue while also reducing the temptation to spend your savings.
- Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
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Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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Game Changer
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Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
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PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
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Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
