Limiting interactions to two-dimensional settings will hinder collaboration, innovation and the mentoring of younger employees, Merck & Co. CEO Kenneth Frazier says. Frazier, who will retire in June, is looking forward to returning to public service but says "politics with a capital P is not my thing."

Safety data does not look to be a barrier J&J vaccine’s authorization, but FDA says it will recommend surveillance for further evaluation of thromboembolic events. The agency says it currently cannot rule out a causal relationship with the vaccine. One of these cases prompted a study hold last fall.

CanSino's adenovirus-based COVID-19 vaccine, along with another one from state-owned Sinopharm grab promot approvals in China as  Beijing shipping millions of doses around the world.

Efficacy against moderate to severe/critical COVID-19 was 66%-67%, well above the FDA’s stated 50% efficacy threshold for an EUA but far short of the 94%+ efficacy rates posted by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against symptomatic disease; agency says efficacy against specific variants cannot be evaluated at this time because sequencing data are incomplete.