POLITICO: U.K.’s speedy coronavirus vaccine approval sparks hope (and questions)
“The world is watching the U.K. — and this time not for the Brexit drama. Excited webinars, press conferences, and briefings Wednesday offered a first glimpse of what is likely to become the next big challenge for countries all over the world: delivering whole population immunization against coronavirus. Leapfrogging the U.S. — and weeks ahead of a similar decision for the rest of Europe — among the first concerns is whether the U.K. has taken a shortcut in green lighting the Pfizer/BioNTech jab…” (Collis/Furlong, 12/2).

Washington Post: U.K. coronavirus vaccine authorization prompts grumbling by countries taking slower approach
“Britain’s decision to grant emergency authorization to the Pfizer vaccine for the coronavirus was met with a skeptical reaction in much of Europe on Wednesday. Some foreign officials complained about a sense of British patriotism and accomplishment over a product by two non-British companies. European Union lawmakers cautioned against a ‘hasty’ rollout. Despite concerns that the U.K. emergency authorization could put pressure on regulators in the United States and Europe to speed up their own approval processes, there were no immediate signs of that on Wednesday. The European Union’s drug regulator offered cautious criticism of the British move, saying its own process was the ‘most appropriate regulatory mechanism for use in the current pandemic emergency.’ British supporters of the speedy authorization disagreed, pointing to the U.K. regulator’s reputation as a quick but rigorous institution…” (Noack et al., 12/2).

AP: Turkey announces vaccination plan for Chinese CoronaVac (Bilginsoy, 12/3).

The Atlantic: Britain’s Vaccine Nationalism (McTague, 12/3).

CNN Philippines: ‘Vaccine hesitancy’ must be addressed ‘to protect the world,’ UNICEF says (Said, 12/3).

Financial Times: Frozen Covid vaccines can reach developing nations, says DHL (Miller, 12/3).

Financial Times: U.K. vaccine approval triggers flurry of responses from other countries Premium (12/2).

Financial Times: Health chiefs rule out private sector jumping vaccine queue (Cookson et al., 12/2).

The Hill: U.S. aims to distribute vaccines to 100 million by end of February (Weixel, 12/2).

The Hill: Putin says doctors and teachers will get first COVID-19 vaccines in new immunization campaign (Choi, 12/2).

New York Times: Moderna Plans to Begin Testing Its Coronavirus Vaccine in Children (Grady, 12/2).

NPR: Putin Tells Russia To Begin Large-Scale Vaccination For Coronavirus (Kim, 12/2).

Reuters: Russia says more than 100,000 people already vaccinated against COVID-19 (12/2).

Washington Post: The beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic (Taylor, 12/3).