Encouraging Covid vaccine data continues to pop up around the globe — even as virus variants threaten to derail progress. An Oxford University study found its vaccine, developed alongside AstraZeneca, is still effective after delaying the second dose. That could ease distribution challenges and get vaccines to more people, faster. Russia's Sputnik V vaccine was found in peer-reviewed results to be 91.6% effective. And nearly all vaccines in late-stage development or currently available are effective in preventing severe disease and hospitalization.
Here are some of the biggest developments Wednesday:
- GlaxoSmithKline and CureVac strike deal to develop vaccine that targets Covid variants
- Vaxart says its oral vaccine produced promising results in early trial
- AstraZeneca vaccine can cut virus spread, delayed second dose is effective, study finds
- CDC director says schools can safely reopen without vaccinating teachers
- Fauci cautions against attending Super Bowl parties to avoid spreading the virus
The U.S. is recording at least 141,400 new Covid-19 cases and at least 3,090 virus-related deaths each day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using Johns Hopkins University data.
The following data was compiled by Johns Hopkins University:
- Global cases: More than 104.18 million
- Global deaths: At least 2.26 million
- U.S. cases: More than 26.49 million
- U.S. deaths: At least 449,485