News Room

As the United States nears another year of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Wisconsin reopens for a third semester impacted by the deadly virus. With over 6,000 dead in the State of Wisconsin since the start of the pandemic and two vaccines now available for select populations, eyes turn to the UW administration, its students and Dane County to see where this semester will go. To test or not to test. For Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Lori Reesor, it’s all about testing.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced the White House's plan to purchase another 200 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna's two-shot COVID-19 vaccines for distribution over the summer, as well as more immediate steps to speed up vaccinations nationwide. "This is enough vaccine to fully vaccinate 300 [million] Americans by end of the summer, beginning of the fall," Biden said, adding that his team will "soon be able to confirm the purchase." "This is an aggregate plan that doesn’t leave anything on the table or anything to chance as we’ve seen happen in the last year. I’ve said before — this is a wartime effort."

The European Union is calling out vaccine makers AstraZeneca (AZN) and Pfizer (PFE) over delivery delays that could slow its recovery from the pandemic. Officials are even threatening to restrict exports and take legal action as anger mounts. AstraZeneca will not be able to deliver as many doses of its vaccine as promised, according to EU officials, putting government rollout plans and the economic recovery at risk. The news comes after Pfizer said it had delivered fewer doses of its vaccine than expected last week. EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides on Monday expressed dissatisfaction on talks with AstraZeneca and said conversations would continue. She said the drugmaker "intends to supply considerably fewer doses in the coming weeks than agreed and announced."

Three weeks ago, Jim Lober became one of the lucky few to receive a first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Bayou City Event Center. Lober, a 69-year-old attorney, left the venue where thousands would wait in lines wrapping around the building with the beige card indicating he’d received the vaccine on Jan. 8 and was due back in four weeks for the final shot. At first, the Houston Health Department told him to call back the week before his second shot; but when he checked the city’s website, he learned he should wait for the department to reach out to him for scheduling. Now, with one week left before Lober should receive the second dose of Moderna, he has no clue when or where to go.

President Biden’s plan to use a Cold War-era law to boost the Covid-19 vaccination effort isn’t likely to expand production significantly in the near term, but it could jump-start vaccinations by increasing other supplies such as syringes, vaccine manufacturers and experts say. Mr. Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to take certain steps to expand vaccine manufacturing, such as producing more equipment and materials used to make shots. He also will use the act to boost supplies such as “low dead space” syringes, which can be used to squeeze more doses out of vaccine vials. Mr. Biden, inaugurated Wednesday, has set a plan to administer 100 million vaccine doses in the first 100 days of his presidency.