The U.S. government has awarded Novavax Inc $1.6 billion for coronavirus vaccine

• 2020-07-07
• Traiding Idea

The U.S. government has awarded Novavax Inc $1.6 billion for coronavirus vaccine

The U.S. government has awarded $ 1.6 billion to the pharmaceutical company Novavax to test and manufacture a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus in the United States, with the goal of distributing 100 million doses by January 2021.

Shares of Novavax increased by 35 %.

The awards will cover the cost of the phase III trial, the final stage of human testing, which will begin in early October.

A safe and effective vaccine seems to be the only way to end the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than half a million people worldwide. A quarter of that number has been in the United States.

In May, Novavax received another $ 388 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop the COVID - 19 vaccine.

the U.S. Defense Department awarded the company $ 60 million in June to support the construction of a $ 10 million dose of vaccine in 2020.

Novavax expects to be able to produce 50 million doses a month in the United States next year.

The U.S. government approves five-week extension for small business pandemic loan applications

The White House announced that U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday signed a law extending the loan application deadline to August 8 for small businesses affected by the Covid-19.

The extension of the payroll protection program, which was launched in April to prevent American unemployment, gives business owners another five weeks to apply for funding assistance plagued by problems.

About $ 130 billion of the $ 659 billion provided by the U.S. Congress is still up for grabs, according to the report.

Critics are concerned that the U.S. Small Business Administrator’s office, which is responsible for providing the loans, may continue to experience challenges in fairly distributing the funds.

From the outset, the unprecedented first-come-first-served program struggled with the problems of technology and paperwork,  which led to the destruction of some businesses while some affluent firms received more funding.