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Not so fast

Balance of Power
Bloomberg

It seemed to be the answer to everyone's prayers.

The announcement that Pfizer and BioNTech are testing a coronavirus shot that prevented over 90% of symptomatic infections in trial subjects ignited euphoria across global markets and the scientific community. The top U.S. infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, said it will have a "major impact."

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence falsely claimed the success was due to Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed program, while the president's son Donald Jr. implied the news was deliberately delayed so it wouldn't help his father win re-election.

In fact, as Riley Griffin and Drew Armstrong report, Pfizer didn't receive any U.S. funding for developing the two-dose vaccine. Germany paid for it.

The frenzy started to ease as questions mounted over the treatment's safety, longevity and how quickly it could be manufactured and distributed.

It certainly won't be before the "dark winter" that President-elect Joe Biden warned the U.S. is facing, as he sought to assume ownership of the coronavirus fight yesterday.

Realistically, it will take until late December or early January to produce enough doses for 25 million people, about half the current number of global infections.

Now Biden, who doesn't take office until Jan. 20, and other world leaders face the unenviable task of convincing an exhausted public that nothing has changed for the short term. Thousands are dying every day and hospitals are at risk of being overwhelmed.

Their message remains grim. The world faces a long, hard slog and must still rely on the two weapons that have proven effective against the virus: wearing a mask and staying at home. — Karl Maier

A billboard in New York's Times Square yesterday.

Photographer: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images North America

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Election Headlines

Plowing ahead | Biden is moving more forcefully to make the transition to the White House, even as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other senior Republicans give Trump cover to pursue his legal challenges to the outcome of the election. Biden, who is likely to name his chief of staff this week, is also forging ahead on policy, naming his coronavirus task force yesterday.

  • Biden plans to speak today on the Affordable Care Act, as the Supreme Court takes up a case that could gut the Obama administration's signature health-care law, which Biden has promised to expand.
  • Yet Trump continues to rage on Twitter and without evidence that his victory had been stolen by fraud, and the legal transition process remains bogged down.

Other developments

Don't miss the biggest election headlines as they happen. Download Bloomberg's app for Android or for iOS and turn on push notifications.

Global Headlines

Surprise impeachment | Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra was forced out of office when congress unexpectedly voted to impeach him over corruption allegations, plunging the nation into political crisis as it recovers from one of the world's deepest economic slumps. The head of congress, Manuel Merino, will be sworn in as interim president today — the third leader during a single five-year term.

War on Islamists | With France reeling from a series of gruesome attacks, President Emmanuel Macron has spoken of "a battle" to protect the country's secularism. Critical to that, he says, is to halt the import of more conservative interpretations of Islam. At the top of his list is Turkey, as it vies with Saudi Arabia for leadership of the Sunni Muslim world, Ania Nussbaum and Caroline Alexander report.

Brexit clash | Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to push ahead with a plan to breach international law over Brexit despite a rejection by the U.K. House of Lords. Peers voted to remove controversial parts of a draft law giving ministers the power to rewrite parts of the Withdrawal Agreement that Johnson signed with the European Union. The legislation, which the upper house can delay but not block, has triggered EU legal action.

Mixed victory | Russian President Vladimir Putin brokered a deal to end a six-week war over the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh after the Armenians, facing defeat at the hands of the Azerbaijani army, agreed to stop fighting and withdraw their forces. Russia began deploying nearly 2,000 peacekeepers under the agreement, which also represents a triumph for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose vocal support of Azerbaijan has allowed him to muscle into Russia's backyard.

A man walks inside the damaged Ghazanchetsots Cathedral outside the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh capital, Stepanakert, on Oct. 13.

Photographer: Aris Messinis/AFP

What to Watch

  • Opposition criticism has forced Denmark to shelve plans to immediately slaughter millions of mink, which had been prompted by fears that a new Covid mutation that started in Danish mink farms might hamper vaccine efforts.
  • The EU will impose tariffs on $4 billion of U.S. goods starting today, in a tit-for-tat escalation of a transatlantic fight over illegal aid to aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus.
  • Argentina will ask the International Monetary Fund this week for an extended fund facility program that requires a commitment to significant economic reforms, as it seeks to delay paying the $44 billion it owes to the multilateral organization.

And finally ... The Australian government is defending a class-action lawsuit that claims it's misleading investors by failing to disclose the impact of climate risk in its bonds. It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison — who once brandished a lump of coal in parliament in support of the fuel — is looking increasingly isolated as the leader of one of the few developed nations yet to commit to net-zero emissions.

A coal-fired power station in Morwell, Australia.

Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

 

 

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