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HHS buys $2 billion worth of Pfizer's vaccine candidate

Pfizer just got a large federal purchase order. Photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Trump administration has agreed to pay Pfizer $1.95 billion for 100 million doses of the experimental coronavirus vaccine the company is developing along with German biotech company BioNTech. The deal also gives the government the right to buy another 500 million doses.

Why it matters: The federal government is betting that Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine will effectively stave off the coronavirus and therefore is worth buying before more definitive clinical trial data come out. The Department of Health and Human Services made a similar deal for Novavax' vaccine.

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Axios
22 hours ago - World

Europe faces "stronger and deadlier" coronavirus wave

Paris under curfew. Photo: Kiran Ridley/Getty Images

The coronavirus is still winning: Now even Germany is entering another national lockdown, joined by France.

Why it matters: France has been "overpowered by a second wave,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a nationally televised address today. Macron said the "new wave will be stronger and deadlier" than the first.

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Ursula Perano
Oct 28, 2020 - World

Germany goes back into lockdown

Photo: Fabrizio Bensch/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will enact one of Europe's strictest coronavirus lockdowns since spring, closing bars and restaurants nationwide for most of November, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: Germany is the latest European country to reimpose some form of lockdown measures amid a surge in cases across the continent.

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Caitlin Owens, author of Vitals
9 hours ago - Health

Large coronavirus outbreaks leading to high death rates

Data: The COVID Tracking Project; Chart: Sara Wise/Axios

Many of the states where coronavirus cases have recently skyrocketed are also seeing the highest death rates in the nation, a painful reminder that wherever the virus goes, death eventually follows.

Between the lines: Deaths usually lag behind cases by a few weeks. Given America's record-high case counts, it's reasonable to expect that death rates across the country will continue to rise in tandem.

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