Latest news on coronavirus cases and vaccines

Tyson Foods recently began vaccinating plant workers in Missouri, Illinois and Virginia. The meat processing company was only able to get 1,000 doses, according to reports from CNBC’s Bertha Coombs.

The company has been able to receive 25 to 50 doses at a time so far this month to vaccinate its occupational health and safety workers over 65, but Tyson Foods employs 120,000 workers in two dozen of states.

“We don’t turn down any opportunity to get a vaccine for our team members,” said Tom Brower, Tyson’s senior vice president for health and safety.

More than 12,500 Tyson Foods employees have contracted Covid-19, according to the Food Environmental Reporting Network watchdog group. Tyson has not confirmed these reports and claims to have ensured the safety of his workers.

–Rich mendez

Pfizer said it was seeking permission from the Food and Drug Administration to store its Covid-19 vaccine for two weeks at temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers and refrigerators.

The vaccine, which was developed with German drug maker BioNTech, currently needs to be stored in ultra-cold freezers that keep it between minus 112 and minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Pfizer said it has submitted new data to the U.S. agency which shows the vaccine is stable between minus 13 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

The vaccine is shipped in a special thermal container that can be used as temporary storage for up to 30 days by filling with dry ice every five days. The move could make it easier to transport the vaccine across the United States at a time when the pace of vaccinations has been slow.

—Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

The Biden administration this week announced plans to double the number of vaccines shipped directly to pharmacies from one million to two million doses per week, with the goal of reaching 40,000 pharmacies nationwide. Mark Bertolini, former CEO and Chairman of Aetna, joined CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to chat.

In a wave of encouraging news, two Israeli studies have shown that the Pfizer vaccine, made in collaboration with German BioNTech, can have a profound impact on the transmission of the virus, reports Reuters.

A study by Pfizer and the Israeli Ministry of Health found that the Pfizer vaccine reduced infection rates in asymptomatic cases by 89.4% and in symptomatic cases by 93.7%, the press service reported. .

A separate study from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center found that hospital staff who received their first dose in January saw an 85% reduction in symptomatic Covid-19 within 15 to 28 days, and an overall reduction in infections, including asymptomatic cases, was 75%.

–Terri cullen

After the publication of a recent study on the impact of variant B.1.351, first found in South Africa, on the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, Geoffrey Porges, director of Therapeutics Research and senior analyst in biotechnology at SVB Leerink, joined CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” to discuss the implications.

The United States is seeing a decline in new cases of Covid, on an average of seven days, in 43 states, according to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. Only Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming reported an increase in the seven-day average of new cases.

Severe Covid cases have stabilized in Washington, which has a seven-day average of 704 current hospitalizations, down 3.9% from the previous week. Hospitalizations are down in the other 49 states.

These data provided by JHU are collected from dozens of national and local agencies which have varying reporting methodologies and levels of precision. Comparisons of the seven-day average help to iron out inconsistencies in state reporting procedures.

—Melodie Warner