A welcome shot in the arm, or the hope of one anyway.

As the COVID-19 daily total in Quebec remains at a high average, as France continues to experience high numbers and restrictive health measures, and as cases in the bordering U.S. skyrocket under an unstable political situation, there was a glimmer of good news on Monday. BioNTech/Pfizer announced that the conclusion of its Phase III trials of a COVID 19 vaccine had been successful and to a surprising degree. The data suggests, the company announced, that the vaccine was 90% successful in preventing people from falling ill. There is, the company and other experts warned, still a long row to hoeLong row to hoe (expression): “Long row to hoe” is a farming expression, referring to the farming implement used for turning over earth and removing weeds. A “long row to hoe” has come to refer to a difficult and time-consuming task.—more testing, and then of course mind-numbing difficulties when it comes to distribution. CaveatsCaveat(s) (noun): Originally a Latin word for ‘warning,’ ‘beware,’ or ‘advisement,’ (cave canem= beware of the dog; caveat emptor=buyer beware) the word retains that sense of a warning, but has, in English, taken on the additional meaning of ‘potential limitation.’ aside, the news could not be seen as anything but good, the first promising light at the end of the tunnel that the planet has had in relationship to this crisis for quite some time.

         The news proved to be a shot in the armA shot in the Arm (expression): An expression that refers to getting a sudden benefit or boost from something added to a person or a situation directly or immediately. The expression comes from the injection itself, and thus the pun in the text. —pun utterly intended—for the world’s financial markets. Of course, not everyone was a winner. Online grocery shopping providers and Zoom all took a hit in their stock price, and the price of gold and other precious metals—the reliable financial safe harboursSafe harbour (naval expression): Harbours are places where ships could find tranquil waters and be repaired after damage inflicted by the open sea. The phrase has come to refer to places, mental or physical, where rest and safety can be achieved. in financial storms—all took a hit. The price of oil, which has been depressed for months, gained back substantial ground after the news.

         Here in Quebec, some truly interesting vaccine news also appeared. Quebec City-based Medicago announced its own promising results from the Phase 1 trial of a plant-based vaccine. Side-effects, the company reported at the end of its 100-person randomized trial, were minimal, and the company plans to proceed with Phase II and III trials as soon as it gains the green light from federal regulators. The Canadian government has already inked a deal for 76 million doses of the vaccine, and Medicago is also the recipient of $173 million dollars of funding to build manufacturing facilities.

         An interesting financial sidenote is also developing on the vaccine story: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla sold $5.6 million dollars, 62%, of his stock in the company, as the price rode high. The company was quick to point out that this was part of a prearranged plan (10b5-1, as it is called) to defend the CEO against accusations of insider trading. This Financial Post article notes some of the prophylactic limitations of the pre-arranged selling plans when it comes to CEOs, and notes that no matter how innocent the intentions might have been, this kind of stock instability is not good for a company that needs public confidence when it comes to matters that include providing solutions for a pandemic.

by Nathan R. Elliott

The Longform Read of the Week: While vaccine news stabilized the markets, so too did news of Joe Biden’s increasingly assured assent to White House. The current incumbent, however, made some interesting news by carrying out a purgePurge (verb/noun): The word purge refers to the radical eradication of something, an extreme cleaning, and can be used in both extremely positive and negative contexts. at the Pentagon. This New Yorker article speculates why President Trump made the moves he did this week. If the writer is correct, and the moves prefigure Trump’s desire to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan, this kind of story is typical of American lame-duck session, when policy moves that might affect the planet for decades to come get buried under the global media’s obsession with American domestic changes.

i.            “Scientist Behind BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine says it can end the pandemic.” The Guardian, Nov 12, 2020. Intermediate. 5 mins.

ii.          “Covid vaccine breakthrough fuels broad global equity rally.” Financial Times, Nov 9, 2020. Intermediate/Advanced. 6 mins.

iii.         “Medicago reports promising but preliminary results of possible COVID-19 vaccine.” CBC, Nov 10, 2020.  Intermediate. 5 mins.

iv.         “Why the Pfizer CEO selling 62% of his stock the same day as the vaccine announcement looks bad.” Financial Times/Financial Post, Nov 13, 2020. Intermediate/Advanced. 5 mins.

v.          “Why Trump carried out his Pentagon Purge.” The New Yorker, Nov 14, 2020.