US lawmakers agreed on pandemic spending powers for the Federal Reserve late Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported, clearing the way for a vote on a roughly $900 billion COVID-19 relief package for millions of Americans.
The deal would maintain the central bank's ability to set up emergency lending programs without congressional approval, the Journal said, but the Fed would require approval to restart similar existing programs once they expire later this year.
Republicans had sought to limit the Fed's ability to provide credit for businesses and other institutions, while Democrats argued restricting its powers could compound the fiscal crisis in the world's largest economy.
The impasse had threatened to temporarily shut down the government, which would be disastrous given the worsening economy and record daily death tolls from COVID-19.
Moderna vaccine now shipping
The first of millions of doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine were being prepared Saturday for shipping to locations across the United States, a top official said, hours after it was authorized for use in the hardest-hit country in the world.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced late Friday that it had granted emergency approval for the vaccine, a week after it did the same with the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.
"Distribution of the Moderna vaccine has already begun," said General Gus Perna, who is overseeing the massive logistical operation as part of the government's Operation Warp Speed.
On Saturday, the first doses were being moved from the manufacturing center in Bloomington, Indiana, to warehouses operated by logistics firm McKesson in preparation for shipping on Sunday.
Transparency a must
Pharmaceutical firms must be "very transparent" about the risks and benefits of vaccines in efforts to end the coronavirus pandemic, the head of Asia's largest drugmaker said.
Takeda, one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, is not developing its own vaccine but has contracts with several firms to distribute their jabs in Japan and is also testing a virus treatment.
"We have to manage the situation well, be very transparent and extremely educative in the way we introduce products," chief executive Christophe Weber said.
"Medicines or vaccines are never perfect… there are always some side effects," said Weber, who joined Takeda in 2014 and took the top job a year later after nearly two decades at Britain's GlaxoSmithKline.
But he is optimistic the industry can explain the risks and benefits properly.
