COVID-19 Vaccine

Guam and the Northern Marianas have both expressed hope in the incoming administration's Covid-19 policy.

RNZ Pacific correspondent in Saipan, Mark Rabago, said a Joe Biden administration seemed to be more attuned to using science to combat the virus.

"I do hope the Biden administration will deliver on its promise to tackle Covid-19 head on. They seem to be relying more on factual data, scientific data and really relying on experts."

The developers - Pfizer and BioNTech - described it as a "great day for science and humanity".

Their vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised.

The companies plan to apply for emergency approval to use the vaccine by the end of the month.

No vaccine has gone from the drawing board to being proven highly effective in such a short period of time.

In a statement, BAT says if the testing by bio-tech subsidiary, Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP) goes well, between 1 and 3 million doses of the vaccine could be manufactured per week, beginning in June.

The multinational company said while KBP remains a commercial operation, the intention is that its work around the Covid-19 vaccine project will be carried out on a not for profit basis.

The vaccine in development uses BAT’s proprietary, fast-growing tobacco plant technology which has several advantages over conventional vaccine production technology: