It'll take weeks to vet a COVID-19 vaccine

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If coronavirus vaccine results weren't quite enough breaking news for you this week, Amazon has officially unveiled its long-awaited Amazon Pharmacy service, selling prescription medications and offering discount services for Prime members.

Much like Amazon's original foray into the pharmacy space through its acquisition of PillPack, the news of Amazon Pharmacy's official launch has sent healthcare stocks tumbling premarket. (At a glance, CVS Health is down 7.6%, Walgreens is down 9.6%, and GoodRx is down nearly 20%)

Blake Dodge has a good look at how Amazon's work in pharmacy fits in with its overall health ambitions. You can read the full story here.

Also today in healthcare news: The man in charge of evaluating COVID-19 vaccines explains why it'll still take weeks to vet the shots, how much pharmacies, doctor's offices and hospitals stand to make while giving the vaccine, and Operation Warp Speed's hand in Moderna's coronavirus vaccine.

The man in charge of evaluating coronavirus vaccines for the FDA lays out why it will take weeks to vet a COVID-19 shot

• As coronavirus vaccines inch closer to reality, the man in charge of reviewing the approval applications wants Americans to trust the process.
• That means we're not going to get surprise Food and Drug Administration approvals in the coming days, despite two COVID-19 vaccine frontrunners announcing success over the past week.
• The review process will be measured in weeks, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's center for biological products, told Business Insider on Friday.

Read the full story from Andrew Dunn here>>

Pharmacies, doctor's offices and hospitals are gearing up to give coronavirus vaccines to millions of Americans. Here's how they're preparing and how much they stand to profit along the way.

• Drug companies Pfizer and Moderna in November announced that their coronavirus vaccines are highly effective at preventing COVID-19, an encouraging sign in the fight to end the pandemic.
• Pharmacies, hospitals and clinics are preparing to play a role in getting the COVID-19 vaccines into the arms of millions of patients, when a vaccine becomes available.
• Administering the COVID-19 vaccine could be an $8.5 billion market, according to Morgan Stanley analysts.
• Analysts suggest that chain pharmacies could profit the most among providers from administering the vaccine, while hospitals and medical clinics may not make as much revenue.

Read the full story from Shelby Livingston here>>

Moderna's promising coronavirus vaccine is a major beneficiary of the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed

• Biotechnology firm Moderna announced promising results from clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate on Monday, with its vaccine showing 94.5% efficacy in preventing COVID-19 infections.
• Moderna is a major beneficiary of federal government funds through Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration's project to fast-track the development of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
• The federal government granted Moderna nearly $1 billion to develop its vaccine and committed to pay $1.5 billion to buy, manufacture, and distribute the first 100 million doses with the option to buy more.

Read the full story from Grace Panetta here>>

More stories we're reading:

• Bill Gates says the first thing he'll do after a coronavirus vaccine is hug Bono (Business Insider)
• Philadelphia is locking back down as hospitalizations rise (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• California is facing new restrictions amid a spike in COVID-19 cases (LA Times)
• Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates: Some coronavirus vaccines may work better in certain populations than others (Business Insider)

Looking for more updates on the vaccine race and what's happening in digital health? Be sure to subscribe to this newsletter if you haven't yet, and tell your friends!

- Lydia