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The UK is the first country to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The British regulator said the first-of-its-kind vaccine is safe, and the government confirmed it will be rolled out next week. Healthcare workers and nursing home residents are the top priority, as they are in the US.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s biggest attempt to stifle the H-1B visa. Jeffrey White, a US district judge in northern California, struck down a policy that would have made it harder for the millions of existing holders to live and work in the US, and also made it very tough for new applicants.
Salesforce is buying Slack for $27.7 billion. It’s the company’s biggest acquisition yet, and one of the largest-ever for the industry. The deal illustrates the hazards involved when going up against Big Tech.
The US attorney general backed the election result. William Barr made it clear the justice department had uncovered no evidence of fraud. Meanwhile, the department is investigating a possible lobbying scheme involving bribery for a presidential pardon, and a Republican official in Georgia warned Donald Trump against inciting violence.
Three Hong Kong democracy activists were jailed. Agnes Chow, 23, got 10 months; Ivan Lam, 26, got seven months; and Joshua Wong, 24, received a 13-and-a-half-month sentence. They pleaded guilty in November to unlawful assembly charges related to a protest last year.
Vaccine profitability, by the digits
$1 trillion: Estimated global vaccine annual revenues, in the pre-Covid-19 days
$4 billion: Estimated global flu shot annual revenues
$10 billion: Projected Covid-19 vaccine annual revenues while the virus is still deemed a public health hazard
$7 billion: Annual revenues Merck makes from the cancer drug Keytruda, alone
$3: Minimum per-dose cost for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine
$25-$37: Per-dose cost for Moderna’s
Public pressure to keep Covid-19 vaccine prices low will likely relent once enough people have been vaccinated, and the pandemic is over. But after that, it could go multiple ways.
Charting busy travel days
Despite being one of its busiest days during the pandemic, US air travel on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, was substantially lower than every single day in 2019 for which the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has released figures.
Of course, the pandemic has caused airlines to drastically modify their operations. So while there were fewer passengers, there were fewer flights, too. That means that planes were more full this year than the headline figures suggest.
Employee happiness: lessons learned
As CEO of the online shoe retailer Zappos for 21 years, Tony Hsieh, who died Nov. 26 at age 46 from injuries sustained in a house fire, was an early pioneer in espousing employee happiness as a top business priority. His quest to create an environment where workers felt enthusiastic about their jobs and, by extension, their lives, is an indelible part of his legacy—one that reveals both the promise and the pitfalls of happiness as a corporate goal. Sarah Todd explores the takeaways for employers who want to do right by their staff.
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Surprising discoveries
Australia’s prime minister turned to WeChat to counter Chinese propaganda. Around 50,000 users read his message criticizing a Chinese state-endorsed illustration referencing Australia’s alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
Sanmitsu is Japan’s buzzword of the year… It refers to the “three C’s” of social distancing—avoiding closed spaces, crowds, and close-contact situations.
…and queen Elizabeth will have a “three C’s” Christmas. For the first time in more than 30 years, she and prince Philip will skip celebrating with family at Sandringham, and remain at Windsor Castle.
BTS fans, rejoice! South Korea passed a bill allowing members of famous boy bands to defer their mandatory military service.
Now the Romanian monolith has disappeared. We at Quartz are very invested in this saga, but this is just getting silly.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, buzzwords of the year, and ANSWERS ABOUT THIS MONOLITH(!!) to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Hasit Shah, Jane Li, Tripti Lahiri, Annalisa Merelli, and Liz Webber.