Pfizer and BioNTech receive expanded U.S. FDA emergency use suthorization of COVID-19 vaccine booster to include individuals 18 and older
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the emergency use authorization (EUA) of a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to include individuals 18 years of age and older. The booster dose is to be administered at least six months after completion of the primary series, and is the same dosage strength as the doses in the primary series. 
GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIR) announced US government contracts totalling approximately $1 billion[1] (USD) to purchase sotrovimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody for the early treatment of COVID-19, which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in May 2021. 
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced an agreement with the U.S. government to supply 10 million treatment courses of its investigational COVID-19 oral antiviral candidate, PAXLOVID™ (PF-07321332; ritonavir), subject to regulatory authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If approved or authorized, PAXLOVID, which originated in Pfizer's laboratories, would be the first oral antiviral of its kind, a 3CL protease inhibitor specifically designed to combat SARS-CoV-2. 
AstraZeneca and its partners have released for supply two billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccine to more than 170 countries across every continent on the planet in the last 11 months.
Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced that the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has granted authorization in the United Kingdom (U.K.) for molnupiravir (MK-4482, EIDD-2801), the first oral antiviral medicine authorized for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults with a positive SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test and who have at least one risk factor for developing severe illness. 
The editors of Time announced that the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has been selected as one of Time's Best Inventions of 2021.