2 Billion Covid-19 Vaccines | Glow-in-the-dark tumors

Plus: Apocalyptic Movie Watchers Were Better Prepared For The Pandemic, Study Finds

There’s good news on the Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing front, even as the rollout of the vaccines into people’s arms has been somewhat rocky. The CEOs of Pfizer and BioNTech increased their production goal to 2 billion doses in 2021, up from 1.3 billion doses. The United States has authorized two vaccines so far: Pfizer and Moderna. Moderna is aiming to produce between 600 million and 1 billion vaccines this year. Nearly 27.7 million doses have been distributed, but only 9.3 million people have been vaccinated, according to the CDC. Each person will require two doses.

Both vaccines rely on mRNA technology, which include instructions for cells to make the parts of the virus that trigger the immune system (without infecting the person). There has been misinformation circulating that these vaccines could potentially alter your DNA. Contributor Vicky Forster breaks down why this isn’t true. There are DNA-changing viruses, including HIV and HPV, but coronaviruses do not.

Any questions? Send me an email at kjennings@forbes.com.

Katie Jennings

Staff Writer, Healthcare

Earli Raised $40 Million To Make Tumors Reveal Themselves

Liquid biopsies can detect cancer through a blood draw, but they can’t indicate where a tumor is located. Earli, a South San Francisco-based biotech company, has a plan to fix this problem: instead of searching through the body for a tumor or cancer cells, it plans to make cancer cells reveal themselves. If the tumor is a needle in a haystack, Earli’s plan is to make the needle glow bigger and brighter. The company, which raised a $40 million Series A round this week, injects a drug that moves through the body looking for cancer cells. If detected, it generates an enzyme that causes the cancerous tissues to glow on certain scans.

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The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association suspended contributions to Republican members of Congress who opposed the electoral vote count certification.

Dr. Joshua Liao discusses how two cognitive biases could affect people’s decisions on whether or not to get a Covid-19 vaccine.