End Of Student Loan Relief | Parody Won’t Save Peloton | Musk Plugs Dogecoin

Plus: Australian Tech Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes Saving The Planet Through Philanthropy, Investments

Good morning.

A pause in student loan repayment implemented during the pandemic is coming to an end. We’re also covering why Peloton’s parody ad does little to reverse the stock’s decline, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s latest cryptocurrency bet. Don’t miss this story about why Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes—one of Forbes Asia’s 2021 Heroes of Philanthropy—is backing causes that fight climate change.

In The News Today

The U.S. Air Force has discharged 27 active-duty personnel who have refused to get vaccinated against Covid-19, failing to comply with the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate.

A real-world study from South Africa’s largest health insurer indicates that a double dose of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is only 33% effective in protecting against infection with the omicron coronavirus variant, but still gives strong protection against severe illness.

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The Biden administration won’t extend student loan relief and confirmed student loan payments restart February 1, 2022, but Senator Elizabeth Warren remains dedicated to her crusade to slash Americans’ student loan debt.

Having told Time magazine, who named him 2021’s Person of the Year, that dogecoin has “much higher potential” than bitcoin, billionaire Elon Musk tweeted he’ll allow the “joke” cryptocurrency, whose rise he contributed to, to be used to purchase some Tesla branded products, but not its cars.

Peloton hit back at the unfortunate role of its e-bike in the pilot episode of the Sex and the City reboot—and its negative impact on its shares—working with actor Ryan Reynolds’ marketing agency on a parody ad over the weekend. But it’ll take more than a tongue-in-cheek ad to halt the decline in the at-home fitness equipment maker stock.

Pfizer said that final analysis of clinical trials for its antiviral treatment for Covid-19, Paxlovid, confirmed that it’s 89% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk patients if its pill is taken within three days of symptom onset, confirming figures from early November.

Berlin-based startup Vay has raised $95 million in a Series B round to bring its remotely-driven Zipcar-style rental service to your doorstep first in Hamburg, Germany, and then the U.S.

Starting this month, Americans will be able to renew their passports online thanks to an executive order that promises to bring key government agencies into the digital era and reduce red tape for a broad array of services.

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