March 29, 2022

Happy Coca-Cola Day. That's not an official holiday, but it should be since the first batch of Coca-Cola was brewed on March 29, 1886. Since then, Coke has traveled to space, invented the modern-day Santa Claus, and become the 2nd most-recognized word in the world after "okay." Compensating much, Coke?

Reminder PSA: If you’re in college, fill out this form for a chance to win money by growing the Roca wave. Thanks for all the responses so far! Let’s Ride.

― Key Stories

AI Hospitals Go Live
Overview

• 100 UK hospitals rolled out AI software to predict emergency room admissions weeks in advance
• The models look at data including traffic, illness spread, and emergency call trends to predict how many people will show up to the ER on a given day
• Hospitals will use the data to increase ER staffing on busy days, and reallocate staffing toward routine and non-emergency care on slow days
• The software was first used in the pandemic to predict bed, ventilator, and staff needs. Hospitals hope it will significantly reduce wait times

El Salvador Declares Drug Emergency
Overview

• El Salvador, a small central American country, declared a national emergency after a surge of gang violence left 62 people dead on Saturday alone
• Gang violence has made El Salvador one of the world’s most violent countries
• El Salvador’s murder rate plummeted in recent years after the govt. reportedly negotiated a ceasefire with the biggest gang. Violence is now surging again
• The declaration makes it easier for police to arrest suspected gang members and means that prisoners won't be let out of their cells. Gang violence is often coordinated by imprisoned members

Biden: Military Bump and Billionaire Tax

• Pres. Biden proposed increasing US military funding by 9.8%
• The proposal grows defense spending by $69B, from $704B to $773B. Biden called it “one of the largest investments in our national security in history”
• It's part of a broader $5.8T budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year, which begins in October 2022
• The budget also contains a “Billionaire Minimum Tax,” which would require those worth $100M+ to pay taxes worth at least 20% of their combined income and investment returns. It would impact an estimated 20,000 households

Russia-Ukraine Negotiators Poisoned 
Overview

• At least 3 Ukraine-Russia peace negotiators were allegedly poisoned earlier this month
• Those poisoned include Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, and 2 senior members of Ukraine's negotiation team
• The poisoning was not lethal but caused the victims’ skin to peel and eyes to water and burn. They blamed it on Russia's pro-war wing, whom the victims say want to sabotage peace negotiations
• The type of poison wasn't identified. An investigator said that the attack “was not intended to kill, it was just a warning”

See yesterday's results below the Wrap!

 Popcorn

Culture & Sports 

• I, Apologize: Will Smith apologized to Chris Rock, writing, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong"
• Better but... bad: The Oscars' ratings jumped 56% from last year's rock bottom to 15.4M viewers. It's still the second-lowest in history
• Qatar, here we come? The US' 5-1 win over Panama has put the men's national team on the brink of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup

• Walmart will ban the sale of cigarettes at select US store locations, including ones in California, Florida, New Mexico, and Arkansas
• Fortnite has raised over $70M for Ukraine, making its owner Epic Games perhaps the biggest corporate donor to Ukraine
• Creating water out of thin air! A startup that makes water by condensing water vapor using the sun's energy has raised $150M

• Italians living in the parts of northern Italy experiencing severe droughts face fines for wasting water as mayors ration their water supply
• "High-rise hell": NYC residents in a 59-story residential skyscraper experience regular elevator outages for hours at a time
• A new poll shows that 52% of Americans say they've had Covid, with over 4 in 10 saying they've tested positive or been diagnosed
• Ticket sales to Chris Rock's comedy tour have soared. One site said it sold more tickets overnight than in the past month

― Roca Wrap

A Newsletter Exclusive

German biotech company BioNTech made history by developing the first widely approved Covid vaccine. Its CEO now has a new idea to revolutionize the vaccine industry: Factories in a box.
 
Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, wants to transform vaccine manufacturing. To do so, he wants to ship the entire manufacturing process, rather than just a vaccine dose itself, to regions around the world where vaccines are needed most.
 
When it comes to the Covid vaccine, Africa has the lowest access and vaccination rates of any continent. While improving, just 16% of Africa’s population is fully vaccinated, compared to nearly 70% of the population in North America, the continent with the highest vaccination rate. To help, Sahin wants to send countries in Africa the “BioNTainer.”
 
The “BioNTainer” is like a meal-kit for vaccines. It contains everything needed to make a vaccine – from the materials, to the production tools, to the recipe – in containers that can be assembled anywhere around the world. In return, a host country would provide electricity, employees, and about 20,000 sq feet of land.
 
The idea was inspired by the shipping container, which revolutionized the international trade industry. Before the container was introduced, shipping goods was like a game of Tetris: Could the bags of potatoes stack atop the bikes and apples? It took a lot of time, money, and ingenuity to figure it all out.
 
Then came the shipping container: Its uniform dimensions enabled goods of all sizes to go into standardized containers, which could easily be stacked upon each other. The impact was enormous, leading to an explosion in international trade. Sahin hopes to have a similar effect on vaccine production.
 
Critics say this is a way for BioNTech to avoid handing over its valuable patent to generic drug makers in developing countries. Sahin argues this process is much cheaper and more sustainable than handing over patents. It’s a long and complicated process to set up new factories overseas, he says, even with a patent.
 
There are strict regulations on vaccine manufacturing, and producing vaccines and securing approval for them is a slow and complex process.The BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, for example, uses 280 components from 86 suppliers in 19 countries; its production requires 50,000 different steps and 40 quality controls for each batch.
 
Now all of that can come in a box. Each BioNTainer could produce up to 50M doses per year at “significantly less” cost than the the $170M+ it costs to build a factory with similar output. Because the containers are standardized, the process only needs one approval. After that, production can ramp up.
 
While the idea is still a prototype, Sahin is aiming to ship the first BioNTainers to a not-yet-named African country by the end of this year. If successful, Sahin hopes it's the first shipment of many, with BioNContainers for other vaccines to follow. He said, “This is the future of manufacturing not only for Africa, but worldwide.”

 Games

1. Sodium chloride
2. Iron oxide
3. Dihydrogen monoxide
4. Sodium hydrogen carbonate

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