Walmart will begin Covid-19 vaccinations as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program (2024)

More than 1,000 Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies in the US will begin administering Covid-19 vaccines on Friday, as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, according to Walmart.

“Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies in 22 states are receiving federal vaccine allocations this week,” Walmart said in a news release Tuesday. It is unclear how many doses will be available.

The company said it worked with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify pharmacy locations according to factors such as population density and infection rates. It said it also looked at locations in medically underserved areas.

Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies are already vaccinating in 11 states under state allocations, according to the news release.

TheBidenadministration announced last week that the federal government will begin direct shipments of coronavirus vaccines to retail pharmacies starting on Thursday, with a total of 1 million doses going to about 6,500 stores before eventually expanding.

CVS and Walgreens have said they will get around 420,000 doses of the 1 million doses available.

Salesforce said Tuesday that after the pandemic, most of its workers will have the option to work remotely part- or full-time, in a move to integrate flexibility more permanently into the company’s operations.

Only “the smallest population of our workforce” will be working from an office 4 to 5 days a week, the cloud computing company said in ablog post.

The announcement is another sign of how the tech industry is leading changes in the future of work.

The shift will be reflected in office layouts, too, Salesforce said.

Much of the permanent shift to remote work is also driven by other trends, Salesforce said, including the ability to hire talent globally rather than in specific geographic regions and employee satisfaction.

In internal surveys, roughly half of Salesforce employees said they want to be in an office only a few times a month, Hyder said.

"It’s our responsibility as employers to empower our people to get thejob done during the schedule that works best for them and their teams,and provide flexible options to help make them even more productive," he added.

The first leg of Atlético Madrid’sUEFAChampionsLeaguelast-16tieagainst Chelsea will be played at the Arena Naţională in Bucharest, Romania,UEFAannounced on Wednesday.

The game has beenmovedtoRomania’s capital as a result of currenttravelrestrictions in place in Spain aimed at stopping the spread ofCovid-19variants.

Arrivals from the UK, Brazil and South Africa are barred from entering the country, with the exception of those passengers who are residents or citizens of Spain or Andorra.

On Tuesday, Spain’s government extended the ban until March 2.

It’s the thirdUEFAChampionsLeaguetietobemovedtoa neutral venue as a result ofCovid-19enforcedtravelbanscurrently in place in several European countries.

ThreeUEFAEuropaLeaguelast-32ties havealsobeenmovedtoneutral venues,UEFAconfirmed on Tuesday.

Manchester United's first leg game awaytoReal Sociedad has beenmovedfrom San SebastiantoTurin, Arsenal’s first leg game awaytoBenfica has beenmovedfrom LisbontoRome, and the first leg of Norwegian side Molde’s game against Hoffenheim hasmovedfrom MoldetoVillareal in Spain.

The dates and times for all the abovefixtureswill remain as originally scheduled.

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has received his first Covid-19 vaccination shot, along with his wife, Camilla, the duch*ess of Cornwall, a Clarence House spokesman said Wednesday.

Clarence House did not say where Charles, 72, and Camilla, 73, were vaccinated, or which vaccine they had received.

Charles tested positive for coronavirus after experiencing mild symptoms last March. He later added that he'd "got away with it quite lightly."

More than 12.6 million people in theUKhave now received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the government’s dashboard.The National Health Service (NHS) is now asking peopleaged 70 and overin England who haven’t been vaccinated to book an appointment.

Last month, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh received their first Covid-19 vaccinations, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said.

The inoculations were administered by a household doctor at Windsor Castle, a royal source said.

German pharmaceutical companyBioNTech, Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine partner,has opened a new production facility in Marburg, Germany to ramp up production of their vaccines.

BioNTech is already producing its vaccine at its plant in Mainz, with other third party facilities in Germany also in production. A Pfizer facility in Puurs, Belgium as well as other Pfizer facilities in the US also produce the joint venture's vaccine.

Last year, BioNTech said the acquisition of the vaccine plant in Marburg -- from the pharmaceutical firm Novartis -- would allow it to produce tens of millions more vaccine doses a month.

Earlier this month, BioNTech said in a statement that it was planning to manufacture two billion doses of their vaccine in 2021, and would work towards increasing their deliveries to parties they had "we contractually committed to."

"In order to respond to an increased global demand, we plan to manufacture twobilliondosesof our COVID-19 vaccine in2021 by expanding the previously expected output of 1.3billiondosesby more than 50%. We are on track to scale-up our manufacturing capacities," the statement read.

"Pfizer andBioNTechcontinue to work toward increased deliveries beginning the week of February 15, ensuring we will supply the full quantity of vaccinedosesin the first quarter we contractually committed to and up to an additional 75 milliondosesto the European Union in the second quarter," it added.

Heineken said it will lay off 8,000 staff, as it looks to return to growth after a year in which the pandemic hammered sales.

The brewer of Moretti and Amstel said in a statement on Wednesday that it will slash almost 10% of its global workforce and seek savings of €2 billion ($2.4 billion) over two years as part of an “organizational redesign” to improve efficiency.

“The impact of the pandemic on our business was amplified by our on-trade and geographic exposure,” said CEO Dolf van den Brink, who took charge of the company in June last year.

Heineken estimates that at the end of January, less than 30% of on-trade outlets (pubs, bars and restaurants) were operating in Europe, which is its biggest market. Many countries in the region reimposed lockdowns in December, and have tightened restrictions since. Heineken said it has written off €191 million ($231.6 million) relating to various individual UK pubs.

The brewer’s revenue tumbled 16.7% in 2020 compared to the previous year amid closures of restaurants and bars, as well as other restrictions on social gatherings and alcohol sales.

A 58-year-old woman in pain and with difficulty breathing because of Covid-19 says goodbye to her mother as she’s taken away by paramedics -- not knowing when she’ll be back.

It’s moments like these that paramedics in Portugal are now frequently facing, as a spike in coronavirus infections have raged across the country in the new year.

It's a situation that's exacerbating an already stretched health system. The country's hospitals have gotten so overwhelmed that last week, Germany sent in the support of 26 army medical personnel.

This week, CNN tagged along with Portuguese paramedics on the frontline of the battle against Covid-19, where there are no sterilized rooms or state-of-the art ventilators.

Despite their best efforts, Portugal has one of the worst infection rates on the planet. Since January 15, the country reported 7,651 deaths, more than half of its total Covid-19 deaths (14,557).

To combat the spike in cases, the country entered a national lockdown on January 14.

But "despite the fact that these measures are producing results," Health Minister Marta Temido said on Wednesday that it may need to be extended past February 14, when it is currently due to expire.

WATCH:

Ghana has suspended its parliament for three weeks due to a Covid-19 outbreak among Members of Parliament and staff.

"I have, in consultation with the leadership, decided that the sitting of the house be suspended for three weeks," Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of the House, said on Tuesday.

At least 17 members of parliament and 151 staff and ancillary workers have been infected with the virus.Parliament will be adjourned from Wednesday until March 2 while the premises are disinfected and sanitized.

"During that period, honorable members are to comply with the strict Covid-19 protocols and regulations," said Bagbin. He asked members and staff to get tested for the virus in two weeks.

Under previous Covid-19 restrictions announced on February 5, only one-third of members could sit in the chamber at any one time.

The appointments committee has not started debating PresidentNana Akufo-Addo's ministerial nominees following December's general election. Bagbin asked that by the end of the three weeks that the committee would have finished and submitted their reports to the house on the appointments.

The West African nation has recorded over 73,000 Covid-19 cases and 482 deaths, according to data from John Hopkins University.

A World Health Organization expert investigating the origins of Covid-19 in China has lashed out at the US government for expressing uncertainty around its initial findings, accusing President Joe Biden of posturing against Beijing and raising doubt over the credibility of US intelligence agencies.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said repeatedly that the US would welcome the WHO’s findings in a conclusive report but would ultimately rely on its intelligence agencies and information from allies to reach its own conclusions.

In response to the remarks, WHO expert Peter Daszak said in a Twitter post: "Well now this.Joe Biden has to look tough on China. Please don’t rely too much on US intel: increasingly disengaged under Trump & frankly wrong on many aspects."

He added he was happy to help the White House in verifying information, “but don’t forget it’s 'TRUST' then 'VERIFY'!"

The back and forth signal a rocky start in the renewed relationship between Washington and the WHO just weeks after Biden retracted the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the international organization, which is leading the global response against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, China has seized on the WHO's findings, claiming coronavirus vindication.

Read more: