
TOKYO/LONDON -- Countries around the world are shoveling huge sums at drug companies to aid development, clinical trials and mass production of COVID-19 vaccines, overshadowing coordinated global efforts.
The U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has poured $1.2 billion into the hunt since early March, when the pandemic began to gain momentum in America. The office was created in 2006 under the Department of Health and Human Services to help protect the nation from bioterrorism and other threats.