Dolly Parton 
New vaccines showing positive signs
There’s hope on the horizon as two major pharmaceutical companies have announced successful tests of vaccines for Covid-19
Vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have both proven more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19, based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial.
Pending more safety data and regulatory review, the US could have two vaccines authorised for emergency use in December with as many as 60 million doses of vaccine available by the year’s end.
Only 95 of the 30,000 participants in Moderna’s trial have contracted Covid-19.
Data from the trial also showed the vaccine prevented cases of severe Covid-19, a question that still remains with the Pfizer vaccine.
The European Commission said that positive results announced by US biotech firm Moderna for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate were encouraging and said the bloc was working to sign more supply deals with vaccine makers.
The research was partly funded by Dolly Parton, the Country and Western icon.
Animal charities warn against ‘irresponsible’ pet sales on Facebook
Animal charities have warned against “extremely irresponsible” breeders selling kittens and puppies on Facebook, as demand increases over lockdown.
Facebook guidelines state animals cannot be sold between private individuals, but the BBC found evidence that sales are taking place.
The RSPCA called these sellers “extremely irresponsible”.
“We know that there are lots of unscrupulous breeders and sellers out there who exploit social media and classified websites in order to sell puppies and kittens without arousing suspicion,” a spokesperson said.
People should consider adopting from a rescue centre first, or follow its advice on buying dogs and cats – including seeing where the animal was bred, the charity added.
This comes as coronavirus lockdown has led to an increased demand for new pets.Charities including Battersea Dogs Home, Cats Protection and the RSPCA have also warned against people rushing into getting a new pet.
Lockdown and Black Friday leads to online shopping leap
Web sales are up a record-breaking 60% for November, according to a new report, as Black Friday discounts and Covid-19 restrictions make their mark.
Online sales were up 61% in the first week of November compared with the same period last year, according to the internet industry body IMRG, which said the impressive growth indicated November is “well on track to be a record-breaking month for online retail”.
Andy Mulcahy, the strategy and insight director at IMRG, told The Guardian that the week of Black Friday – beginning 23 November – was always big in sales terms.
But the backdrop of the pandemic meant retailers needed to encourage customers to do their shopping earlier so as to avoid “heavy backlogs and delays in proximity to Christmas”.
Of the 320 retailers IMRG monitors, by the middle of last week more than one in 10 had launched their Black Friday campaigns compared with about 4% in 2019.
