Health Care Down Amid Vaccine-Rollout Concerns -- Health Care Roundup

Health-care companies ticked down amid concerns about the pace of vaccine rollouts.

AstraZeneca told European Union officials that fewer doses of its Covid-19 vaccine will be ready for the bloc's planned rollout in early February, blaming an unspecified manufacturing issue, increasing the pressure on the EU, which stands accused of lagging behind the U.S. and the U.K. with its vaccine rollout.

Meanwhile, the U.S. reported more than 188,000 new Covid-19 cases for Thursday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and posted early Friday morning, with the number of people hospitalized dipping below 120,000 for the first time since Dec. 27.

But the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned there was evidence that a new variant of the virus spreading rapidly in the Southeast could be more deadly than previous strains.

Write to Rob Curran at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-22-21 1721ET