AstraZeneca’s quest for Covid-19 vaccine gets $1bn boost from US

London — UK pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca says it has secured more than $1bn from the US to help fund production of its coronavirus vaccine. AstraZeneca is partnering with the University of Oxford to develop and distribute a vaccine being trialled in the UK. It comes amid concerns that the US — which has the world's highest official death rate from Covid-19 — could have a vaccine before other countries thanks to its large-scale funding of multinational pharmaceutical companies. France has criticised Paris-based drugs giant Sanofi for suggesting the US would receive its vaccine first, as world...