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US formally blames Iran for death of Robert Levinson
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Leaders of Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s efforts to distribute a Covid-19 to Americans, held a press briefing this afternoon detailing specifics of the upcoming distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Distribution is well underway for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that the US Food and Drug Administration approved for emergency use on Friday. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that 2.9 million doses of the vaccine will be sent out over the course of the week.

The 2.9 million doses will be sent out to 1,217 sites over the course of the week, with 636 sites receiving the vaccine by Wednesday and another 581 receiving doses by the end of the week, barring no disruptions in transit.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires a second booster shot, administered at least 21 days after the first dose, and Azar confirmed they will ship out 2.9 million more doses for second doses.
The federal government has ordered 6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to be shipped once it is approved by the FDA for emergency use, Azar said, which could happen as early as Friday.
Gustave Perna, who oversees logistics for Operation Warp Speed, noted that severe snowstorms coming into the Northeast and north Midwest could potentially cause disruptions in transit. But, he said, there is a “constant flow of available vaccine” being shipped out.
Dr Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific officer for Operation Warp Speed, confirmed that they believe 100 million people will have gotten the first dose of the vaccine – Moderna’s vaccine also requires a second dose – by the end of March.
Azar said that the federal government has “enough vaccines purchased for every American who wants it by the second quarter of 2021” and said the government can purchase more if necessary.
But the leaders of Operations Warp speed alluded to the fact that such a timeline relies on the approval of the vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and AstroZeneca, which are still in the middle of the last clinical trial stage.
Johnson & Johnson is expected to go into committee review with the FDA in February, while the timeline for AstroZeneca’s vaccine is unclear as the trial has paused multiple times for safety review. Both vaccines only require one dose of the vaccine.
The leaders of Operation Warp Speed plan to hold briefings every Friday to update the number of vaccines that have been distributed and administered.
US formally blames Iran for death of Robert Levinson
The US has for the first time formally blamed Iran for the presumed death of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who went missing more than a decade ago.
As world affairs editor Julian Borger reported for the Guardian in March, when Levinson’s family said they believed he was dead:
Levinson disappeared 13 years ago on Iran’s Kish island. The US initially claimed he was there on his own initiative, but in 2013 the Associated Press revealed he had been sent on a mission there by CIA analysts who had no authority to run espionage operations. Levinson was a specialist on Russian organised crime and had not had much previous involvement in Iran.
Tehran denied knowledge of Levinson’s whereabouts until November last year, when it acknowledged that there was an ongoing case involving him before its revolutionary court.
Levinson, who suffered from diabetes, was last seen in a hostage video sent anonymously to the family in 2010, and then in still photographs three years later in which he was wearing an orange jumpsuit, of the kind used in the US detention camp on Guantánamo Bay. The images did not make clear who was detaining him.
As the Associated Press reports, “two Iranian intelligence officers, identified as Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai, are alleged to have been involved in [Levinson’s] abduction. Under sanctions announced on Monday, any property or assets that they hold in the US would be blocked. Though it’s unlikely that they have bank accounts in the US, the sanctions could also limit their movements or financial dealing outside of Iran. The men have met with intelligence officials from other countries and also led delegations, US officials say.”
US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said: “The abduction of Mr Levinson in Iran is an outrageous example of the Iranian regime’s willingness to commit unjust acts.”
Levinson’s family issued their own statement, saying: “This is just one step in a long road toward achieving justice, but it is an important one.”
The move from the Trump administration is part of hardline actions towards Tehran including withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal meant to stall Iran’s progress towards a viable weapon.
President-elect Joe Biden has said he wants to re-enter the deal, a prospect potentially jeopardised by such moves from the Trump administration. Biden takes power on 20 January.