Pfizer makes €2.9 billion out of COVID-19 vaccine

May 7 2021

The COVID-19 vaccine boosted the pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s sales up to €2.9 billion ($3.5 billion) in the first quarter. This led to Pfizer racking up its annual expectations for revenue from $15 billion to a whopping $26 billion. Pfizer, who splits the vaccine profits with partner BioNTech, raised full-year revenue up to $72.5 billion from $61.4 billion, mostly due to signed contracts for 1.6 billion vaccine doses in 2021 alone.

Chief Executive Albert Bourla stated that diluted earnings per share hit 86 US cents, with earnings coming from more than 50 countries demanding the vaccine. Bourla expressed his satisfaction with how Pfizer initiated 2021, stating ‘We continued to accelerate production and shipments of our COVID-19 vaccine – many cases exceeding our contractual obligations for delivery timelines.’

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Photo Source: BBC

Mark Laurence reframes the questions surrounding cannabis and drug use

May 7 2021

Mark Laurence Zammit flipped the script when it came to what people ask about cannabis and drug use. He starts by pointing out that everyone, including the government and the opposition, is asking the wrong question. He insists that, instead of asking why someone shouldn’t have the right to smoke a joint, we should instead be asking why people have the need to smoke a joint.

Despite acknowledging that there are people who smoke for fun whilst living a relatively good life, many are resorting to smoking because they are stressed, have no reason to get out of bed in the morning and a slew of other problems. He states that life is too demanding to do things such as buying a house or to get married. He concludes by saying that to remove the problem, we must work at removing the demand which only exists because of these problematic conditions of depression and anxiety.

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Photo Source: Mark Laurence Zammit, cottonbro

Stranger Things Season 4 gets a new haunting trailer

May 7 2021

Season 4 of Stranger Things has been on everyone’s minds for around two years since the ending of the last season. Whatever happened to Jim Hopper and what will the Hawkins kids be up to next? Despite not answering these questions, the newest trailer dropped by Netflix is centred completely around Eleven’s origin. With bald-headed children playing games in a sinister psychiatric ward to ominous music, the trailer pans to a door sealed shut labelled 11.

A narrator asks; ‘Eleven are you listening?’, to which the character responds by frantically opening her eyes. Even though it does not reveal much, the next season seems to be filled with surprises and terrifying thrills that past seasons of Stranger Things have always delivered. There is no release date yet, but we are waiting as eagerly as ever!

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Photo Source: Variety

Destiny pays tribute to COVID-19 losses with a cover of ‘All By Myself’

May 7 2021

Destiny’s latest cover is a goosebump inducing tribute to all those who passed away due to COVID-19, with the song choice being a rendition of Celine Dion’s masterful ‘All By Myself.’ Not only is this cover a solemn and thought provoking rendition, but also yet another reminder of why Destiny deserves to represent Malta in the upcoming edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

With a video shot in the grand Manoel Theatre, Destiny also dedicates this reimagining to all the front-liners who are struggling with the pandemic on a daily basis, all her fellow artists whose lives were shaken by tumultuous COVID-19 and her own late grandfather. Destiny’s journey for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest draws nearer everyday, with her song ‘Je Me Casse’ already proving to be an international favourite.

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