Investigated

$6.1 billion

The total amount the United States government has agreed to pay pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna for their COVID-19 vaccines. The government provided Moderna with $955 million for initial development, then bought two 100-million-dose orders for $1.53 billion and $1.68 billion respectively. The government bought 100 million doses from Pfizer for $1.95 billion but provided no initial funding for development.

37,586 

The number of participants in Pfizer’s phase 3 vaccine trial.

House hunters

After an election, reconciliation? 

Nov. 21—Joan Walter/Plymouth, Ind.

John Perkins is so right. There is only one race: the human race.

Neil Slattery/Fort Worth, Texas

I wondered why I had not heard of John Perkins before. What an amazing man, and what an amazing ministry.

David A. Williams/Fort Worth, Texas

At 2020’s dawn, the United States was in the middle of impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. Impeachments are historic, but 2020 made this one seem more like a historical footnote. After competing wings wrestled for control of the Democratic Party, former Vice President Joe Biden gained its nomination for president.

The coronavirus pandemic dominated 2020’s news cycle heading into Memorial Day weekend. But that changed on May 25 when 46-year-old George Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground during an arrest. Derek Chauvin’s knee stayed on the neck of a handcuffed Floyd for almost nine ­minutes. Chauvin was fired and faces a murder charge. Floyd’s death—and the bystander video of the incident—sparked months of nationwide, sometimes-violent protests focusing on racial discrimination and police brutality.

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