Raphael Stevens

The Food and Drug Administration’s plan to fast-track Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for kids under 5 was delayed due to a “low number of cases” in the trial, Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday.
“One case in one direction or another can tip the perception of the vaccine’s overall effectiveness,” said the current Pfizer board member and former FDA chief.
Gottlieb said, “I suspect there’s only going to be 15% to 20% of parents who go out and get their young kids vaccinated.”

The Food and Drug Administration’s plan to fast-track Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for children under 5 years old was delayed because of a “low number of cases overall in the clinical trial,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday.
“Most kids are not getting symptomatic Covid,” said the current Pfizer board member and former head of the FDA. “One case in one direction or another can tip the perception of the vaccine’s overall effectiveness.”

“The FDA wanted to take the time for this data set to effectively settle down,” Gottlieb said on “Squawk Box.” “That point’s probably going to be after they’ve administered the third dose and have the data from that third dose.” He added, “At that point you’ll be able to get more of a fixed perception of the vaccine’s overall effectiveness” in that younger group, the only cohort not cleared in the U.S. for the shots.
The FDA had originally planned to consider authorizing two doses of what would ultimately be a three-dose vaccine for kids under 5 as soon as this month. However, the agency said Friday it’s now going to wait on data about the effectiveness and safety of a third dose, which Pfizer and its vaccine partner, BioNTech, have said won’t come until April.

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“I suspect there’s only going to be 15% to 20% of parents who go out and get their young kids vaccinated,” should shots for children under 5 get emergency authorization, Gottlieb said. He added, “For the parents who were going to vaccinate their kids, this was very important.”
While children are overall at a lower risk of Covid, very young kids, especially those with preexisting health conditions, are still not in the clear, Gottlieb said. About 1,100 pediatric deaths have occurred from Covid since the beginning of the pandemic, with about 400 in kids under 5, the former FDA chief pointed out. By comparison, Gottlieb said, only five children have died from the flu in the last two years.
Gottlieb said he expects the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to institute a “permissive recommendation,” rather than a mandate for children under 5 to get vaccinated. “They’re not going to say, ‘Children under the age of 5 should get vaccinated.’ They’ll say something like, ‘They could get vaccinated to reduce their risk,'” he said.
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus, health-care tech company Aetion and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ and Royal Caribbean’s “Healthy Sail Panel.”

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Florist Betty Sejas arranges red roses at Company Flowers in Arlington, Virginia, on Feb. 8, 2022.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

Not even Cupid is immune from inflation’s sting this Valentine’s Day.
As consumer prices climb to historic highs, nearly all of the trappings of Feb. 14 cost more in 2022.

The average price for a dozen roses, for example, jumped 22% from last year, according to data compiled by personal finance site The Balance. Assorted chocolates are 9% higher, while candy sales, overall, hit new highs heading up to the holiday.

Couples can also expect to pay top dollar for a table for two this Feb. 14.
Restaurants, which have been under pressure since the very start of the pandemic, are charging more for meals to combat ongoing staffing challenges and rising food costs.
The price of a good steak, in particular, spiked 154%, The Balance found.
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Imported champagne, which is already more expensive than other sparkling wines, rose to $53 a bottle, up roughly 18% from a year before, according to alcohol-delivery service Drizly. The average price of table wine, on the other hand, is up just 2.5%.
Only gold prices have stayed near $1,800 an ounce due to other economic factors.
Altogether, Valentine’s Day spending is expected to reach $23.9 billion in 2022, the second-highest year on record, according to the National Retail Federation. More

In Scotland, work is underway to look at how the water that has flooded old, disused mines can be used to provide decarbonized heating to buildings.
And in the northeast of England, a local authority has been working on a development aiming to repurpose part of the area’s mining heritage.

LONDON — The ramifications of the Industrial Revolution, which had its roots in 18th-century Britain, were huge.
Britain’s abundance of coal — as well as the ease with which it could be accessed — was a crucial ingredient in this historical turning point, powering the steam engines which helped drive society’s transformation.

But things have changed. The number of operational coal mines there has plunged, and last June, authorities announced Britain would stop using coal to generate electricity from October 2024, a year earlier than the original target of 2025.
Even though most mines in the U.K. have closed, their centuries-old story isn’t necessarily over. In Scotland, work is underway to look at how the water that has flooded old, disused mines can be used to provide decarbonized heating to buildings.    
Conducting this research is a facility known as the Glasgow Geoenergy Observatory, which is run by the British Geological Survey. A dozen boreholes have been drilled, with the majority in Rutherglen, a town southeast of Glasgow.
According to those behind the project, both Glasgow and Rutherglen were home to some of the busiest coal mines in Scotland. After their closure, natural floods filled them with water of about 12 degrees Celsius.

This image shows one of the Glasgow Observatory’s sites in Scotland. A total of 12 boreholes have been drilled as part of the project.

Mike Stephenson, who was until recently executive chief scientist for decarbonization at the British Geological Survey, told CNBC that the project was about “doing research on the heat in coal mines and also, to some extent, whether you can store heat in old coal mines.”

Stephenson said that at the site where the work is taking place, the team was “experimenting with … how fast water flows amongst these mines, how warm the water is, how … fast, if you take warm water out, does the water replenish — so how fast does the warmth come back.””It is a research site, not a demonstration,” he said. Research was being undertaken “to try and understand what are the limits to the amount of heat, how much heat there is.”
“All those things will be a set of scientific findings and equations and models,” he added. He said this would provide valuable information to both companies and local authorities interested in the idea.
“It will help them decide where to do it, how close you drill the holes together, how deep you drill them, how you design them to make it as efficient as possible.”
The project has made progress over the last 12 months or so. In the summer of 2021, it was announced that pumping tests had been completed and samples collected from 10 of the site’s boreholes.
“The latest data show that the boreholes of the Glasgow Observatory are well-connected to the flooded mine workings,” Alan MacDonald, a hydrogeologist with the British Geological Survey, said at the time.

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Mine water between 50 and 90 meters under Glasgow measures between 11 and 13 degrees Celsius, he added. For comparison, the average temperature of Scottish groundwater is 10 degrees, MacDonald said.

Potential uses

According to Britain’s Coal Authority, 25% of the U.K.’s residential properties sit on coalfields. As a source of heating, the potential of underground, flooded mines such as the ones being researched in Glasgow appears to be considerable.
Citing its own calculations, the Coal Authority says the “constantly replenishing water within these mines could potentially be a large enough resource to provide all of the heating requirements for the coalfield areas.” It could also have applications in sectors such as manufacturing and horticulture.
“The water in these mines is a low carbon, sustainable heat source, which under the right conditions can compete with public supply gas prices and deliver carbon savings up to 75% compared to gas heating,” it notes.
A host of governments are attempting to move away from coal, but it still plays a crucial role in many nations. According to the International Energy Agency, coal supplies around a third of worldwide electricity generation.
Last December, the Paris-based organization said coal-fired power generation was due to hit an all-time high in 2021. As for coal production, the IEA said it’s “forecast to reach an all-time high in 2022 and then plateau as demand flattens.”
While it was crucial to the planet’s industrialization and remains an important source of electricity, coal has a substantial effect on the environment.The U.S. Energy Information Administration lists a range of emissions from coal combustion. These include carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides.
Elsewhere, Greenpeace has described coal as “the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy.”

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In the northeast of England, South Tyneside Council has been working on a project aiming to repurpose part of the area’s mining heritage.
According to the council, the £7.7 million ($10.4 million) Hebburn Minewater Project will “draw geothermal energy from abandoned flooded mines in the former Hebburn Colliery.”
The initiative aims to supply heat to several buildings that the council owns by using mine water from the old colliery, which opened in the late 18th century and shut down in 1932.
The project is centered on the drilling of two boreholes. A water source heat pump will extract the mine water’s heat, after which it will be compressed to a far greater temperature. After being funneled to an energy center, a new network of pipes will be used for distribution.
The council is working on the project, which is slated for completion in June 2023, alongside Durham University and the Coal Authority. Last October, it was announced that testing had shown the mine water’s temperature was warmer than initially thought.

New lease of life

Attempts to use the warm waters of flooded mines are not unique to the U.K. In 2008, a facility described by the European Commission as the first mine water power station in the world opened in the Netherlands. A similar project based on using mine water to heat buildings in Asturias, northern Spain, has also been developed.Back in South Tyneside councilor Ernest Gibson, whose brief covers climate change, spoke to CNBC about the industry’s deep-rooted relationship with the area and his hopes for the future.
“The economics of the area declined [as] soon as the coal mines closed,” Gibson, a former miner, said.
He explained how the shutting down of a colliery affected not only the mining industry but also others like the steel and transport industries, as well as smaller operations like local shops and the “ragman,” a term for a person who would buy, collect and sell old items. Gibson went on to tell CNBC that he’s “proud” of the fact old coal mines are being used again.
“The collieries closed but … they were revived in a different format,” he said, later striking a more philosophical tone. “It’s like life — everything changes, nothing stands still. And I think it’s for the best.” More

Inflation in Thailand will largely be “contained” because the price pressures in the country are not as broad-based compared to some developed markets, said the governor of Bank of Thailand.
Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said overall inflation rate will remain within the central bank’s target range of between 1% to 3%.
He said the government was concerned about future Covid variants and that “a lot of our recovery is contingent upon what happens in terms of our tourism recovery.”

Inflation in Thailand will largely be “contained” because the price pressures in the country are not as broad-based compared to some developed markets, said the governor of Bank of Thailand.
Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said overall inflation rate will remain within the central bank’s target range of between 1% and 3%.

Even though inflation for January came in at about 3.2%, “we still think that it’s likely to be contained and that we’re not likely to see the kind of high inflation rates that we’ve seen in developed country markets,” the governor told CNBC’s “Streets Signs Asia” on Monday.
The main reason is that inflation pressures are concentrated largely in areas such as the “energy space and with certain kinds of important food prices, like pork,” he explained.
On Wednesday, the Thai central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5%, and said in a statement the economy will continue to recover and the fast spreading omicron variant “would exert limited pressure on the public health system.”

Igor Bilic | Moment | Getty Images

“In the period ahead, there remained a need to closely monitor developments of global energy prices and domestic goods and services prices, as well as the possibility of growing wage pressures,” the central bank said.

External stability remains resilient

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s expected move to tighten monetary policy would have little impact on Thailand as its external stability remains strong, said Suthiwartnarueput.

“We look quite good. We have very high levels of foreign reserves, low levels of external debt and our current account is pretty much in balance,” the governor noted.

Without a recovery in tourism, it’s very hard for us to see things getting back to normal.

Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput
governor, Bank of Thailand

The Fed has indicated it could soon raise interest rates for the first time in more than three years as part of a broader tightening of easy monetary policy. Major central banks around the world slashed interest rates during the worst of pandemic in a bid to stimulate growth as Covid-19 took a toll, but the Fed has since signaled that it is preparing to raise rates again.
“The kind of stress that comes from the tightening of global financial conditions on that front — I think we have quite a bit of wiggle room relative to other emerging market economies,” he added.
Still, risks remain as the country’s economic recovery remains fragile and uncertain, according to the governor.

Tourism recovery still uncertain

“A lot of our recovery is contingent upon what happens in terms of our tourism recovery,” said Suthiwartnarueput.
He said the government was also concerned about future variants of Covid.
“If a new variant comes out sometime during winter, which is close to the tourism high season, that would be… the kind of risks that we’re concerned,” he added. 
According to the Thai central bank, the number of foreign tourist arrivals in December — particularly those from Europe — accelerated from the previous month, after seasonal adjustment.

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“Nevertheless, the foreign tourist figures remained low as international travel restrictions in many countries remained in place,” it said.
The more substantive impact of tourism is on the country’s wage and employment front, said the governor.
“The employment footprint of tourism sectors that are related, either directly or indirectly, is close to about a fifth of our labor force. So without a recovery in tourism, it’s very hard for us to see things getting back to normal,” Suthiwartnaruepu said.

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The 60-second ad, called “New Generation,” aired during the first quarter of the game without the General Motors brand releasing any previews or teasers ahead of time.
The spot includes many of the same shots as the original introduction, but instead of Tony Soprano, it’s the mob boss’ daughter, Meadow, in a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV.

Chevrolet rebooted and updated the introduction sequence of the HBO show “The Sopranos” for a surprise Super Bowl ad for its new electric Silverado pickup truck.

Chevrolet rebooted and updated the introduction sequence of the HBO show “The Sopranos” for a surprise Super Bowl ad for its new electric Silverado pickup truck.
The 60-second ad, called “New Generation,” aired during the first quarter of the game without the General Motors brand releasing any previews or teasers ahead of time, a practice that has become common place for Super Bowl advertisers.

The commercial includes many of the same shots as the original introduction, but instead of Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, driving a 1999 Chevrolet Suburban SUV, it’s the mob boss’ daughter, Meadow, played by Jamie Lynn Siegler, in a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV.
“It’s a different way of showcasing ‘The Sopranos’ and showcasing Chevrolet, and it felt like the nice thing to do,” Steve Majoros, vice president of Chevrolet marketing, told CNBC. “When you have a truck this important to our business, there’s really no other logical platform to do this.”

The spot features the original theme song of the show, “Woke Up This Morning” by British band Alabama 3. It ends with the reunion of Meadow with her brother, A.J., played by Robert Iler, and actor John Cusack, who does voiceovers for Chevrolet, saying: “The first-ever, all-electric Chevy Silverado. A whole new truck for a whole new generation.”
The ad was directed by David Chase, creator and director of the show, with assistance of Phil Abraham, director of photography for “The Sopranos” original title sequence. The hit show aired on HBO from 1999 to 2007.
Majoros said the company didn’t want to tease the ad because the team “liked the notion of a big statement that can come out of nowhere.”

The last time Chevrolet had an ad presence at the Super Bowl was in 2015. It was another surprise commercial that made it appear a TV blackout had occurred just before the game was about to start. The spot touted the company’s Chevrolet Colorado pickup that featured built in 4G LTE to assist in watching the game in the event of a real power outage.
“The Sopranos” reboot is the second Super Bowl ad for GM this year. The company earlier this week released a 60-second ad ahead of the game starring actor and comedian Mike Myers reclaiming his role as Dr. Evil from the “Austin Powers” spy comedy trilogy.

To see more Super Bowl ads, click here.

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