Raphael Stevens

Justice LeagueWarner Bros. PicturesThe hotly anticipated four-hour-long director’s cut of “Justice League” arrived Thursday on HBO Max.Assembled from hours of unused footage and cut together with newly filmed scenes, the Snyder Cut is an anomaly in the entertainment industry. Driven by a yearslong fan-driven social media campaign, Zack Snyder got a second chance at crafting his version of “Justice League.”WarnerMedia, which is owned by AT&T, saw the fervent crusade for Snyder’s official cut of the movie as a way to appease ardent fans and pad its streaming service HBO Max with exclusive content.However, the risk is “Justice League” may not pay back the dividends that WarnerMedia needs it to. The film sets up sequels that DC fans may never get to see, meaning even if it does succeed in drawing in subscribers for the month of March, there’s no promise of new DC-related content on the horizon for the streaming service to keep those new sign-ups around.Initial estimates pegged the price tag for Snyder’s second take at $20 million to $30 million because many of the computer-generated images were not finished. However, more recent estimates suggest WarnerMedia could have shelled out $70 million or more on the project as Snyder brought back several actors to shoot new material. It’s unclear if that figure includes spending on marketing.WarnerMedia declined to comment on the project’s financial terms.The cost could be justified if WarnerMedia uses the film to gain subscribers and encourages enough current subscribers to stick with the service, said media and streaming analyst Dan Rayburn.What may help is that HBO Max has several high-profile releases coming to its platform in March and early April. On March 31, “Godzilla vs. Kong” arrives on the service and, on April 16, “Mortal Kombat” will be released. Each will spend about a month on HBO Max before heading to video on demand for a rental fee. This strategy of have a consistent steady stream of new content can help in retaining subscribers.And then there are the fans. While Snyder and DC Films President Walter Hamada have both said this updated “Justice League” will not spawn spinoffs or automatically set up a sequel, the film allows Warner Bros. to regain some good will.Fan service”I definitely think fans are going to be pleased,” said Erik Davis, managing editor of Fandango.Davis, who was able to view the new “Justice League” ahead of its launch on HBO Max, said the Snyder Cut is a “much better version of the film.”The Snyder Cut basically erases co-writer and co-director Joss Whedon from the film. Whedon had been brought onboard after executives balked at Snyder’s initial cut of the film and took over when Snyder left the project after the death of his daughter.Whedon slimmed down Snyder’s 214-minute version and imbued it with moments of levity, something Warner Bros. wanted in order to mimic the comedy style that was successful in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.Because Whedon’s version altered so much of Snyder’s work, fans have clamored to see the director’s cut of “Justice League,” believing it to be the purest version of the film. In May 2020, WarnerMedia granted them that wish and invested in bringing Snyder back to finish it.Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot star in “Justice League.”Source: Warner Bros.While fans will be pleased to finally have Snyder’s cut, there’s a major fault in Warner Bros.’ plans with releasing this movie.When Snyder was developing “Justice League” more than five years ago, the DC Extended Universe was expected to continue expanding with this cast in the same way that the MCU had unfolded. Solo movies would build together into team-up films. Ben Affleck was supposed to have his own stand-alone feature and Snyder was already talking about a sequel to “Justice League.”However, that plan is completely different in 2021. All of the cameos and setups in Snyder’s cut of the film will likely never be seen by DC fans.Affleck may be attached to the upcoming “Flash” film, but it’s uncertain if he will the don the cowl in any DC project after that. Not to mention, Warner Bros. has already gone ahead with a new Batman film starring Robert Pattinson, one that doesn’t connect to any of the previous movies released by the studio.As for Superman, Henry Cavill is still attached to the role, but it’s not clear when or where his version of the character will appear next.The studio does have plans for a Superman reboot from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and with J.J. Abrams signed on as a producer. It’s unclear who will be cast as the Kryptonian or when that film will find its ways to theaters.And Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg, has a frayed relationship with the studio. The actor accused Whedon of on-set harassment and an investigation was conducted. Fisher also had harsh things to say about DC’s head, Hamada, who he claimed helped enable Whedon’s actions.As such, Fisher has said he will not participate in any film associated with Hamada. So, Warner Bros. would need to recast the role if they wanted to bring Cyborg back into the fold for a team-up flick.Warner Bros.’ decision to fund and release this new “Justice League” may appease fans, but it does nothing to further the cinematic universe of the franchise.Disney, which owns Marvel, has used its streaming service Disney+ to expand on its theatrical releases. Shows like “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and “Loki” all tie directly to the MCU and must be watched in order to understand all of the nuance of upcoming feature films.The Snyder Cut doesn’t do that. It is exists in a vacuum.Bolstering HBO MaxAs for the hope that fans will flock to HBO Max to see the film, boosting subscriber numbers, what matters is the longevity of their interest.”Is it good business? Maybe.” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com. “As a one-off release, the film may boost HBO Max subscriptions momentarily, but streamers are strongest with episodic and weekly content that keeps casual consumers coming back for binge after binge.”Robbins noted that “Justice League” is a niche film, in that its viewership demographics skew young and male. So, while it will likely lure in fans of DC, it may not do much to move the needle on subscription sign-ups across the board, unless they are drawn to other HBO Max content.Ray Fisher stars as Cyborg in “Justice League.”Source: Warner Bros.”‘Justice League’ alone may not be the answer to the company’s future needs, especially since the DC brand has already started moving in other directions creatively, but it may succeed as a symbolic valentine to fans,” Robbins said.AT&T seems to be feeling confident about HBO Max. The company boosted its subscriber projections last week to a range of between 120 million and 150 million for HBO Max and HBO by the end of 2025.In October 2019, the company set a goal of hitting 50 million U.S. subscribers by 2025, a relatively low bar considering premium cable channel HBO already had around 33 million subscribers ahead of the streaming service’s launch.Still, there does seem to be a bit of a missed opportunity in releasing “Justice League” before HBO Max expands globally. The platform is set to be released in around 60 markets outside the U.S. this year and will launch a lower-cost version with advertising in June. “Justice League” garnered the majority of its $658 million in ticket sales internationally. It only tallied $230 million at the U.S. box office.WarnerMedia could have easily used “Justice League” as a lure for international launches. Instead, it’s likely that the film, which will stream in high-definition state-side, will be a choice target for international digital pirates.Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes. More

The search for untapped potential in this market is on as stocks hit new all-time highs.The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 notched fresh closing records on Wednesday following the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged as U.S. economic growth accelerates.But with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield near levels not seen since January 2020, high-growth sectors such as technology and health care are still struggling, the two biggest losers in the past month while energy and industrials take the lead.UBS analysts released a note Tuesday upgrading tech and downgrading communications services and health care, citing tech’s recent underperformance.”For the first time in a long time, this is a stock picker’s market.”Quint Tatrochief investment officer, Joule FinancialSome investors may want to take advantage of tech’s decline, Delano Saporu, CEO and lead advisor at New Street Advisors Group, told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Wednesday.If yields continue to rise despite the Fed’s relatively dovish stance, tech stocks will face “near-term pressure as the market tries to figure out what’s next,” Saporu said. “Long term, I think it will.”His top picks in the group were Microsoft and Apple, the two largest weightings in the S&P tech sector.”Long term, we’ll be in a good position,” he said. “So, if you’re a long-term investor, this is an opportunity to kind of get in at lower valuations and I think long term, we’ll see the tech plays rise higher.”Saporu was also watching stocks that could see “tail winds from pent-up demand” — he flagged airline plays Delta and United Airlines in an earlier email to CNBC — and the video game and virtual reality industries.”I want to see … what happens with maybe cryptocurrency plays” and nonfungible tokens, the digital collectibles commonly known as NFTs, as video game and virtual reality companies look to fold them into their strategies, Saporu said.This market environment has become a particularly good one for stock pickers, Joule Financial’s chief investment officer, Quint Tatro, said in the same “Trading Nation” interview.”For the first time in a long time, this is a stock picker’s market,” he said, adding that while Big Tech could remain under pressure as rates rise, “there’s unbelievable opportunity to pinpoint other sectors and stocks.””We would actually be sellers of Apple and Microsoft,” Tatro said. “Those … we view still as stay-at-home plays, and we would be a buyer of specifically Facebook, but also Google as sort of a reopening play and a play on advertising as small businesses look to really regenerate that growth and really stock those storefronts.”Though often lumped in with tech, Facebook and Google parent Alphabet are the two biggest weighting in the S&P communications services sector.Tatro also had his eye on a less conspicuous trade.”I really think that investors need to look into a little-known sector that we’ve really lost sight of until recently, and that’s the materials,” he said.Materials stocks are up about 6% over the past month and just over 8% year to date.”Specifically, I think the industrial metals are very, very interesting here,” Tatro said. “We really like some of the steel plays: Commercial Metals, CMC, as well as Reliance Steel. These are names that have exceptional upside earnings here in the coming years, especially with … the sort of reflation and global growth story back on track, and they have exceptional balance sheets and they’re selling at real value.”Disclosure: New Street Advisors Group, Joule Financial, Delano Saporu and Quint Tatro own shares of Apple and Microsoft. Joule Financial and Quint Tatro own shares of Alphabet, Facebook, Commercial Metals and Reliance Steel.Disclaimer More

US President Joe Biden speaks on the anniversary of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on March 11, 2021.Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty ImagesWith the latest coronavirus relief package behind him, President Joe Biden may turn to another legislative priority this year: taxes.Resetting how much Americans contribute to Uncle Sam could be high on the Democratic president’s list of priorities for this year.Biden promised throughout his campaign that he would limit any tax hikes to people with incomes above $400,000.”The President remains committed to his pledge from the campaign that nobody making under $400,000 a year will have their taxes increased,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said this week.More from Personal Finance:IRS postpones April 15 U.S. tax deadline to May 17 Don’t file amended tax return to get unemployment tax break, IRS saysStimulus checks and expanded tax credits: How much money you could getBiden’s tax plan will focus on ensuring that corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share, she said. However, a formal package has not been released.New taxes on the wealthy could help pay for infrastructure and other priorities, said Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. But whether Biden can stick to that $400,000 campaign promise remains to be seen.”He did draw a pretty clear line during the campaign,” Akabas said. “I expect, at least in his initial proposal, he’ll stick to that.”How tax changes could impact individualsBiden’s plan is expected to call for an increase in corporate taxes, while individuals at higher income levels can also expect to pay more.His plan has called for raising the top tax rate to 39.6%, from 37%, for those who earn more than $400,000.He also wants to cap itemized deductions at 28% for people earning above that same threshold.Brian Gardner, chief Washington policy strategist at Stifel, recently ranked both changes as having a “high” chance of going through.One less probable change this year, according to Gardner, would be Biden’s proposal to apply payroll taxes to those earning more than $400,000 in order to help shore up Social Security.Workers pay this tax on up to $142,800 of their wages in 2021. The change would create what’s called a donut hole, whereby wages between $142,800 and $400,000 would not be taxed. That gap would eventually close as the Social Security payroll tax goes up each year.In order to make that change, there would have to be a larger Social Security discussion, “which I doubt we’re going to have this year,” Akabas said.Certain other taxes aimed at the wealthy also rank high on the list of probabilities, according to Gardner.That includes taxing capital gains as ordinary income — with a top rate of 39.6% — for those earning more than $1 million per year.Raising the estate tax rate to 45% is also a strong possibility.Other twists that could appear in negotiationsSamuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesMany of Biden’s tax changes are designed to reverse some of the changes included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed under former President Donald Trump in 2017.One of the more divisive items in that package was limiting the federal deduction on state and local taxes (known as SALT) to $10,000 per year.However, restoring the full SALT deduction will probably be a low priority, Gardner predicts. One reason for that is that it would be seen as a tax break for the wealthy.One workaround would be to add tax credits that would benefit lower income taxpayers and couple it with additional taxes for high income people. If that’s the case, then it’s “definitely possible” such a change could get included, Akabas said.To be sure, what makes the final proposal will depend on the method by which Biden and Congress choose to move a bill along.The tax policy changes could be paired with prospective infrastructure legislation that is also high on Biden’s agenda this year. If that’s the case, new tax rules could be used to help to pay for that initiative, Akabas said.But if a tax reform package is done separately, that could make room for other changes like extending the enhanced child tax credit or earned income credit that were temporarily put in place under the American Rescue Plan, he said.”It’s a little unclear yet which of these routes they’re going to be going down,” Akabas said.As Biden’s proposal is formalized, experts say whether or not he can keep to his commitment of not raising taxes for anyone earning under $400,000 will be under scrutiny.One move Biden could make to help those under that income threshold would be to extend the tax cuts put in place by Trump, according to Gardner. Those are scheduled to expire after 2025. Extending those tax cuts has a moderate probability of happening, he predicts, but could help make other changes in the tax package more politically palatable.Much will also depend on how the pieces of the legislation fit together.”If there’s a negotiation, it might leave some additional room for taxes that go up on perhaps a slightly broader portion of the population than just either corporations or the top 2%,” Akabas said. More

Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesBP said Thursday it was working on plans for a major facility which could generate as much as 1 gigawatt of “blue hydrogen” by 2030.  So-called blue hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced using natural gas, with the CO2 emissions generated during the process captured and stored.The proposed development, described by BP as the United Kingdom’s “largest hydrogen project,” would be based in Teesside, north-east England.According to the oil and gas giant, the H2Teesside development would be able to “capture and send for storage” as much as two million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. The U.K. government wants to have 5 GW of low-carbon hydrogen capacity by 2030.Described by the International Energy Agency as a “versatile energy carrier,” hydrogen has a diverse range of applications. BP said the hydrogen produced by H2Teesside could, among other things, provide energy to residential homes and industry or “be used as a fuel for heavy transport.”A final investment decision on the development will be taken in 2024. If all goes to plan, 500 megawatts of capacity could be in production by 2027 or earlier, BP said. Capacity refers to the maximum amount a facility can produce.”Blue hydrogen, integrated with carbon capture and storage, can provide the scale and reliability needed by industrial processes,” Dev Sanyal, who is BP’s executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy, said in a statement.”It can also play an essential role in decarbonising hard-to-electrify industries and driving down the cost of the energy transition,” he added.Hydrogen can be produced in a number of ways. Another method includes using electrolysis, with an electric current splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen. If the electricity used in the process comes from a renewable source such as wind or solar, some term it “green” or “renewable” hydrogen.In recent years, a number of large industrial firms have announced plans to integrate green hydrogen into their operations. In addition, major economies such as the European Union have laid out plans to install at least 40 gigawatts of renewable hydrogen electrolyzers by 2030.Earlier this week, the incoming CEO of German utility RWE stressed the important role hydrogen could play in the decarbonization of energy intensive industries.Speaking to CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche, Markus Krebber — who is currently RWE’s chief financial officer — described hydrogen as “definitely one of our long-term growth areas.””What makes us so optimistic is that, currently, hydrogen is the only technical solution to decarbonize parts of … energy intensive industry, aviation, maritime, but also heavy-duty transportation,” Krebber said, adding that his company was “very well placed to play a very relevant role.” More

The new collection — labeled as adidas x Peloton SS21 — was designed with help from some of Peloton’s top cycling instructors, including Robin Arzón, Ally Love and Cody Rigsby.Source: PelotonPeloton and Adidas announced Thursday they’re working together to create a new line of athletic apparel and lifestyle gear, in inclusive sizes and unisex styles.The collection was designed with help from some of Peloton’s top cycling instructors, including Robin Arzon, Ally Love and Cody Rigsby.The merchandise, which includes shorts, hoodies, tees, crewnecks, sports bras and jogger pants, retails anywhere between $30 and $85. Sizes for the clothes go up to 2X, and unisex options are available. Beginning March 25, they’ll be for sale on both companies’ websites and in select Adidas and Peloton retail stores. The companies say it’s the start of an ongoing collaboration, with more to come.”During a time where we are not able to be physically together, we have an incredible opportunity to help grow connected communities and continue to support people as they build their new fitness journeys at home,” said Aimee Arana, general manager of global training at Adidas, in a statement.Beginning March 25, the new line will be on sale on Adidas’ website, Peloton’s website, and in select Adidas and Peloton retail stores.Source: PelotonAdidas is the latest clothing company to join Peloton’s roster of brand partners. In addition to manufacturing its own pieces, Peloton sells apparel and accessories made by Lululemon and Nike, and more niche players like Beyond Yoga and Spiritual Gangster, on its website.Its apparel business is helmed by Jill Foley, the wife of Peloton founder and CEO John Foley. It has never been a strong revenue driver, but is seen as a way for the company to entice new sign-ups for its app-based membership via referral codes that offer clothing discounts. In the past, Peloton has noted that apparel sales are often offset by those referral discounts and other annual markdowns.Peloton doesn’t break out its apparel sales. Instead, they’re folded into its connected fitness product division.By working with partners like Adidas, Peloton stirs up more interest in its brand and gives its subscribers access to exclusive content. Peloton said it will be holding a series of on-demand classes beginning Thursday that are in celebration of the Adidas launch, as well as a special live class on March 25.Other at-home fitness equipment manufacturers have taken a similar approach. The athleisure brand Fabletics, for example, has a partnership with rowing machine Hydrow. It designs and produces all Hydrow apparel, and Hydrow’s trainers exclusively wear Fabletics during workouts. SoulCycle, the New York City-based fitness company owned by Equinox, also collaborates with Lululemon and Nike on limited, SoulCycle-branded gear.Peloton shares are up more than 320% over the past 12 months, but have fallen almost 30% year to date, following a huge run-up for much of 2020. The company has a market cap of more than $30 billion. More

Deputy charge nurse Katie McIntosh administers the first of two Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine jabs, to Vivien McKay Clinical Nurse Manager at the Western General Hospital, on the first day of the largest immunisation programme in the British history, in Edinburgh, Scotland Britain December 8, 2020.Andrew Milligan | ReutersLONDON — The U.K. government is facing questions over whether the country is about to face a shortage in the supply of coronavirus vaccines, a factor that could dent its so-far successful immunization program.”We have less supply than we might have hoped for the coming weeks but we expect it to increase again later,” Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick told the BBC on Thursday.”The vaccine rollout will be slightly slower than we might have hoped but not slower than the target,” he said. “We have every reason to believe that supply will increase in the months of May, June and July.”Later, Jenrick told Sky News that the government is “sourcing vaccines from all over the world and we are experiencing occasionally some issues and that’s led to this, this issue with some supply in the coming weeks.”Jenrick’s comments come amid a flurry of reports in the British media that the U.K.’s rollout could be about to hit some turbulence. It’s been widely reported that a delivery of millions of doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot being produced by the Serum Institute of India could be held up by four weeks.Jenrick refused to comment on specific contracts, however. CNBC has contacted the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, for comment on the reports but is yet to receive a reply.Ten million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine were expected to come from the SII, Reuters reported in early March. In all, the U.K. has ordered 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, with the bulk of the supply coming from within the U.K.However, Britain is also facing possible disruptions to supply if the EU goes through with a proposal to withhold exports of vaccines made in the bloc while its own program lags. Supplies of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that the U.K. is also using in its vaccination program come from Belgium.Since it began its rollout started in December, Britain’s health service has overseen the vaccination of over 25 million people with a first dose of the vaccine. Over 1.7 million people have now had a second dose of the two-shot vaccines currently being used in the U.K., government data shows.’Still on track’The National Health Service had reportedly already warned of a reduction in supply for England “in April in a letter to local health organizations,” according to the BBC.But the government has said that it is still on track to offer all over-50s a first dose of the vaccine by April 15, and all U.K. adults a first shot by the end of July.”The vaccination programme will continue in the coming weeks and more people will continue to receive first and second doses,” a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday night. “As has been the case since the programme began, the number of vaccinations carried out over time will vary due to supply.”It’s not the first hurdle to hit the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine itself. The shot’s use in a handful of European countries is currently paused due to concerns over a possible link to reports of blood clots.The World Health Organization has said that there is currently no link between the vaccine and such cases, however, and has recommended that the vaccine continues to be used. The European Medicines Agency’s safety committee is meeting Thursday to discuss vaccine data.The vaccine has also come under fire over its clinical trial methodology and some European countries questioned the efficacy of the shot in the over-65s, although real-world data has since proven the vaccine is highly effective at reducing severe Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths in adults. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant has also experienced a well-publicized dispute with the EU over the delivery of supplies to the bloc.Public confidence in AstraZeneca’s vaccine is also likely to have been damaged now due to the suspension. Although several countries have said they are ready to quickly resume using it if the EMA confirms it is safe to use.’Major problem’Global health experts have long-warned that vaccines, their supplies and distribution, would be an area ripe for discord between countries and regions.Dr. Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, told CNBC Thursday that the public health body knew from the start of the pandemic that vaccine distribution would be a “major problem.””In previous outbreaks, that is exactly what has happened. Some groups and countries have had good access (to vaccines) and have even had excessive access, while a lot of countries were left with nothing. We saw this during the flu pandemic of 2009,” she told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.””We’re really encouraging manufacturers to make arrangements to enable more manufacturing around the world to really increase supply,” she said.The U.K.’s vaccination program has been its saving grace following the pandemic that hit the country hard. The U.K. has counted the fifth-highest number of cases in the world, with over 4.2 million infections reported, and has recorded over 126,000 deaths to date, according to Johns Hopkins University. More

Medical officer prepares the administrations for mass Covid-19 vaccination program for health workers in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on February 4 2021.NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty ImagesIndonesia will resume its use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as soon as regulators give the go ahead that it’s safe, the country’s health minister said.Southeast Asia’s largest economy halted the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine — co-developed with the University of Oxford — after more than a dozen countries in Europe suspended the vaccine due to blood clot concerns that affected recipients.Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said Indonesia is still awaiting confirmation on the safety of AstraZeneca’s vaccine from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).”If EMA .. and WHO (were to) deliver a positive recommendation. Yes, I can confirm we will continue with the vaccination of AstraZeneca vaccine,” said Sadikin, who spoke to CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” as part of the Asian Development Bank’s virtual Southeast Asia Development Symposium.The WHO said Wednesday “the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh its risks and recommends that vaccinations continue.”EMA is expected to release findings on its investigations on Thursday. The EU regulator had earlier indicated that there was no direct link the events were caused by the vaccination. Indonesia’s vaccine planIndonesia is the worst affected Southeast Asian nation, reporting more than 1.43 million Covid-19 cases and over 38,900 deaths so far, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.Through Covax, the global alliance aiming to deliver coronavirus vaccines to the world’s poorest countries, Indonesia received 1.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, Reuters reported saying it’s set to receive another 10 million doses in the coming months.Despite the current delay in the administration of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Sadikin remained optimistic Indonesia can deliver on its goal to inoculate 181.5 million people in the country by the end of the year.”That means we need to accelerate the vaccine program to 1.3 to 1.5 million jabs per day,” he said, adding the country is working very hard with all vaccine producers to push the delivery schedule forward by December.Indonesia also authorized one of the world’s first private vaccination programs last month to run alongside its national drive, enabling firms to buy state-procured vaccines for their employees.It expects to receive 20.2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines developed by Moderna and China’s Sinopharm from the second-quarter to use in the scheme.Using the private sector is one of the ways the country can accelerate the production of vaccines, said Sadikin, adding that it will help ensure people from poor backgrounds also have access to the vaccines through their companies.”It will be different as a free vaccine for employees and their families and (in) many companies their employees are not rich.” More