A number of top executives and corporate leaders gathered online this weekend to discuss what to do in response to changes to some state voting laws, according to multiple news reports.

White House aides said Biden’s first priority is ensuring that Americans are vaccinated before considering distributing doses elsewhere. AdRussia has sent millions of doses of its Sputnik V vaccine to countries around the world, even as it vaccinates its own population. Israel, which has vaccinated more than half of its population with Pfizer vaccines produced in Europe, has also attempted to use vaccine diplomacy to reward allies. Biden's purchasing strategy has come under criticism from nongovernmental organizations who have encouraged the White House to develop clear plans and thresholds for sharing vaccine with the world. So we’re not going to be ultimately safe until the world is safe,” acknowledged Biden.

White House aides said Biden’s first priority is ensuring that Americans are vaccinated before considering distributing doses elsewhere. AdRussia has sent millions of doses of its Sputnik V vaccine to countries around the world, even as it vaccinates its own population. Israel, which has vaccinated more than half of its population with Pfizer vaccines produced in Europe, has also attempted to use vaccine diplomacy to reward allies. Biden's purchasing strategy has come under criticism from nongovernmental organizations who have encouraged the White House to develop clear plans and thresholds for sharing vaccine with the world. So we’re not going to be ultimately safe until the world is safe,” acknowledged Biden.

Biden will sign the bill into law on Friday, but the White House didn’t wait, turning the bill signing into a three-day event. Biden on Wednesday announced that his administration is aiming to secure an additional 100 million doses of the single-shot vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson. He appeared at an event with executives from Johnson & Johnson and Merck, rival companies both producing doses of the new vaccine. The Obama White House secured its passage, but then the Democratic Party took a big hit in the midterm elections. “You’ve got to create an echo chamber and amplify it,” said Adrienne Elrod, a Democratic strategist close to the White House.

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)KENILWORTH – Longtime Merck executive Ken Frazier, whose leadership helped bring the drugmaker one of the most lucrative medicines in history and who is one of the few remaining Black CEOs of a major corporation, is retiring. Frazier, Merck’s CEO since early 2011 and an advocate for minority advancement who took on then-President Trump’s tacit support of white supremacists, will retire on June 30. He is one of the few Black CEOs at the head of a Fortune 500 company. At Merck, Frazier clashed with then-President Donald Trump over his refusal to condemn violence by the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Share prices have more than doubled, and revenue has nearly doubled, under Frazier as CEO.

Unlike many rivals developing vaccines that will require two doses, Merck is aiming for one-dose vaccines. The company bought Austrian vaccine maker Themis Biosciences this year to gain rights to its experimental COVID-19 vaccine. Human testing on a second type of vaccine, being developed with an international nonprofit vaccine consortium, is expected to begin this year. In addition, Merck and partner Ridgeback Bio are developing a coronavirus treatment that was well tolerated by patients in early studies. Thats up from its April forecast of between $46.1 billion and $48.1 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $5.17 to $5.37.