© Charlie Riedel, APA woman walks past signage for Super Bowl 55 as she enters the NFL Experience in Tampa.
What to know ahead of Super Bowl LV: Chiefs vs. Buccaneers
It's a Super "Streaming" Bowl Sunday like no other. The Kansas City Chiefs will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before 22,000 masked fans, many of them vaccinated health care workers, in Tampa Bay on Sunday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. The game features a high-profile quarterback showdown between two of the biggest names in the sport. Tom Brady, a 21-year veteran with more Super Bowl rings than any player in NFL history, is seeking an unprecedented seventh championship as he takes the field against Patrick Mahomes, a 25-year-old who has taken the league by storm by winning an MVP and a Super Bowl in his first two seasons as a full-time starter. Public health officials across the nation are bracing for a possible surge in COVID-19 cases if Americans fail to take heed of warnings not to gather for Super Bowl parties.
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Pfizer to cut COVID-19 vaccine production time by close to 50%
Pfizer expects to cut the amount of time it takes to produce a COVID-19 vaccine nearly in half, from 110 days to an average of 60 as it makes the process more efficient and production is built out. For example, making the DNA that starts the vaccine process first took 16 days. Soon it will take nine or 10. Though quality control and testing has accelerated, company officials say FDA regulations and best manufacturing practices are still being met. And as the nation revs up its vaccination programs, the increase could help relieve bottlenecks caused by vaccine shortages
In addition: California is adding mass inoculation sites even as the shortage of COVID-19 vaccine has local officials restricting who gets shots, with Los Angeles County saying it will limit new vaccinations to ensure second doses are available to those already in line for them. And in Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds lifted the state's limited mask requirement on Sunday, along with the social distance and other limitations she had in place for businesses and social gatherings.
Real quick
President Biden won't lift sanctions on Iran to get new nuke deal
President Joe Biden had a simple response when asked whether his administration would lift sanctions on Iran to bring the country back to the negotiating table: "No." Biden, during an interview with "CBS Evening News" anchor Nora O'Donnell, elaborated that Iran would need to stop enriching nuclear fissile material. However, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday said the U.S. would need to lift sanctions before Iran meets its commitments. In 2015, the Obama administration had negotiated a deal in which major European nations would lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country limiting its nuclear program. But in 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal that he'd said was too lenient.
Winter storm sweeps (again) across the snow-weary East Coast
A winter storm rolled up the snow-weary East Coast on Sunday, threatening to pound some areas with a foot of snow just a week after a powerful Nor'easter blitzed parts of the region. However, AccuWeather meteorologists said the emerging weather pattern did not appear to threaten a repeat of the blockbuster storm that shattered snowfall records last week. About 50 million people were under a winter storm watch or warning. New York City, still recovering from almost two feet of snow, was forecast to see 4 to 8 inches before the snow ends on Sunday night. The storm comes as a blast of Arctic air from Canada began sweeping the season's coldest air yet across the Plains.
© ANGELA WEISS, AFP via Getty ImagesA woman holds an umbrella in Times Square during a winter storm on Feb. 1, 2021 in New York City.
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This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network. Contributing: The Associated Press.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Here's the biggest news you missed this weekend