TUNNEL VISION. AstraZeneca is trying to take the focus off vaccines. Though the $130 billion group has created one of the world’s leading Covid-19 jabs, questionable efficacy for over-55s and supply chain snafus in Europe have created headaches for Chief Executive Pascal Soriot. On Thursday, he emphasised the success of the core business, where new drug sales are outstripping older medication, and forecast revenue will increase by a low-teens percentage in 2021, excluding the vaccine rollout. Starting in the first quarter, AstraZeneca will strip vaccine sales from its core business, reflecting its decision to sell the jabs at cost for the duration of the pandemic. This should help reassure investors who have pushed the shares down 11% since last September, when the company was forced to halt a vaccine trial. AstraZeneca still trades on 20 times forward earnings, well above peers like GlaxoSmithKline. Soriot won’t want the vaccine to infect his premium rating. (By Aimee Donnellan)