CBS News -
September 13, 2021
The ability to quickly check whether one is infected with COVID-19 is about to get easier and less expensive, with Amazon, Kroger and Walmart each set to offer within days at-home, rapid tests — with no retailer price markups, according to the Biden administration. "Americans will be able to buy these tests at their local retailers or online for up to 35% less starting by the end of this week" and continuing for the next three months, the White House stated Thursday.
AP -
September 13, 2021
More than 65,000 fans packed a stadium in Tampa to watch Tom Brady lead the Buccaneers to a win in the NFL’s season opener, just hours after President Joe Biden announced a sweeping new plan to slow the latest COVID-19 surge. Most people at the open-air stadium Thursday night didn’t wear masks. There was no vaccine requirement for fans, something Biden has urged sports and entertainment venues to impose. Many other football stadiums are taking a similarly lax approach to pandemic measures this fall, and that worries health experts.
AP -
September 10, 2021
In his most forceful pandemic actions and words, President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered sweeping new federal vaccine requirements for as many as 100 million Americans in an all-out effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant. Speaking at the White House, Biden sharply criticized the tens of millions of Americans who are not yet vaccinated, despite months of availability and incentives. “We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us,” he said, all but biting off his words.
CNBC -
September 10, 2021
The U.S. is the largest donor of Covid-19 vaccines globally — way ahead of other major economies such as China, Japan and the U.K., according to public data compiled by UNICEF. … The U.S. has donated and delivered more than 114 million doses of Covid vaccines, more than three times the 34 million that China has donated…
CNBC -
September 10, 2021
Moderna shares rose Thursday after it announced it’s developing a two-in-one vaccine booster shot that protects against both Covid-19 and the seasonal flu. The new vaccine, which the company is calling mRNA-1073, combines Moderna’s current Covid vaccine with a flu shot that’s also under development, according to a press release.
AP -
September 10, 2021
The LA BOE voted Thursday to require students 12 and older to be vaccinated against the coronavirus to attend in-person classes in the nation’s second-largest school district. The move makes Los Angeles by far the largest of a very small number of districts with a vaccine requirement. … students 12 and up who participate in sports and other extracurricular activities need to get their two-shot sequence completed by the end of October. Others have until Dec. 19.
NPR -
September 10, 2021
Amazon is under pressure from Democrats in Congress over how its algorithms promote hoax COVID-19 cures, including the livestock dewormer ivermectin, as well as anti-vaccination claims and other medical misinformation. Rep. Adam Schiff of California and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent letters this week to CEO Andy Jassy pressing for information on Amazon's misinformation policies and what the company is doing to stop its systems from recommending books and other products linked to falsehoods about the pandemic and vaccines.
VOX -
September 10, 2021
[Over] the summer … countries in Western Europe and Scandinavia caught up with, then surpassed, the US in their vaccination campaigns. Portugal is currently setting the pace in Europe, with nearly 80 percent of its people fully vaccinated. Spain and Belgium have reached over 70 percent of their populations. France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway are all above 60 percent.
Reuters -
September 9, 2021
In a speech, Biden will focus on six areas, including new plans to get more people vaccinated, enhancing protection for those who already have had shots and keeping schools open, according to a White House official. The speech would also cover increasing testing and mask-wearing, protecting an economic recovery from the pandemic-induced recession and improving healthcare for people infected with the disease, the official said.
CNN -
September 9, 2021
As of August 30, the CDC has received reports of 12,908 severe breakthrough cases of Covid-19 among fully vaccinated people that resulted in hospitalization or death. For the more than 173 million people who were fully vaccinated by that date, that represents a less than a 1 in 13,000 chance of experiencing a severe breakthrough case of Covid-19. About 70% of breakthrough cases resulting in hospitalization were among adults 65 and older and about 87% of breakthrough cases resulting in death were among adults 65 and older…
AP -
September 9, 2021
Rich countries with large supplies of coronavirus vaccines should refrain from offering booster shots through the end of the year and make the doses available for poorer countries, the head of the WHO said Wednesday, doubling down on an earlier appeal for a “moratorium” on boosters that has largely been ignored.
TODAY -
September 9, 2021
Vaccine developer Novavax said on Wednesday it has initiated an early-stage study to test its combined flu and COVID-19 vaccine. The trial, to be conducted in Australia, will enroll 640 healthy adults between the ages of 50 and 70 years and who have either been previously infected with the coronavirus or given an authorized COVID-19 vaccine at least eight weeks prior to the study.
CBS News -
September 9, 2021
With millions of Americans still opting against getting vaccinated against COVID-19, retailers, companies and local governments are offering incentives including free beer, donuts and even cash to encourage them get their shots. … Yet while some vaccine holdouts may be swayed by free cash or other offers, such programs have not been shown to boost vaccination rates, new research from the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) at UPenn shows.
Gallup -
September 9, 2021
The percentage of U.S. workers saying their employer is requiring its employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has doubled in the past month. Nineteen percent of U.S. employees now say their employer has such a policy in order for them to return to the workplace, compared with 9% in the prior survey from July, and 6% or less before that. Fifty-five percent of employees, down from 62% in July, say their employer is encouraging but not requiring vaccinations, while 26% say their employer has not done either.
Kaiser Health News -
September 9, 2021
No major denomination opposes vaccination. … And if a person claims their privately held religious beliefs forbid vaccination, that defense is unlikely to hold up in court if challenged, legal experts say. Although individual clergy members have mounted the anti-vaccine bandwagon, they have no obvious justification in religious texts for their positions. Many seem willing to cater to people who reject vaccination for another reason.
AP -
September 8, 2021
Health experts and medical groups are pushing to stamp out the growing use of a decades-old parasite drug to treat COVID-19, warning that it can cause harmful side effects and that there’s little evidence it helps. With a fourth wave of infections, more Americans are turning to ivermectin, a cheap drug used to kill worms and other parasites in humans and animals.