The Steep Cost of Ron DeSantis’ Vaccine Turnabout On a Saturday in September 2020, with COVID-19 killing more than 600 Americans daily and hundreds of thousands of deaths still to come, Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, heard her cellphone ring. It was Dr. Scott Rivkees, the Florida surgeon general. He was distraught. “‘You won’t believe what happened,’” she said he told her. Months before COVID vaccines would become available, Gov. Ron DeSantis had decided that the worst was over for Florida, he said. DeSant Yahoo News

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Ready for another 'tripledemic'? CDC prepares for a winter of '3 bugs out there' Vaccine fatigue is already here, although many Americans will be urged to get three different shots this fall. NBC News

Even as the nation is faced with blistering heat waves this summer, Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is already thinking ahead to cold and flu season this winter.

New US pandemic office set to launch Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter{beacon} Health Care Health Care  The Big Story  White House launching permanent pandemic officeThe White House has tapped retired Air Force M… vroseborough The Hill

The White House has tapped retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Paul Friedrichs to lead a newly created office to manage and respond to future pandemics.

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Early US indicators show ongoing slight rise in COVID-19 activity CIDRAP

Though the nation's COVID-19 activity is still at very low levels, for the second week in a row early indicators such as emergency department (ED) visits and test-positivity rates show small rises, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data updates.

Also today, the CDC updated its Omicron variant projections, showing more rises in newer versions such as EG.5 and XBB.1.16.6. And in another US development, the Biden administration today announced its pick to lead the new White House pandemic preparedness and response office.

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Europe recommends the approval of Pfizer's RSV vaccine for older adults and in pregnancy European regulators on Friday recommended the approval of Pfizer’s RSV vaccine both for older adults and for use in pregnancy. Andrew Joseph STAT

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Tornado damage to Pfizer plant will probably create long-term shortages of some drugs hospitals need U.S. hospital drug supplies may be strained further after a tornado ripped open the roof of a Pfizer factory this week. AP News

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COVID pandemic is officially over in the U.S., excess-deaths data show The COVID-19 pandemic is definitively over, according to two recent reports focused on the same metric. Ciara Linnane MarketWatch

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Biden administration suspends funding to Wuhan lab The Biden administration is suspending all federal funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), the Chinese lab at the center of a controversy over the origins of the coronavirus, according to… nweixel The Hill

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The memo from an HHS official said the facility has repeatedly refused to provide documents and answer questions from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) about safety and security. HHS also told the lab it’s seeking to cut off funding permanently.

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WHO urges governments to set up surveillance for people at risk from heatwaves The World Health Organization on Wednesday urged governments and local authorities to set up a strong surveillance system for people who are most at risk of severe symptoms from a heatwave that is baking the northern hemisphere. Reuters Reuters

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Study shows bivalent COVID-19 booster outperforms monovalent version CIDRAP

A new Italian study finds that estimated relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) was 49.3% for the bivalent (two-strain) booster and 26.9% for the monovalent (single-strain) booster, with protection lasting at least 4 months for the bivalent booster and waning fast for the monovalent version. The study appears in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

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