Delta ‘Raised the Bar’ for Vaccines; Idaho Expands Rationing; Packing on the Pounds

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Moderna President Stephen Hoge, MD, said the fast-spreading Delta variant has “raised the bar on how good vaccines have to be” by exposing weaknesses in the current products. (CNBC)

In Idaho, a state with one of the lowest COVID vaccination rates, health officials announced a statewide health resource crisis that will allow facilities to ration care and triage patients. (NBC News)

The FDA extended the emergency use authorization for the antibody duo of bamlanivimab and etesevimab to include post-exposure prophylaxis against COVID infection, Lilly announced.

As of Friday at 8 a.m. EDT, the unofficial COVID-19 toll in the U.S. was 41,788,322 cases and 670,032 deaths, increases of 249,217 and 3,405, respectively, since this time a day ago.

King County, Washington, which includes Seattle, announced vaccination and COVID testing requirements for a wide range of indoor businesses as well as outdoor activities with expected crowds of 500 or more.

A federal judge ordered the government to stop using a Trump-era public health order as an expedient way to expel migrants with children apprehended at the U.S. border. (AP)

Pfizer issued a nationwide recall of all lots of its popular smoking-cessation drug varenicline (Chantix), amid concern about unacceptable levels of a cancer-causing chemical. (FiercePharma)

A 9-year-old Scottish boy almost died after swallowing magnets in response to a challenge on the social media site TikTok. (Newsweek)

The White House offered to let rapper Nicki Minaj speak with a Biden administration physician to answer her questions about COVID vaccine safety, after the singer claimed that a friend of a relative developed swollen testicles and became impotent after getting vaccinated. (CBS News)

Italy implemented a mandatory COVID-19 health pass for all public and private workers. (Wall Street Journal)

England will consider a proposal to ease restrictions on international travel, just in time for the holiday season. (Reuters)

The number of states with obesity rates of at least 35% almost doubled from nine in 2018 to 16 last year. (The Hill)

France’s health minister said 3,000 healthcare workers have been suspended without pay for not getting vaccinated against COVID-19. (NPR)

About 90% of United Airlines’ U.S.-based employees have been vaccinated against COVID-19, as the company’s September 27 deadline approaches. (Reuters)

An 8-year-old Minnesota girl hospitalized since March for acute disseminated encephalomyelitis likely developed the condition as a rare complication of COVID-19 infection. (NBC News)

Guinea officials declared an end to a Marburg virus outbreak, 6 weeks after the nation’s first-ever case of the deadly illness. (Reuters)

Ignoring the time she needed stitches and an appeal from her doctor, a 101-year-old Maine woman has no plans to give up her job as a lobster fisher, working with her 78-year-old son. (AP News)

Protagonist Therapeutics announced the FDA placed a clinical hold on a trial of rusfertide, an investigational treatment for polycythemia vera, after preclinical studies showed evidence of tumorigenicity in some animals.