What Prompted Boosters; Pandemic of Misinformation; Gov. Abbott Tests Positive

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What’s prompting talk of booster shots: new data on vaccine effectiveness against severe disease in Israel over time, NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, said. Troubling CDC data also may play a role. (CNBC, Politico)

As of Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. EDT, the unofficial COVID-19 toll was 37,020,551 cases and 623,329 deaths, increases of 129,528 and 892, respectively, versus this time a day ago.

“We have two pandemics. We have a pandemic of a Delta virus that’s ravaging our community. And we have a pandemic of misinformation,” said a critical care physician at Baton Rouge General as the hospital swelled with coronavirus patients. (CBS News)

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s (D) decision to deploy hundreds of National Guard soldiers to 20 Oregon hospitals during the COVID-19 surge prompted talk of conspiracy theories — again. (The Oregonian)

Fully vaccinated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who sought to ban mask mandates in schools and cities, tested positive for COVID-19 and will receive Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment. (Fox News)

The health services department of Texas — a state seeing a surge in COVID hospitalizations — requested five mortuary trailers. (CNN)

As COVID cases climb in Florida, some vaccine skeptics have changed their minds. (NPR)

The Florida public school district that includes Tampa has 8,400 students and 307 staff members either in isolation because of a positive test or in quarantine. (Washington Post)

More than 100 lawmakers sent a letter to the FDA seeking a timeline on COVID vaccines for kids under 12. (The Hill)

Some racial and ethnic differences in health status and health care access improved from 1999 to 2018, but many persisted. (JAMA)

Twitter is testing a new feature that lets users flag tweets with misleading data, including COVID-specific misinformation. (PCMag)

Pfizer pulled four more lots of varenicline (Chantix) due to impurities in the drug above the approved daily limit, bringing its recall total to 16 batches.

The Biden administration announced a $19 million investment to strengthen telehealth services for rural and underserved communities and to improve telehealth quality nationwide.

Purdue Pharma’s owners are threatening to back out of a $4.5 billion settlement deal without broad legal immunity to stave off future lawsuits. (New York Times)

Preliminary data in some states suggest breakthrough infections may be rising. (New York Times)

TSA will extend the public transportation mask mandate through January 2022. (Reuters)

What’s safe during this COVID spike and what’s not? STAT asked 28 epidemiologists, immunologists, and other infectious disease experts to find out.

About half of pediatric opioid prescriptions in 2019 were high-risk, pharmacy data showed. (Pediatrics)

Roche warned of a global tocilizumab (Actemra) shortage if COVID cases continue to climb.

Professors at some state universities are using protests, petitions, and resignations to urge tighter COVID protection measures on campus. (New York Times)

Airborne exposure deposited SARS-CoV-2 deep into lungs and transmitted the virus more efficiently than fomite exposure in a hamster model. (Nature Communications)

New Zealand, which went into nationwide lockdown over one confirmed case on Tuesday, now has six more positive COVID cases. (CNN)