Covid is still keeping hospitals backed up, even as new admissions stay low Covid patients aren't directly overwhelming hospitals right now, but ripple effects of the pandemic are keeping beds full and patients away from the care they need. Deidre McPhillips, CNN CNN

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COVID vaccines saved 20M lives in 1st year, scientists say Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday. AP NEWS

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The researchers used data from 185 countries to estimate that vaccines prevented 4.2 million COVID-19 deaths in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France and 507,000 in the United Kingdom.

U.S. CDC advisers back Moderna COVID vaccine for teens, older children Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday unanimously voted to recommend use of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine for children and adolescents aged 6 to 17. Manas Mishra Reuters

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NH officials release initial list of places offering COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 New Hampshire children as young as six months old can soon get a COVID-19 vaccine. Here's how. KC Downey WMUR

CONCORD, N.H. —

New Hampshire children as young as six months old can soon get a COVID-19 vaccine.

DHHS officials said close to 10,000 doses of the vaccines have already been delivered and more will be arriving to the state on a weekly basis.

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South Africa repeals COVID rules as fifth wave fades South Africa has repealed COVID-19 rules that made masks mandatory in indoor public spaces, limited the size of gatherings and imposed entry requirements at its borders, the health minister said on Thursday. Alexander Winning,Anait Miridzhanian Reuters

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US boosts monkeypox testing, 142 cases confirmed WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has started shipping monkeypox tests to commercial laboratories, in a bid to speed diagnoses for suspected infections for the virus that has already infected at least 142 people in the U.S. AP NEWS

WASHINGTON (AP) —  ...

New coronavirus subvariants escape antibodies from vaccination and prior Omicron infection, studies suggest | CNN Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 appear to escape antibody responses among both people who had previous Covid-19 infection and those who have been fully vaccinated and boosted, according to new data from researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, of Harvard Medical School. Jacqueline Howard CNN

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COVID cases rise in Southeast Asia, Middle East and Europe LONDON (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases rose in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe last week, while the number of deaths globally dropped by 16%, according to the World Health Organization's latest weekly pandemic report issued Wednesday. AP NEWS

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1 in 5 U.S. Adults Who Got COVID-19 Now Have Long COVID, Data Find More than 7% of U.S. adults have Long COVID Time

About 7.5% of U.S. adults—roughly 20 million people—are currently living with Long COVID symptoms, according to new federal data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

MEETING AMERICA’S
PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGE
Recommendations for Building a National Public Health
System That Addresses Ongoing and Future Health Crises,

“We Have to Get Out of This Phase”: Ashish Jha on the Future of the Pandemic President Biden’s COVID czar talks about his public-health philosophy, his Twitter threads, his unlikely path to the White House, and where we go from here. Dhruv Khullar The New Yorker

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