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The World Health Organization said over the weekend that the spread of monkeypox has not yet reached the level of public health emergency of international concern. However, the committee will meet again if there is a significant spread to additional countries and higher case rates in the next 21 days. On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced plans to expand access to nearly 300,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine manufactured by Bavarian Nordic, based in Denmark. By the end of the year, the federal government expects 1.6 million doses to be available. “While monkeypox poses a minimal risk to most Americans, we are doing everything we can to offer vaccines to those at high risk of contracting the virus,” the HHS secretary said. , Xavier Becerra, in a statement.
Monkeypox does not spread as easily as Covid-19. It is transmitted mainly through close contact with an infected person or a contaminated animal or object, although it can also spread through the respiratory droplets. The current outbreak, which includes more than 3,200 cases worldwide, has mainly affected populations of men who have sex with men. There are 351 cases in the United States right now with the highest number in California, 80 cases, and in New York, 72 cases, according to the CDC. The federal government currently recommends vaccination for people with confirmed or suspicious exposure to monkeypox as a preventative measure.
15 million people have downloaded pregnancy trackers that can give data to cops without any order: do you have to worry?
Pregnancy trackers with millions of downloads seem to reserve the right to disclose user data to police when they suspect user misbehavior.
AFP via Getty Images
A Forbes analysis of two pregnancy and ovulation trackers, BabyCenter and What To Expect, owned by $ 3.6 billion media conglomerate Ziff Davis, shows that they reserve the right to share data with law enforcement at its discretion. In a section on how applications handle law enforcement requests, there is no explicit requirement for police to have a signed order or subpoena before user data is shared. In fact, the language suggests that if companies suspect a user of illegal behavior, or simply a breach of their terms of service, they will share it with the relevant authorities. Privacy activists want these companies to do more to protect users in a post-Roe U.S. against Wade. Read more here.
Offers of the week
Imaging Hardware: Magnetic Insight, which builds imaging technology that allows doctors to monitor the course of cell therapy treatments, announced it has raised a $ 17 million B-series. The capital infusion will be geared towards expanding the clinical applications of your device.
Big Pharma bets on ReCode: Genetic drug company ReCode therapeutics announced a $ 120 million expansion of its Series B funding, bringing the total value of the round to $ 200 million. Pfizer, Sanofi and Bayer risk companies contributed to the round, in addition to many other risk companies.
Dollars For Diagnostics: Visby Medical, a diagnostic company that has developed a portable PCR test for sexually transmitted infections and Covid-19 with results in less than 30 minutes, announced additional $ 35 million in funding for its E-Series funding led by Lightrock, contributing a total of $ 135 million.
New Biotechnology Fund: ARCH Venture Partners has closed a new nearly $ 3 billion fund to develop and invest in early-stage biotechnology companies. “Science doesn’t care what markets do and science moves forward,” ARCH co-founder Bob Nelsen said in a statement. The company’s twelfth fund arrives a year and a half after the closure of its eleventh $ 1.9 billion fund in January 2021. The fund will address areas such as infectious diseases, mental health, immunology and oncology, among many others.
It should be noted
The Nomad Health healthcare staff market raised $ 105 million in capital and debt financing as it extends beyond travel nursing to other healthcare workers.
Walgreens Boots Alliance no longer plans to sell its UK-based pharmacies following a strategic review of potential buyers amid a volatile financial market.
The Missouri Attorney General says the state’s abortion ban does not apply to emergency contraception after a major health care system stopped providing it, but later reversed the course.
Inequalities currently cost the U.S. health care system about $ 320 billion and could reach $ 1 trillion or more by 2040, according to a Deloitte report.
The Medicare Advantage Alignment Healthcare plan will expand to the Florida and Texas markets in 2023.
Health automation startup Medallion raised a $ 30 million B-series last week as the company seeks to enroll large operators, primarily hospitals and health insurers, for its software.
Coronavirus updates
An FDA advisory committee voted 19-2 yesterday to recommend that the agency switch to new Covid booster injections that specifically target the omicron variant. Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax have published clinical trial data showing that specific omicron traits that also include the original coronavirus targets produced strong antibody responses against the omicron variant. This committee is following a suggestion from the World Health Organization earlier this month that updated vaccines may be needed to boost immune protection. One key question remains: even if there is a specific injection for omicron, how many people will get it in the US? Only about two-thirds of the eligible population have been vaccinated with two doses. Only 33% have been vaccinated with three. Meanwhile, according to the CDC, the number of new cases is now higher than last year, and Covid’s hospitalizations are underway. Covid’s new hospital admissions were approximately 12.9% higher last week than the previous week.
Maternal mortality rates rose during the pandemic, especially among black and Hispanic women, according to the study
Maternal mortality rates increased during the pandemic.
getty
Maternal deaths rose during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially among black and Hispanic women, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, which highlights the large inequalities that worsened during the crisis and the unique health problems that the virus meant to pregnant people. Read more here.
Other news about coronavirus
A new study found that the risk of having a long Covid is higher among women, the elderly, white people, and people with certain pre-existing health conditions.
The Biden administration’s Covid-19 vaccine warrant for federal employees has been blocked in the courts again, at least for now, as a federal appeals court ruled Monday that it will hear the case again. and rejected his earlier decision confirming the requirement.
During the June and Father’s Day holiday weekend, more than 14,000 flights were canceled in the United States. A big reason for that? Absenteeism related to covid.
Through Forbes
Nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide are at risk of flooding, the study warns
Bankman-Fried warns: some crypto exchanges are already “secretly insolvent”
The US economy shrank 1.6% worse than expected last quarter as fears of recession grew
What else are we reading
COVID antibody drugs have saved lives, so why aren’t they more popular? (Nature)
Wheelchair users live outside the home, not just inside. Medicare policies must recognize that (STAT)
Grid overdose deaths increase as drug crisis escalates (Kaiser Health News)