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A "frustrated" President Joe Biden outlined a sweeping plan to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Meg Tirrell has the story. I have details on the Biden administration's plan to lower drug prices – it looks familiar. Also, the TSA says it is doubling fines for travelers who won't follow a federal mask mandate.
| | Biden unveils sweeping new plan to fight Covid | It includes stricter vaccine mandates for federal workers and health-care facilities, a broad vaccine or test requirement for employers, better access to rapid tests and a focus on testing in schools, and more reliance on monoclonal antibody drugs. The new push comes as cases and deaths appear to have started to decline, but are still at levels last seen in February, before vaccines were widely available – and as BioNTech's CEO warned "there are around 60 days left for us as a society to avoid a hard winter." A new CNBC/Change Research poll, though, suggests people who aren't vaccinated have dug their heels in; 83% say they have no plans to get the shot. Brown University's Dr Ashish Jha told Shep Smith that, faced with the prospect of having to find a new job, the unvaccinated may change their tune.
-Meg Tirrell | | | | Biden administration releases plan to lower drug prices | Aside from a new plan to tackle Covid, the Biden administration also unveiled this week its plan to lower prescription drug prices — and a lot of it we've seen before. The administration said it will support legislation to allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices, incentivize generic drugmakers and allow the importation of drugs from Canada. The plan "is largely consistent with proposals already seen and widely discussed in previously proposed Congressional legislation," J.P. Morgan analyst Chris Schott said in a note to clients. "Biden administration's ability to enact direct drug price reform remains limited in our view."
-Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | | | | TSA to double minimum fines for travelers who refuse to wear masks | The TSA on Thursday said it is doubling fines for travelers who won't follow a federal mask mandate for air, bus and other forms of transportation. Minimum fines will double, starting at $500, and go up to $3,000 for repeat offenders. Disputes over following the federal mask rules on planes were cited in nearly 75% of the close to 4,200 cases of unruly passengers the FAA received this year. "If you break the rules, be prepared to pay," President Biden said Thursday.
-Leslie Josephs, Rich Mendez | | | | WHO criticizes wealthy nations for hoarding Covid treatments and vaccines | The WHO condemned wealthy nations for stockpiling coronavirus vaccines, treatments and protective equipment, adding Tuesday that their failure to fairly distribute those resources is fueling Covid outbreaks worldwide. The agency has been vocal about global inequities in Covid vaccinations since the immunization rollout began last winter, ramping up its calls for fairer distribution of inoculations in low-income countries as several developed nations have already immunized a majority of their populations and recently started administering booster doses. The organization previously asked wealthy nations on Aug. 4 to stop distributing Covid boosters for at least two months, requesting they reroute their surpluses to poorer countries in hopes of vaccinating 10% of the population of every country by the end of September.
-Bob Towey | | | | Amsterdam's coffeeshops, hit by Covid, fear a clampdown on tourists | Amsterdam has long been a draw for millions of tourists from Europe and beyond, with many attracted to the city for its canals, architecture and museums and, of course, its plentiful cannabis-laden coffeeshops and unabashed sex industry. But Europe's so-called "city of sin" has not been the same since the Covid pandemic struck, with tourism numbers sharply lower than previous years when the Netherlands' capital could expect millions of visitors per year.
-Holly Ellyatt | |
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