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The World Health Organization said over the weekend that the spread of monkeypox has not yet risen to the level of a public health emergency of international importance. However, the commission will meet again if there is a significant spread in additional countries and a higher percentage of cases over the next 21 days. On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced plans to expand access to nearly 300,000 doses of the monkey measles vaccine, produced by Denmark-based Bavarian Nordic. By the end of the year, the federal government expects 1.6 million doses to be available. “While smallpox poses a minimal risk to most Americans, we are doing our best to offer vaccines to those at high risk of contracting the virus,” HHS Secretary Xavier Bessera said in a statement.
Monkeypox does not spread as easily as Covid-19. It is mainly transmitted through close contact with an infected person or animal or contaminated objects, although it can also be spread through 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 currently 351 cases in the United States with the highest number in California, 80 cases, and New York, 72 cases, according to the CDC. The federal government currently recommends vaccination for people with confirmed or suspected exposure to monkeypox as a preventative measure.
15 million people have downloaded pregnancy tracking programs that can give cops data without a warrant – do you have to worry?
Millions of downloads of pregnancy monitors appear to reserve the right to disclose user data to the police when they suspect that the user has committed an illegal act.
AFP via Getty Images
An analysis by Forbes of two $ 3.6 billion pregnancy and ovulation tracking tools, BabyCenter and What To Expect, owned by media conglomerate Ziff Davis, shows that they reserve the right to share data with law enforcement at their discretion. In the section on how the applications handle law enforcement requests, there is no explicit requirement for the police to have a signed warrant or subpoena before the user data is shared. In fact, the language implies that if companies suspect a consumer of illegal behavior or simply a breach of their terms of service, they will share it with the relevant authorities. Privacy activists want such companies to do more to protect consumers in post-Rowe against Wade. Read more here.
Deals of the week
Imaging hardware: Magnetic Insight, which is building imaging technology that allows doctors to monitor the progress of cell therapy, has announced that it has raised $ 17 million in Series B. The capital infusion will be aimed at expanding the clinical applications of its device.
Big Pharma relies on ReCode: Genetic drug company ReCode therapeutics has announced a $ 120 million B-series extension, bringing the total value of the round to $ 200 million. The venture branches of Pfizer, Sanofi and Bayer have contributed to the circle in addition to many other venture companies.
Diagnostic Dollars: 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, has announced additional funding of $ 35 million for its Lightrock-led Series E funding. , totaling up to $ 135 million.
New Biotechnology Fund: ARCH Venture Partners has closed a new fund of nearly $ 3 billion to develop and invest in biotechnology companies at an early stage. “Science doesn’t care what the markets do, and science is moving forward,” ARCH co-founder Bob Nelson said in a statement. The company’s twelfth fund comes a year and a half after its eleventh $ 1.9 billion fund was closed in January 2021. The fund will cover areas including infectious diseases, mental health, immunology and oncology, among many others.
It deserves attention
The healthcare personnel market Nomad Health has raised $ 105 million in equity and debt financing as it expands beyond nursing into travel to other healthcare professionals.
The Walgreens Boots Alliance no longer plans to sell its UK-based pharmacies after a strategic review of potential buyers amid a volatile financial market.
The Missouri Attorney General says the US ban on abortion does not apply to emergency contraception after a major health care system stopped providing it, but later reversed course.
The injustice currently costs the US health care system approximately $ 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.
Healthcare automation startup Medallion raised $ 30 million in Series B last week as the company seeks to attract large companies, mainly hospitals and health insurers, for its software.
Coronavirus updates
An FDA advisory committee voted 19-2 yesterday to recommend that the agency move to new Covid booster injections that specifically target the omicron variant. Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax have published data from clinical trials showing that omicron-specific images, which also include targets for the original coronavirus, elicit strong antibodies against the omicron variant. This committee follows a suggestion from the World Health Organization earlier this month that updated vaccines may be needed to boost immune defenses. One key question remains: even if there is a specific picture for omicron, how many people in the US will get it? Only about two-thirds of the eligible population has been vaccinated with two doses. Only about 33% have been vaccinated with three. Meanwhile, according to the CDC, the number of new cases is now higher than last year, and hospitalizations with Covid are recovering. New hospitalizations with Covid were about 12.9% higher last week than the previous week.
Maternal mortality rates rose during the pandemic – especially among blacks and Spanish women, the study found.
Maternal mortality rates increased during the pandemic.
getty
Maternal deaths rose during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially among blacks and Spanish women, according to a study published in the JAMA Network Open on Tuesday, highlighting huge inequalities that worsened during the crisis and the unique health problems the virus created for pregnant women. Read more here.
Other news about coronavirus
The risk of long-term Covid is higher among women, the elderly, white people and people with certain pre-existing conditions, a new study has found.
The Biden administration’s mandate for a vaccine against Covid-19 for federal officials has been blocked again in court – at least for now – as a federal appeals court ruled on Monday that it would reconsider the case and reject its previous decision, which upheld the demand.
Over 14,000 flights in the United States were canceled during the holiday weekend of June 16 and Father’s Day. Big reason for that? Covid-related absence from work.
Through Forbes
Nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide are at risk of flooding, the study warns
Bankman-Fried warns: Some crypto exchanges are now “Secretly insolvent”
The US economy contracted 1.6% worse than expected in the last quarter, as fears of recession are growing
What else are we reading
Anti-COVID drugs have saved lives – so why aren’t they more popular? (nature)
People in wheelchairs live outside the home, not just inside. Medicare policies must recognize this (STAT)
Overdose deaths behind bars increase with drug crisis (Kaiser Health News)
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