COVID-19 Update

Hoping this is a freak anomaly:

over a million new cases,

and more than 4,500 new deaths

yesterday

WaPo:(freebie)

Unvaccinated seniors nearly 50 times more likely to be hospitalized than boosted peers

Unvaccinated adults age 65 or older who contracted the coronavirus were 49 times more likely to require hospitalization than seniors who had received booster vaccine doses, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Unimmunized adults in that age group were also 17 times more likely to be admitted to a hospital than those who had received either two shots of an mRNA vaccine or one Johnson & Johnson dose. Meanwhile, unvaccinated people between 50 and 64 years old were 44 times more likely to need hospitalization compared with their boosted counterparts.

The CDC figures on boosters, drawn from between October and December 2021, provide a real-world snapshot of the efficacy of commonly used vaccines in the United States. The European drug regulator also said Friday it was becoming “increasingly clear that a booster dose is needed to extend vaccine protection,” particularly against the omicron variant.

Here’s what to know

• A federal judge in Texas has blocked yet another of the Biden administration’s vaccine requirements, as the political war over covid-19 prevention measures shows no sign of abating.
• Vaccine boosters provide robust protection against severe disease from the omicron variant in the United States, according to three reports released Friday.
• Getting vaccinated has no impact on fertility, according to a new peer-reviewed study, which also found that contracting the coronavirus may led to a temporary decrease in male fertility.