FDA extends J&J vaccine expiration date: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-coronavirus-vaccine-science-coronavirus-pandemic-business-6d04574617b35c56e7ca2c711cc5585f . The vaccination cliff has clearly arrived. It is surprising that only 11 million of J&J’s one-and-done vaccine have been administered. Emergent’s contamination of 15 million doses has turned out to be a big problem for J&J.
Heart inflammation in young men receiving mRNA vaccines: https://news.yahoo.com/cdc-heart-inflammation-cases-ages-140826238.html . The article provides no data details, and as such it is hard to know what the data says. The symptom is apparently rare. We need to know sample size and actual number of cases to evaluate the statistical significance of this finding.
G7 vaccine pledges: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/11/what-are-g7-countries-pledging-on-vaccine . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-covid-19-vaccine-donation-to-boost-developing-worlds-pandemic-fight-11623336131 .
Houston hospital suspends without pay 178 employees who refused vaccination: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/houston-hospital-suspends-178-employees-who-refused-covid-19-vaccine-n1270261 . Religious and medical exemptions were allowed. These (likely former) employees will have plenty of free time to watch Fox News and wait for the return of Orange Julius.
WSJ: OSHA issues COVID workplace rules for healthcare facilities: https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-covid-19-workplace-rules-issued-for-healthcare-facilities-11623350481 .
FDA experts are pissed off at the FDA for approving Alzheimer’s drug: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/a-third-member-of-a-prestigious-fda-panel-has-resigned-over-the-approval-of-a-controversial-new-alzheimers-drug/ar-AAKVbmV?li=BBnb7Kz . Me too, actually. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/third-member-of-fda-advisory-panel-resigns-over-approval-of-alzheimer-drug-11623370557 .
First US cruise since 2020 is fully vaccinated, but two passengers test positive for COVID: https://abcnews.go.com/US/passengers-test-positive-covid-19-1st-north-american/story?id=78210113 . Swell. Please do genomic testing on these cases and tell us if a variant is involved.
China finds new coronaviruses in bats: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/10/health/bats-coronavirus-china-genome/index.html . Wonderful. Let’s just perfect the booster technology, okay? And the Chinese need to stop wildlife markets, especially any involving bats.
China may begin vaccinating children: https://apnews.com/article/china-business-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-health-71eb38fd949e394145dbf901d96ec603 . I hope they do adequate trials before taking this step.
90% of African countries to miss September vaccination goal: https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-africa/who-says-9-in-10-african-countries-to-miss-covid-19-vaccination-goal-idUSL5N2NS3BT . The US donation of 500 million doses to 92 lower income countries has been updated to include the 55 members of the African Union (there is significant overlap between the two groups).
Routine childhood vaccinations lag significantly: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health/drop-in-childhood-vaccinations-during-pandemic-may-raise-risk-of-other-outbreaks-when-schools-reopen-cdc-says/ar-AAKUHIJ?li=BBnb7Kz . The CDC should be publicizing the need to catch these up before school opens in the fall. Some of the drops cited in the article are 60% or more among children ages 2 to 8.
US, UK to sign new Atlantic Charter: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/09/biden-and-johnson-new-atlantic-charter-covering-tech-trade-travel.html . The 1941 original was signed by Roosevelt and Churchill the year before Biden was born. It described the two nations’ goals for the post-war world, a vision that was largely realized.
India audit raises Bihar COVID death toll: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-06-10/coronavirus-death-toll-in-india-surges-after-audit-in-state-of-bihar . Bihar has about 100 million people, which is about 7% of India’s total population. This substantial adjustment will raise concerns that India’s rural COVID deaths are massively undercounted. Bihar is in northeastern India, bordering Nepal and Bangladesh.
WSJ: Weekly jobless claims drop by 9,000 to 376,000: https://www.wsj.com/articles/weekly-jobless-claims-coronavirus-06-10-2021-11623266638 .
WSJ: Analysis of recent price increases: https://www.wsj.com/articles/which-higher-prices-are-here-to-stay-11623356013 .
Is there an infrastructure deal?: https://news.yahoo.com/bipartisan-senate-group-reaches-tentative-215605215.html . No, there’s not. Other reporting is that the “no tax” portion is driven by fees, which violates Biden’s promise to not raise taxes on those making less than $400,000 annually. Even if all Democrats favored the package (which is not the case), you’d need 10 Republican votes. There are 5 Republicans on the committee, but no other Republican votes for this approach have been identified. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/bipartisan-group-of-senators-reaches-agreement-on-infrastructure-proposal-11623360255 .
McConnell on autopilot: Bipartisanship is over: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/557690-the-era-of-bipartisanship-is-over-senate-hits-rough-patch . Uh-huh. This follows McConnell’s statement last month that he was “100% focused on stopping the Biden administration”: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/mcconnell-says-he-s-100-percent-focused-stopping-biden-s-n1266443 . The Senate has always been broken, but McConnell has spent years snapping it in two.
Oregon GOP House minority joins Democrats to toss GOP representative who let mob into the Oregon Capitol: https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-donald-trump-oregon-health-coronavirus-pandemic-42cd6af8d19e4a9191d7f5a325f9b9ba . The vote was unanimous except for the legislator who got tossed. Our mess happened December 21 – that is, in advance of January 6 – during a special session on COVID matters: https://www.opb.org/article/2020/12/21/oregon-legislature-special-session-protests/ .
The Republican adherence to Orange Julius thwarts their strategy of moving away from January 6: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/09/politics/barbara-comstock-republicans-trump-january-6/index.html .
Who will collapse OJ’s house of cards?: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mueller-prosecutor-says-manhattan-da-may-have-insider-in-trump-criminal-case/ar-AAKSUpi?li=BBnb7Kz . Weisselberg, the CFO, is the gold standard witness. This press on the controller is a message to Weisselberg that if he does not flip, he’s going down hard.
Texas governor to build border wall and arrest migrants: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/10/politics/texas-border-wall-greg-abbott-arrest-migrants/index.html . Insanity reigns in Texas.
Missouri governor signs law declaring federal gun legislation invalid in Missouri: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gov-parson-will-sign-second-amendment-bill-declaring-federal-gun-laws-invalid-in-missouri/ar-AAKVgo8?li=BBnb7Kz . Good grief. Even young schoolchildren know the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause makes federal law supreme. Insanity apparently also reigns in Missouri.
Is inflation back?: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/may-2021-consumer-price-index-shows-fastest-inflation-since-2008/ar-AAKTHku?li=BBnb7Kz . In the short term, yes. But this appears to be driven by the stresses of re-opening the economy. The strongest evidence for long-term inflation is the economic dislocation we are currently experiencing. As mentioned yesterday, my view is that the labor market is currently underpriced. However, I also expect significant productivity improvements as we come out of the pandemic, remote work settles in and automation accelerates. Deutsche Bank has a different view: https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-africa/who-says-9-in-10-african-countries-to-miss-covid-19-vaccination-goal-idUSL5N2NS3BT . Of course, Deutsche Bank has made many poor decisions, including being the lender of last resort for Orange Julius.
Ousted Tennessee governor linked to contract killing of federal witness: https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-business-e7d6d7d1dadfd8dc55a3f52824d12f30 . This is a phenomenal news story. More: https://www.al.com/news/2021/06/former-tennessee-gov-ray-blantons-administration-helped-pay-for-jimmy-hoffa-allys-1979-murder-for-hire.html .
Pandemic unemployment fraud: https://www.axios.com/pandemic-unemployment-fraud-benefits-stolen-a937ad9d-0973-4aad-814f-4ca47b72f67f.html . The 50% loss ratio for recent unemployment benefits is quite an alarming estimate. Congress should investigate if this is credible.