FDA eyes second COVID booster: https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-eyes-second-covid-19-booster-shot-11645282800 . What the hell are we doing? First boosters were authorized last August. Studies show protection from that booster wanes after 4 months. We are now more than 5 months out from when the first boosters were administered. And those boosted earliest were the most vulnerable (older and immunocompromised Americans). Shouldn’t the second booster receive emergency authorization NOW, at least for the vulnerable?
WSJ: States delay health care worker vaccination mandate: https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-joins-states-delaying-booster-mandate-for-healthcare-workers-11645275600 . Apparently no one remembers Typhoid Mary. We now face nurse superspreaders.
The genetic basis of stuttering: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-science-health-lifestyle-biology-a4bc06462b5fa4c61f6b97565b686051 .
WSJ: Compensation for vaccine deaths: https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccines-were-deadly-in-rare-cases-governments-are-now-weighing-compensation-11645266603 .
Why self-diagnosis is not a great idea: https://www.today.com/parents/moms/placenta-percreta-placenta-accreta-spectrum-high-risk-pregnancy-rcna16666 . Feared long COVID turns out to be a high-risk pregnancy.
Weekly jobless claims spike: https://www.audacy.com/krld/news/national/jobless-claims-suddenly-spike-after-weeks-of-decline .
New push to examine solvency of Social Security and Medicare funds: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/social-security-two-key-senators-want-solvency-of-the-trust-funds-frontburner-again-210543052.html . Few issues of national importance are more frustrating to employee benefits actuaries than this self-created problem. We have known for 50 years that the Baby Boomers would cause a problem for these programs as the Boomers moved from contributors to recipients. Needed fixes were small in 1970 but massive now.
We know that removing the cap on income taxed for these programs addresses the majority of the problem, and that very little else will have a large enough impact to maintain solvency. We also know that allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices would slash the cost of drugs. Everyone except the drug companies favors that. Personally, I’d like to see a bill that included the “slam dunk” required changes (even if it only solved 70% of the problem) NOW, and let the proposed study group work on the remaining 30%.
NATO’s Ukraine problem: https://news.yahoo.com/why-ukraines-hope-of-nato-membership-drives-conflict-with-russia-024207209.html . Sigh. OBVIOUSLY, Ukraine cannot join NATO when it does not have control of its own borders. Russia’s seizure of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine created this result. Putin has also learned that creating refugees destabilizes Europe (e.g., Syria). So there is no known scenario where Russia retreats from eastern Ukraine. So the risk of invasion remains high.
Ukraine’s Russia problem: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/zelensky-rips-the-west-for-inaction-as-shelling-makes-russia-ukraine-war-seem-increasingly-imminent/ar-AAU4UGL?ocid=hponeservicefeed .
Will OJ’s Trump Social launch Monday?: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-social-media-platform-truth-social-is-set-to-be-released-on-presidents-day/ar-AAU5ekf . American democracy has no need for yet another misinformation outlet.
WSJ: California’s Brown Rush: https://www.wsj.com/articles/californias-green-energy-subsidies-spur-a-gold-rush-in-cow-manure-11645279200 . Will this reverse the fortunes of the West Coast dairy industry? Could the Green Bay cheeseheads become billionaires? Will the Journal continue to say that entrepreneurs are “smelling a business opportunity”? Stay tuned.