The Rev. Franklin Graham would be happy to work with the Biden administration on encouraging evangelicals to get COVID vaccines, he told "Axios on HBO."
"I would work with the Biden administration. I would work with the CDC. I would work with all of 'em to try to help save life," he told Axios' Mike Allen.
Why it matters: Evangelicals have expressed high levels of vaccine hesitancy.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky told "Fox News Sunday" that political pressure had nothing to do with the agency's sudden announcement that fully vaccinated Americans can go without masks in most indoor settings.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance for K-12 schools Saturday, noting that reopened schools should "require universal and correct use of masks and physical distancing."
Why it matters: The clarification comes after the CDC's announcement Thursday that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks or physically distance indoors or outdoors.
Of note: On Friday, NIAID director Anthony Fauci said that children younger than 12 probably won't be vaccinated until the end of 2021, and will need to wear masks at school this fall.
The largest nurses union in the U.S. called on the CDC Saturday to reverse guidance issued this week that allows for people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to go maskless while participating in indoor and outdoor activities.
Details: National Nurses United executive director Bonnie Castillo said in a statement the new guidance is "not based on science, does not protect public health, and threatens the lives of patients, nurses, and other frontline workers across the country."
A group of high-profile scientists published a letter calling for renewed investigation into the origins of COVID-19 — including the theory that it spilled out of a virology lab.
Why it matters: The possibility that SARS-CoV-2 was created in a Chinese lab and accidentally escaped — rather than emerging naturally from an animal — was initially dismissed as a conspiracy theory. But the letter shows a potential lab leak is increasingly being taken seriously.
Some retailers across the U.S. will continue requiring masks in stores, despite new coronavirus guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxing mask mandates for fully vaccinated people.
The latest: Starbucks announced that masks will be "optional" for fully vaccinated customers starting May 17 "unless local regulations require them by law." Employees will still be required to wear face coverings and restrooms will remain closed to the public in stores where indoor seating is not available.
Diagnostics that can identify biomarkers of disease in the blood are helping speed drug trials for intractable conditions like Alzheimer's.
Why it matters: Blood biomarker diagnostics can help pharmaceutical companies identify the right patients to enroll in drug trials for difficult-to-diagnose neurological conditions without resorting to more expensive and invasive methods like brain scans or spinal taps.
The Taiwanese government on Saturday raised the coronavirus alert levels for two cities, Taipei and New Taipei City, after authorities reported a surge in new infections.
The state of play: People in the two cities will be required to wear masks outdoors, and indoor and outdoor gatherings will be limited to five and 10 people respectively, per the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control.
NIAID director Anthony Fauci said Friday that children who have not been vaccinated for the coronavirus will need to wear masks in schools this fall, CNN reports.
What they're saying: Fauci said that children in schools need to wear masks "when they're out there playing with their friends and, you know, particularly in an indoor situation."
