The biggest messaging appin the world teamed up with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention beginning this week to increase vaccination rates among U.S. Latinos.
Details: Latinos use WhatsApp more than any other demographic group in the U.S., and remain the second-least vaccinated group, after Black Americans, per CDC data.
The first cruise ship to leave a U.S. port since the start of the pandemic will set sail out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Saturday evening with nearly all vaccinated passengers aboard, AP reports.
The big picture: Celebrity Edge,operated by Celebrity Cruises, has a 40% passenger capacity and 99% of passengers on board are vaccinated against COVID-19, surpassing the 95% requirement set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, per AP.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Saturday resigned following outcry over photos showing him breaking the country's coronavirus regulations by kissing one of his aides.
Driving the news: The tabloid newspaper, The Sun, published images and video of Hancock kissing Gina Coladangelo, a senior aide. The newspaper said the photos were from May 6, two weeks before cross-household contact was allowed indoors in England.
Many elder LGBTQ Americans, already disproportionately isolated before the pandemic, faced greater loneliness in quarantine as they lost access to resources and community, two older LGBTQ Americans told Axios.
Why it matters: Data is lacking on how LGBTQ Americans have been affected by the coronavirus — especially older populations, who battle a myriad of complications as a high-risk and under-resourced group.
Australian authorities announced a two-week lockdown in the city of Sydney and surrounding areas as the Delta coronavirus variant continues to rapidly spread.
Why it matters: This is the first full lockdown for Sydney since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. It takes effect from Saturday at 6 p.m. local time until at least midnight on Friday, July 9.
Johnson & Johnson reached a $230 million settlement with the state of New York for its role in the opioid crisis, state Attorney General Letitia James announced Saturday.
The state of play: The company will also be required to stop manufacturing or selling opioids in New York. The agreement "acknowledges Johnson & Johnson’s exit from the opioid business nationally."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there were 4% fewer U.S. births in 2020 than in 2019, an acceleration of a long, slow decline. The report keeps getting picked up in the news, in part because conventional wisdom has generally been that it’s important for generations to replenish themselves.
Axios Re:Cap digs into this report, how we think about birth rates and the economy, and whether a country can sustain its economy without sustaining its birth rate with Axios business reporter Hope King and with report coauthor and CDC statistician and demographer Brady Hamilton.
Nearly all COVID-19 deaths in the United States are now among those who are unvaccinated, the Associated Press reports.
Why it matters: A recent AP analysis using government data from May found that "breakthrough" infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for only 0.1%, or 1,200 of more than 853,000 hospitalizations in the country.
Mental health care provider LifeStance Health has traded publicly for two weeks, and its stock has soared 57%from its $18 IPO price, giving the company a $10.6 billion valuation.
Why it matters: LifeStance's business rests on the idea that future demand for mental health services will continue to grow in the wake of the pandemic.
Prescription drugs — which represent just 10% of national health spending — have remained a persistent issue on Capitol Hill for a reason.
The big picture: The 10% number doesn’t tell the full story. Retail drug spending represents 18% of health benefit costs for large employers, even after taking rebates from drug manufacturers into account.
A little more than a year after federal funding became available for gun injury research, scientists and advocates say they've seen flood of interest. The recipients of this new federal funding say their research will be critical start to understanding gun violence and injuries in the U.S.
Why it matters: Gun violence is the least researched of the 30 leading causes of death, largely because Congress had banned such research. But $25 million was made available last year.
