Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has signed a bill into law that imposes criminal penalties on doctors who don't give medical care in the rare case of a baby born alive after an abortion attempt.
Why it matters: Despite being vaccinated himself, Trump has sometimes given mixed signals to his supporters on whether they should take the shot. Trump-supporting communities, meanwhile, have seen markedly lower vaccination rates.
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized an antiviral pill developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to treat some adults at high risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19, despite concerns over its effectiveness and safety.
Why it matters: Effective at-home antiviral drugs designed to prevent or treat COVID-19 could be key pandemic-fighting tools, especially as new variants emerge.
Thomas H. Lee Partners is joining Linden Capital Partners as an equal investor in orthodontics chain Smile Doctors, at a $2.4 billion valuation, sources tell Axios.
Look ahead: Linden next year plans to run a secondaries process that would move Smile Brands into a continuation fund, one of the sources said, providing it with more time and capital to manage, and ride, Smile Doctors' growth.
U.S. coronavirus cases rose by 27% over the last two weeks as the Omicron variant quickly became dominant, although the rise was unevenly distributed around the country.
Why it matters: The spike in cases in cities like New York and D.C. are likely a preview of what will soon hit other parts of the country.
Unvaccinated Americans' already low trust in the federal government plummeted over the course of 2021, exacerbating the challenges in getting the pandemic under control, according to a year's worth of data from the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index.
Why it matters: The implications extend beyond shots and boosters. Unvaccinated Americans in our surveys were far less likely to limit their social interactions or to wear masks outside the home, which correlated significantly with their reported rates of COVID-19 infection.
NIAID director Anthony Fauci warned Wednesday that large gatherings this holiday season are unsafe even for fully vaccinated people who've had a COVID-19 booster shot, as the Omicron variant surges across the U.S.
What he's saying: "There are many of these parties that have 30, 40, 50 people in which you do not know the vaccination status of individuals," Fauci said at a briefing. "Those are the kind of functions in the context of Omicron that you do not want to go to."
Driving the news: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the lawsuit in October, arguing that the mandate represented a "radical intrusion on the personal autonomy" of U.S. workers.
Driving the news: Clyburn, 81, said in a statement that he is asymptomatic and has been quarantining since Sunday. He is fully vaccinated and got his booster shot in September.
The lightning-quick spread of the Omicron variant has finally made clear the value of cheap and accessible rapid at-home COVID tests.
Why it matters: Omicron moves fast, and rapid tests that can prove infectiousness instantly, rather than PCR lab tests that can take days to get results, can help to stem the spread.
