Axios

Spain and Brazil both reported their first monkeypox-related deaths Friday, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: These are the first two deaths related to monkeypox outside of Africa during the current outbreak. The death in Spain is the first in Europe, while Brazil's is the first in South America.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) on Friday urged the Biden Administration to declare a public health emergency over the monkeypox outbreak.

The big picture: As case numbers continue to rise, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global emergency last week.

The Biden administration announced Friday that it has reached a deal with Moderna to purchase 66 million doses of its Omicron variant-specific vaccine booster.

The big picture: This specific Moderna vaccine targets the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants, the latter of which is considered the most transmissible subvariant and has become the dominant strain in the U.S.

Despite ballooning case counts, the Biden administration believes it can stay ahead of and eventually end the monkeypox outbreak in the U.S. by flooding states with additional vaccine doses in the next week.

Why it matters: It's a political gamble. If the virus keeps spreading and demand outstrips doses, the administration will have to ask Congress for more money or declare a public health emergency to free up additional resources.

The growth of high-deductible health plans led to people with employer-sponsored coverage paying for a larger share, on average, of their health care costs between 2013 and 2019, according to a new analysis by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Why it matters: A large portion are paying significantly more in terms of raw dollar amounts as well, with the biggest increases among the highest spenders — and that's on top of premium increases. As costs rise, even many insured patients struggle to afford their care.

About 20% of Americans are afraid they'll soon contract monkeypox, but there are still some significant holes in the public's understanding of the virus, according to a new survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

The big picture: These early stages of monkeypox outbreaks aren't nearly as dangerous as early COVID outbreaks were, but some of the challenges for public health officials — like educating people about a virus they're not familiar with, and mobilizing vaccination efforts — are similar.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito has mocked world leaders who criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade as he railed against what he called "a growing hostility to religion" in the West.

Why it matters: The Catholic justice's remarks at a religious freedom conference in Rome mark the first time he's publicly commented on last month's majority ruling that effectively ended all federal protections on abortion.

The Biden administration will begin offering updated COVID booster shots in September, Axios confirmed on Thursday.

Why it matters: Though efficacy data is so far limited, the updated boosters are expected to serve stronger protection against the new Omicron subvariant BA.5 —the most transmissible subvariant yet. It has quickly overtaken previous strains to become the dominant version in the U.S. and much of the world.

This appeared first in Axios Finish Line, as Axios CEO Jim VandeHei's weekly feature on hard-learned lessons for life and leadership.

Achieving insane success at work or in personal quests often requires insane effort and discipline, Jim writes.

Why it matters: Almost every person at the top of their game — be it sports or business — does extraordinary things to get their mind and body to perform optimally and at a higher level than others.