U.S. health officials said in a White House press briefing Tuesday that COVID-19 vaccines will likely become a yearly occurrence, like the annual flu shot, unless a "dramatically" different variant of the virus emerges.
Why it matters: The officials said this likelihood was based on the new, updated bivalent booster shots authorized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week, which protects against the original strain of the virus and the currently circulating dominant strain.
E-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs agreed to pay $438.5 million to 33 states and Puerto Rico to settle a two-year probe into the company's marketing and sales practices, the attorneys general of Connecticut and Texas announced Tuesday.
Why it matters: The investigation, led by Connecticut, Oregon and Texas, revealed that Juul willfully engaged "in an advertising campaign that appealed to youth, even though its e-cigarettes are both illegal for them to purchase and unhealthy for youth to use," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said.
Why it matters: Gaps in the health care workforce are a growing concern as longtime employees, particularly nurses and others on the front lines, have begun leaving the field.
Republicans in tight congressional races are going silent on health care, scrubbing campaign websites of anti-abortion language and in some cases distancing themselves from past criticisms of the Affordable Care Act.
Why it matters: It's a marked contrast to vulnerable Democrats, who've been campaigning nonstop on enshrining abortion rights and the Inflation Reduction Act’s health care provisions.
