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In Chicago, Biden urges more employers to mandate vaccines

Key updates
Young, pregnant and unvaccinated: Hospitals confront a wave of severe illness and death
Pfizer, BioNTech ask FDA to authorize vaccine for children 5 to 11
Study shows immunity weakens faster in men than women after second Pfizer-BioNTech dose
President Biden speaks about coronavirus vaccinations after touring a Clayco Corp. construction site for a Microsoft data center in Elk Grove Village, Ill., on Oct. 7. (Susan Walsh/AP)
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October 7, 2021 at 8:07 p.m. EDT

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Speaking in Chicago on Thursday, President Biden urged more employers to enact coronavirus vaccine requirements, calling them the “tough medicine” that will help bring the United States out of a year-and-a-half-long pandemic that has killed more than 700,000 people nationwide and upended the economy.

Biden acknowledged it was not his “first instinct” to implement coronavirus vaccine mandates but said a dramatic rise in immunization in recent months shows that they are working. His administration is mandating coronavirus vaccination or regular testing for employees of large businesses, and federal workers must get immunized with no option for testing.

Young, pregnant and unvaccinated: Hospitals confront a wave of severe illness and death
Pfizer, BioNTech ask FDA to authorize vaccine for children 5 to 11
Study shows immunity weakens faster in men than women after second Pfizer-BioNTech dose

Here’s what to know

  • Vaccine maker Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, have asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize their coronavirus vaccine for emergency use for children ages 5 to 11, the companies announced Thursday.
  • Finland on Thursday joined Sweden and Denmark in announcing it would pause the use of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine in some children and young adults over concerns about heart inflammation.
  • A Small Business Administration program that issued fast-access grants to help companies weather the coronavirus pandemic paid out $4.5 billion more than it should have because administrators failed to follow internal policies, the agency’s inspector general concluded in a report released Thursday.
  • Moderna said it will build a coronavirus vaccine manufacturing plant in Africa to produce 500 million doses a year for lower-income nations. However, it will not have an immediate impact because it will take two to four years to build.
  • Millions of Americans have returned to work this year as health risks have subsided, but a full jobs rebound is a long way off.
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Here's what to know:

Vaccine maker Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, have asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize their coronavirus vaccine for emergency use for children ages 5 to 11, the companies announced Thursday.
Finland on Thursday joined Sweden and Denmark in announcing it would pause the use of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine in some children and young adults over concerns about heart inflammation.
A Small Business Administration program that issued fast-access grants to help companies weather the coronavirus pandemic paid out $4.5 billion more than it should have because administrators failed to follow internal policies, the agency’s inspector general concluded in a report released Thursday.
Moderna said it will build a coronavirus vaccine manufacturing plant in Africa to produce 500 million doses a year for lower-income nations. However, it will not have an immediate impact because it will take two to four years to build.
Millions of Americans have returned to work this year as health risks have subsided, but a full jobs rebound is a long way off.

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Coronavirus: What you need to know

Where do things stand? See the latest covid numbers in the U.S. and across the world. In the U.S., pandemic trends have shifted and now White people are more likely to die from covid than Black people.

The state of public health: Conservative and libertarian forces have defanged much of the nation’s public health system through legislation and litigation as the world staggers into the fourth year of covid.

Grief and the pandemic: A Washington Post reporter covered the coronavirus — and then endured the death of her mother from covid-19. She offers a window into grief and resilience.

Would we shut down again? What will the United States do the next time a deadly virus comes knocking on the door?

Vaccines: The CDC recommends that everyone age 5 and older get an updated covid booster shot. New federal data shows adults who received the updated shots cut their risk of being hospitalized with covid-19 by 50 percent. Here’s guidance on when you should get the omicron booster and how vaccine efficacy could be affected by your prior infections.

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