FDA advisers back Novavax COVID shots as 4th US option
A more traditional kind of COVID-19 vaccine is a step closer to becoming the fourth option for U.S. adults. Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted Tuesday to recommend authorization of shots made by Novavax. It’s a protein vaccine, a more conventional technology than the dominant Pfizer and Moderna shots, and the lesser-used Johnson & Johnson option. It the FDA ultimately agrees, the Novavax shots could be an option for adults who haven’t yet gotten vaccinated. The company eventually hopes to offer its shots as a booster, like they’re used in some other countries.
Breast cancer drug trial results in rarely seen survival rates
The patients had metastatic breast cancer that had been progressing despite rounds of chemotherapy. But a treatment with a drug that targeted cancer cells with laserlike precision was stunningly successful, slowing tumor growth and extending life to an extent rarely seen. The new study, published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine, focused on a particular mutant protein, HER2, a common villain in breast and other cancers. The trial, sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca and led by Dr. Shanu Modi of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, involved 557 patients with metastatic breast cancer.
CDC revises monkeypox guidance
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance last week for travelers wishing to protect themselves against monkeypox. This was one of its recommendations: “Wear a mask. Wearing a mask can help protect you from many diseases, including monkeypox.” Monday night, that recommendation was deleted. “CDC removed the mask recommendation from the monkeypox travel health notice because it caused confusion,” the agency said Tuesday. The agency still says that in countries where monkeypox is spreading, “household contacts and health care workers” should consider wearing masks.
Hurricane chief to take over as weather service director
National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham will take over as head of the National Weather Service. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s announcement Tuesday puts a veteran of extreme and frequent storms at the helm of the agency that has 144 offices across the country. The hurricane expert whose last four years had the most Atlantic named storms on record succeeds a winter storm specialist as head of the weather service. Scientists say the U.S. has already gotten more extreme weather because of human-caused climate change and the nation should expect that to worsen in the future.
US fails to assess civilian deaths in Yemen war, internal report says
The departments of State and Defense have failed to assess civilian casualties caused by a Saudi-led coalition in the catastrophic war in Yemen and the use of U.S.-made weapons, according to an internal government report from the Government Accountability Office. It focuses on attacks in recent years by a Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels for control of Yemen. The alliance has carried out deadly strikes using combat jets and munitions that have been supplied and maintained largely by American companies with the approval of the State Department and the Pentagon. The report spans the period from 2015 to 2021.
Mississippi lawmaker with ethics woes forced into GOP runoff
Republican U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi has been forced into a runoff after a congressional ethics watchdog raised questions about his campaign spending and he faced his largest-ever field of primary challengers. In heavily Democratic California, Republican House members are facing primary rivals in races that will help determine control of Congress. In Montana, former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is competing against several other Republicans for a chance to capture a new U.S. House district. And in Iowa, state Sen. Zach Nunn has won the GOP spot to take on the state’s lone Democratic House member, Rep. Cindy Axne, in a newly drawn district with a stronger Republican tilt.
School police chief a no-show at Uvalde City Council meeting
The school district police chief criticized for waiting too long before ordering law enforcement to confront and kill the gunman during a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school did not appear at a Uvalde City Council meeting, despite being newly elected to the panel. Mayor Don McLaughlin says he’s unable to explain why school district police Chief Pete Arredondo wasn’t at the brief meeting Tuesday. Two weeks ago, 19 students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Law enforcement and state officials have struggled to present an accurate timeline and details, and have stopped releasing information about the police response. McLaughlin claims he is frustrated with the lack of information.
Russia draws closer to capture of Ukraine’s Donbas region
Russia is drawing closer to its goal of fully capturing Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories. The Kremlin claimed Tuesday to have taken control of 97% of one of the two provinces that make up the Donbas region. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow’s forces hold nearly all of Luhansk province. And it appears that Russia now occupies roughly half of Donetsk province. That’s according to Ukrainian officials and military analysts. After abandoning its attempt to storm Kyiv two months ago, Russia declared that taking the entire Donbas is its main objective.
Griner’s fate tangled up with other American held in Russia
Brittney Griner is easily the most prominent American locked up by a foreign country. But the WNBA star’s case is tangled up with that of another prisoner few Americans have ever heard of. Paul Whelan has been held in Russia since his December 2018 arrest on espionage charges he and the U.S. government say are false. He was left out of a prisoner exchange in April that brought home yet another detainee, Marine veteran Trevor Reed. That resolution escalates pressure on the Biden administration to avoid a repeat scenario of another one-for-one swap that does not include Whelan.
By wire sources
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