COVID Surges Emerge; FDA Warns About Chantix; Lions, Tigers, Bears Get Vaxxed

— A daily roundup of news on COVID-19 and the rest of medicine

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COVID-19 UPDATE and Other News over a background of illustrated coronaviruses

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While the rest of the country celebrated Independence Day, a -- especially -- put a damper on the holiday spirit in Los Angeles County. (Los Angeles Times)

A hospital in hard-hit Springfield, Missouri as COVID cases climbed. (Kansas City Star)

New in the past week in Florida, though hospitalizations remained low. (Tallahassee Democrat)

As of about 8 a.m. ET, the estimated COVID-19 toll in the nation included 33,723,804 cases and 605,567 deaths, increases of 43,280 and 532, respectively, since last Friday.

The Pfizer in preventing infection and symptomatic disease declined to 64% as Delta variant cases climbed in Israel, health officials reported. (Reuters)

England will on July 19, despite rising hospitalizations. (New York Times)

Doctors and other healthcare workers were arrested on charges related to a vaccination scam that may have led to thousands of people in India receiving , Mumbai police officials said. (CNN)

FDA announced Pfizer's voluntary recall of the at the warehouse level due to potentially unacceptable levels of a nitrosamine impurity. It recommended Pfizer expand its recall to the consumer level, but said the company has not done so yet.

The agency also for the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine from the troubled Emergent BioSolutions plant.

Here's to get the shot. (NBC News)

Ohio's Vax-a-Million in the state. (JAMA)

Nearly 15 million Americans, or about 11% of people who had sufficient time to do so, of vaccine. (Washington Post)

Tyson Foods recalled approximately 8.5 million pounds of due to possible Listeria contamination, the USDA announced.

In a suit filed in Washington district court, healthcare workers alleged their Amazon Alexa-enabled devices may have with patients. (Healthcare IT News)

An NIH initiative will fund five new projects to find and staff to in-person school in vulnerable and underserved communities.

A student ministry camp in Texas in grades 6 through 12 developing COVID. (Newsweek)

The FDA declined to approve an investigational drug for the delay of clinical type 1 diabetes in at-risk individuals, asking for more data, the company said.

The agency approved an in patients with recurrent, metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma not curable by radiation or surgery, manufacturer Merck announced.

A federal judge denied a compassionate release request for a medical technician who was sentenced to 39 years for with hepatitis C. (AP News)

Articles written by were cited less often than ones authored by men, especially when women wrote together as primary and senior authors. (JAMA Network Open)

"Don't leave your mark at the pool this summer!" the CDC warned in a . (CNN)

The Oakland Zoo began against COVID-19 using an experimental vaccine authorized by the USDA. (ABC News)

Sandra Lindsay, RN, the critical care nurse who was the first person in the U.S. to become fully vaccinated outside of clinical trials, will have her at the Smithsonian. (CBS News)

  • Judy George covers neurology and neuroscience news for , writing about brain aging, Alzheimer’s, dementia, MS, rare diseases, epilepsy, autism, headache, stroke, Parkinson’s, ALS, concussion, CTE, sleep, pain, and more.