Booster shots of coronavirus vaccines are highly effective at preventing hospitalization from omicron infections, according to new CDC data. The effect appears to be particularly strong for older Americans – unvaccinated Americans over 50 were about 45 times more likely to be hospitalized with a COVID-19 infection than those who were vaccinated and boosted. Boosters of an mRNA vaccine also appeared to restore much of a person's protection against infection overall, though omicron still has more vaccine escapability than delta. More: - Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization with omicron dropped to 57% among people who had only had two shots more than six months in the past, and rose back to 90% after a third shot.
- The protectiveness of boosters, however, is likely to wane over time, according to Emory University biostatistician Natalie Dean.
- The CDC recommends that all eligible individuals over 12 receive a booster five months after an initial two-shot mRNA series. To date, less than 40% of those eligible for boosters have received them.
- Modelers believe the omicron wave is peaking or will peak either this week or next week around much of the U.S.
- The CDC confirmed the first U.S. COVID-19 case in the U.S. two years ago today.
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 Airstrikes in Yemen killed at least 60 people on Friday and knocked out much of the nation's internet service. The death toll is likely to grow as a result of what appear to be strikes coordinated by a Saudi-led military coalition who have fought for years against a Houthi group in Yemen aligned with Iran. Hundreds more are likely to be injured, according to reports from Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders, which are working in the area. More: - The International Committee of the Red Cross believes more than 100 people were killed at what's been described as a temporary detention center in Saada, a city in northern Yemen.
- The airstrikes follow a drone attack earlier this week by the Houthi militia against the United Arab Emirates. Three people were killed in the attack, which destroyed multiple fuel tankers.
- Houthi media said internet was cut off due to a strike from Saudi coalition forces on a telecommunications facility, though independent news outlets could not confirm this.
- In a Friday statement, the U.N. Security Council condemned the attack earlier this week from the Houthi militia on the UAE, which joined the 15-member council this month.
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 A message from MODERN TREASURY Why you need to care more about payment operations. If your business moves money, you have payment operations. Payment operations include processes to initiate, approve, track, and reconcile payments. Just like the money they manage, payment operations are critical to a functioning business. In fact, survey data show that 86% of finance leaders view upgrading their payment operations as a priority. To better understand the current state of payment operations, Modern Treasury partnered with the Harris Poll to survey 300 leaders and uncover their top payment operations problems and priorities. In our first-ever report on payment operations, we reveal: - The costliest payment-related challenges companies face
- The 5 upgrades to payment operations leaders believe are most important
- The 7 most common barriers to upgrading payment operations
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 Campaign officials for Donald Trump and attorney Rudy Giuliani directly oversaw the slate of fake electors that attempted to deliver electoral votes to Trump in states won by Joe Biden, according to former campaign officials. The Trump campaign directly coordinated with the illegitimate electors in states like Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan, after claiming, without evidence, that the former president had won those states. Giuliani helped to coordinate the effort, anonymous sources told The Washington Post and CNN, and multiple Democratic attorneys general have since asked federal prosecutors to investigate if crimes were committed. More: - Meshawn Maddock, co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, publicly said last week that "the Trump campaign asked us" to seat the electors.
- Maddock and 15 other Trump supporters in Michigan also signed an illegitimate certificate, ostensibly certifying the state's electoral votes for Trump, and sent it to the National Archives. President Biden won the state of Michigan by more than 150,000 votes.
- "The campaign was throwing enough sh*t at the wall to see what would stick," a former Trump campaign staffer told CNN.
- Trump, Giuliani, and their allies reportedly hoped that Vice President Mike Pence would dispute the results of key states in the 2020 election and choose to seat the Trump campaign's electors over the legitimate electors resulting from those state's votes.
- The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots subpoenaed Giuliani earlier this week.
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 GOOD NEWS: A 57-year-old man from Tonga survived 27 hours at sea following last weekend's tsunami that resulted from the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano. Lisala Folau says he thought he was likely to drown and was forced under the water nine times before finding a log to help him float and reach safety. Folau, who is disabled, lives on the island of Atata, which has a population of only 60, and saw most of its structures destroyed by the tsunami. More: - Folau swam 4.7 miles to the main island of Tongatapu, finally reaching shore on Sunday night, 27 hours after being swept out to sea.
- He's been called a "real life Aquaman" on social media, though Folau says he doesn't know who that is.
- Of course, given that Folau's story took place in a remote location during a natural disaster, media outlets have been unable to independently confirm the events. New Zealand Acting High Commissioner for Tonga Peter Lund said, however, that he believes Folau's account.
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 A message from LOHIKA Web3: Why It Matters and How to Think About It in 2022. You may have heard about “Web3,” along with related technologies like blockchain, NFTs and smart contracts. What exactly is Web3? Is it the evolution of Web 2.0? Is it the future of the Internet? We don’t know all the answers, so invited a panel of experts who do. We’re hosting an online event with Capgemini AIE “Web3: Why It Matters and How to Think About It in 2022.” The panel: We will also discuss: - How engineering leaders should approach recruiting for team building web3 applications
- Whether an NFT represents ownership of digital art or if there’s more to it
- What will happen between central banks asserting their control of fiat currencies and decentralized currencies erasing boundaries and national sovereignty
Join us on February 10, 2022 at 10am PT / 1pm ET. Register Here
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 Actor and comedian Louie Anderson died Friday at the age of 68 due to complications from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Anderson started as a stand-up comic in the 1980s before transitioning to acting, voice work, and hosting. He voiced several characters in the animated show "Life with Louie" from 1994 to 1998 before hosting "Family Feud" for three years from 1999 to 2002. In 2016, he won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in "Baskets." More: - Anderson also won two Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for "Life with Louie."
- Much of Anderson's work, including his books "Dear Dad – Letters From An Adult Child," and "Hey Mom," reflected his Midwest upbringing as one of 11 children.
- Anderson won a 1981 Midwest comedy competition and was recruited by Henny Youngman as a writer. His fame grew three years later with his first appearance on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.
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 ESPN will not send reporters to the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, next month, due to coronavirus concerns. The network will have exclusively remote coverage of the Winter Games, with ESPN EVP Norby Williamson saying that on-site restrictions in China related to COVID-19 would have made its coverage "very challenging." ESPN's coverage of the Olympic Games is somewhat restricted anyway, given NBC's exclusive rights to air live coverage. ESPN and other networks can only air highlights of events after the end of NBC's live coverage, which will come in the middle of the night on the U.S. East Coast. More: - Even NBC is primarily reporting on the Olympics from the U.S. due to China's strict rules.
- The network's Mike Tirico will be in China for the start of the Games from Feb. 3-10, and will then return to the U.S. for Super Bowl coverage.
- NBC is promoting Feb. 13 as "Super Gold Sunday," when it will broadcast Olympic events and Super Bowl LVI on the same day.
- The Associated Press is, however, sending more than 100 journalists to China to cover the Winter Games.
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- A judge blocked the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for federal workers on Friday, though the White House says that 98% of such workers have already been vaccinated.
- Adele has postponed her 24-show Las Vegas residency due to the pandemic. "Half my team have COVID and it's been impossible to finish the show," she said in a video posted to Instagram.
- A team of French physicists increased the concentration of glycerol in bubbles and managed to create a bubble that didn't burst for 465 days.
- In a new court filing, Kobe Bryant's widow Vanessa alleges that photos of the remains of the late NBA star and their daughter, Gianna, were shared widely by Sheriff's deputies and firefighters.
- California's state Senate is considering a bill that would allow children 12 and up to be vaccinated against COVID-19 without the consent of their parents. Pre-teens and teenagers in the state can already receive Hepatitis B and HPV vaccinations without parental consent.
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 |  | Jonathan Harris is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles. |  | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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