Our new Live Interview Series, Venturing In VC, premieres next week on Jan. 4, 2022. Venturing in VC is a live interview series where our host, Landon Campbell, interviews investors about how they broke into VC, their daily routines, views on the future, and lessons learned along the way. Who’s our first guest? None other than Turner Novak, founder of Banana Capital – a founder-focused fund that invests anywhere from Pre-Seed to Pre-IPO with an average initial check size of $150,000-$300,000. Save your free seat to learn how Turner views the world and shares lessons he's learned along his journey. Inside.com/vivc Venturing in VC is sponsored by SeedInvest – Fundraising isn’t easy, but it just got easier. Apply to start your raise on SeedInvest, or browse highly vetted startups to invest in. 
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 The FDA is planning to allow 12- to 15-year-olds to receive coronavirus booster shots, people familiar with the plans told The New York Times. The regulators will soon allow children in this age group to receive a third shot of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine, and will shorten the time after a second dose to receive it from six months to five months for all age groups. The agency may also authorize a booster for children between 5 and 11 with immune system deficiencies. More: - After the FDA releases its authorizations next week, a CDC committee is expected to recommend the changes, after which CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky will need to sign off.
- A little over 20% of Americans have received a booster dose, according to the CDC, while 62% have received two doses and still qualify as "fully vaccinated." A number of health officials and organizations have suggested that only individuals who have received three shots (or one Johnson & Johnson shot and a booster) should be considered fully vaccinated.
- The FDA first authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech shot for children between 12 and 15 in May 2021, which means children who got vaccinated when the shots first became available to them are now eligible for a booster.
- More than 488,000 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the U.S. on Wednesday, shattering the previous single-day record.
- Israel announced on Thursday that it had approved a fourth vaccine dose for those most at risk of severe illness resulting from COVID-19.
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 The four-week moving average for new weekly jobless claims totaled 199,250 last week, the lowest number since October 1969. The Labor Department said there were 198,000 initial jobless claims last week, below a forecasted 205,000 new claims and down from the previous week's 206,000. The number of continuing claims also dropped to 1.72 million, its lowest level since March 7, 2020. More: - The U.S. unemployment rate has dropped to 4.2%.
- Though the numbers show signs of a strong economic recovery, a wave of illness resulting from the omicron variant could prompt layoffs.
- No major layoffs have yet been reported, though airlines, restaurants, and other businesses have had to scale back operations given the fast-spreading variant.
- Economists believe new claims will remain close to 200,000 weekly over the next month.
- Jobless claims have dropped throughout the year, as businesses have been hesitant to let workers go amid nationwide hiring difficulties.
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 "NBA" and "Stimulus Check" were among the most searched terms of 2021 in the U.S., and Kyle Rittenhouse, Tiger Woods, and Alec Baldwin were the most searched for people, according to Google. Among the other top searches in Google's annual trends list are "How to pronounce Dogecoin," "How to help Afghan refugees," "TikTok pasta," and "COVID vaccine near me." Axios, in its annual news cycle chart looking at top Google searches, said that COVID-19 vaccines were one of the top five overall topics it analyzed, and searches for COVID-19 vaccines never fell below 5% of total Google search volume. More: - Most top news stories only surged in Google's search engine for a week or two, according to Axios, including the Suez Canal crisis, the Taliban taking over Afghanistan, and the death of Larry King.
- Other news stories, like the Olympics, the controversy surrounding critical race theory, and cicada season, remained top search topics for several weeks.
- The most searched for sports team was the Boston Red Sox followed by the Los Angeles Lakers.
- The most searched for song was "Driver's License" by Olivia Rodrigo, followed by "All Too Well" by Taylor Swift.
- Google says the following search terms were searched more this year than in any other year: "doomscrolling," "sustainability," "soulmate," and "plumber."
- Globally, more people searched for "how to start a business" than "how to get a job" in 2021.
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 GOOD NEWS: The James Webb Space Telescope has enough fuel to more than double the minimum life of its mission, NASA said in a mission update this week. The agency says that it used less fuel than expected in correcting the module's trajectory toward its orbit, a place of "gravitational balance" about one million miles from Earth. NASA credits the extra fuel and mission time to an extremely precise launch and mid-course correction maneuver. The telescope will take about a month to travel to its final orbit and should start returning photos from deep space next summer.
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 Tesla is recalling nearly half a million vehicles to address multiple issues that could increase the risk of crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). A total of 475,318 Model 3 and Model S vehicles will be recalled from the 2014 model year to the present. Model 3 sedans from 2017 to 2020, the NHTSA says, feature an issue where the opening and closing of the trunk lid could damage the rearview camera cable harness. The Model S has a front hood latch issue where the front hood could open without warning. More: - Though Tesla did not comment on the recall, the NHTSA says that Tesla does not currently know of any crashes or injuries related to the cited issues. However, there were 2,301 warranty claims and 601 field reports for the Model 3 issue in the U.S.
- The recall covers 356,309 Model 3s and 119,009 Model S vehicles.
- Tesla is also replacing defective repeater cameras in some front fenders, though it is not recalling any parts.
- The front hood latch issue on the Model S is not a matter of a damaged part, but rather a misalignment that Tesla believes can be fixed at a service center.
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 The CDC urged Americans not to travel on cruise ships as the omicron variant has already been blamed for several outbreaks at sea. The agency's recommendation is for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, as "even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants." In its bulletin, the CDC raised its caution to the highest level, Level 4, warning of "Very High Level of COVID-19" on cruise ships. More: - The CDC also encouraged anyone who does decide to go on a cruise ship to be vaccinated, and to get tested both before the trip and 3-5 days after returning.
- The CDC is investigating coronavirus outbreaks on 91 different cruise ships managed by Carnival, Disney, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean.
- The Cruise Lines International Association criticized the CDC's move, arguing that "cases identified on cruise ships consistently make up a very slim minority of the total population onboard."
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- New York City is moving forward with its Times Square New Year's Eve celebration despite surging coronavirus cases in the city. Instead of the usual 58,000 people, 15,000 attendees who show proof of vaccination and wear masks will be allowed in Times Square.
- BBC News says an interview conducted with lawyer Alan Dershowitz on the subject of Ghislaine Maxwell's convictions did not meet its editorial standards. Dershowitz was previously one of Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers and has been accused of sexual abuse in the ongoing scandal.
- A group of planetary physicists at the University of Central Florida believes Pluto should be reclassified as a planet, alongside more than 140 other celestial bodies. "We think there’s probably over 150 planets in our solar system," planetary physicist Philip Metzger said.
- A shortage of high-end Champagne is frustrating New Year's Eve shoppers. The shortage is due both to increased demand and supply chain issues.
- Germany is shutting down three of its six remaining nuclear reactors this week, as it works to complete a shift to renewable energy.
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Upcoming Events - January 04 - Venturing in VC Episode #1 - featuring Turner Novak (Register Here)
- January 05 - DAOs and the intersection of tech & media with Kinjal Shah (Blockchain Capital) (Register Here)
- January 06 - Augmented and Virtual Reality with Timoni West (VP of AR/VR at Unity) (Register Here)
- January 11 - The Business of Interactive Gambling with Jon Kaplowitz (Penn) (Register Here)
- January 11 - Venturing in VC Episode #2 (Register Here)
- January 13 - Education within the Metaverse with Steve Grubbs (VictoryXR) (Register Here)
- January 25 - Need To Know NoCoder - Leon Young (Cogniss) (Register Here)
- January 27 - Understanding the Metaverse (Register Here)
- February 03 - Blockchain Gaming & Play-to-Earn Economies (Register Here)
- February 10 - The Business of Wellness (Register Here)
- February 17 - Customer Acquisition in a post iOS 14 world (Register Here)
- February 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Derya Sousa (Kianda Technologies) (Register Here)
- February 24 - Alternative Investments (Register Here)
- March 03 - The $12B Appetite for Amazon Aggregators (Register Here)
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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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