Fourth COVID shot will be ‘necessary,’ says Pfizer CEO
COVID-19 shots could soon become an annual item on your to-do list.
Due to waning effectiveness, particularly on variants like omicron, a fourth COVID vaccine shot will be needed to keep hospitals and morgues quiet, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Sunday.
“Right now, the way that we have seen, it is necessary, a fourth booster right now,” he said on “Meet the Press.”
“The protection that you are getting from the third, it is good enough, actually quite good for hospitalizations and deaths. It’s not that good against infections, but doesn’t last very long. But we are just submitting those data to the FDA and then we will see what the experts also will say outside Pfizer.”
Pfizer is working on a COVID shot that would work against all variants, including omicron, and maintain its effectiveness for a year, turning the booster into a yearly event like the flu shot.
—New York Daily News
West Virginia advances bill punishing banks for cutting oil ties
West Virginia’s legislature has approved a proposal that could restrict the state’s work with financial institutions that have limited their business with coal and oil companies.
The measure, Senate Bill 262, is now under consideration by Republican Gov. Jim Justice, after clearing both chambers over the weekend. If enacted, the legislation would allow state Treasurer Riley Moore, also a Republican, to create a list of restricted financial institutions that “have been shown to refuse, terminate or limit commercial activity with coal, oil or natural gas companies without a reasonable business purpose,” his office said in a statement Monday.
Moore, who proposed the bill, obtains banking contracts for the state and approves such agreements for state agencies. West Virginia’s approved depositories include dozens of banks, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.
Jared Hunt, a spokesperson for Moore’s office, said the state has paid banks annual fees ranging from thousands of dollars to upwards of $3 million, depending on the amount of transactions handled.
He said the treasurer’s office doesn’t have a list of financial institutions that it expects would be restricted by the legislation.
—Bloomberg News
Judge permanently blocks release of some photos, records related to Bob Saget's death
ORLANDO, Fla. — Local authorities will be permanently blocked from releasing photos and videos taken of comedian Bob Saget’s body and his personal effects under a ruling issued by a judge Monday.
At a virtual hearing for the lawsuit filed by Saget’s family, Circuit Judge Vincent Chiu agreed on a permanent injunction stopping the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and District 9 medical examiner’s office from making public a limited cache of records.
The family’s attorney, Brian Bieber, told the judge he met with authorities and after discussions, they agreed that other records, including photos of Saget’s hotel room that don’t include his personal effects and a redacted investigative report, are subject to public disclosure.
“I want to commend everybody involved here because this could have been very messy,” Chiu told the parties after his ruling. “... I think what we’ve done here, what the parties have done here is strike a very delicate and necessary balance.”
Saget’s wife Kelly Rizzo and his daughters tearfully thanked the judge during the hearing.
—Orlando Sentinel
Families of Americans detained in Venezuela ask Biden to stay the course in Maduro talks
WASHINGTON — The families of eight U.S. citizens who remain imprisoned in Venezuela have come to President Joe Biden’s defense over his outreach to the nation’s autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, asking him to stay the course with dialogue in the face of political headwinds at home.
Maduro released two Americans last week after meeting March 5 with senior U.S. officials in Caracas — the first high-level engagement between the two countries in years. While lawmakers in Washington have praised Biden for securing the release of the Americans, both Democrats and Republicans have expressed concern over broader talks on oil imports with Maduro that might strengthen his hold on power.
“There is no question that President Biden’s approval of this outreach was a risk,” the families wrote in a letter to Biden first obtained by McClatchy. “But we have an opportunity, and it requires a principled leader who is prepared to face potential controversy.”
The detained Americans include the remaining members of the so-called Citgo 6, American executives from the state-owned Venezuelan oil company who have been held since 2017, as well as three former U.S. soldiers who were arrested in 2020.
—Miami Herald
