Current COVID boosters offer good protection against severe outcomes but less so against JN.1 The current COVID-19 boosters targeting the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant are still offering solid protection against infection, hospitalizations, and death, but are somewhat limited in efficacy against illnesses caused by the JN.1 subvariant, now the dominant strain in the United States, according to a research letter yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. CIDRAP

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Bird flu infects third US dairy worker; Michigan set to expand testing A third U.S. dairy worker tested positive for bird flu after exposure to infected cows, and was the first to suffer respiratory problems, U.S. officials said on Thursday. Leah Douglas,Julie Steenhuysen,Tom Polansek Reuters

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A man who allegedly stole $6 billion in COVID relief was arrested The DOJ says YunHe Wang offered free VPN programs that infected millions of computers Quartz

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The DOJ’s statement claims that 911 S5 customers allegedly targeted certain COVID-19 relief programs. It says that 560,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims originated from compromised IP addresses, resulting in a loss exceeding $5.9 billion for the United States.

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WHO emergencies team faces funding crunch as health crises multiply The World Health Organization's emergencies department is facing “existential threats” as multiplying health crises have left it so short of cash that it needed emergency funds to pay staff salaries at the end of last year, an independent report said. Jennifer Rigby Reuters

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COVID can cause new health problems even 3 years after infection, study finds. 'We don’t know what’s going to happen at 10 years' A new report reinforces that the virus is not going away. Fortune

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Pregnant women with COVID-19 may be at lower risk for long COVID New data from the RECOVERY trial show that women who contracted COVID-19 during pregnancy had a lower risk of developing long COVID, or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), than other women, according to a study in eClinicalMedicine. CIDRAP

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Pharmacists prove effective, less costly care option for minor illnesses Greater use of pharmacists to treat minor illnesses could potentially save millions of dollars in health care costs, according to new research led by Washington State University. The findings also indicate ... Science X Medical Xpress

The findings also indicate a way to improve health care access by expanding availability of pharmacists' clinical services, including prescribing medications, amid an ongoing shortage of primary care providers.

Rising costs of health care coverage continue to put financial strain on even the privately insured By 2022, the share of Americans without health insurance had reached a record low of just under 8%. More than half the U.S. population, an estimated 180 million individuals (or 55%), were covered by private ... Jacqueline Mitchell Medical Xpress

...the financial burden of health care continues to contribute to stress, poverty, debt, bankruptcy and worse health outcomes even for those with private coverage.

Farmers must kill 4.2 million chickens after bird flu hits Iowa egg farm More than 4 million chickens in Iowa will have to be killed after a case of the highly pathogenic bird flu was detected at a large egg farm. AP News

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Crews are in the process of killing 4.2 million chickens after the disease was found at a farm in Sioux County, Iowa, making it the latest in a yearslong outbreak that now is affecting dairy cattle as well. Last week, the virus was confirmed at an egg farm west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, leading to the slaughter of nearly 1.4 million chickens.

As avian flu hops to cows and at least two humans, migrant farm workers are at risk Officials are now incentivizing testing, but experts say workers need protective equipment and paid sick leave to prevent further spread The Guardian

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