Omicron BA.5 makes up nearly 78% of COVID variants circulating in U.S. - CDC The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron was estimated to make up 77.9% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 16, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday. Reuters Reuters

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Fauci's Retirement; Battle Over Monkeypox Messaging; Masks and Microbe Health news and commentary from around the Web gathered by <em>MedPage Today</em> staff Jennifer Henderson medpagetoday

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As of Monday, confirmed U.S. monkeypox/orthopoxvirus cases total 1,972, according to CDC's tracker, with more than one-fourth in New York state alone...

Gawande warns USAID COVID response quickly running out of money The USAID global coronavirus response will run out of money in the coming weeks without new funding from Congress, the agency’s Assistant Administrator for Global Health Atul Gawande warned on Tues… colinmeyn The Hill

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Gawande said funding for the task force ran out last month, and the agency has been lobbying lawmakers since December to re-up the financing at a minimum of $5 billion. So far, however, Congress has delivered none...

Monkeypox patients should not be left to suffer when an FDA-approved drug could help The federal government's development of tecovirimat should be lauded as forward thinking for investing in pandemic preparedness. But its failure to use it to control the monkeypox outbreak must change. Patrick Skerrett STAT

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Moderna’s new variant-busting COVID vaccine starting trial in Israel Study will assess how well special shot built to be Omicron-proof protects against infection; expert says Israel helping lead way in ‘the future of the fight against the pandemic’ timesofisrael

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“The Omicron component in this new vaccine works alongside the original vaccine formulation that targets the original strain. And while the Omicron component was made to target early Omicron variants, it is likely to also target well newer sub-variants of Omicron, including those that haven’t yet emerged,” he said...

BA.5 spurs new calls to fund next-generation COVID-19 vaccines The rise of the BA.5 variant is spurring new calls for funding for an Operation Warp Speed 2.0 to accelerate development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines that can better target new variants.&nb… aneklason The Hill

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As Fauci warns monkeypox needs to be taken more seriously, former FDA commissioner says the window to control it 'probably has closed,' As cases of monkeypox continue to rise in the US, a top health official is stressing the outbreak needs to be handled in a more rigorous manner. Carma Hassan, Aya Elamroussi and Hannah Sarisohn, CNN CNN

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Ghana confirms first cases of deadly Marburg virus Two patients in the West African nation have died recently of the Ebola-like virus, officials say. BBC News

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