FDA authorizes second COVID-19 pill, from Merck The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday authorized a COVID-19 treatment from Merck, marking the second pill to become available to fight the virus. Peter Sullivan TheHill

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This authorization is more limited than one on Wednesday for a Pfizer pill. The FDA authorized the Merck pill, developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, for high-risk adults "for whom alternative COVID-19 treatment options authorized by the FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate."

Covid could take on a similar ebb and flow to the flu, but there is plenty left to figure out about just how severe and disruptive it will continue to be.

SEATTLE — Early in the pandemic, many people seized on the hope that Covid-19 could be stopped in its tracks and buried for good once vaccines rolled out.

But hope for a zero-Covid country fizzled for most scientists long ago. 

“Everyone has stopped talking about getting rid of Covid,” Dr. Elizabeth Halloran, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said of her fellow researchers. “It’s not going away, and that means it’s going to be endemic.” 

Supreme Court to hear challenges to vaccine mandates in early January The Supreme Court will hear legal challenges to the Biden administration's employer vaccine mandates next month, the justices announced Wednesday night, setting a rapid schedule for the cases. Harper Neidig TheHill

The Supreme Court will hear legal challenges to the Biden administration's employer vaccine mandates next month, the justices announced Wednesday night, setting a rapid schedule for the cases.

France cancels order for Merck's COVID-19 antiviral drug France has cancelled its order for Merck & Co's COVID-19 antiviral drug following disappointing trial data and hopes instead to receive Pfizer's competing drug before the end of January, the health minister said on Wednesday. Mimosa Spencer,Emilio Parodi Reuters

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As COVID fueled the drug crisis, Native Americans hit worst | AP News BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) — The medicine man told her she should soon give her son back to the earth. Rachel Taylor kissed her fingertips and pressed them to the crow sewn onto a leather bag nestled on the couch in the living room. AP NEWS

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Early studies suggest a reduced risk of Covid-19 hospitalization when infected with Omicron compared to Delta --CNN overview

WHO expecting 'significant surge' in European cases The World Health Organization's (WHO) regional director for Europe is warning that countries in the region should prepare for a "significant surge" in COVID-19 cases. Cameron Jenkins TheHill

The World Health Organization's (WHO) regional director for Europe is warning that countries in the region should prepare for a "significant surge" in COVID-19 cases.

US population growth at lowest rate in pandemic's 1st year | AP News U.S. population growth dipped to its lowest rate since the nation’s founding during the first year of the pandemic as the coronavirus curtailed immigration, delayed pregnancies and killed hundreds of thousands of U.S. AP NEWS

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