Global Health

Covid-19 surveillance added new burdens on essential workers — and gave them little data to protect their health Surveillance technologies deployed during the Covid-19 pandemic added new burdens on essential workers — and gave them little data to protect their health. Ambar Castillo STAT

At the peak of the pandemic, essential workers faced rampant tech-based surveillance, from overhead infrared thermometers to wearables that tracked their proximity to one another.

FDA panel narrowly backs Pfizer RSV vaccine for older adults WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health advisers on Tuesday narrowly backed an experimental vaccine from Pfizer that could soon become the first shot to protect older adults against the respiratory illness known as RSV. AP NEWS

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The Food and Drug Administration panel voted 7-4 on two separate questions of whether Pfizer’s data showed the vaccine was safe and effective against the respiratory virus for people 60 and older. One panelist abstained from voting. The recommendation is non-binding and the FDA will make its own decision on the vaccine in the coming months.

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Twenty-two people died in cholera outbreak post-quake in northwest Syria -civil defence The Syrian opposition-run civil defence said on Tuesday 22 people had died from an outbreak of cholera in the northwestern region in the aftermath of the devastating quake that hit Turkey and Syria. Reuters Reuters

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Hong Kong to lift one of the world’s longest Covid mask mandates The announcement that masks would no longer be required indoors or out ends the last major restriction the Chinese territory imposed during the pandemic. NBC News

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Lee’s announcement at a news briefing Tuesday came a day after the neighboring Chinese territory of Macao eased its mask rule and will bring the financial hub closer to the life in pre-pandemic days.

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