€500B remains unspent from EU’s Covid recovery fund Capitals urge European Commission to slash red tape fearing that huge amounts of money won’t ever be used. POLITICO

BRUSSELS — Governments have received less than a third of the EU's original €723 billion pot to help boost post-Covid economic recovery and are now heaping pressure on the European Commission to speed up payments.

Climate-warming gases being smuggled into Europe, investigation says Large amounts of climate-warming refrigerant gases from China and Turkey are being smuggled illegally into Europe, undermining a global pact to phase them out, a report by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said on Monday. David Stanway Reuters

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Texas Map Shows Where State Will Become Underwater From Sea Level Rise

Coastal areas along Texas's stretch of the Gulf of Mexico could be vulnerable to being consumed by water as sea levels rise due to the effects of climate change, modeling suggests.

By the year 2100, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates there will be between 43 and 84 centimeters (1.4-2.8 feet) of sea level rise, but that an increase of 2 meters (6.6 feet) "cannot be ruled out."

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FDA Authorizes COVID Drug Pemgarda for High-Risk Patients A Yale Medicine expert explains the significance of a new preventive medication to protect certain immunocompromised people against COVID-19. Yale Medicine

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) to a medicine meant to protect certain immunocompromised people against COVID-19.

Tens of millions facing hunger and water shortages as extreme drought and floods sweep southern Africa | CNN More than 24 million people face hunger, malnutrition and water scarcity as experts warn the crisis could become an “unimaginable humanitarian situation” Sarah Dean CNN

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The warning from Oxfam on Wednesday came as Zimbabwe joined other southern African nations in declaring its drought a national disaster, following earlier declarations by Zambia and Malawi....

Study finds many younger people from high income neighborhoods jumped the eligibility queue for COVID-19 vaccines in NYC

Despite vaccine shortages, many younger people in New York City accessed vaccines ahead of schedule, particularly in high-income areas, according to new research at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Low-income areas with high proportions of older people demonstrated lower coverage rates than wealthier areas in the first three months of vaccine rollout, and higher mortality over the year. The findings are published in the Journal of Urban Health.

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US flu, COVID, RSV activity continues to recede With the drop in flu activity gaining momentum, several parts of the US are now below their regional baselines. CIDRAP

Respiratory virus activity in the United States is still elevated but continues to decline, with only 6 jurisdiction reporting high levels, down from 10 the previous week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its data updates.

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CDC issues health alert for bird flu infection in US The U.S. CDC on Friday issued a health alert to inform clinicians, state health departments and the public of a case of avian influenza in a person who had contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected with the virus. Reuters Reuters

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Among fully vaccinated, study shows Paxlovid does not shorten symptoms A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that, for those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 but having at least one risk factor for severe COVID, the antiviral drug Paxlovid did little to reduce symptom duration, but experts caution the findings might not apply to older patients. CIDRAP

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