Covid-19

Nurses and other health care workers opposed to getting vaccinated against the novel coronavirus have threatened a mass resignation campaign if their institutions implement vaccine mandates.

However, the Maine Beacon reports that this threat has been mostly hot air so far in the Pine Tree State.

Writing in The Washington Post this Tuesday, columnist Sonny Bunch says that it's undeniable that the majority of people forgoing COVID-19 vaccines are Republicans, and that resistance to vaccines is directly inflating death rates.

While Republicans try to deflect blame for lagging vaccination to other demographic groups, Bunch contends that the data says something different:

The newly appointed surgeon general for Florida has a history of questioning COVID-19 mitigation measures and vaccines, and even touted the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for the virus, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

"Florida will completely reject fear," Dr. Joseph Ladapo once told reporters. "It doesn't lead to good decisions."

Germany reacted with shock and outrage on Tuesday after a 20-year-old petrol station worker was shot dead by a customer angry about being asked to wear a mask while buying beer.

The killing on Saturday evening in the western town of Idar-Oberstein is believed to be the first in Germany linked to the government's coronavirus rules.

A Michigan health official says an anti-mask activist tried to run him off the road at more than 70 mph after he announced a school mask mandate last month.

The Michigan Advance obtained an email sent by Kent County Health Department Director Dr. Adam London to county commissioners detailing the incident, which occurred shortly after London announced that masks would be required in pre-school through sixth grade, since children under 12 aren't eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.

The Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine is more effective when given as a two-dose regime, according to new data released by the company on Tuesday.

A second shot given 56 days after the first provided 75 percent protection against symptomatic Covid in a global clinical trial, with that level rising to 94 percent in the United States.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed on Tuesday that President Joe Biden's proposed budget would make all Americans slaves to China.

During an appearance on Real America's Voice, Greene argued that the government should not be funded.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is locked in several pitched legal battles with cities, counties and school districts over their bids to require masks in public schools.

In a May executive order, Abbott banned local governments from requiring people to wear masks.

Despite a century of medical advances, more Americans have now died from Covid-19 than the number who succumbed to the 1918 flu pandemic, according to new data.

The latest grim milestone comes as the country is experiencing a fourth-wave driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, with low vaccination uptake in many regions the main cause of death.

A Hawaii man who cofounded a group opposed to vaccine mandates has now quit the organization after he spent several days in the hospital sick with COVID-19.

Hawaii News Now reports that Chris Wikoff last year founded the Aloha Freedom Coalition to oppose public health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, which he viewed as damaging to businesses and society.

A New York pizzeria forced Trump-loving Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to eat outside this week after he refused to show proof of being vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

Via The Daily Beast, Brazilian publication Correio Braziliense reported this week that Bolsonaro had to eat his pizza outdoors while he was in New York this week for a United Nations General Assembly.

At a time when Americans are struggling with the coronavirus and protecting against the deadly delta variant, the Ohio Medical Board has apparently turned down an opportunity to clamp down on a doctor notorious for spouting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.

Cincinnati.com reported Monday that the board renewed the license of Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, despite her belief the vaccine leads to magnetism. Osteopathic medicine is a "whole person" approach to medicine that works on preventative care and not treating symptoms.

A staff member at an elementary school in Newberg, Oregon has been suspended after she wore Blackface to class in an attempt to protest against her school's vaccination mandate.

Ryan Clarke, a reporter at the Newberg Graphic, explained that the teacher in question wore Blackface to try to portray herself as legendary civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who famously refused to obey racist laws that forced Black people to sit in the back of public busses.