Skip to main content

Coronavirus Watch: 11 states sue over Biden vaccine mandate

Grace Hauck   | Paste BN

Attorneys general in 11 states filed lawsuits Friday against the Biden administration over a new federal rule that will require large companies to vaccinate their workforce or implement rigorous testing regimes.

Businesses with 100 or more employees will be required to stand up their vaccine-or-testing requirements by Jan. 4 or face stiff penalties. Read more on the lawsuits here.

It's Friday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news to know:

  • Vaccines.gov began listing pediatric COVID-19 doses Friday morning, making it easy to find shots for kids anywhere in the nation.
  • The U.S. is getting closer to having an available antiviral drug to help treat COVID-19. Pfizer plans to complete two more studies of its antiviral therapy, Paxlovid, by the end of the year before submitting the data to the FDA, and Merck and Ridgeback have also applied for emergency use authorization for their pill molnupiravir.
  • Vaccine developer Novavax said Thursday it has submitted its vaccine candidate to the WHO for emergency use listing.
  • Where's the current epicenter of the pandemic? It's Europe and central Asia, the WHO said in a statement Thursday. Cases are approaching record levels in the regions, with the delta variant remaining prominent. Last week, Europe and central Asia accounted for 59% of global cases and 48% of deaths.

Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 46.3 million COVID-19 cases and 752,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 248.9 million cases and more than 5 million deaths. About 67% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 58% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among U.S. adults, 80% have received at least one shot, and about 70% are fully vaccinated.

Tracking the pandemic: See the numbers in your area here. See where cases are rising here. See vaccination rates here. And here, compare vaccinations rates worldwide and see which countries are using which vaccines.

– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck

Facebook Twitter Email