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The World Health Organization’s director-general is calling for a worldwide moratorium on COVID-19 booster shots until at least the end of September, to allow low-income nations to get more initial vaccination doses. At a media briefing at the agency’s Geneva headquarters, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus once again brought up inequities in worldwide vaccine allocation, noting more than 80 percent of the four billion COVID-19 vaccine doses administered globally are going to high- and upper-middle income countries, “even though they account for less than half of the world’s population.” And now, the WHO chief said, some of those nations are moving toward

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday the delta variant of the coronavirus accounts for more than 93 percent of all new COVID-19 cases in the country. The CDC’s updated figures for the week ending July 31, show the delta variant, including its sub-lineages, all of which are classified as variants of concern, made up more than 93 percent of all U.S. cases during the last two weeks of July. The variant accounts for even higher percentages in specific regions of the country. In the Midwest including Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, delta accounts for more

WHITE HOUSE – Calling it a major milestone, U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that the country has shipped more than 110 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to 65 nations that are among the hardest hit in the world. “This is more than the donations of all 24 countries that donate any vaccine to other countries, including China and Russia,” Biden said during remarks in the White House East Room. The president emphasized that Washington is making no demands for its donations of doses. “And there’s no favoritism and no strings attached. We’re doing this to save lives to end this

  ABUJA, NIGERIA – Doctors in Nigeria’s state-run hospitals have walked off the job over what they call poor salaries, insurance, and facilities despite a third wave of coronavirus infections. Hospitals were already struggling to cope with the caseload and health authorities fear the strike, which began Monday, could overwhelm them and end up costing lives. The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, or NARD, said the goal is to compel the government to uphold an earlier agreement on pay arrears, hazard allowances and honor benefits for families of members who die in service to the country. The government, for its

A U.S. labor board official has recommended a rerun of a landmark Amazon union election in Alabama, where employees had voted overwhelmingly against making their warehouse the online retailer’s first to organize in the United States. In the coming weeks, a regional director for the U.S. National Labor Relations Board will decide whether to order the rerun based on this recommendation, said an official on Monday with the board who asked not to be named. Amazon said it planned to appeal. “Our employees had a chance to be heard during a noisy time when all types of voices were weighing