Doc Breaks Texas Law; Pfizer Vax Safe in Kids 5-11; Mask Mandate After Student Death

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“For me, it is 1972 all over again,” wrote Alan Braid, MD, a Texas physician who knowingly violated the state’s new law banning most abortions after 6 weeks, in a Washington Post editorial.

Pfizer announced that a lower dose of its COVID-19 vaccine triggered a robust immune response in kids ages 5 to 11 years; the company plans to seek an emergency use authorization.

Thousands of people are fleeing a volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands — the first in 50 years — officials said. (Reuters)

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) dubbed new federal requirements for COVID vaccination an “attack by the president on hardworking Americans.” (Politico)

In a surprising move, Trump ally and mega-church preacher, Rev. Robert Jeffress, blasted religious exemptions for COVID-19 vaccine mandates, saying there is no “credible religious argument” against the vaccines. (Business Insider)

As of Monday at 8 a.m. EDT, the unofficial COVID-19 toll in the U.S. was 42,088,404 cases and 673,768 deaths, up 1,133,144 cases and 13,793 deaths since this time last Monday.

NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD, said people should wait until they’re eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot. (New York Times)

Two days after the death of a middle school student who had tested positive for COVID-19, schools in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin implemented a mask mandate. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

In Pennsylvania, parents are suing over Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) school mask mandate. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

“We are teaching in COVID factories,” wrote James Schiffman, a professor at Georgia College & State University, as he begged the university system to implement mask mandates there. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Millions of people who contracted COVID-19 lost their sense of smell, but for sommeliers, perfumers, and winemakers, the condition can be career-ending. (New York Times)

How did a scientific question about the efficacy of ivermectin transform into an “inflamed public morality debate”? (NPR)

Comedian Chris Rock shares that he has COVID-19 and encouraged his fans to get vaccinated. (CBS News)

Exelixis announced that the FDA expanded the indications for cabozantinib (Cabometyx) to include treatment of patients with radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer.

Samsung Bioepis and Biogen said the FDA approved their ranibizumab biosimilar (Byooviz) for wet age-related macular degeneration, macular edema after retinal vein occlusion, and myopic choroidal neovascularization.

In Maricopa County, Arizona, a fourth person has died from West Nile virus. (ABC15)