Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Fresh off of a jam-packed week of Democratic National Convention events, reports of attendees’ testing positive for Covid are rolling in. They include members of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign staff, who are now contending with sickness from Covid, according to two sources close to the campaign with knowledge of the cases. There is at least some concern the developments could affect staffing at events this week, they added. (Korecki and Perlmutter-Gumbiner, 8/26)

For many, Covid is increasingly regarded like the common cold. A scratchy throat and canceled plans bring a bewildering new critique from friends: You shouldn’t have tested. (Baumgaertner, 8/27)

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said senior officials in the Biden administration had pressured his social media company to censor COVID-19 content during the pandemic, adding that he would push back if this were to happen again. In a letter dated Aug. 26, Zuckerberg told the judiciary committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that he regretted not speaking up about this pressure earlier, as well as some decisions the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp had made around removing certain content. (8/27)

Former U.S. presidential hopeful and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr on Monday lost his bid in a U.S. court to force Google’s YouTube to restore two videos the platform removed for allegedly violating its policies on medical misinformation. In a brief order, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said a lower court judge properly denied Kennedy’s request for a court order compelling the Alphabet unit to restore the videos it removed in 2023. (Scarcella, 8/26)

A recent measles outbreak in Oregon is refocusing attention on declining childhood vaccination rates as kids head back to school. Lingering vaccine hesitancy from the pandemic is evident in pediatricians' offices as more parents opt out of the shots for measles, chicken pox, and whooping cough, among others, using non-medical religious exemptions. (Reed, 8/27)

The school year starts next week for many Minnesota families and physicians are concerned about children being undervaccinated. Right now, there’s a global outbreak of measles, with 34 cases reported in Minnesota; there have been more than 500 cases of whooping cough so far this year. Minnesota is also experiencing a summertime COVID-19 surge, with cases on the rise following Fourth of July celebrations. (Wurzer and Stockton, 8/26)

Some say vaccines are a victim of their own success. Because vaccines have been so effective at eradicating some of the most dangerous diseases, most of us have actually never experienced what it is like to live in a world where you can contract diseases like measles at the grocery store or where your child can get polio and be paralyzed. It’s a radically different world than we know right now. And it’s sometimes hard to comprehend that, especially with a lot of misconceptions about vaccines floating around. (Yousry, 8/26)