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Two small studies from Columbia University and Harvard University in October suggested the new shots did not produce better antibody response against the omicron BA.5 variant than boosters of the original vaccines. But the CDC came out with two studies Friday detailing the bivalent vaccine's effectiveness against COVID-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations and effectiveness against hospitalization specifically among older people. (Ahn, 12/18)

Updated bivalent (two-strain) mRNA booster shots, which target the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 sublineages of COVID-19 and the original strain, cut the risk of contracting severe COVID-19 by up to 57%, according to a study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report today, but most Americans have yet to get the shot since they were made available on Sep 1.A second study today in the same journal shows the bivalent boosters are particularly effective at preventing hospitalizations in elderly Americans. (Soucheray, 12/16)

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Sunday challenged a call from Florida’s GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis to investigate COVID-19 vaccines, arguing Republicans should not “undermine science” and medical experts. ... “We shouldn’t undermine science. We shouldn’t undermine the medical community that’s very important to our public health,” he said. “We are not good as a society, it’s not the right direction, if we diminish the facts, we diminish all the best information that we have from science at the time.” (Dress, 12/18)

Nursing homes—facing labor shortages, limited bed space, and faltering Covid-19 vaccination rates—want hospitals to provide seniors with updated booster shots before discharging them to their facilities. About 90% of new nursing home arrivals come directly from hospitals. It’s unclear, however, what percentage have received Covid boosters or vaccinations because hospitals aren’t required to track the information. (Pugh, 12/19)

A study in The Lancet Regional Health finds that wide disparities in healthcare capacity in the United States, particularly in rural areas, hampered COVID-19 vaccination efforts during the pandemic. ... The average number of medical doctors per 1,000 in low-vaccinated counties was 0.19 compared to 0.81 in high-vaccinated ones. While most research has focused on vaccine hesitancy as being a lead cause of regional vaccine disparities in the United States, this study showed lack of healthcare coverage also contributed to gaps between urban and rural Americans. (Soucheray, 12/16)

As COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths climb in Massachusetts and across the country for the third winter in a row, public health officials worry that only 11.8 percent of Boston residents have received the Omicron-specific bivalent booster. Those numbers are even lower in communities that have disproportionately struggled with COVID-19, such as Black and Latino communities. (Mohammed, 12/18)

The smuggling of monkeys caught in the wild is believed to have been going on for years due to the colossal demand for laboratory monkeys in the U.S. (Schapiro, Schecter, W. Lehren and Delgado, 12/17)