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The Biden administration has agreed to pay $3.2 billion for 105 million doses of Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine. The deal would provide supplies for the federal government’s planned fall booster campaign. ... Under the deal, the federal government would have the option to buy 195 million additional doses, the Health and Human Services Department said Wednesday. (Restuccia and Hopkins, 6/29)

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo told a congressional subcommittee this week that Florida did not allow pediatricians and health care providers to place orders for Covid-19 vaccines for young children until the doses were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which ultimately could have led to short delays in accessing the vaccines. (Kihara, 6/29)

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is again taking issue with the Muppets of “Sesame Street” over COVID vaccines. First, it was Big Bird, the 6-year-old yellow-feathered friend who was vaccinated last November. Cruz called the announcement “government propaganda," fueling a skit on “Saturday Night Live.” His adversary this time? Elmo, age 3 and a half — and his dad, Louie, who took Elmo to get the shot just days after the United States authorized the vaccine for children under 5. (Harris, 6/29)

Hospitalizations from COVID-19 in Clark County were back up this week after a slight decrease the week before, but people who required hospitalization are generally older and unvaccinated, the Nevada Hospital Association said Wednesday. (Longhi, 6/29)

Living space is so limited at a controversial lock-up for some of Missouri’s most troubled residents that they aren’t kept away from roommates who test positive for COVID-19. Stan Schell, 74, said this scenario recently played out for him in Farmington at Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services, or SORTS, a Missouri Department of Mental Health program for sexually violent predators civilly committed against their will. In a letter, Schell said he lives in a small room with three other patients. He said two of them tested positive May 31. Schell said his request to move the men into isolation elsewhere was denied. (Bogan, 6/29)

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s top medical adviser for the coronavirus pandemic, sought on Wednesday to discourage doubts about the antiviral drug Paxlovid after disclosing that he had suffered what appeared to be a “rebound” of Covid-19 after taking a five-day course of the pills. (Stolberg, 6/30)

Since March 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci has a been a ubiquitous presence in the news. But despite the countless stories about him and his endless TV appearances, most Americans still don’t have a sense of what he’s learned in his role as their top doctor: what he’s come to understand about pandemics, about the good and bad of government service, and, really, about all of us. (Peele, 6/29)