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The Biden administration announced a series of measures Thursday to track down and punish fraudsters who scammed billions of taxpayer dollars that were supposed to provide relief to Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden is pledging $1.6 billion to bolster law enforcement manpower and new programs that will be used to prosecute scammers, prevent fraud, and provide assistance to victims of identity theft. (Collins, 3/2)

Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech SE have applied for emergency use authorization of their Omicron-adapted COVID-19 vaccine in the United States as a booster dose for children aged six months through four years, the companies said on Wednesday. The Omicron-adapted vaccine is currently authorized by the U.S. health regulator as the third dose of the three-dose primary course of vaccination in the country for children in this age group. (3/1)

For the second day in a row, China on Wednesday dismissed U.S. suggestions that the COVID-19 pandemic may have been triggered by a virus that leaked from a Chinese laboratory. Responding to comments by FBI Director Christopher Wray, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the involvement of the U.S. intelligence community was evidence enough of the “politicization of origin tracing.” “By rehashing the lab-leak theory, the U.S. will not succeed in discrediting China, and instead, it will only hurt its own credibility,” Mao said. (3/1)

The inability to pin down COVID's origins has opened the door to politically charged speculation and fierce debate, but without concrete evidence, people are forming narratives based on incomplete information with major geopolitical consequences. (Owens and Snyder, 3/2)

Two new observational studies suggest that COVID-19 vaccination lowers long-COVID incidence and severity, although the authors of a related commentary say trials comparing vaccination with a placebo are needed. The research was published yesterday in BMJ Medicine. (Van Beusekom, 3/1)

Nearly 50,000 preterm births may have been averted across a group of mostly high-income countries in one month alone. (Preston, 3/2)

You may have thought the question of masking was settled, or at least that we had all agreed to disagree, but no such luck. The debate over whether masks limit COVID-19 transmission recently reignited after a new review of the research came out, drawing out skeptics and defenders, and — as so often happens — leaving the ordinary citizen befuddled. Here’s a rundown of the latest debate, and what you can take away from it. (Freyer, 3/2)

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists worried cows and pigs might be potential victims or carriers of the coronavirus. Research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture quickly found the virus didn’t threaten that livestock. But when scientists began looking at one of the most common large wild species in the Midwest — white-tailed deer — they found the animals could catch and spread the virus. (Katie Peikes, 3/1)

The UK government considered whether it might have to ask people to exterminate all pet cats during the early days of the Covid pandemic, a former health minister said. It was unclear whether domestic cats could transmit coronavirus, James Bethell said. (Ambrose, 3/1)

In its weekly update on COVID-19 today, the World Health Organization (WHO) said cases dropped 76% over the last 28 days, compared to the previous 28 days, with deaths down 66% over the same period. The WHO included caveats that the numbers are underestimates due to reduced testing and delays in reporting. Cases declined in all world regions, and deaths fell in all regions except the Eastern Mediterranean. (Schnirring, 3/1)

Four New York City ambulance workers who said they were disciplined for speaking to the media during the harrowing, early months of the COVID-19 pandemic have reached a settlement in their free speech lawsuit against the fire department and the city, their union announced Wednesday. The four emergency medical workers — including paramedic Elizabeth Bonilla, who allowed the Associated Press follow her through the first half of a 16-hour double shift in April 2020 — will each receive $29,999, a spokesperson for FDNY EMS Local 2507 said. Additionally, the city will expunge from their records any claim that they violated department rules by communicating with the news media. (3/1)

Recent cases of bird flu discovered in two Cambodian villagers, one of them fatal, show no sign of human-to-human transmission, health officials in the Southeast Asian nation say, allaying fears of a public health crisis. (Cheang, 3/1)