Ex-UK PM Brown accuses West of 'moral outrage' over COVID vaccine stockpiling  - Former British prime minister Gordon Brown accused rich countries of committing a 'moral outrage' by stockpiling COVID-19 doses while poor countries are struggling to get supplies - Brown, who is a United Nations special envoy, called on U.S. President Joe Biden and other Group of Seven leaders to urgently ship vaccines from warehouses in America and Europe to Africa. Western countries are hoarding nearly 300 million shots while only 70 million people in Africa have so far been vaccinated, Brown said in an opinion piece published in the Sunday Mirror newspaper, citing research by data firm Airfinity.

A generation of young people is at risk from the UK’s latest Covid experiment  - The country is an international outlier in restoring in-person learning without mitigations or vaccination of 12 to 15-year-olds. Neurologists warned that Covid-19 could fuel a pandemic of dementia, because of long-term brain damage wrought in some patients. Second, a paper in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology noted that “long Covid” sufferers are at increased risk of kidney damage. Millions may need dialysis for years to come, a costly tragedy for patients and creaking healthcare systems.

Israel is planning to administer fourth Covid shot which could be adjusted to fight new variants as country battles wave of infections despite hugely successful vaccine rollout -  Israel is set to begin preparations to administer fourth doses of the coronavirus vaccines as the country deals with soaring cases despite its trail-blazing roll-out of jabs. The country's national coronavirus czar Salman Zarka said the country needs to prepare for a fourth injection, which could be modified to better protect against new variants of the virus. 'Given that that the virus is here and will continue to be here, we also need to prepare for a fourth injection,' he told Kan public radio. 'This is our life from now on, in waves.'

White House Unveils $65 Billion Plan to Combat New Pandemics - The Biden administration unveiled a $65.3 billion plan to prepare for future pandemics threats, likening the ambitious proposal to the Apollo mission to the moon. The proposal announced Friday by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and National Security Council focuses on protecting the U.S. against potentially catastrophic biological threats, including those that are naturally occurring, accidental or deliberately set in motion by bad actors.

Covid Survivors More Likely to Have Kidney Problems, Study Finds - Since the beginning of the pandemic, doctors have found that people who become very ill with Covid-19 often experience kidney problems, not just the lung impairments that are the hallmark of the illness. Now, a large study suggests that kidney issues can last for months after patients recover from the initial infection, and may lead to a serious lifelong reduction of kidney function in some patients.

Everything we know about the mu variant, the latest coronavirus mutation -  On Monday the World Health Organization (WHO) officially labeled the mu variant as a 'variant of interest,' a designation that indicates a need for further study about possible dangers while falling short of the more serious classification, 'variant of concern.' Variants of concern are regarded as a top priority because they are more immunity-resistant, contagious or deadly than other strains. Currently the WHO considers four strains to meet those criteria: alpha, beta, gamma and delta (the variant most prevalent in the United States).

Crowded U.S. Jails Drove Millions Of COVID-19 Cases, A New Study Says  -  If the U.S. had done more to reduce its incarceration rate, it could have prevented millions of COVID-19 cases. That's the conclusion of researchers who conducted what they say is the first study to link mass incarceration rates to pandemic vulnerability. Many of those preventable cases, they add, occurred in communities of color. The U.S. jail and prison system acts as an epidemic engine, according to the study from researchers at Northwestern University and the World Bank. That engine is driven by a massive number of people who, despite some counties' efforts to trim jail populations, have been cycling between cramped detention facilities and their home communities.

mRNA COVID vaccines not tied to serious side effects - Ten months ago, the results of large clinical trials appeared almost too good to be true: Two messenger RNA vaccines reduced symptomatic Covid-19 cases by more than 90% in almost every group that got them. Now, subtle differences between the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc. vaccines are emerging across patient groups over time. One small U.S. study found waning levels of antibodies with Pfizer’s vaccine, particularly in an older group of people. And a larger study from Belgium found that Moderna’s shot may generate more antibodies than Pfizer’s.

Italy to Decide on Compulsory Vaccine This Month, Minister Says - Italy will decide by the end of September whether Covid-19 vaccines will become mandatory for all people aged 12 and over, according to a minister in Mario Draghi’s coalition. “If we will not have reached a vaccination level between 80% and 90% we will pass a law to impose the Covid-19 vaccine to all people against it,” Public Administration Minister Renato Brunetta said Sunday in an interview at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy. “We will decide by the end of the month.”

Brazil-Argentina Match Stopped When Health Officials Storm Field - A World Cup qualification game between Brazil and Argentina, South America’s most successful soccer teams, was halted after only a few minutes on Sunday after Brazilian health authorities walked onto the field during play in an apparent dispute about coronavirus quarantine regulations. In chaotic scenes in São Paulo, a group of Brazilian public health officials entered the field minutes into the highly anticipated showdown and ordered Argentina’s players off the field as officials from both sides, a small crowd allowed inside the stadium and a global television audience struggled to comprehend just what was taking place.