EU Backs Booster for All Adults; More OTC COVID Tests; A ‘Pacemaker for the Brain’

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The EU’s top drug regulator approved a booster for Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID vaccine for individuals ages 18 and up. (AP)

In the U.S., the FDA authorized another over-the-counter COVID-19 antigen test, ACON Laboratories’ Flowflex COVID-19 Home Test, which is expected to double rapid at-home testing capacity.

As of Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. EDT, the unofficial U.S. COVID-19 toll reached 43,853,214 cases and 703,402 deaths, up 169,450 cases and 2,224 deaths since this time yesterday.

Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare provider, fired 1,400 employees — around 2% of its workforce — because they refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine. (New York Times)

Meanwhile in Louisiana, the state’s largest healthcare system, Ochsner Health, is charging their employees $200 extra to insure their unvaccinated partners or spouses. (CBS News)

AstraZeneca filed an FDA emergency use authorization request for it’s long-acting antibody treatment, AZD7442, to prevent symptomatic COVID.

And Johnson & Johnson submitted data to the agency for authorization of a booster shot of its COVID vaccine, ahead of an FDA advisory committee on the issue.

Following new rules from the Biden administration, Southwest Airlines said it will require all employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. (CNBC)

The U.S. Supreme Court decided to allow New York state to collect a $200 million surcharge from opioid manufacturers and distributors, to offset state costs related to the epidemic. (Reuters)

Generic drugmakers Taro Pharmaceuticals, Sandoz, and Apotex Corporation agreed to pay more than $400 million to settle allegations that they conspired to fix the price of some generics, the Department of Justice announced.

A personalized, experimental deep brain stimulation therapy that uses an implanted device — a “pacemaker for the brain” — was the only treatment that helped one patient’s severe depression. (New York Times)

Josh Archibald, a 28-year-old forward for the National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers, is out for the rest of the season due to complications of myocarditis following a COVID-19 infection; he was not vaccinated. (Yahoo! Sports)

Pandemic restrictions put more prisoners in solitary confinement. Now, they may be facing long-term health consequences. (NPR)

Casey DeSantis, wife of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), was diagnosed with breast cancer. (CNN)