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Democrats’ bad policies are responsible for today’s historic inflation

The bill for bad Democratic policies is coming due in the form of historic inflation. Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced consumer prices increased by 9.1 percent over the past year, a 41-year high. Runaway prices are causing real wages and living standards to meaningfully decline. Over the previous year, real weekly earnings have fallen by 4.4 percent, a greater drop than even during the Great Recession.

President Biden reacted to the inflation numbers by calling them “out-of-date” because gas prices have moderated slightly over the past couple of weeks. But this perspective overlooks the fact that “core” inflation, excluding energy and food prices, is accelerating. BLS called price hikes “broad-based.” Biden repeatedly has been wrong about inflation, calling it “temporary” last July and saying it had hit “its peak” in December. So, there’s no reason to pay attention to him now.

Things are especially difficult for small businesses. On Thursday, the BLS revealed that wholesale prices increased by 11.3 percent over the past year. Small businesses operating on narrow profit margins have no choice but to pass along these high costs, potentially alienating loyal customers, reducing demand, and accelerating the inflationary cycle.

New Job Creators Network SBIQ monthly polling of small businesses reveals sentiment fell in June to its lowest level in index history. Small businesses overwhelmingly cite high inflation as the biggest problem they face.

Historic inflation is pushing the economy into a recession. The Atlanta Federal Reserve estimates gross domestic product shrank by 1.2 percent in the year’s second quarter. Combined with the first-quarter slowdown of 1.6 percent, this assessment means the economy shrank in two consecutive quarters, indicating a recession.

And for all the talk of a strong labor market, last week’s jobs report shows the labor force declined by 353,000 in June. Weekly unemployment claims released Thursday were at their highest level of the year.

This painful inflation and its broader economic consequences directly result from bad Democratic policies. Exhibit A: Trillions of dollars in reckless spending in 2021 when the economy was recovering led to too many dollars chasing too few goods. Exhibit B: The numerous government programs such as expanded unemployment insurance through most of 2021 that encouraged Americans not to work, reducing labor supply and pushing up costs.

Exhibit C: Radical green energy policies downstream from Biden’s “guarantee” on the campaign trail “to end fossil fuel” that reduced supply and drove up gas prices. Exhibit D: Support for easy money and Modern Monetary Theory policy that led to a historic expansion of the money supply and devalued the dollar.

As I argued in these pages earlier this year, runaway inflation should discredit Democrats’ fiscal and monetary policies. Next time Democrats push for deficit spending, radical green policies, welfare expansions, or quantitative easing, Americans should respond, “We tried that approach already and it caused the worst inflation in two generations.”

In fact, real inflation today may be even higher than levels during the Carter administration because of changes to Consumer Price Index methodology. Economist John Williams estimates that today’s inflation, if historically calculated, would be 17.3 percent.

Unfortunately, Democrats are looking to compound inflation’s pain by pursuing $400 billion of tax increases on small businesses in their latest reconciliation bill effort. A small business tax hike would make it more difficult for entrepreneurs to scale and grow, reducing small business supply when it’s desperately needed to help overcome inflation.

The Federal Reserve will try to control inflation by significantly raising interest rates at its policy meeting this month. Yet this move has consequences of its own, depressing asset prices on which ordinary Americans rely for their retirement and making it more expensive for small businesses to start or expand. But Democrats’ bad policies have left the Fed with no other choice. Unfortunately, ordinary Americans and small businesses are left to pick up the tab. 

Alfredo Ortiz is president and CEO of Job Creators Network. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Dallas middle and high school students required to carry clear or mesh backpacks

Students in Dallas will be required to use clear or mesh backpacks when they return to school in the fall, district officials announced on Monday.

The Dallas Independent School District (ISD), the second largest in Texas, updated its website to require see-through backpacks for students from sixth to 12th grade. A nonclear pouch will be allowed in the backpack to carry personal items.

Officials said the rule would create a safer environment for students after the deadly mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in May, which left 19 children and two adults dead.

The Dallas ISD said they would distribute free, clear bags before the school year starts in the fall.

“We acknowledge that clear or mesh backpacks alone will not eliminate safety concerns. This is merely one of several steps in the district’s comprehensive plan to better ensure student and staff safety,” officials wrote on the website.

The decision was made after the district collected feedback from the community. A school task force had also recommended the policy.

Requiring students to wear clear or mesh backpacks is not a new idea. After a gunman opened fire inside a high school in Parkland, Fla., in 2018, the school district encompassing the high school in Broward County also required students to wear clear backpacks.

A clear backpack rule was also instituted for some students in Oxford, Mich., after a gunman killed four students and injured seven others at a local high school last year.

Source: TEST FEED1

Changing the game in gaming

Jessica Gonzalez, a campaign organizer with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), has experienced firsthand the working conditions of the video game industry employees she is helping organize.

Before making her official exit last year, Gonzalez spent nearly a decade in the gaming industry, more than half of that time with Activision Blizzard.

She started her career at the now-embattled company, known for games including World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, as a quality assurance (QA) tester in 2015. After leaving to work at indie gaming company Boundless Entertainment for a couple years, she returned to Activision Blizzard as a full-time test analyst, but says that QA testers were treated as “second-class citizens,” separated from developers, with conditions that bred burnout.

“Our leadership is just constantly failing us, and it’s been a theme since I joined the company. And sadly, it’s everywhere — it’s not just Activision Blizzard,” Gonzalez said in a recent interview with The Hill.

“The games industry, I think notoriously, they exploit passion rather than nurture passion, and that causes people to get super burned out,” she added.

Gonzalez resigned from her role at Activision in December after playing an active role in organizing within the company. In a resignation message she posted on LinkedIn, she said she was leaving to put her “wellbeing first.”

“There are good people in the industry, and I believe with enough education and awareness ABK can be a great place to be. There’s a lot of work to do still and I am mentally wounded from this fight. It’s been a long and exhausting road for change, but it isn’t over,” she wrote.

A spokesperson for the company said it is categorically untrue that QA testers are separated from developers in the workplace, adding that in fact, the company’s model has QA testers work alongside development groups and encourages teams to interact and work more closely together.

After leaving, Gonzalez worked part-time at CWA while also employed at a financial technology firm. In March, she moved to full-time work at CWA, where she’s helping to organize workers at Activision Blizzard and across the gaming industry.

Momentum to organize at Activision Blizzard gained steam over the past year, following a pair of high-profile lawsuits against the company.

A California Department of Fair Employment and Housing complaint filed last July kicked off a string of labor action, including walkouts Gonzalez was a part of. The suit alleges that the company fostered a “frat boy” culture that subjected women to sexual harassment and lower pay. The case is ongoing, and Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations.

The U.S. Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had a separate case against the company over sexual harassment. The company settled the federal case in March for $18 million.

Gonzalez is appealing the EEOC settlement, calling the $18 million a “slap in the face.” 

Not only is the settlement too low, she said, but under the agreements of the deal, anyone who chooses to be part of the EEOC settlement will waive their rights to be part of the California suit.

Following the California lawsuit, Gonzalez helped create the “A Better ABK” Twitter page, which operates as “the voice of the workers, and not management,” she said.

The group is active — and planning another walkout on July 21, with demands focusing on external threats, such as the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe. v. Wade, as well as internal ones, including relations and harassment in the workplace.

The company has made a number of changes over the past year, following the lawsuits, aimed at improving workplace conditions, including high-level leadership personnel changes.

In October, the company announced a new zero-tolerance harassment policy and released a pay equity review of 2020 that found men who performed comparable work earned “essentially the same amount of compensation” as women.

Gonzalez said some of the key changes for Activision workers have been secured through organizing.

“The company is co-opting all the action changes that we have won [through the] organizing campaign. All of the changes that have been made were won because we’ve organized, and we’ve had a clear vision, and we’ve gained enough support from the public,” she said.

A company spokesperson said Activision had been making a specific and concerted effort to improve what was offered for temporary employees before formal employee organizing efforts.

One crucial change Gonzalez said organizers helped secure was converting all temporary and contingent QA team members to full-time employment status. The change allowed the workers to get benefits and eliminated a system Gonzalez said let the company continue “dangling a carrot” of full-time work in front of contracted workers.

“This is amazing to see because it just shows that collective action works. We actively expressed why contracting is super problematic, why it’s the perfect formula for abuse, why people are struggling — and ultimately the product suffers because of it. So it was great to see them all they converted over to full time,” she said.

Another change secured paid holiday time for QA testers during the two-week period where studios close in the winter, she said. QA testers before went without pay during the holiday weeks.

Organizers hit a key milestone in May, when a group of QA testers at Raven Software, an Activision subsidiary based in Wisconsin, voted to unionize, the first gaming worker union at a large U.S. company.

Activision itself may soon be under the umbrella of Microsoft, which is seeking to acquire it in a deal valued at nearly $70 billion, subject to regulatory approval.

That change may bode well for organizers. Microsoft pledged not to interfere with efforts by Activision employees to form a union in a neutrality agreement with the CWA last month.

Gonzalez said Microsoft’s agreement is a “huge benefit,” and CWA President Christopher Shelton sent a letter last month to the Federal Trade Commission saying the union supports Microsoft’s bid because of the agreement.

Gonzalez said she is hopeful the building momentum will propel more unions industrywide.

“These types of working environments breed cultures of harassment, stepping all over each other — it’s almost like a rat race to get to the top. So I am hoping this is a monumental time in game development history where [people] are just realizing, ‘Hey, yes, we love working on games, but we should also work ethically and safely,’ ” she said, adding that better working conditions will also produce higher-quality games.

“Often it’s just a revolving door of talent, and it’s why you’re not getting huge blockbuster games right now, because people are just getting so used to [getting] chewed up and spit out in this industry. And I think that developers that are paid better are going to perform better,” she said. “And I hope that we can change it.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Congress: To prevent addiction, empower physicians and patients to choose non-opioids

Every month, it seems, the United States smashes another unenviable record when it comes to drug addiction and overdose statistics. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the latest data show a jaw-dropping 108,000 overdose deaths in 2021. America’s families and communities are reeling — and the federal government needs to help.

As part of a broader strategy to save lives, Congress and the Biden administration must embrace efforts to prevent addiction before it can begin. This means reducing the overprescribing of opioid-based medications, preventing the illicit use and diversion of these powerful drugs, and expanding access to a wide array of drugs and devices that can often manage pain without the risks of addiction.

Opioids are potent painkillers. As part of a carefully managed treatment plan, they can be miracle drugs for many patients who experience severe pain. But given the inherent risks, as well as each individual’s unique situation, opioids should not be the first-line treatment for everyone.

It’s widely accepted that the crisis we find ourselves in today was fueled by the overprescribing of opioids — a trend that continues despite some progress. In 2020, doctors wrote over 142 million prescriptions for opioids, or 43.3 prescriptions per 100 persons. The CDC found that some counties still have opioid prescribing rates that are a whopping nine times the national average, and roughly 4 percent of counties dispense enough opioid prescriptions for every resident to have one.

Surgery is a common pathway for prescription opioid use, with the average surgical patient receiving 80 pills after the procedure, approximately half of which are left in medicine cabinets and are amenable to potential diversion and abuse. Considering these factors, it’s not surprising that 9.3 million people misused prescription pain relievers in 2020 — ten times more than the number of people who used heroin. Unfortunately, older Americans are not immune to addiction: Roughly three percent of Medicare beneficiaries live with opioid use disorder (OUD).

Prescription opioids are many people’s first experience with opioids (few start by taking heroin or fentanyl) — but overly restrictive policies forced many people who became addicted to prescription opioids to seek illicit drugs when the prescriptions became harder to obtain. Much of this downward spiral could be avoided if opioids were prescribed more appropriately in the first place.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in collaboration with researchers from Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, recently published research that offers some insight into how focusing on prescription opioids might help address the current crisis. The findings suggest that decreasing the number of people who receive an opioid prescription reduces the prevalence of opioid use disorder and overdose deaths. Although the effects are minor at first, they compound over time to create a major benefit for society. The study also found that interventions designed to prevent the misuse and diversion of prescription opioids is “among the more effective interventions available” to prevent opioid addiction and overdose.

The FDA has approved many non-opioid alternatives for pain management, including long-acting local anesthetics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and sympathetic nerve blocks, among others. Having served at FDA for many years, and also having both administered and used some of those products and procedures, I have no doubt that they are safe and effective, and that the benefits of using them far outweigh the risks.

Despite all this, non-opioid interventions are not utilized nearly enough. Instead, many physicians still rely on opioid-based painkillers as the default treatment option simply because Medicare payment policy creates perverse incentives for doing so. Medicare should not favor one type of pain management approach over another; instead, there should be a level playing field for all FDA-approved drugs and devices so that doctors and their patients can make the decisions about how best to treat post-surgical pain.

Fortunately, Congress is working to remove the barriers that disincentivize doctors from considering non-opioid alternatives. The bipartisan Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act (H.R. 3259/S. 586) has garnered an impressive 47 co-sponsors in the Senate and over 100 co-sponsors in the House. If enacted, the legislation will ensure that both opioid-based and non-opioid-based treatments are reimbursed by Medicare at the same rates in the ambulatory surgical centers and hospital outpatient department settings.

Given the magnitude of the crisis, the NOPAIN Act would not be a silver bullet, but it would help to reduce the incidence of opioid use disorder and overdose deaths in the years to come. For the sake of patient health and choice, it’s long past time to treat FDA-approved non-opioid approaches fairly. The NOPAIN Act is a no-brainer.

Henry I. Miller, a physician and molecular biologist, is a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank. He was the founding director of the FDA’s Office of Biotechnology and a Research Associate at the NIH. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Complex venom varieties make snakebites hard to treat: study

An evolutionary “arms race” with their prey has left rattlesnakes with an ever-shifting arsenal of venom varieties, which may be one reason why snakebites are so hard to treat, a new study has found.

Drew Schield, lead author of the study published Monday in Nature Ecology and Evolution, said understanding the constantly shifting nature of snake venom could help scientists design more effective treatments.

“We found these rattlesnakes had a more diverse venom repertoire, more genetic tools in the toolkit, than their venom composition alone might suggest,” Schield, a postdoctoral fellow in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder, said in a statement.

Serious snakebites are treated with antivenoms, which neutralize the toxins injected by the bite. They are purified versions of the compounds that prey animals generate to protect themselves against snakebite.

Antivenoms are made by injecting relatively large mammals — like horses or goats — with small amounts of venom milked from snakes, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

That causes the mammals to produce defensive antibodies to neutralize the venom, which can then be extracted, purified and injected into snakebite victims. 

Unfortunately, these are the very sorts of natural defenses that rattlesnakes’ venom evolved to evade.

In order to successfully hunt a wide variety of prey — each with its own actively evolving defenses — the snakes keep a broad genetic “toolkit” of venom varieties, which allows them to constantly adapt to new conditions or habitats, the study released Monday found.

That means there’s no guarantee that two rattlesnake bites contain the same deadly proteins.

“Venom composition within the same species but in different geographic regions might be totally different,” Schield said.

Researchers attribute this to a long-running evolutionary strategy. For millions of years, venomous snakes have kept copies of genes that allow them to produce venom varieties that they aren’t currently using.

That packrat strategy has helped keep the scaly predators out of an evolutionary dead end, researchers found.

That contradicts how scientists had long assumed snake venom had evolved: by a process of increasing specialization, in which old and unused venom genes were pared away as their prey — largely rodents, birds and other reptiles — developed resistance.

Instead, the snakes kept those old variants in reserve, coiled in their genome for when they would be useful again.

“It turns out that the arms-race between snakes and prey ends up favoring the constant re-shuffling of venom variants,” co-author Todd Castoe of the University of Arlington said in a statement.

Schield said that by understanding the broad range of possible toxins hidden in venomous snake genomes, scientists will be better able to develop effective treatments.

Source: TEST FEED1

Prince Harry says world 'witnessing a global assault on democracy'

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, says the world is “witnessing a global assault on democracy and freedom,” calling for action at what he dubs a “pivotal moment.”

The 37-year-old British royal family member delivered a fiery address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday to mark Nelson Mandela International Day.

Harry called the current moment a “time of global uncertainty and division, when it’s all too easy to look around and feel anger or despair.”

“How many of us feel battered, helpless in the face of the seemingly endless stream of disasters and devastation?” Harry asked.

Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Harry called 2022 a “painful year in a painful decade.”

Harry — who in 2020 stepped down along with his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, as a full-time working member of the royal family and moved to California — called out “a few weaponizing lies and disinformation at the expense of the many.”

Saying the United States is seeing a “rolling back of constitutional rights,” Harry told the General Assembly, “We are witnessing a global assault on democracy and freedom — the cause of Mandela’s life.”

“As we sit here today, our world is on fire…again,” Harry said.

The climate change crisis, he said “will only grow worse unless our leaders lead, unless the countries represented by the seats in this hallowed hall make the decisions — the daring, transformative decisions — that our world needs to save humanity.”

“These decisions may not fit with the agendas of every political party. They may invite resistance from powerful interests. But the right thing to do is not up for debate, and neither is the science,” Harry, who as a member of the royal family was expected to maintain political neutrality, said.

“This is a pivotal moment — a moment when multiple converging crises have given way to an endless string of injustices,” Harry said during his keynote speech.

Harry urged leaders and the public to model their response to the world’s catastrophes after Mandela, who became South Africa’s first democratically elected leader after being imprisoned for 27 years during apartheid. Mandela died in 2013.

“We can do what Mandela did every, single day behind that 7.9 foot prison cell on Robben Island and every day outside of it, too. We can find meaning and purpose in the struggle.”

“We can wear our principles as armor,” the father of two said.

“We have an obligation to give as much, if not more, than we take. And never shudder in the face of darkness. The hope is the fuel that courage requires,” he said.

“Let’s seek out what we have in common, empower all people to reclaim our democracy,” Harry said, “and harness the light of Mandela’s memory to illuminate the way forward.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Yellen calls for US, allies to fortify supply chains to combat China's 'unfair trade practices'

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will call for the United States to leverage its allies to build more resilient supply chains during a speech in South Korea on Tuesday.

Her remarks will focus on the need to jointly develop stronger supply chains for key components, like semiconductors and electric vehicle batteries, with like-minded countries to combat China’s attempted dominance in those industries, according to excerpts released by the Treasury Department.

“We cannot allow countries like China to use their market position in key raw materials, technologies or products to disrupt our economy or exercise unwanted geopolitical leverage,” Yellen will say.

She will speak during a visit to the LG Sciencepark in Seoul on Tuesday local time, which is Monday evening in the United States. Yellen’s visit to South Korea comes as part of her trip to Asia that included the G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Indonesia.

The speech comes as Yellen and other Biden administration officials push Congress to pass a bill to boost the semiconductor industry so companies do not base their manufacturing to China.

Lawmakers have been negotiating through a conference committee to develop a singular bill that can pass both chambers. 

But with growing urgency over the funding, a new path has emerged for lawmakers to potentially push through roughly $50 billion in funding for the industry in the coming days and avoid contention over more controversial aspects of the larger proposal that have delayed passage.

Yellen on Tuesday will acknowledge that countries “remain vulnerable” to adversaries leveraging their dominant market positions to exert their geopolitical goals, referencing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“One such example is China, which has directed significant resources to seek a dominant position in the manufacturing of certain advanced technologies, including semiconductors, while employing a range of unfair trade practices to achieve this position,” Yellen will say.

Although the semiconductor bill would boost domestic production, Yellen will argue that building resilient supply chains will require “friend-shoring,” a concept that a group of nations with shared values should convince companies to build manufacturing operations within their territories.

“Friend-shoring is about deepening relationships and diversifying our supply chains with a greater number of trusted trading partners to lower risks for our economy and theirs,” Yellen will say.

“In doing so, we can help to insulate both American and Korean households from the price increases and disruptions caused by geopolitical and economic risks and facilitate our businesses’ access to vital inputs and products – from medicine to semiconductors to electric vehicle batteries,” she will say.

Source: TEST FEED1

Man accused of fatally stabbing former NASCAR driver killed in police shooting

The man accused of fatally stabbing former NASCAR driver Bobby East at a gas station last week was shot and killed during a shootout with officers in California over the weekend.

The Westminster Police Department said in a press release the suspect connected to East’s stabbing was fatally shot on Friday after officers obtained a warrant to enter a residence in Anaheim, Calif.

No officers were injured in the shooting.

East, a three-time United States Auto Club (USAC) national champion, was stabbed in the chest Wednesday at a gas station in Westminster, Calif., outside of Los Angeles.

Police said the suspect, 27-year-old Trent William Millsap, escaped before law enforcement arrived.

The death of East, 37, sparked grief within the racing community. East had a prolific career in USAC and a stint in NASCAR.

Kevin Miller, the president and CEO of USAC, said in a statement released on Friday that he was “shocked” by the death of East.

“On behalf of USAC, I offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Bobby, a racer among racers,” Miller said.

Cruz Pedregon, a racecar driver and owner of a National Hot Rod Association funny car team, said he was striking out his racing number in honor of East.

“I knew his dad pretty well and my USAC cars raced against him. My thoughts are with his family and friends,” Pedregon tweeted.

Source: TEST FEED1

Next up for mRNA vaccines: cancer and Alzheimer’s

A vaccine is a preparation that stimulates your immune system to respond against a disease. We have grown accustomed to thinking of a vaccine as a virus (or bacteria) or part of a virus that is “defanged” or inactivated and then introduced into the body to provoke the same kind of immune response that the full-fledged virus would. This in effect “tricks” the body into responding.

But keep in mind a vaccine can be more than just that. In fact, a vaccine means any chemical or biological substance which activates your immune system to fight off the cause of a disease.  

MRNA vaccines have received a lot of attention lately because of COVID, but they have actually been studied longer against cancer, and in fact, a recent advance has occurred with the use of an mRNA vaccine against pancreatic cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. In this case, the mRNA (genetic messenger) stimulates immune system T cells to target and fight the cancer cells. Cancer cells typically hide from immune cell detection, but the vaccines hope to overcome this by alerting the immune system to recognize proteins (antigens) on the tumor.

There are already cancer vaccines in use for some advanced cancers, specifically prostate and melanoma. The melanoma vaccine utilizes a herpes virus to induce an immune response against advanced melanoma. It has recently been studied and been found to be effective when combined with standard immunotherapy (Keytruda). 

Cancer vaccine research is exciting and promising, and the use of mRNA vaccines safely and successfully in billions throughout the pandemic has bolstered interest and provided needed real-world information. Research for mRNA-based cancer vaccines including for lung cancer, colorectal cancers, breast and ovarian cancer is proceeding rapidly. Amazon is partnering with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle to work on developing cancer vaccines.  

Vaccine research is going beyond potential uses for infections and cancer. In fact, Alzheimer’s vaccines are also looking more promising. There are several in the works that target the abnormal proteins (beta amyloid and tau) associated with Alzheimer’s Disease and prevent their buildup.

In the world of heart disease, an enzyme known as PCSK9 leads to high cholesterol, and inhibiting it with monoclonal antibodies (now in use) or vaccinating against it with RNA both appear to be sound strategies. 

Vaccines are among the greatest public health inventions, and it is a tragedy that they have been so politicized, and their lifesaving use undermined. Whether the vaccine is preventing disease altogether or lessening its impact, the results may be lifesaving. The HPV vaccine, though it prevents an infection that may lead to cancer of the cervix, is considered a cancer vaccine and is quite effective at decreasing the risk of this and other related cancers.

When it comes to coronavirus vaccines, there are several in development that may prove useful against more than just COVID. Research is ongoing on technologies that target more than just the spike protein of the virus. These include nasal barrier vaccines, being developed by Dr. Akiko Iwasaki at Yale and others. This approach holds the promise of preventing transmission of a respiratory virus entirely, something the MRNA vaccines did effectively against the early strains but much less so against the emerging omicron subvariants. 

In the future, we will have vaccines that you can lick or place on your arm with a patch or inhale or swallow rather than have injected. And they will cover and prevent a multitude of diseases, not just the pandemic subvariant of the moment. 

Marc Siegel, M.D., is a professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health. He is a Fox News medical correspondent and author of the new book, “COVID; the Politics of Fear and the Power of Science.”

Source: TEST FEED1