August 5, 2021

Mandates harden across the country. California orders health workers to be vaccinated, CNN fires three employees for coming to the office unvaccinated, and New York rolls out its Excelsior Pass Plus to verify vaccination for travel and commerce. The Washington Post reports the Biden administration is weighing whether to withhold federal funds to spur uptake, and Scientific American declares vaccine mandates “lawful, effective and based on rock-solid science,” a headline that treats a contested policy as settled fact.

The cost of the campaign shows up in the wards. The Texas Tribune describes hospitals hit by a staffing crisis as burnout drains nurses from the workforce, a shortage that predates and outlasts any single surge. Nature, meanwhile, walks through the open questions on boosters and finds it is not clear to scientists that most people need them.

The WHO’s plea to pause third doses goes unheeded, with Reuters reporting that major nations including France are sticking to their booster plans regardless. Antonio Guterres calls vaccine equality the “most pressing issue of our times” even as the richest countries move to give their already-vaccinated citizens more.