Fauci defends need for vaccine booster shots

The nation’s top infectious diseases expert stressed the importance of COVID-19 booster shots Tuesday after a report this week questioned their use.

Booster shots are a crucial part of the effort to halt the coronavirus surge because immunity is waning across all age groups, Dr. Anthony Fauci told MSNBC. He said the government is working to provide vaccine for the U.S. and the world and reprised his call for all Americans to get jabbed, even if young and healthy.

“If you get infected, even if you don’t have any symptoms, it is likely that you will pass the virus on to someone else who might pass it on to someone else who might have a severe outcome leading to hospitalization and even death,” Fauci said. “So you’ve got to look at it that you’re not in a vacuum, you’re part of society.”

Fauci’s comments come after a review by international scientists – including some at the World Health Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – questioned the value and ethics of providing third “booster” shots to healthy Americans while many countries are unable to secure sufficient vaccine for first and second jabs.

The review, published Monday in The Lancet, found vaccines remain highly effective against severe disease, including from the delta and other variants.

Judge blocks NY mandate on vaccinations for health workers

A federal judge temporarily blocked the state of New York on Tuesday from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after 17 health care workers sued, saying their constitutional rights were violated because the state’s mandate disallowed religious exemptions.

Judge David Hurd in Utica gave the state until Sept. 22 to respond to the lawsuit in federal court.

The state issued the order Aug. 28, requiring at least a first shot for health care workers at hospitals and nursing homes by Sept. 27.

Based on size, Tennessee had the most COVID-19 cases in US

Tennessee had the most coronavirus infections of all U.S. states in the past seven days and over the entire pandemic when adjusted for population, according to data compiled by The New York Times.

Tennessee averaged more than 8,300 new infections each day over the last seven days and has seen a total of 1.15 million cases since the pandemic began. When adjusting these numbers for population, Tennessee surpassed such states as North Dakota and Florida.

Still, Gov. Bill Lee has vowed to fight President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring businesses with more than 100 employees to require vaccination or weekly COVID-19 testing. Lee calls the mandate unconstitutional.

– Adam Friedman, Nashville Tennessean

Man who spent 16 years on death row before being freed dies of COVID-19

A man who spent a third of his life on death row following a wrongful murder conviction has died of COVID-19.

Damon Thibodeaux died two weeks ago, nine years after DNA evidence exonerated him and he was released from solitary confinement at Angola Prison in Louisiana. Thibodeaux had been arrested in 1996 for the murder of his 14-yearold cousin. The Innocence Project of New York reinvestigated the case and Thibodeaux’s conviction was overturned. – Asha C. Gilbert Contributing: John Bacon, Christal Hayes and Grace Hauck, USA TODAY; The Associated Press