Reopening America

Delta Air Lines has upped its game in the vaccine pressure campaign. Stopping short of a mandate, Delta has said that unvaccinated employees will have their health insurance premiums increased by $200 a month. They cited the high cost of treating employees who have been hospitalized which averages out to $50,000 per person. Leslie Josephs, airline reporter at CNBC, joins us for more.

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Over 75% of pregnant people have not been vaccinated and doctors are reporting that they are seeing more young and healthy pregnant women ending up in hospitals on ventilators or delivering babies prematurely because of Covid. There are also some extra precautions needed in treating pregnant patients like making sure their oxygen levels are higher. Shira Stein, reporter at Bloomberg Law, joins us for more.

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The FDA has finally granted full approval to the Covid-19 vaccine made by Pfizer to those 16 and older. Children under 11 are still not approved and those ages 12-15 can get the vaccine under emergency use authorization. With this approval, the hope is that some hesitant people might now get their shots, but also that more businesses and local governments might mandate them. Andrew Joseph, reporter at STAT News, joins us for what to know about Pfizer’s full approval.

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The pandemic has changed the way we eat and what chefs serve us. Restaurants are still trying to recover from prolonged closures, supply chain issues, and lack of staff. In response to all of that we saw menus slimmed down to optimize to-go orders, which is still the case in many areas, but we also saw complete menu overhauls that limited seafood because of costs and less complicated menus that are easier to execute. Patricia Escárcega, reporting fellow at The Counter, joins us for more.

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Governors in Florida, Missouri, and Texas have begun pushing expensive Covid antibody treatments instead of masks. States are setting up and staffing infusion centers with the hope of keeping people out of hospitals. Florida’s surgeon general issued a ruling for anyone to be able to take Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment without a doctor prescription. Dan Goldberg, health care reporter at Politico, joins us for the push for Covid cocktails over masks.

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Covid booster shots are coming this fall. The Biden administration has called for boosters to be available for those that are fully vaccinated with Pfizer or Moderna eight months after their second shot. With the Delta variant, the coronavirus is still too widespread and too transmissible and the outcome of the pandemic seems pretty certain, the virus is not going away and will be endemic. Sarah Zhang, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins us for how we are going to have to live with coronavirus.

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Many Covid relief programs have been subject to fraud by scammers, but a whole slew of international scam artists have taken advantage of the enhanced unemployment benefits offered up to those affected by the pandemic. Russian scammers, Chinese hackers, and Nigerian scammers have used stolen identities easily accessed from data breaches and relaxed verification requirements to make bogus claims for Covid aid. Aging state unemployment systems also contributed to the problem. The scams are so widespread, we don't really know how much money has been stolen, but it is believed to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Kit Ramgopal, reporter with the investigative unit at NBC News, joins us for how they did it.

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It’s been a theme we have seen throughout the pandemic, a reassessment of the work-life balance. According to the latest Washington Post poll, a third of workers under 40 considered changing their careers or where they lived during the pandemic. Surprisingly, the majority of workers in this poll also wanted to return to their workplace all or most of the time. Scott Clement, polling director at The Washington Post, joins us for more.

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The world is experiencing another major coronavirus surge and every country is dealing with it differently. In those responses we are seeing pockets of people resisting the vaccines, but also a severe lack of access to the shots in poorer countries. Germany and Israel have vaccinated two-thirds of their populations, Great Britain has left it to personal responsibility and is learning to live with the virus, and Indonesia has become a new epicenter dealing with a growing number of deaths. Sammy Westfall, reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for how the world is handling the latest surge.

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The FDA is moving to authorize booster shots for those that are immunocompromised. This would be a shift in the American vaccination strategy as the Delta variant surges across the country and other countries have also approved boosters. Studies have shown that a third vaccine dose can trigger a more robust immune response in those with weaker immune systems. Jon Rockoff, health business editor at the WSJ, joins us for more.

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