Prepare for next pandemic, future pathogens with "even deadlier potential" than COVID, WHO chief warns WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is urging the world to be ready for the next pandemic, saying future outbreaks could be even worse than COVID. CBS News

...

China faces a new Covid wave that could peak at 65 million cases a week China is bracing for a new wave of Covid-19 infections that could see as many as 65 million cases per week by the time the surge peaks at the end of June. Yahoo News

...

The White House is seeking to preserve funding for key components of the federal coronavirus response in debt limit negotiations with House Republicans, according to senior Biden administration officials familiar with the talks.

Administration officials are trying to protect roughly $5 billion in funding for a program to develop the next generation of coronavirus vaccines and treatments. They are also looking to preserve more than $1 billion in funding for an initiative to offer free coronavirus shots to uninsured Americans, according to the officials.

NY health officials to end COVID vaccine mandate for health workers The mandate was the source of legal fight.

New York state health officials signaled Wednesday a requirement that health care workers receive the COVID-19 vaccination will end as pandemic-era rules more broadly are expiring.

The announcement comes after years of legal challenges to the vaccine requirement, which resulted in health care workers who refused to receive the vaccine losing their jobs as a result.

...

Air pollution exposure linked to severe COVID-19 outcomes CIDRAP

Air pollution exposure is associated with a higher risk of experiencing severe outcomes from COVID-19 infections, including intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and death, according to new evidence in Nature Communications from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal).

...

Antibodies spiked then waned after Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccines, but J&J response was opposite CIDRAP

...

One month after COVID-19 vaccination, compared with J&J recipients, nAB levels were 51 times higher among Moderna recipients and 21 times higher among Pfizer recipients. At 6 months, however, J&J vaccinees produced the same antibody response as that of Moderna and significantly higher concentrations than those of Pfizer.

...

Who’s in charge of the White House Covid response after the emergency ends? The White House is in the middle of setting up a new pandemic response office, but it won’t be ready in time for a clean transfer at the end of the public health emergency on May 11. Rachel Cohrs STAT

...White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha told reporters Tuesday (that) ...White House officials are in the middle of setting up an Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy that Congress mandated them to create in December, but it won’t be ready in time for a clean transfer at the end of the public health emergency on May 11.

...

What goes away when the Covid health emergency ends this week The state of emergency is over and that will affect everything from from free vaccines and tests to food assistance programs. POLITICO

The Covid-19 public health emergency ends Thursday and with it a host of pandemic-era rules and waivers that many Americans have come to take for granted.