FDA expected to authorize COVID vaccine booster shots this week – The Jerusalem Post

The Food and Drug Administration is slated to amend the emergency use authorizations for the Pfizer and the Moderna Covid-19 vaccines Thursday to allow immunocompromised people to get a third dose, NBC News reported.

The announcement is expected within the next 48 hours, but the timing could move, according to multiple sources.

The Biden administration is anticipated to put out a Covid-19 vaccine booster strategy for all vaccinated Americans in September.  Source: FDA expected to authorize COVID vaccine booster shots this week – The Jerusalem Post

Madagascar confronts its worst drought in decades | Africa | DW | 11.08.2021

In Berary, the far south of Madagascar, district head Metairie Rabefamory told German broadcaster ARD that he had seen how “five children and three women died,” stressing that “they starved to death.”

It has not rained in this remote part of the country for three years. The villagers’ fields have have turned to dust, and they have not been able to harvest anything this year.

Sinzay, a mother of eight children, survived thanks to a food delivery. “We were really helpless and like skeletons. We couldn’t even walk anymore. We would have broken down if we had just tripped over a branch,” she told ARD.

“My children are crying. They cry so much, deep down, with all their might. One has already passed out from crying so much.”

Source: Madagascar confronts its worst drought in decades | Africa | DW | 11.08.2021

California COVID Delta variant cases vs. Florida and Texas – Los Angeles Times

Experts say California’s better-than-average vaccination rates and newly implemented mandatory mask policies in parts of the state have helped prevent a more grim situation.

While governors in Florida, Texas and other states have opposed allowing local governments to mandate the wearing of masks, California has allowed counties to enact such orders in indoor public spaces for everyone age 2 and older, regardless of vaccination status.

Source: California COVID Delta variant cases vs. Florida and Texas – Los Angeles Times

Italy may have registered Europe’s hottest temperature on record – BBC News

The Italian island of Sicily may have registered the hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe – 48.8C (119.8F).

Regional authorities reported the reading, which needs to be verified by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), near Syracuse on Wednesday.

According to the WMO, the current official record in Europe is 48C, registered in Athens, Greece, in 1977.

The latest heatwave in Italy is being caused by an anticyclone – nicknamed Lucifer – moving up from Africa.

Anticyclones are areas of high atmospheric pressure where the air is sinking.

Lucifer is forecast to head north across mainland Italy, further raising temperatures in cities including the capital, Rome.

Italy’s health ministry has issued “red” alerts for extreme heat in several regions and the number of cities that face the highest health risk is expected to rise from eight to 15 by Friday.

Source: Italy may have registered Europe’s hottest temperature on record – BBC News