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Violinist Nigel Kennedy Says He Was Partly Deaf for Three Months After Covid Vaccine
The violinist Nigel Kennedy has said that he experienced partial deafness for about three months after having the third COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. “I wasn’t in a fit state to play concerts,” he said, recalling that his hearing loss coincided with the trauma of breaking the little finger of his left hand while trying to control his large dog.
Kennedy is the bestselling classical violinist of all time, breaking records with his Vivaldi’s Four Seasons recording and overcoming barriers, particularly with young people, through performances of everything from classical music to jazz and rock.
But, after his hearing loss, he said he had to confront the prospect of being unable to perform professionally again.
Hundreds of Vials of Deadly Viruses Missing After Lab Breach
Hundreds of vials containing live viruses have gone missing from a laboratory in Australia, sparking an investigation. Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls announced today that 323 samples of live viruses — including Hendra virus, Lyssavirus and Hantavirus — went missing in 2021 in a “serious breach of biosecurity protocols.”
The breach was discovered in August 2023, with nearly 100 of the missing vials containing Hendra virus, which is deadly. Two of the vials contained hantavirus, while 223 vials contained samples of lyssavirus.
Hendra virus was first discovered in the mid-1990s after infecting and killing several horses in Australia. Only a handful of humans have caught the disease after being infected by horses, but a large proportion of infected people died. “Hendra virus has a 57 percent fatality rate in humans and has had a devastating impact on those who have been infected, their families and on the veterinary and equine industries in areas where the virus spills over,” Raina Plowright, a professor at the department of public and ecosystem health at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, previously told Newsweek.
How RFK Jr. Could Reverse Our Nation’s Approach to Obesity
As the parable goes, the river was swift and unrelenting, its currents carrying victim after victim downstream. Local villagers responded by stringing nets across the water to prevent further drownings. Yet, despite their efforts, the death toll continued to rise.
Eventually, a newcomer to the village asked a simple yet critical question: “Why are people falling into the river in the first place?” Following the water upstream, the villagers discovered the source of the problem: a crumbling bridge sending person after person into the rapids.
This “upstream parable” illustrates the folly of America’s response to obesity.
Like the villagers, Americans have relied on reactive, downstream solutions to combat the problem. Bariatric surgery and, more recently, weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have helped people lose significant weight, but they don’t address the reason people become obese in the first place. Similarly, decades of well-intentioned government efforts — food labeling, public health campaigns and exercise programs — have failed to stem the tide.
Addressing the root causes of obesity requires a shift away from today’s reactive measures. Enter Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the controversial nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services. While his nomination raises serious questions, it also offers a rare opportunity to confront the drivers of the obesity epidemic. If confirmed, Kennedy could alter the trajectory of this growing crisis.
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Are Weight Loss Drugs Like Ozempic, Wegovy Safe for Kids?
Weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy are increasingly popular among adults, who have flocked to the new medication as an alternative to the traditional — and often ineffective — advice to “eat less and exercise more.” As of this summer, about 12% of U.S. adults said they had been on a GLP-1 for either weight loss or for treatment of another condition, according to a poll by KFF Health News. Celebrities have taken the drugs. The term “Ozempic face” has entered the lexicon. And the drugs have been in such high demand that counterfeit — and sometimes dangerous — versions have popped up, too.
As the drugs, which are known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, have gained name recognition among adults, they’ve also become more and more popular with children and adolescents. About one in every five children in the U.S. has obesity, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And among adolescents, prescriptions of GLP-1s have skyrocketed, too. More than 30,000 adolescents between 12 and 17 years old used GLP-1s in 2023, according to a University of Michigan study.
‘A Little Unusual’: Trump Opens up About Meeting With RFK Jr., Dr. Oz, and Drug Company Execs
In a new interview, President-elect Donald Trump shared how he is taking an open-minded approach to health care after meeting with drug company executives last week. Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker about what he did with his pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Dr. Mehmet Oz, his nominee to become Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, ahead of his second term.
“I did something the other night that was a little unusual at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said during the “Meet The Press” interview that aired on Sunday. “I called the drug companies. The top drug companies. And I called RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz and some of his people and I said, ‘Let’s all get together and figure out where we’re going, because we’re going to do a lot of things.’”
The Online Minefield of Ozempic Knock-Offs
Kelly is aware that she should have been more careful when she signed up for a weight-loss medication online. She knows she should have looked into the company selling it, but, as she puts it, “desperate times call for desperate measures.” She had gastric-bypass surgery in 2011, and that worked for a while, but then she started to gain the weight back after the “food noise” returned. “It’s not like alcohol where you can abstain,” she says. “You have to eat.”
In May, she signed up for a subscription with Zealthy, a telehealth company she found through Google. It seemed simple enough: She was charged a subscription fee and a fee for the medication she ordered, semaglutide, which is basically generic Ozempic. She quickly noticed her food cravings and appetite had decreased. About six weeks later, she noticed she was losing weight. But then the billing got weird. Screenshots of the company’s billing portal show that in September she was charged three times for one medication on top of the subscription fee and a separate “manual entry” charge of nearly $400.
BioAge Shares Tumble After Decision to Halt Obesity Drug Study
BioAge Labs said it is terminating a mid-stage study of its obesity drug candidate azelaprag in combination with Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide due to safety concerns, causing its share price to slide by three-quarters in after-hours trading Friday. Eleven people who received azelaprag in STRIDES, BioAge’s Phase 2 study, showed elevated levels of liver enzymes that can warn of potential organ damage. As a result, the company is discontinuing dosing and halting further enrollment.
The San Francisco Bay Area company raised $170 million in February and banked a $198 million initial public offering in September to fund its ambitious foray into metabolic drugs, not long after it pivoted from making treatments for age-related diseases.
Morocco Produces Africa’s First Mpox Tests as the Continent Tries to Rely Less on Imports
After African countries struggled to get testing kits during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials vowed to make the continent less dependent on imported medical supplies. Now, in a first for Africa, a Moroccan company is filling orders for mpox tests as an outbreak continues. Moroccan startup Moldiag began developing mpox tests after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a global emergency in August.
Africa’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported more than 59,000 mpox cases and 1,164 deaths in 20 countries this year. The WHO has also announced a plan to provide mpox tests, vaccines and treatments to the most vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries, after facing criticism for moving too slowly on vaccines. It recommends all suspected mpox cases be tested.
