Four Pfizer Doses vs Omicron; CDC Urges Better Masks; Olympics Ticket Sales Halted

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A fourth dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine boosted antibodies but to a level that appeared insufficient to prevent against Omicron infection, according to preliminary data from an Israeli trial. (CNN)

The CDC said nonsurgical N95 and KN95 respirators offer better protection against Omicron than cloth masks, and urged Americans to wear the best mask they can get.

Some Virginia school systems say they will defy Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) recent executive order that kids do not have to follow school system’s mask mandates. (WTOP)

NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD, said it’s too early to say whether Omicron could represent the final wave of the pandemic, warning of the potential for even more elusive variants. (CNBC)

An appeals court has stalled a legal challenge to the Texas law banning most abortions in the state. (Reuters)

As of Tuesday at 8 a.m. EST, the unofficial U.S. COVID toll included 66,356,336 cases and 851,688 deaths, increases of 2,273,074 and 5,200, respectively, over the same time Friday.

Hispanic individuals in the U.S. were 58% less likely to receive monoclonal antibody therapies for COVID-19 versus non-Hispanic people. (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)

Only certain approved groups can attend events at February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, after the city recorded its first Omicron variant case. (Washington Post)

Influenza’s unexpectedly quick emergence in Europe has some worried about an extended twindemic. (Reuters)

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and House member David Trone (D-Md.) tested positive for COVID. (Washington Post)

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing an Arkansas jail and its doctor for allegedly giving inmates ivermectin to treat COVID, telling them the medication was “vitamins.” (WTOP)

A new study in Nature identified a genetic risk factor — the UGT2A1/UGT2A2 locus — associated with the loss of smell after a COVID infection.

Moderna wants to market a combined booster vaccination for COVID, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as soon as late 2023, its CEO said. (Politico)

Gilead announced that it would withdraw idelalisib (Zydelig) indications for relapsed follicular lymphoma and small lymphocytic leukemia.

So-called “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli has been barred from the drug industry for life and was ordered to repay $64.4 million in profits collected after his company hiked the price of pyrimethamine (Daraprim). (AP)

Hong Kong will cull thousands of hamsters after some tested positive for COVID-19 at a local pet shop. (AP via Fox News)

ENT specialist Mary Bowden, MD, is suing Houston Methodist Hospital after it suspended her in November for spreading COVID misinformation. (Fox 26)

A longtime nurse died after she was attacked in L.A. while waiting for a bus. (CNN)