Category: International

Fully vaccinated people can ditch the mask outdoors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week — unless they’re at a crowded event. Dr. Anthony Fauci explains the new guidance to NPR and weighs in on how soon children under 16 might be eligible for vaccines.

NPR’s Joe Palca reports on the scientific effort to learn more about how long vaccines protect us.

Additional reporting in this episode from NPR’s Allison Aubrey.

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Any one of President Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar spending packages would be among the largest ever enacted by Congress. He has passed one — the American Recuse Plan — and proposed two others in his first 100 days.

NPR Congressional correspondent Susan Davis explains his latest proposal — the American Families Plan.

Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin tells NPR that in times of crisis, past Presidents have had success enacting ambitious agendas.

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Israel and the United Kingdom are among the most-vaccinated countries in the world. Their success is due in part to public health campaigns designed to fight vaccine disinformation in faith and minority communities.

As part of NPR’s series on fighting disinformation, London correspondent Frank Langfitt visited a mosque-turned-vaccination center on the frontline of that battle. In Israel, NPR’s Daniel Estrin followed the man who helped lead the public health campaign for vaccines.

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The first set of results from the 2020 census are in, and according to the count, the official population of the United States is 331,449,281.

Black Americans being victimized and killed by the police is an epidemic. As the trial of Derek Chauvin plays out, it’s a truth and a trauma many people in the US and around the world are again witnessing first hand. But this tension between African American communities and the police has existed for centuries. This week, the origins of policing in the United States and how those origins put violent control of Black Americans at the heart of the system.

Last year, hackers believed to be directed by the Russian intelligence service, the SVR, slipped a malicious code into a routine software update from a Texas- based company called SolarWinds. They then used it as a vehicle for a massive cyberattack against America and successfully infiltrated Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and other companies, and federal agencies including the Treasury Department, Justice Department, Energy Department and the Pentagon.

The Biden administration recently announced a roster of tough sanctions against Russia as part of what it characterized as the “seen and unseen” response to the SolarWinds breach.

NPR investigative correspondent Dina Temple-Raston has spent months examining the landmark attack that — based on interviews with dozens of players — reveals a hack unlike any other.

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As crowds gathered Tuesday evening after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder in the death of George Floyd, two themes emerged. Many expressed joy and relief for the verdict delivered by the 12-person jury. But they also said the work isn’t over, and the national debate over police violence and accountability can’t end with a single criminal trial.

That message was also shared by the White House and Vice President Harris. On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Justice Department is opening an investigation into possible patterns of discrimination and excessive force within the Minneapolis Police Department. And lawmakers in Congress are renewing a push for a police reform act that bears George Floyd’s name.

For the last eleven months, one of the loudest voices demanding justice for George Floyd — insisting that the country and the world not forget him — has been his brother, Philonise Floyd. Philonise and Benjamin Crump, the Floyd family attorney, share what lasting change will look like to them now that a verdict has been delivered.

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A little more than half of adults in the U.S. have had at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. That means a growing number of Americans are figuring out how to navigate life in a hybrid society where some people are vaccinated and some are not.

Two experts offer advice on how to do that: Dr. Leana Wen with George Washington University, and Dr. Monica Gandhi with the University Of California San Francisco.

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Starting Monday, every person in America 16 and older is eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Nearly 40% already have. Now public health officials will begin to focus more on those who have not.

WHYY’s Nina Feldman reports on the effort in Philadelphia, which is focused on racial equity.

Two groups of people who are most likely to say they won’t get a shot are Republicans and white evangelical Christians. Blake Farmer of member station WPLN in Nashville reports on outreach to those groups.

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Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted on three counts in the trial over George Floyd’s killing. The jury announced their verdict on Tuesday and found Chauvin guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

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