Dr. Anthony Fauci predicts by April it will be “open season” for vaccinations in the U.S., as supply boosts allow most people to get shots to protect against COVID-19.
Speaking to NBC’s “Today Show,” Fauci, who serves as science adviser to President Joe Biden, says the rate of vaccinations will greatly accelerate in the coming months. He credits forthcoming deliveries of the two approved vaccines, the potential approval of a third and moves taken by the Biden administration to increase the nation’s capacity to deliver doses.
He cautioned it will take “several more months” to logistically deliver injections to adult Americans but predicted herd immunity could be achieved by late summer.
Minnesota officials on Wednesday unveiled their plan to deal with toxic man-made “forever chemicals” that are polluting the state’s waters and causing growing concerns about potential health risks.
The pharmaceuticals, microplastics and synthetic chemicals are known collectively as PFAS and are used in a variety of consumer products because of their durability and resistance to heat and water. An increasing number of scientists have linked some PFAS to negative health effects in humans, such as low birth weight, thyroid and kidney problems and some cancers.
The Minnesota PFAS Blueprint calls for the state to enact stronger regulations, including designating more than 5,000 different chemicals as hazardous substances under Minnesota’s Superfund law. That would make it easier to hold companies financially liable for cleaning up PFAS pollution.
The plan also calls for additional $3 million in state funding over the next two years to help researchers identify sources of PFAS in the environment and find out how the chemicals are coming into landfills, compost sites and wastewater treatment plants and ending up in Minnesota’s waters.
St. Thomas sophomore Luke Stene, who produces and records his own music under the name Luke Makes Music, does just that from an unfamiliar location to most artists: his dorm room.
Stene has garnered over 6,000 streams across platforms with only one released song, “Want U 2.” Stene also has an upcoming 10-song album, “Polyester,” the majority of which was produced, mixed, mastered and recorded by Stene in Flynn Hall on St. Thomas’ St. Paul campus.
Though Stene tells people he makes indie pop, he doesn’t label his music as one specific genre. He explained that “Polyester” is the product of trying new things.
Maddie Peters can be reached at pete9542@stthomas.edu.