I watched the FDA hearing so you didn't have to.
In this newsletter: Today's FDA advisory committee hearing, the next Lyme vaccine, and some words of advice.
Part I: Vaccines for Tots
The Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisors spent Tuesday considering whether the agency should authorize a version of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine for kids aged 5 to 11.
I spent much of the afternoon listening to the meeting, and to my ears, their unanimous vote in support of authorization was far more tentative than the vote count might suggest.
This was a wrenching decision for many on the committee, and some members said that they hope the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will limit the rollout to high-risk kids. You can read my Barron's coverage of the meeting here.
Part II: The Once and Future Lyme Vaccine The story of the lost Lyme vaccine, once approved for people and now available only for dogs, circulates like an urban legend; a parable of the absurdity of the healthcare system, or modern life, or perhaps existence itself.
The next Lyme vaccine may not be so far off. I wrote about it for Barron's a couple of weeks ago.
Another recent article of interest: You know the Merck oral Covid-19 antiviral that everyone got very excited about early this month? I spoke with some scientists who have some very serious safety concerns. Merck says they've done tests in animals, and they're satisfied that the drug is safe. We'll likely know what the FDA thinks soon.
Part III: Words of Advice
This is nice.
I was in Riverdale the other day waiting around, so I tried to get a slice at the pizza place where we used to go in high school. It was right out the back gate of the school, and sometimes you could just walk right out for a slice, and other times the gate was locked and your friend had to let you out with a key he had bought off the kid who did tech for the school plays. The pizza place had this deal where a soda and a plain slice cost $2, which is sort of unfortunate, because every time I've bought pizza since then I've felt like I'm getting ripped off. Anyway, it turns out the pizzeria closed like thirteen years ago and moved down the block, and their new location is closed, too, and the original building isn't even standing anymore. So much for nostalgia. There's another pizza place around the corner called Goodfella's Pizza, and it's pretty good. That's the advice. A slice at Goodfella's Pizza on Waldo Avenue in Riverdale.
You can still listen to the first (and perhaps only?) episode of my New York City history podcast here, about the revolution that Sarah Edelson started in her Lower East Side bar in the spring of 1902.
The Bergen County Zoo has this mountain lion who just walks back and forth along the front of its enclosure all day, imagining eating everyone who walks by. Most terrifying zoo exhibit in the region, including the existential terror inspired by the pacing of Gus, the late Central Park polar bear.
You heard it here first: Witchlings, written Claribel Ortega and edited by Emily Seife (!!!), is the next Harry Potter. Preorder it for all your eight-to-twelve-year-old friends and relations.
That's all I got.
Thanks for reading,
Josh