University Of Delaware Reinstates Indoor Mask Rule Ahead Of Biden Visit

The New York Times: Some Universities And Schools In The U.S. Are Reimposing Indoor Mask Mandates
The University of Delaware cited rising new-case reports and hospitalizations both in its home state and across the nation when it announced its mask mandate would once again include all indoor spaces, effective Tuesday. President Biden, an alumnus, is scheduled to give a commencement address at the university on Saturday. Some public school systems have taken similar steps this week to reintroduce universal indoor masking, including two in Rhode Island, in Providence and Central Falls. Both are in a county that was recently classified as high risk, officials from each system said. (Petri, 5/26)

AP: Louisiana Bill Blocking State, Local Vaccine Mandates Defeated 
Legislation that would have kept state or local governments from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for entry into public places or private businesses was narrowly defeated Wednesday by a state Senate Committee. (5/25)

MLive: No Test, No Job: Fired Staffer Sues University Of Michigan Over COVID Testing Mandate 
A fired University of Michigan staffer is suing the university for not providing him a religious exemption for the testing portion of its COVID-19 booster policy. Stevan Rajkovic, an IT specialist from Royal Oak who received the first two doses of the vaccine, obtained a medical exemption for the booster shot in March but refused to comply with the weekly testing requirement, according to federal court records in Detroit. (Dodge, 5/25)

The New York Times: The Anti-Vaccine Movement’s New Frontier
The mother of four brought her children, ranging in age from grade school to high school, to the doctor’s office last summer for their annual checkup. When their pediatrician, Robert Froehlke, said that it was time for shots and several boosters and then mentioned the Covid vaccine, her reaction stunned him. “I’m not going to kill my children,” Froehlke recalls her saying, as she began to shake and weep. He ushered her out of the examination room, away from her children, and tried to calm her. “We’re just trying to help your kids be healthy,” he told her. But he didn’t press the issue; he sensed that she wasn’t persuadable at that moment. And he didn’t want to drive her away from his practice altogether. “That really shook me up,” he says. In his 14 years of practicing medicine in Littleton, a Denver suburb, Froehlke had seen parents decline their children’s vaccines for the sake of a more “natural” lifestyle. (Velasquez-Manoff, 5/25)

In other news on the vaccine rollout —

Fierce Biotech: CureVac Turns To Next-Generation MRNA Tech After Failed COVID Vaccine
CureVac’s first-generation COVID vaccine—a shot that failed to reach anywhere near the high efficacy bar set by rivals—is continuing to drag on the German biotech’s earnings and is expected to negatively impact sales for the rest of the year. But the company is looking to its future, pointing to a next-generation COVID-19 shot and an influenza program in development with GlaxoSmithKline, plus a new focus on oncology thanks to a freshly signed deal with myNEO. (Armstrong, 5/25)

KHN: Novavax Missed Its Global Moonshot But Is Angling To Win Over MRNA Defectors 
Novavax hitched its wagon to the global coronavirus pandemic. Before most Americans truly grasped the scope of the danger, the small Maryland biotech startup had secured $1.6 billion in U.S. funding for its covid vaccine. Its moonshot goal: delivering 2 billion shots to the world by mid-2021. Although the U.S. commitment eventually expanded to $1.8 billion, hardly any Novavax shots have found arms due to manufacturing issues, and most of the world has moved on. Novavax stock has plummeted from $290 a share in February 2021 to around $50 recently. (Allen and Tribble, 5/26)

Neurology Advisor: The Risk For Guillain-Barré Syndrome Following J&J COVID-19 Vaccination
The incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) was elevated following vaccination with the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine Ad.26.COV2.5, according to study findings published in JAMA Network Open. (5/24)

The Conversation: As Flu Cases Surge, Vaccination May Offer Some Bonus Protection From COVID As Well
After virtually disappearing for two years, influenza is back and rapidly sweeping across Australia – and the world. So far this year, there have been more than 15,000 flu cases in New South Wales alone, of which more than 12,000 were diagnosed since the start of May. ... Meanwhile, COVID cases continue to mount as colder weather sets in. The good news is, we know the influenza vaccine can protect against the flu – and a growing body of international research suggests the flu jab might also protect against COVID. A recent study of 30,774 health-care workers in Qatar found influenza vaccine could guard against COVID, particularly severe illness. (Messina, 5/25)

KHN: Watch: UVA Doctor Talks About The State Of The Pandemic And Health Equity
Just as covid-19 vaccines were rolling out, Dr. Taison Bell spoke with KHN about why Black Americans were getting vaccinated at lower rates than white Americans were. More than a year later, we checked in with Bell, an assistant professor of medicine and an intensive care unit doctor at the University of Virginia, about the state of the pandemic and changes that have occurred in the health equity conversation since then. (Norman, 5/26)