Last week, we reported that the Biden administration was considering offering a second round of COVID-19 boosters to adults under 50 before summer’s end, but opinions were divided. This week, officials told NPR that the FDA is scrapping those plans. Instead, the government is focusing on speeding up the rollout of a booster specifically targeting the omicron BA.5 subvariant, which is expected to be ready in the fall. The idea is to shore up immunity before a possible winter surge. But critics say that come winter, BA.5 might not even be the dominant variant. Rob Stein reports. Shout out to Rob for tirelessly providing up-to-the-minute COVID news from the beginning! Follow him on Twitter @robsteinnews.
Triangle Square Books for Young Readers/Seven Stories Press
“There’s no right way or wrong way to have a body.” That’s the quote on the first page of You Know, Sex: Bodies, Gender, Puberty, and Other Things, a new book written for kids entering puberty, and their parents and caretakers. The book goes on to describe sexual experiences as multifaceted: people have sex to make babies, but — let’s be real — most of the time it’s not about reproduction. Sex can feel great. Also, it’s not wrong if you don’t enjoy it. Author and sex educator Corey Silverberg says they wrote the book to give young people the space to think through their feelings about sex — not just the mechanics of it. And they want to make parents aware of the ways sexuality shows up in the world: “We're teaching and talking to our kids about sex all the time. We just don't realize it,” Silverberg told Fresh Air. Read the highlights or listen to the full interview.
When NPR digital intern Shruti Rajkumar visited a bar in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, she was told her wheelchair couldn’t come in the front door. Later on, staff stopped her friends from carrying the chair to the dancefloor. She wrote about the experience on Twitter, and the thread went viral, with repliers venting their frustration at the bar and other “ableist” spaces. This week, on the 32nd anniversary of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Shruti reflects on what the disability rights movement achieved with the passage of the ADA, like accessible buses in transit systems around the country. And she argues for more changes, including increasing education around disability, and adapting older buildings to make them accessible.
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