Author: UB Center for Urban Studies

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Pfizer says third vaccine shot ‘strongly’ boosts immune response against delta variant

By Peter Sullivan

Read the full article from The Hill, here.

Pfizer made waves earlier this month when it said it would be applying for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization for a third dose of its vaccine.

Still, it is not fully clear yet when and if a booster dose will be needed. It is possible booster shots will only be needed for more vulnerable people like the elderly or those with compromised immune systems.

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Will the Delta Variant Wreck the Recovery?

By Neil Irwin

Read the full article from The New York Times, here.

But while there is no reason to expect a repeat of the huge disruption of 2020, the new variant puts at risk the kind of rapid recovery that has been underway for months. Just as major parts of the economy were figuring out how to return to full functioning, this may amount to throwing sand in the gears.

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His Name Was Emmett Till

By Wright Thompson

Read the full article from The Alantic, here.

Emmett till was killed early on the morning of August 28, 1955, one month and three days after his 14th birthday. His mother’s decision to show his body in an open casket, to allow Jet magazine to publish photos—“Let the world see what I’ve seen,” she said—became a call to action. Three months after his murder, Rosa Parks kept her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, and she later told Mamie Till that she’d been thinking of Emmett when she refused to move. Almost 60 years later, after Trayvon Martin was killed, Oprah Winfrey channeled the thoughts of many Americans in evoking the memory and the warning of Emmett Till.

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As worries mount over the Delta variant, the U.S. retains travel bans and weighs tougher steps.

By Ethan Hauser and Jesus Jiménez

Read the full article from New York Times, here.

On Monday, U.S. officials matched the growing concern with steps aimed at controlling travel to and from the United States to stem the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

The Biden administration said it would continue to restrict the entry of Europeans and others into the country, citing concerns that infected travelers could contribute to Delta’s spread. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to avoid traveling to Spain and Portugal, saying that as cases rise in both countries, “even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19 variants.”

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Buffalo’s 14215 ZIP code among those Cuomo targets for vaccine push

By News Staff Reporter

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

With roughly one in four New Yorkers still unvaccinated against Covid-19, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said the state will attempt to boost the vaccination rate by targeting 117 ZIP codes that have both low vaccination rates and a high spread of Covid with outreach efforts by community-based organizations.

Twenty-five of those ZIP codes are outside New York City and Long Island and include two in Western New York: 14215 in Buffalo and Cheektowaga and 14770 along the Pennsylvania border in Cattaraugus County.

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Can Erie County office close the health equity gap?

By News Editorial Board

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz plans to spend $300,000 in federal stimulus money to attack the racial disparity in health outcomes. It’s a good start. The challenge for Poloncarz: Ensure the spending actually narrows the gap.

In Erie County, African American children are more than twice as likely to die within a year after birth, according to the County Health Rankings report, and twice as likely to die before they turn 18. African American girls are 2 1/2 times more likely than whites to give birth in their late teens.

Underlying all of that is poverty. Nearly half of African American children in Erie County are living in poverty – five times the rate among white children.

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How Buffalo’s lottery proposal for $500 monthly checks compares to other cities

By News Staff Reporter

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

The “guaranteed income” program Mayor Byron W. Brown has proposed for Buffalo shares the traits of other such initiatives around the country with one exception: More people would participate.

The $500 monthly payment is in line with pilot projects proposed or already running in 16 other cities, according to a Buffalo News review of their criteria.

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: What the NBA Championship Means to Me

By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Read the full article from Jacobin, here.

Although winning is exciting, fulfilling, and pretty much everything you imagine it would be, I’m also well aware that whether in 1971 or 2021, an NBA championship is often about more than just a team hoisting a shiny gold trophy. It can also be a reflection of the country’s zeitgeist with all its cultural, social, and political turmoil.

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Disinformation for Hire, a Shadow Industry, Is Quietly Booming

By Max Fisher

Read the full article from New York Times, here.

A London-based public relations agency wanted to pay them to promote messages on behalf of a client. A polished three-page document detailed what to say and on which platforms to say it.

But it asked the influencers to push not beauty products or vacation packages, as is typical, but falsehoods tarring Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine. Stranger still, the agency, Fazze, claimed a London address where there is no evidence any such company exists.

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