Peter Pitts, a former FDA associate commissioner in the Bush administration, disagrees with President Joe Biden on suspending vaccine patents. Suspension of the patents might allow for broader distribution of the shots in the world, but Pitts says it could discourage companies from wanting to partner with the government. He would rather see companies like Pfizer sell their vaccine at a low price to poorer countries.
Florida's confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by more than 3,200 Sunday, as the state's virus-related death toll rose by 31.
The 3,231 new confirmed COVID-19 cases brought Florida's total to 2,269,806 since the outbreak began, according to figures released by the state's department of health.
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Another 31 new virus-related deaths among Florida residents were reported Sunday, bringing the state's total to 35,731. An additional 714 non-resident deaths have been confirmed in the state to date. Most of the newly confirmed deaths occurred days or weeks earlier.
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The positivity rate for new cases in the state was 5.32% in Sunday's department of health coronavirus report, a slight jump after three straight days of a percent positivity under 5%.
The positivity rate for all cases, including people who have already been tested, was 7.33%.
In South Florida, Miami-Dade County reached 4490,499 cases on Sunday, an increase of 660 since Sunday, along with a total of 6,252 COVID-related deaths, six more than were reported Saturday.
In Broward County, there were 239,941 total COVID-19 cases reported, a daily increase of 339, along with 2,964 virus-related deaths, a single-day increase of four.
Palm Beach County had 145,331 total cases and 2,788 virus-related deaths Sunday, while Monroe County had 6,983 cases and 49 deaths.
