Raphael Stevens

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, right, looks on as Dr. Paul Offit, speaks during a news conference Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, in Philadelphia.Matt Rourke | APChildren need to be vaccinated against Covid-19, a top advisor to the Food and Drug Administration on children’s vaccines told the agency Thursday.”It just seems silly to think that we’re not going to have to include children as part of that,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and advisor to the FDA. “They can suffer and be hospitalized and occasionally die.”He said 300 kids have died from Covid so far.Offit, a voting member of the agency’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, was speaking during the panel’s meeting discussing the use of Covid-19 vaccines in children as young as 6 months old.”We have variants that are becoming more contagious, which means you need a higher level of population immunity … for years if not decades,” Offit said. He also said that we still vaccinate children for polio every year even though we haven’t had a case of polio since the 1970s.Data from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that nearly 4 million children have tested positive for Covid since the onset of the pandemic. Last week, more than 16,000 new cases in children were reported, the lowest since June 2020, according to the data. In states reporting, less than 1% of all child Covid cases resulted in death, the AAP wrote on its website.”I think come winter, we’re going to really see how well we’re doing in terms of population immunity,” Offit said. “The notion that we are not going to have to vaccinate children going forward I think is wrong.” More

In this articleBIIBA pedestrian walks past Biogen Inc. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Monday, June 7, 2021.Adam Glanzman | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesBiogen’s pricy new Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, could cost Medicare billions of dollars a year, according to an analysis published Thursday by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the company’s drug, the first medication cleared by U.S. regulators to slow cognitive decline in people living with Alzheimer’s and the first new medicine for the disease in nearly two decades.The biotech company said it is charging $56,000 for an annual course of the new treatment, higher than the $10,000 to $25,000 price some Wall Street analysts were expecting. That’s the wholesale price, and the out-of-pocket cost patients will actually pay will depend on their health coverage.Alzheimer’s disease is estimated to affect more than 6 million Americans, the vast majority of whom are age 65 and older. Biogen has said it expects about 80% of Alzheimer’s patients to be covered by Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly.It is still unclear how many Medicare beneficiaries will take Biogen’s drug, but even a conservative estimate would lead to a “substantial increase” in Medicare spending, according to KFF.In 2017, nearly 2 million Medicare beneficiaries used one or more Alzheimer’s treatments covered under Medicare Part D, according to KFF, which analyzed claims data. The group said if a quarter of those beneficiaries are prescribed Aduhelm instead and Medicare pays 103% of $56,000 in the near term, “total spending for Aduhelm in one year alone would be nearly $29 billion.”KFF said Aduhelm will be covered under Medicare Part B, which generally covers FDA-approved physician-administered medications.”If 1 million Medicare beneficiaries receive Aduhelm, which may even be on the low end of Biogen’s expectations, spending on Aduhelm alone would exceed $57 billion dollars in a single year — far surpassing spending on all other Part B-covered drugs combined,” the group said. Total Part B spending was $37 billion in 2019.Biogen has faced some criticism from Wall Street analysts and advocacy groups who questioned how the company could justify the price, especially as medical experts continue to debate whether there’s enough evidence that the drug actually works and the industry faces criticism over drug prices.On a call with investors Tuesday morning, Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat congratulated the Massachusetts-based company on the drug’s U.S. approval before asking executives to explain its price.”I do think there’s a disconnect between some of the words that you’ve shared in your press releases, like responsibility, access, health equity, versus the price point, especially given the primary care population,” he told executives.Biogen executives said Tuesday the total price figure for the new treatment is “substantiated” by the value it is expected to bring to patients, caregivers and society. They insisted the price is “responsible,” noting the disease costs the U.S. billions each year.The company has committed to not raising the price of the new drug over the next four years. That being said, executives said they are “open-minded” and suggested they could rethink the price as the company assesses demand over the next few years. More

60 Starlink satellites deploy into orbit after the company’s 17th mission.SpaceXSpaceX is “in talks with several” airlines to use its Starlink satellite internet network to provide travelers with inflight Wi-Fi, the leader of the company’s project said on Wednesday.”We have our own aviation product in development … we’ve already done some demonstrations to date and [are] looking to get that product finalized to be put on aircraft in the very near future,” SpaceX vice president Jonathan Hofeller said during a panel at the Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit.Hofeller did not give a timeline for when Starlink will begin inflight services, saying that an announcement is coming “hopefully sooner rather than later.” The Verge first reported Hofeller’s comments on Wednesday.Airlines work with satellite broadband providers for inflight Wi-Fi, with Viasat and Intelsat – the latter of which purchased Gogo’s commercial aviation business – two such companies that add connectivity on flights by airlines including Delta, JetBlue, American Airlines and United. But, while existing services use satellites in distant orbits, Starlink satellites orbit closer to the Earth and could potentially boost the speeds that passengers see inflight. Hofeller added that Starlink “provides a global mesh,” so that “airlines are flying underneath that global mesh have connectivity anywhere they go.””Passengers and customers want a great experience that [geosynchronous satellite] systems simply cannot provide,” Hofeller said.After Gogo’s sale of its commercial aviation unit, the company focuses on the business aviation marketplace. Gogo’s stock fell 9% in trading on Thursday, below $13 a share, amid the SpaceX news on fears of a potential new competitor in the aviation broadband space.Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to deliver high-speed internet to consumers anywhere on the planet. SpaceX first rolled out the service with a beta program for select consumers for $99 a month, and in the past year has sought regulatory approval to test the network inflight and expand the service to large moving vehicles, like ships and trucks.Hofeller noted that Starlink antennas for aircraft would be “a derivative” of the ones it sends to consumers, but still will be built in-house by SpaceX.A Starlink user terminal being set up.SpaceXWhile Starlink satellites can service “quite a bit of the aviation market” already, Hofeller also said SpaceX will have to have inter-satellite links – or what the company calls “space lasers” – to service trans-oceanic flights. SpaceX is adding inter-satellite links to the next generation of its Starlink satellites.Become a smarter investor with CNBC Pro.Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV. Sign up to start a free trial today. More

Gary Jones, the newly-elected President of the United Auto Workers (UAW), addresses the 37th UAW Constitutional Convention June14, 2018 at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan.Bill Pugliano | Getty ImagesDETROIT – The immediate past president of the United Auto Workers was sentenced Thursday to 28 months in prison for his part in a scheme with other leaders to steal as much as $1.5 million in union funds for lavish trips, golfing, alcohol and other luxuries.Gary Jones is the second UAW president to be sentenced as part of a multiyear corruption probe into the prominent American labor union. He is one of 15 people to have been charged, including three Fiat Chrysler (now Stellantis) executives and his predecessor, Dennis Williams, who was sentenced last month to 21 months in prison.His sentencing is among the last in the investigation, which has tarnished the union’s reputation, created mistrust among its members and led to federal oversight of the UAW.During the hearing, Jones spoke quickly and somewhat emotionally as he apologized to the court, his family and UAW members.”I failed [my family], and I failed the UAW,” he said before asking and pleading with the judge for his mercy in sentencing.Jones also must pay restitution or forfeit more than $750,000, including $550,000 in restitution to the UAW and $42,000 to the IRS.U.S. Attorney David A. Gardey described Jones as a “good man” who found himself working in a “culture of corruption.” He said Jones is continuing to cooperate with prosecutors “in other matters” involving the union.Prosecutors had recommended a 28-month prison term for Jones, which was well below a previous range of 46 to 57 months under a plea deal with federal prosecutors. According to court documents, the lower recommendation is for “substantial cooperation with the government deserving of recognition.”Jones fist bumped his attorney and prosecutors following the sentence. Even though they were wearing masks, Jones hugged and kissed his wife in the middle of the courtroom in downtown Detroit.Jones, who led the union from June 2018 to November 2019, pleaded guilty in June to racketeering, embezzlement and tax evasion. As part of the plea agreement, his maximum sentencing was nearly five years in prison.FBI agents finish loading materials into a truck out of the home of United Auto Workers President Gary Jones on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2019.Michael Wayland / CNBCPrison sentences for those charged as part of the federal probe have ranged from 60 days to 5½ years. Ex-Fiat Chrysler executive Alphons Iacobelli, who led the company’s labor relations, received the lengthiest sentence; however, it was recently reduced to four years.In December, the UAW and federal prosecutors agreed to end the corruption probe into the union under a civil settlement that included an independent monitor overseeing the organization for six years.Other requirements under the deal include the union conducting a memberwide vote to potentially reform its voting process and making certain repayments, including a $1.5 million payment to the IRS. The UAW has already paid back about $15 million to training centers for improper chargebacks uncovered by officials.A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit confirmed a federal criminal investigation into individuals regarding the probe is ongoing.Homes of Jones, Williams and other union officials were raided in August 2019 as part of the investigation, which was made public in July 2017.In a Thursday statement, the UAW said Jones’ sentencing “brings to a close a very dark chapter in UAW history.””Jones clearly put his personal and self-interest above that of the members of his Union and has been stripped of his membership in the UAW,” the union said. “These serious crimes violated his oath of UAW officers and they violated the trust of UAW officers charged with handling our members’ sacred dues money as well as Community Action funds.” More

In this articleDISCAAnthony Ramos and Melissa Barrera star as Usnavi de la Vega and Vanessa in the film adaption of “In the Heights.”Warner Bros.”In the Heights” is a celebration of love, life and community, critics say.The film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical currently holds at 97% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 130 reviews and arrives in theaters and on HBO Max on Thursday.Directed by Jon M. Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians”), “In the Heights” explores the lives of the inhabitants of the Hispanic community of Manhattan’s Washington Heights. The story is centered around bodega owner Usnavi, who dreams of leaving New York City and opening a bar in his home country, the Dominican Republic.Usnavi has a crush on Vanessa, who works at the local beauty salon and dreams of moving downtown to become a fashion designer. Nina and Benny are the other central couple in the musical. Benny is a dispatcher for a cab company owned by Nina’s father, but dreams of starting his own business.Nina has just returned to the city after a year at Stanford University, but she doesn’t want her father to know that she has dropped out because he has been struggling to scrounge together money to send her to the prestigious school. She is also the only one in her family to go to college.Woven within these love stories are other members of the community who are dealing with their own troubles, including landlords and realtors who are causing rents in the area to spike. There’s also heatwave and a lottery ticket worth $96,000.Critics have praised Chu’s direction and Quiara Alegria Hudes’ screenplay adaptation of the story she helped Miranda present on stage. Anthony Ramos has been lauded for his breakout performance as Usnavi and reviewers delighted in the film’s bright colors and flashy dance numbers.”To quote ‘In the Heights’ itself, the streets are made of music in the first genuinely cheerful, splashy, exuberantly life-affirming movie of the summer,” Ann Hornaday wrote in her review of the film for The Washington Post.Here’s what critics thought of “In the Heights” ahead of its Thursday debut.A.O. Scott, The New York TimesA.O. Scott of the The New York Times, praised Chu’s direction of the film, particularly, the extravagant musical numbers. Chu is no stranger to integrating dance into his storytelling. He previously directed two films in the “Step Up” franchise. He has also been tapped to handle the upcoming adaptation of the musical “Wicked.”Scott, like other reviewers, also shined a spotlight on Ramos.”Ramos’s charisma is perfectly suited to the role,” he wrote. “His modesty is as winning and genuine as his bravado, and he’s a strong theatrical singer as well as a subtle film actor.”Ramos portrayed Usnavi’s cousin Sonny in the stage musical and portrayed John Laurens and Philip Hamilton as part of the original cast of Miranda’s other Tony Award-winning musical “Hamilton.””‘In the Heights,’ which opened on Broadway in 2008 and was supposed to arrive in movie theaters last year, feels as of the moment as a freshly scraped piragua on a broiling July day and as permanent as the girders of the George Washington Bridge,” Scott wrote. “It’s a piece of mainstream American entertainment in the best sense — an assertion of impatience and faith, a celebration of communal ties and individual gumption, a testimony to the power of art to turn struggles into the stuff of dreams.”Read the full review from The New York Times.Corey Hawkins and Ariana Greenblatt portray Benny and Nina in the film adaptation of “In the Heights.”Warner Bros.Clarisse Loughrey, Independent”Sometimes a film will come along that feels perfectly of the moment – and not because of any superficial ties to current events,” Clarisse Loughrey wrote in her review of the film for Independent. “The themes that pulsate through ‘In the Heights’ – culture, identity, community, gentrification, and the rights of undocumented immigrants – are as central to the conversation now as they were when Lin-Manuel Miranda first debuted his stage musical in 2005.””But Jon M Chu’s full-throated, dizzyingly soulful adaptation arrives in cinemas after a year-long delay, into a world still trying to crawl out from under the shadows of a devastating pandemic. In that sense, it’s a gift.”Loughrey said the film is very conscious of how tethered the musical is to tradition and to the New York community of Washington Heights. Chu tips his hat to the aquamusicals of Esther Williams and the balletic West Side Story, while respecting the cultural history of the neighborhood. During “Carnaval del Barrio,” a tapestry of flags flies high above the crowds, including those from the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Puerto Rico.”‘In the Heights’ is a musical triumph, unafraid to lift its voice up to the sky,” she wrote.Read the full review from Independent.Rafael Motamayor, Observer”Film adaptations of stage musicals walk a tricky line of having to both condense the story into the length of a feature, while also translating a stage production into a cinematic experience,” wrote Rafael Motamayor in his review of the film. “Many get lost in the grand spectacle and forget to actually adapt the text, but that’s not the case with ‘In the Heights,’ a film that doubles down on the commentary from the original amid all the catchy and breathtaking musical numbers to create the first truly must-see cinematic experience of the summer.”Motamayor noted that Chu and Hudes dive deep into the play’s themes about dreams, but also contextualize some of the characters motivations and their struggles with what it means to be part of the Latinx community and the pressure of inheriting your parent’s hopes and dreams in a way that was not explored in the stage production.He said there are moments when the social commentary of the film can come off as “really corny” and there are a few subplots that feel shoehorned into the narrative without nuance, ultimately distracting from the main story.”Make no mistake, this is a musical turned into a blockbuster, as Chu treats the wide shots of the dozens of background dancers with the same eye you could see Christopher Nolan apply to ‘Tenet,’ or the Russo brothers apply to ‘Endgame,’ he wrote. “There is a feeling of melancholia beneath the upbeat lyrics and the relentless optimism of the characters that comes to the surface at several points in the film, a recognition that things fade, neighborhoods change and people leave, but we might as well throw a huge party before that happens. ‘In the Heights’ is that party, and we are just lucky to be invited.”Read the full review from Observer.Anthony Ramos stars in “In the Heights.”Warner Bros.Monica Castillo, The WrapMixed in with Chu’s kinetic dance numbers is “Paciencia y Fe,” a ballad sung by Abuela Claudia, an elderly woman who lives in the neighborhood and treats everyone as family.The “entrancing” dance number contains contemporary ballet and tells the story of Claudia’s mother leaving Havana for New York.”Shot in what looks like the old trains and platforms of the New York Transit Museum, the musical shifts in tone during ‘Paciencia y Fe,’ taking the audience back in time to revisit painful memories of her struggle to survive in America and the peace of finally feeling at home again,” Monica Castillo wrote in her review of the film for The Wrap.The ‘Paciencia y Fe’ sequence was praised by many critics for showing the tension many Hispanic people feel as they adapt to living in America, a place where anything is supposed to be possible.Castillo noted that “In the Heights” is a rarity in Hollywood. Its Latino characters “live normal lives, outside of gang or narco violence and outside of stereotypes.””How rarely do we see ourselves just hold down a job and nurture our ambitions; in most movies, do we even have enough lines of dialogue to have ambitions?” she wrote.The film showcases the importance of inclusivity and diversity not only in our neighborhoods but in the entertainment industry.”With ‘In the Heights,’ Chu delivers the Latino equivalent of his previous box office smash ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ and knocks it out of the park,” she wrote.Read the full review from The Wrap.Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes. More

Marijuana activists handed out free joints to vaccinated New Yorkers on April 20, 2021 in New York City. Washington state authorized similar programs in early June.ANGELA WEISS | AFP | Getty ImagesAs Covid vaccination rates flatline or drop across the country, public and private concerns are increasingly turning to incentives — from free doughnuts to million-dollar payouts, and even marijuana cigarettes or a spin around a NASCAR track — in an effort to convince Americans to get immunized.On Monday, Washington state’s alcohol and cannabis board launched its “Joints for Jabs” program authorizing marijuana dispensaries to give a free joint to any resident who gets vaccinated through July 12. A similar effort has reportedly started in Arizona.Other states, like New Jersey and Connecticut, are more old school, offering a free beer or non-alcoholic beverage to encourage more people to get vaccinated against Covid. And last month, the Alabama Department of Public Health and other agencies partnered with the state’s Talladega Superspeedway to offer two free laps on the famed racetrack to those over age 16 who get a shot.More from Personal Finance:Suffering from post-Covid sticker shock?Make these moves before you start post-pandemic spendingMore colleges move to require Covid vaccinesOhio and Maryland, on the other hand, turned to cold, hard cash. In May, Maryland held the first of its $40,000 lottery drawings for people who have been vaccinated. Forty consecutive days of drawings for a $40,000 prize end on July 4 with a final drawing for a $400,000 payout.Ohio is also holding a series of drawings for cash prizes, although its “Vax-a-Million” contest ups the ante significantly.On the private front, Krispy Kreme in March became one of the first businesses to roll out a nationwide Covid vaccine incentive, offering a free glazed doughnut to any adult with a vaccination card. Earlier this month, the company said it had already given away more than 1.5 million doughnuts. (The offer still stands through the remainder of the year.)”We were the first national brand to launch a campaign to show support for Americans choosing to get vaccinated, and we were hopeful that others would join us,” said Dave Skena, chief marketing officer at Krispy Kreme.”So, it’s very gratifying to see so many companies, organizations, communities and even state governments encouraging and incentivizing people to protect themselves and others by getting vaccinated.”Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsThe latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that about half of the U.S. population has had at least one shot — and yet, the pace of Covid vaccinations has slowed nationwide.Incentives may become increasingly important to move the needle from here, according to Bob Bollinger, a professor of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and inventor of the emocha Health app.”It really depends on what the barriers are that people have about getting vaccinated,” Bollinger said. The higher those barriers are, the harder they are to overcome, he added.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsA handful of states have reported that vaccine incentive programs have increased local vaccination numbers in some demographics after recent drops.For its part, Ohio said its vaccination rates doubled in some counties after the state vaccine lottery was announced.Recent data shows that the gambit might be more effective among certain demographics, but with little downside overall, according to a report by Morning Consult.The poll of 2,200 adults, including nearly 1,600 people who are unvaccinated, found that men are more inclined than women to say these offers would make them sign up to receive a shot. Democrats, more than Republicans, also said they’d be more likely to get vaccinated if they could get free goods or services and, when broken down by generation, millennials were the most likely to say certain freebies would motivate them to get vaccinated.An earlier survey by Blackhawk Network found that more than two-thirds of adults said they would accept a monetary incentive ranging from as little as $10 to as much as $1,000. One-third said they would get vaccinated for $100 or less. Blackhawk Network polled more than 2,000 adults in January.Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.— CNBC’s Kenneth Kiesnoski contributed to this story. More