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Top stories summarized by our editors
Top stories summarized by our editors

Vaccine passports bring privacy, legal questions

4/22/2021

IBM's Excelsior Pass and apps like it that display COVID-19 vaccination status or test results are touted as tools for restoring normalcy to public life, but they also raise significant privacy and legal issues. The government is not creating or mandating digital passports, but agencies are discussing guidelines that developers could use to alleviate concerns, White House adviser Andy Slavitt says, and whether apps are subject to privacy and security rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act depends on who develops them, attorney Savera Sandhu says.

Vaccine passports raise privacy, legal questions

4/20/2021

IBM's Excelsior Pass and apps like it that display COVID-19 vaccination status or test results are touted as tools for restoring normalcy to public life, but they also raise significant privacy and legal issues. The US government will not create or mandate digital passports, but agencies are discussing guidelines that developers could use to alleviate concerns, says White House adviser Andy Slavitt, and whether apps are subject to HIPAA privacy and security rules depends on who develops them, says attorney Savera Sandhu.

US agencies ordered to install Microsoft Exchange fixes

4/15/2021

Microsoft has issued patches for its 2013, 2016 and 2019 versions of Exchange Server calendar and email software, and the US government has ordered all agencies to install them immediately. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency says the latest repaired vulnerabilities are different from the ones exploited by Chinese hackers.

CDC panel defers vote on resuming J&J vaccine use

4/15/2021

A panel of CDC advisers decided to postpone a vote on whether the US government should call for states to resume the use of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, in order to gather more safety information. The vote could be delayed by at least a week as the panel investigates six rare blood clot incidents linked to the vaccine.

Your humble editor launched a podcast

4/13/2021

Why it matters: Yep. As part of my "real" job I decided to launch a podcast about renewable energy. In this episode, I talk with EDF Renewables President and CEO Tristan Grimbert about all the big infrastructure proposals being put forth by the US government, the power outage in Texas and some of the challenges the US solar industry supply chain is facing related to China.

Of course, our talk wasn't ALL business. Tristan is a proud Frenchman who now lives in San Diego, so I couldn't resist getting his take on the heated rivalry between French wine and California wine. He also surprised me with a great tip on where to buy quality French wine for a tasty price.

Please give the podcast a listen and let me know what you think.

Eli Lilly, US revise contract for COVID-19 antibody drug

4/13/2021

Eli Lilly and Co. announced it revised a contract with the US government for bamlanivimab, the drugmaker's COVID-19 antibody drug, due to concerns about its efficacy against new coronavirus variants. The modified agreement states the drug will now be sold in combination with etesevimab and cancels the remaining orders of bamlanivimab scheduled for delivery by the end of March.

Report warned US government about quality problems at vaccine plant

4/13/2021

A report submitted to the US government last June flagged quality control problems and inadequate staff training at a Baltimore, Md., facility of Emergent BioSolutions, which has a federal contract to worth up to $628 million to produce COVID-19 vaccines. The report said correcting the problems would require significant effort and the company would have to be monitored closely, and experts suspect a batch of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine was contaminated when an employee working on AstraZeneca's vaccine failed to take precautions.

$425M funding round gives Plaid $13.4B valuation

4/8/2021

Plaid, the payment technology startup the US government prevented Visa from buying on antitrust grounds, raised $425 million in a funding round that valued it at $13.4 billion. CEO Zachary Perret says he expects the company to go public but doesn't have any plans to file for an initial public offering in the near future.

Chip shortages get worse; global response needed

4/5/2021

The struggling semiconductor supply chain is still making trouble for automotive manufacturers, consumer electronics companies and telecommunications systems vendors, raising prices for chips and wafers, and leading to calls for greater worldwide cooperation to resolve the dire situation, this analysis notes. "The ban of the US government has restricted China's semiconductor production expansion and resulted in insufficient chip supply globally, seriously disturbing growth of the semiconductor industry," says Zhang Xiaorong, director of the Cutting-Edge Technology Research Institute.

Analysis: Chip shortages get worse; global response needed

4/5/2021

The struggling semiconductor supply chain is still making trouble for automotive manufacturers, consumer electronics companies and telecommunications systems vendors, raising prices for chips and wafers, and leading to calls for greater worldwide cooperation to resolve the dire situation, this analysis notes. "The ban of the US government has restricted China's semiconductor production expansion and resulted in insufficient chip supply globally, seriously disturbing growth of the semiconductor industry," says Zhang Xiaorong, director of the Cutting-Edge Technology Research Institute.