NPR-COVID19

The Department of Health and Human Services will require nearly a third of its employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, while the Department of Veterans Affairs has expanded its vaccination mandate.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, tells NPR's Morning Edition "it is so imminent to make sure that we get them boosted so that they would be in a protected zone."

U.S. colleges are counting on high COVID-19 vaccination rates to keep their campuses safe this fall. Many are offering flashy prizes to encourage students and faculty to get their shots.

More than 8,000 people may have been given a fake COVID vaccine in the spring. A nurse is suspected of making the switch.

West Virginia Wesleyan College won't require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 — at least not yet. But the small Christian liberal arts school says it will charge students who aren't.

Consumer prices rose 5.4% in July, compared to a year ago. Here's one thing to watch going forward: How rising wages impacts inflation.

The Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee announced today that it will require either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend.

Among the states hardest-hit by a new wave of coronavirus cases linked to the highly contagious delta variant, Arkansas has "startling numbers" of new COVID-19 cases, Gov. Asa Hutchison says.

"We are in a major surge now as we're going into the fall, into the school season. This is very serious business," Fauci said. He urges states and localities to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for teachers.

Cases among children have been steadily growing, but the numbers appear to show that severe illness, hospitalization and death are rare in children infected with the coronavirus.