Numbers behind the downgrade of USA rating to AA+:
The Fitch agency sees U.S. annual real GDP growth slowing to 1.2% this year from 2.1% in 2022 and overall growth of just 0.5% in 2024. Job vacancies remain higher and the labor participation rate is still lower (by 1 pp) than pre-pandemic levels, which could negatively affect medium-term potential growth.
The FDA has rejected its strongest safety warning for Covid mRNA vaccines despite acknowledging that children were killed by the products.
This news surfaced during a televised Bloomberg interview with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who said the agency has “no plans” to apply its strongest safety warning to Covid mRNA vaccines.
In that interview, Makary confirmed that the FDA’s own safety and epidemiology centre had formally recommended a boxed warning — a step reserved, under FDA rules, for drugs with “special problems, particularly ones that may lead to death or serious injury.”