- US to donate 500m Pfizer doses to low- and lower-middle-income countries
- Doses are in addition to the over 600m the US has committed to sending
- House Democrats pass spending bill in party-line vote of 220 to 211
- McConnell pledges to oppose any effort to raise the debt ceiling
- Sign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by email
Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has named a medical professor who is opposed to mask and vaccine mandates as the state’s new surgeon general.
The Guardian’s Oliver Milman reports:
Dr Joseph Ladapo, a Harvard-trained doctor, has attacked concern over the pandemic as “Covid mania” and likened the eating of fruit and vegetables to the benefits of vaccination. He has railed against restrictions placed upon day-to-day life to curtail the pandemic and has sought to block funding for schools in the state that have attempted to make students wear masks to stop the spread of the virus that has killed more than 675,000 people in the US since the pandemic began.
Related: DeSantis names doctor opposed to masks and vaccine mandates as Florida’s surgeon general
Here’s where the day stands so far: