The monkeypox vaccine dilemma | Morning Newsletter
🚨: Property assessment notices coming soon
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
It’s time to break out the umbrella. Expect some showers and thunderstorms with a high of 88.
In today’s newsletter:
💉 A vaccine crunch: The demand is far outpacing the supply for the monkeypox vaccine.
💰 Taxes: Your property assessment notice is coming to you soon.
— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
The FDA issued an emergency use authorization Wednesday to increase the availability of monkeypox vaccines fivefold by shrinking the doses.
Why? It’s a direct response to the influx of new cases that outpaces vaccine supply.
Nationally, monkeypox cases topped 9,000 this week, compared with 40 two months ago
Locally, providers are keeping wait lists of people looking for doses. The health department’s hotline is swamped with calls. Philadelphia Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole estimates the city could use at least double the approximately 5,000 doses it’s been shipped to cover people at high risk from the virus.
But the Philadelphia Public Health Department is hesitant to move forward with the new permission. According to the city, there are too many unanswered questions about the safety and efficacy of the smaller doses.
Health reporter Jason Laughlin talks to experts about what’s next.
What you should know today
Spend the time to read the story of Ilse Korona. This 102-year-old woman survived Kristallnacht and the Nazi occupation of Austria before fleeing to England and then Philadelphia.
Philly pools begin closing Friday. Here’s when your neighborhood pool will shut down.
Otherworld Philly wants to bring large-scale immersive art to the Northeast.
Murder charges are reinstated against Jayana Webb, the woman accused of killing two Pa. state troopers and a pedestrian on I-95 in March.
Ellen Greenberg’s case, once considered a homicide, then ruled a suicide, has been referred to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.
John Fetterman launched the “Real Doctors Against Oz” campaign attacking his Republican opponent’s history of promoting unproven treatments and weight-loss advice.
Local Coronavirus numbers: Here’s your daily look at the latest COVID-19 data.
The city will begin mailing out property assessment notices this month to its more than 580,000 property owners. All notices should be out by Sept. 1
Why you shouldn’t throw out the notice: When officials unveiled the first citywide assessments in three years in May, it hit residential property owners with an average property value increase of 31%. That comes with tax hikes.
According to an Inquirer analysis, the sharpest hikes are in lower-income neighborhoods with a large percentage of Black residents.
Didn’t know the assessments happened this year? You’re not the only one. It’s probably in your best interest to check your new value online.
Think your home was over-assessed? You have to ask the Office of Property Assessment to review your value within four to five weeks of getting the notice, or file an appeal by Oct. 3.
For more tips, my colleagues Kasturi Pananjady and Max Marin have you covered.
🧠 Philly Trivia Time 🧠
What Jersey Shore town opted to ban shark fishing?
A. Asbury Park
B. Sea Isle City
C. Wildwood Crest
D. Belmar
Think you know? Find out the answer here
What we’re ...
💻 Watching: A More Perfect Union’s “When the Water Breaks” livestream, which explores Philadelphia’s contribution to America’s current maternal mortality crisis.
🎾 Reading: The Atlantic’s “Why Serena Williams’s Retirement Is Different.”
🦁 Sharing: This Instagram video of Tajiri, a lion, from the Philadelphia Zoo climbing 15 feet for food.
🧩 Unscramble the Anagram 🧩
The name of this street before it was renamed Cecil B. Moore in honor of the civil rights leader.
ABIE LONEVACUUM
Think you know? Send your guess our way at morningnewsletter@inquirer.com. We’ll give a shoutout to a reader at random who answers correctly. Today’s shoutout goes to Deborah Harris from Voorhees, who correctly guessed RON DESANTIS as Wedneday’s answer.
Photo of the day
And that’s your Thursday. I’ll catch you tomorrow. Thank you for starting your day with The Inquirer.