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Companies are acting where government is not and pushing workers to get the jab to get the job. The share of job postings on Indeed requiring vaccination has jumped 90% in just the last month. Vaccination rates in the U.S. are climbing, but hesitancy remains high in certain places. And the Delta variant is foiling companies' return-to-work plans. (Pandey, 8/17)

The Atlanta Falcons announced Monday that all of their players are vaccinated against COVID-19, making them the first NFL team to reach that milestone. The Falcons reached a 92% vaccination rate on July 23, and now have every player on the roster inoculated against the virus. "Each player will now enjoy the benefits of being able to work out and eat together. They won't have to test daily, won't have to wear masks around the facility, and won't have to quarantine following a close contact with someone who tests positive," the team's website stated. (Aaro, 8/17)

Epidemiologists who closely follow MLB say that what is happening in the league is a reflection of the situation across America, where about 72% of the adult population has now had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. An earlier wave of restrictions has been lifted, and Covid cases are surging again amid a significantly more contagious variant, threatening chiefly the health of the unvaccinated. There’s one key difference between baseball and America—MLB’s continued mass testing of its employees. (Diamond and Radnofsky, 8/16)

The Oklahoma City-County Health Department is partnering with the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden to encourage more residents to get the COVID-19 vaccine. On Tuesday, Aug. 17, and Wednesday, Aug. 18, the health department will be at the OKC Zoo administering the COVID-19 vaccine from 8 a.m. to noon in the Rosser Conservation Education Center, which is at the east end of the zoo’s main parking lot. Attendees should park by and enter through the education center. Anyone who gets vaccinated during that time frame will receive a voucher for free general zoo admission. (8/16)

KHN: Have Vaccines, Will Travel: On The Road With A Covid Entrepreneur

While many businesses in this southwestern Montana “ghost town” reel in tourists with its mining and Wild West vigilante past, one businessman arrived offering a modern product: covid-19 vaccines. Kyle Austin, a traveling pharmacist, set up his mobile clinic in Virginia City on a recent Saturday, the latest stop on his circuit of Montana’s vaccine deserts. “In any business, going to the people is better than waiting for the people to come to you,” the 38-year-old pharmacist said. (Houghton, 8/17)

As states, federal agencies and businesses ramp up COVID-19 vaccination requirements in the face of resistance by a sizable minority of the population, a parallel but limited effort to stop the spread of fraudulent medical records is underway. The spread of the delta variant at the same time as fraudulent records of vaccinations are circulating is frustrating experts trying to bring the pandemic under control. States with lower vaccination rates are currently seeing higher levels of transmission and more hospitalizations. (Raman, 8/16)