Health

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. deaths fell last year, and COVID-19 dropped to the nation's No. 4 cause, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced that Moderna Inc. is partnering with a facility in Cambridge, Ont., to complete the final steps of manufacturing for its mRNA vaccines.

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says it has fired the scientist who led a high-profile delegation from the U.N. health agency to China two years ago to jointly look into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, citing sexual misconduct.

RALEIGH, N.C.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials celebrated Wednesday the announcement that the country finally developed its own COVID-19 vaccine, more than two years after inoculations from the U.S., Europe and China were rolled out.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Several families on Wednesday challenged Kentucky's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youths, claiming the prohibition interferes with parental rights to seek established medical treatment for their children.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Transgender youth in North Carolina would have to wait until they turn 18 to receive gender-affirming surgeries under a bill approved Wednesday by the GOP-controlled state House.

CHEYENNE, Wyo.

CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois city on Tuesday banned the mailing or shipping of abortion pills, defying the state's Democratic attorney general and the American Civil Liberties Union, who have repeatedly warned that the move violates Illinois law's prot