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(Dr. Pritesh Gandhi/Twitter)
Dr. Pritesh Gandhi speaks to Cy-Fair Area Democrats in Cypress, Texas on Jan. 8, 2020.
President Joe Biden has named Austin-based Dr. Pritesh Gandhi as the Department of Homeland Security's chief medical officer.
His appointment to the role means that Gandhi will be replacing the current chief medical officer, Dr. Duane Caneva. Caneva had been appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2018.
Gandhi had been the associate medical director for the People's Community Clinic of Austin, an East Austin clinic that cares for over 16,000 uninsured Central Texans, before the clinic announced he had been appointed chief medical officer on Thursday.
He is also an affiliate faculty member specializing in population health and pediatrics at the University of Texas Dell Medical School. He ran to represent Texas' 10th Congressional District but lost the primary runoff in 2020.
After finishing his studies at Tufts School of Medicine, the London School of Economics and Johns Hopkins University, Gandhi has spent his career working with marginalized and impoverished communities and has had a particular focus on poverty reduction.
"He has been an outstanding leader for our clinic and our community during one of the most difficult times in our country's history," Regina Rogoff, People's chief executive officer, told KVUE. "We are proud of the relationship Dr. Gandhi has had with us, and wish him the best in this new and very critical role for our country."
More on the Biden administration:
Austin nonprofit founder to serve under Biden administration
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Self-proclaimed "Crypto Queen" Grimes made nearly $6 million to kick off her Sunday by selling her newest artwork, a series of crypto-art pieces titled "WarNymph."
<p>The pieces, which feature cherub warriors protecting post-apocalyptic planets, went on sale Sunday at 1 p.m for 48 hours.</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Dropping NFTs tomorrow at 2pm EST. enter the void <a href="https://t.co/l9fNFUCheX">pic.twitter.com/l9fNFUCheX</a><br/>— ☘︎𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 (@Grimezsz) <a href="https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1365899885979963392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div><p>In 20 minutes, Grimes, music artist and girlfriend of Elon Musk, reached $5.8 million in sales from the auction. By noon Monday, all pieces were sold out except for one, "Death of the Old," which is currently bidding for $250,000. Some works, including "The Newborn 2," are being <a href="https://niftygateway.com/profile/brennan490" target="_blank">resold</a> for as much as $2.5 million.<br/></p><p>According to her artwork's page, WarNymph "explores the fluidity of identity in the virtual age: the ability to create, augment, and splinter ourselves into unlimited avatars, create boundless worlds, and build rich, complex lore." </p><p>Each artwork features winged babies in various forms: protecting Mars, sitting atop thrones and wielding weapons including bows and arrows or blood-red spears.</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">👼"Death of the Old" -<a href="https://twitter.com/Grimezsz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Grimezsz</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/MacBoucher1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MacBoucher1</a> 👼<br/><br/>The first of her kind, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WarNymph?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WarNymph</a> is a digital entity spliced from a pixel DNA of the organic human, Grimes.🧬<br/><br/>The journey into the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oth3rkin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Oth3rkin</a> Universe starts here: <a href="https://t.co/ccliYhMW1q">https://t.co/ccliYhMW1q</a> & <a href="https://t.co/AgVLsy1eD8">https://t.co/AgVLsy1eD8</a><br/><br/>Who's ready?🔥 <a href="https://t.co/lf4mer4XOE">pic.twitter.com/lf4mer4XOE</a><br/>— Nifty Gateway (@niftygateway) <a href="https://twitter.com/niftygateway/status/1366090925383036928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div><p><br/></p><p>All of the works are examples of a new cryptocurrency called non-fungible tokens, or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-does-nft-mean-crytpo-non-fungible-tokens-art-explained-2021-2" target="_blank">NFTs</a>. NFTs have surged in popularity in recent weeks as other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin continue to take off. Unlike Bitcoin, however, NFTs cannot be traded for one another or broken down into smaller values. Instead, they serve as a form of collectibles that stand on their own as individualized collector's items.</p><p>Brands such as Nike and Louis Vuitton have already begun creating virtual assets for their consumers, while celebrities including <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/lindsay-lohans-nft-sells-for-59-000-despite-an-unfortunate-blunder" target="_blank">Lindsay Lohan</a> have sold NFTs for thousands of dollars. The NBA, which made the platform <a href="https://www.nbatopshot.com/" target="_blank">NBA Top Shot</a>, has already sold $270 million worth of NFTs in the form of unique NBA video highlights. </p><p>NFTs have to be bought using other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum's Ether or World Asset eXchange. The currency is predicted to continue to skyrocket in value as creators make products for virtual reality technologies.</p><p>According to Grimes, there's more where this came from. WarNymph is part of a bigger whole—an entire virtual universe Grimes has titled Oth3rkin that the singer will continue to work on with her brother, Mac Boucher.</p><p>Some proceeds from the project are going toward reducing carbon emissions via nonprofit organization Carbon 180. Billionaire <a href="https://austonia.com/elon-musk-texas-move" target="_blank">Texan transfer</a> Musk, is passionate about the subject as well.</p><p>The artworks were sold using NFT trading site <a href="https://niftygateway.com/collections/warnymphvolume1" target="_blank">Nifty Gateway</a>. </p>
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(Engel & Völkers Austin/Twitter)
An unknown buyer will soon be living the dream after purchasing Austin's most expensive home—a nearly nine-acre property complete with a luxurious glass-walled mansion and a private lagoon in West Austin.
<p> With a whopping $38.9 million listing price, the undisclosed final sale broke the record as Austin's priciest home deal ever, according to agents at Engel & Völkers Austin.</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">// JUST SOLD // This one-of-a-kind property was listed for $38,900,000 by Michele Turnquist & Kathryn Scarborough making this an <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ATX?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ATX</a> record-shattering sale! Special thanks to Cord Shiflet <a href="https://twitter.com/MorelandProps?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MorelandProps</a> as it was a team effort to close! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/doncrowellbuilders?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#doncrowellbuilders</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/miroriveraarchitects?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#miroriveraarchitects</a> <a href="https://t.co/hnz93djfe1">pic.twitter.com/hnz93djfe1</a><br/>— Engel & Völkers Austin (@MoveToAustin) <a href="https://twitter.com/MoveToAustin/status/1365698114678624265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div><p>The home sits on Lake Austin and has more than 665 feet of water frontage. If the lake wasn't enough, the property comes with its own lagoon, boat dock and infinity pool.<br/></p><p>The estate itself is glass-walled and glamorous, with a three-story guesthouse that has been featured on Architectural Digest. Connected to the guest house is an award-winning bridge overlooking the water as well as the main event—the seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom home. The house is divided in half by a courtyard and a 1,000 square-foot great room that is surrounded by glass on all sides.</p><p>Although the purchaser wished to remain anonymous, many are speculating that the purchase goes hand-in-hand with the recent tech migration to Austin. With big-name companies like Oracle and Tesla already planting their roots in the city and many more to possibly come, the Austin housing market has faced skyrocketing prices and demand.</p><p>If the property sold for even half as much as its listing price, it would easily break the record for Austin's most expensive purchase. The most expensive home on the market in Austin currently sits at $12.9 million.</p><p>The estate, named Willow Beach, was custom-made by Austin-based Miró Rivera Architects in 2010.</p>
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More vaccines could be headed to Austin as FDA greenlights single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine
26 February
This story was updated Monday to include that the vaccine received official approval by the FDA this weekend.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine that is to be shipped out this month, increasing the number of vaccines available.
In a virtual meeting on Friday, the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee unanimously approved of the U.S.'s third available COVID-19 vaccine, which was officially approved on Saturday. Federal officials say 4 million doses will go out nationally this week, with an expected 20 million doses to be available by the end of March. The Texas Department of State Health Services has said it expects to receive about 200,000 doses, but has not released a timeline of when doses will be shipped and available.
<p><strong>How was the vaccine passed?</strong></p><p>Johnson & Johnson proposed their single-shot COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use authorization to the FDA earlier this month. On Thursday, the department said they found the vaccine to be safe and effective after conducting a clinical trial. </p><p>When tested on 44,000 people around the world, the vaccine was found to be around 66% effective against moderate to severe symptoms 28 days after vaccination. The vaccine's efficacy was highest, at 72%, in the U.S., while it was found to be lower in countries such as South Africa where more infectious strains are prevalent.</p><p>Most notably, none of the clinical trial participants died from COVID-19 at least 28 days after the shot. The vaccine also appears to drastically cut down hospitalizations to the disease and showed 86% efficacy against severe reactions.</p><p><strong>What makes this vaccine different than the others?</strong></p><p>While the two existing vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, are more effective—around 95%—the Johnson & Johnson candidate has three significant advantages.</p><p>First, the vaccine is infinitely easier to store and ship. When the winter storm hit Texas, power outages wiped out about 1,000 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the state, which are required to be refrigerated. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine, however, requires no refrigeration. It also takes up significantly less space because it only requires one dosage instead of two, meaning the same amount of doses can be allocated to twice as many people.</p><p>Second, because it is a single-shot vaccine, it will also speed up the painfully slow vaccination process that currently exists. </p><p>On Friday, Austin-Travis County Alternate Health Authority Dr. Jason Pickett said that the vaccine's adaptability and ease of use will make it vital to fighting the virus.</p><p>"With Johnson & Johnson vaccine, one of the advantages is it does not require the same specific handling that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines do," Pickett said. "Its availability, the fact that you can get one shot only, the fact that it can tolerate a better temperature range and get out to providers that wouldn't be able to handle the other vaccines as easily, makes this a very effective tool in fighting the pandemic." </p><p>Finally, the vaccine has proven to be mostly effective against new strains of the disease. When tested against the South African strain, the vaccine still had 64% efficacy at preventing moderate to severe effects from the disease. Moderna and Pfizer were conducted before these more infection strains were widely spread. </p><p><strong>What does this mean for Austin and the rest of Texas?</strong> </p><p>As Joe Biden meets with Gov. Greg Abbott in Houston to talk winter storm damages and the vaccine rollout, a shipment of 1.5 million vaccine doses are being brought to the state for next week. Abbott said that Texas will see vaccine shipments "increase dramatically" in the coming days.</p><p>According to Abbott, the state has allocated 8,000 doses to a new "Save Our Seniors" program, which is dedicated to bringing homebound seniors vaccine doses. However, with the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine pending approval on Friday, Abbott said they could have up to four times their original number brought to senior residents.</p><p>Abbott said that most of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be targeted toward senior residents. The state of Texas has given around 40% of seniors 65 and older at least one dose of the vaccine, and they hope to jump to 50% by the end of the week. </p><p>In late January, Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said that the vaccine will be available at any neighborhood pharmacy or medical office.</p><p>"In terms of vaccines it is a winner, and there are lots of benefits to this vaccine in terms of the public health response," Escott said. "The fact that it's a single dose makes it feasible for every clinic, every pharmacy, every doctor's office to have supplies so that folks can go to the places they normally get their vaccines to obtain this."</p>
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