COVID-19 updates: American Airlines to require employee vaccinations

After announcing 593 employees would be fired for not complying with United's vaccine mandate, the airline says just 320 employees will be terminated.

“Our vaccine policy continues to prove requirements work - in less than 48 hours, the number of unvaccinated employees who began the process of being separated from the company has been cut almost in half, dropping from 593 to 320," United said.
 
-ABC News' Sam Sweeney

Northwell Health, New York state's largest health care system, says its workforce of more than 77,000 is now “near 100%” vaccinated after letting go “a few hundred employees” who refused to get the mandated shot.

Northwell Health said, "we are pleased to report that most team members are opting to be vaccinated so as to avoid being terminated."

A new study finds 37% of COVID-19 patients had at least one symptom three to six months later. The most typical symptoms included breathlessness, fatigue, abdominal pain, depression and anxiety. 

Researchers from the University of Oxford analyzed millions of medical records, comparing long-haul symptoms after COVID-19 to long-haul symptoms after the flu. A significant portion of people who had the flu also experienced symptoms three to six months later, but far more people who recovered from COVID-19 experienced at least one long-haul symptom. 

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has launched several large research studies to look into why long-haul symptoms happen to some people and how to treat them. 

-ABC News' Sony Salzman

NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar spoke with ABC News Live Wednesday about the vaccination status among NBA players.

The league, which has not implemented a mandate among team members, said 90% of all players are vaccinated. However, some of the holdouts include stars like Bradley Beal and Andrew Wiggins.

Abdul-Jabbar told ABC News' Phil Lipof that he believes the players refusing to get vaccinated are being "very irresponsible."

"If you care for your family or the people that you work with, and have to spend a lot of time with, you will get vaccinated," Abdul-Jabbar said.

He added that this should especially be true among Black athletes, noting that COVID-19 has affected Black Americans the most, so promoting vaccinations is important for the community.

"It's like an extension of Black Lives Matter," Abdul-Jabbar said. "Most of the people who are dying are black people. Most of the people who are losing their jobs and being negatively affected in other ways economically are Black Americans. So the Black community, who has a great communication going on with their athletes, they need to get wise to this and Black athletes can do a lot to to change the template."