Labor Day is in the rearview mirror, kids are back to school, and a squall of pumpkin spice is upon us. It's that time again to prepare for the equally inevitable respiratory virus season with annual vaccines.

With fervent anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the country's top health official, it might seem like the rollout of this year's shots could be a disaster. For instance, one of Kennedy's first actions as health secretary last year was to obliterate an ad campaign for flu shots amid a particularly deadly flu season. As we head into this fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee—which normally sets vaccination recommendations and insurance coverage for the shots—is nonfunctioning. A federal judge ruled in March that the anti-vaccine allies Kennedy installed on the panel were illegally appointed and unfit to serve. All their changes to vaccine policy have been temporarily voided. And meanwhile, Kennedy spent last week trying to obscure the number of babies who died from measles so far this year (it was two, including a newborn).

Big picture

Despite all of that, the fall vaccine effort is looking like it will likely be somewhat smooth, potentially unremarkable even. The Food and Drug Administration has approved updated flu and COVID-19 shots for this season. Those shots have already begun arriving at pharmacies—in case your pharmacy hasn't already sent you multiple texts and reminders. While there are still some snags for access, it seems like it will be a lot like last year's fall vaccine rollout.

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British American Tobacco is expanding its Vuse business in the United States with a new version of the Vuse Pro vaping system and four flavored pod options. The rollout is notable not only because of the return of fruit-flavored Vuse products in selected U.S. markets, but also because the device incorporates age verification and Bluetooth connectivity into the activation process.

The new Vuse Pro pods are available in Peach, Berry, Watermelon and Fresh Mint. Vuse’s U.S. website lists the pods at 5.0% nicotine by weight (NBW) and identifies them as nicotine-salt products.

The products have begun appearing in Ohio and selected U.S. markets. However, they have not received FDA marketing authorization, making the launch an important development in the country’s changing regulatory environment for flavored vaping products.

Vuse Pro Makes Age Verification Part of Device Activation

The biggest difference between the new Vuse Pro system and a conventional closed-pod vape is the role played by the smartphone app.

Instead of treating age verification solely as a retail requirement, the Vuse Pro setup connects the process with the device itself. Users must complete the required age-verification process through the Vuse Pro App, enable Bluetooth and pair the smartphone with the device before the vape can be activated.

This creates an additional access-control layer after the purchase.

The app is also designed to provide several device-management functions, including:

• Manual locking and unlocking
• Automatic locking
• Find My Vape
• Battery-related reminders
• Bluetooth device management
• Factory reset

The system can also use Bluetooth proximity as part of its locking function. When the device moves outside the configured Bluetooth range, Auto-Lock can prevent further use until the paired smartphone is used to unlock it.

That makes the Vuse Pro more than a conventional rechargeable closed-pod system. Software becomes part of the product’s access and security architecture.

Four Flavored Vuse Pro Pods Are Now Listed in the U.S.

The new Vuse Pro flavor lineup consists of Peach, Berry, Watermelon and Fresh Mint.

• Peach
• Berry
• Watermelon
• Fresh Mint

Vuse lists these products at 5.0% NBW, meaning nicotine by weight. The company also confirms that its closed-system products use nicotine salts.

The four flavors give Vuse a broader U.S. lineup than a product strategy focused only on traditional tobacco and menthol profiles.

The timing is significant. BAT had already indicated that it planned a phased expansion of flavored Vuse products in the U.S. during the third quarter of 2026. In its 2026 first-half communications, the company said it was strengthening age-verification controls while preparing to commercialize flavored vapor products.

The current rollout therefore appears to be part of a broader strategy rather than a one-off product launch.

Closed-Pod Design Keeps the User Experience Simple

Vuse Pro remains a rechargeable closed-pod system.

Instead of requiring users to fill a tank manually, the system uses prefilled pods that are inserted into the device. The device is draw-activated, while the app handles additional connected functions.

This approach is different from open-pod systems that allow users to select their own e-liquid and refill the cartridge.

For Vuse, the closed architecture also provides tighter control over the consumable used with the device. Users choose from the available Vuse Pro pods rather than mixing or filling e-liquid themselves.

The U.S. Vuse website currently identifies Vuse Pro as a 5.0% NBW nicotine-salt system.

Bluetooth Has a Bigger Role Than Simple Connectivity

Bluetooth is often included in connected consumer electronics as a convenience feature. With Vuse Pro, its role is more closely connected to device access.

Pairing the vape with the Vuse Pro App is part of the initial activation process. Bluetooth also supports functions such as device locking, unlocking and locating.

That makes the smartphone an important part of the overall user experience.

The concept is different from simply adding an app that displays battery information or usage statistics. In this case, the connected software is integrated into how the hardware is accessed.

This could become an important direction for regulated nicotine products as manufacturers look for additional ways to combine age controls with connected hardware.

Vuse Pro Adds Flavors While U.S. Regulations Remain Complex

The rollout is taking place against a complicated U.S. regulatory background.

Current reporting indicates that the new Vuse Pro flavored products have appeared in Ohio and selected other markets even though they have not received FDA marketing authorization. Reynolds American has said the products are being sold in accordance with applicable state regulations and that the company is using measures such as identification requirements and purchase limits to address underage access.

State rules remain important because flavored-vape restrictions differ across the country. Some states and jurisdictions have enacted restrictions or bans covering flavored vaping products.

As a result, availability of the new Vuse Pro flavors should not be interpreted as nationwide authorization or nationwide availability.

BAT Is Building on Vuse’s Existing U.S. Position

The new product also arrives from a strong position in the U.S. closed-system market.

BAT reported that Vuse held a 55.9% value share of tracked rechargeable closed-system vapor channels in the first half of 2026, representing a 4.1-percentage-point increase from the end of 2025. The company said Vuse’s share was more than twice that of its closest competitor.

BAT has therefore been expanding the Vuse portfolio from an established base rather than attempting to introduce an entirely new brand.

The company’s 2026 strategy also calls for a phased distribution of new Vuse Pro flavored pods. Reporting from 2Firsts indicates that BAT planned approximately 25,000 retail outlets during the third quarter and another 25,000 in the fourth quarter, although the company has not disclosed the number of stores currently carrying the products.

Vuse Pro Specifications and Product Details

Feature	Vuse Pro
Company	Reynolds American / R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company
Parent Company	British American Tobacco
Brand	Vuse
Product	Vuse Pro
Category	Rechargeable closed-pod vaping system
Pod Type	Prefilled Vuse Pro Pod
Activation	Draw-activated
Initial Setup	Vuse Pro App, age verification and Bluetooth pairing
Connectivity	Bluetooth
App Functions	Lock/unlock, Auto-Lock, Find My Vape, battery reminders
Water Resistance	IPX4
Charging	USB rechargeable
Full Charging Time	Approximately 50 minutes
Flavors	Peach, Berry, Watermelon, Fresh Mint
Nicotine Strength	5.0% NBW
Nicotine Type	Nicotine salts
Market	United States
FDA Marketing Authorization	Not authorized

Public U.S. product information does not currently provide a complete set of technical specifications such as battery capacity, e-liquid volume, coil construction or an official puff-count rating. It is therefore better not to treat those figures as confirmed specifications.

Why the App Matters to the Vuse Pro Launch

The most interesting aspect of the new Vuse Pro is not necessarily the hardware.

The larger change is the relationship between hardware, software and age control.

Traditional age verification normally happens when a customer buys a regulated product. Vuse Pro introduces another step by connecting device activation with an age-verification process through a smartphone application.

That creates a product ecosystem in which the device can remain connected to a specific smartphone while offering functions such as Auto-Lock and Find My Vape.

For manufacturers, this approach could provide additional tools for managing access. For consumers, however, it also means that the vape is less independent from the smartphone than a conventional closed-pod device.

FDA Status Should Be Clearly Distinguished From Enforcement Policy

One point is particularly important when discussing the U.S. Vuse Pro launch: FDA enforcement policy and FDA marketing authorization are not the same thing.

Current reports state that the Vuse Pro flavored products being sold in selected U.S. markets have not received FDA marketing authorization.

At the same time, the FDA’s 2026 enforcement approach has changed the regulatory environment for certain unauthorized vaping products. That change in enforcement priorities should not be described as equivalent to formal authorization.

This distinction matters because consumers and retailers may otherwise interpret market availability as evidence that a product has completed the FDA’s marketing authorization process.

What the Vuse Pro Launch Means for the U.S. Vape Market

The new Vuse Pro rollout combines two developments that have become increasingly important in the U.S. vaping market: flavored products and stronger age-access controls.

Peach, Berry, Watermelon and Fresh Mint expand Vuse’s current flavor offering, while the app-based activation system gives the company a way to connect age verification with the device itself.

BAT’s broader strategy suggests that this is part of a planned expansion of Vuse rather than an isolated experiment. The company has publicly discussed phased flavored-pod commercialization and stronger age-verification measures as part of its U.S. strategy.

The result is a Vuse Pro system that is increasingly defined not just by its pods and battery, but by the software surrounding the device.

For the U.S. market, the more important question may be whether app-based age verification, Bluetooth access controls and regulated flavored pods become a more common model for next-generation vaping products.

For now, Vuse Pro represents a notable example of how nicotine-device manufacturers are combining connected technology with age-access measures while navigating a rapidly changing U.S. regulatory landscape.

The post BAT Expands Vuse Pro in the U.S. With App-Based Age Verification and Four Flavored Pods appeared first on IGeeKphone China Phone, Tablet PC, VR, RC Drone News, Reviews.

New mRNA jabs could change how vaccines chase viruses.

Amid a massive Cyclospora outbreak linked to its iceberg lettuce, Taylor Farms is now recalling products containing jalapeños, which were linked last week to a large, multi-state Salmonella outbreak.

On Sunday, August 9, Taylor Farms recalled jalapeño-containing products, including diced jalapeños, dips, salsas, pico de gallo, guacamole, and pre-made salads, burritos, and sandwiches. The foods, which include both branded and unbranded products, were sold across 26 states at major retailers, including Hannaford, Kroger, Target, Trader Joe's, Walmart, and Whole Foods.

The recalled products contain recalled jalapeños from Coast Citrus Distributors, which was linked last week to a Salmonella outbreak that has infected at least 345 people across 27 states, sending at least 36 people to the hospital. No deaths have been reported.

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In a widely expected move, a committee organized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has voted to endorse removing restrictions on the manufacture of peptides for human use. Thursday's panel meeting saw a sharply divided group recommend lifting limits on four peptides; votes on three additional peptides are scheduled for today. The move comes despite a continuing lack of evidence regarding their safety and effectiveness.

The move had been telegraphed months earlier as peptide enthusiast and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took steps to ensure this outcome.

Like proteins, peptides are composed of amino acids that are chemically linked into a chain. Peptides differ merely by length; they're often 10–20 amino acids long, in contrast to proteins, which can be hundreds or thousands. Some of them, such as insulin, are specifically made by targeted processing of a protein into shorter fragments, and the resulting peptide interacts with receptors that have evolved to send signals to cells based on its levels.

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Influencers peddle injectable shortcuts while regulators confront a fast-growing gray market.

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Wednesday that it's investigating yet another outbreak of Cyclospora, the unicellular foodborne parasite behind a nationwide surge in explosive watery diarrhea illnesses. The FDA said 72 cases have been identified in this outbreak, but the agency provided no details on the situation.

This announcement marks the sixth Cyclospora outbreak investigation the FDA has opened this year. Overall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has gotten reports of more than 11,500 cases (including 4,173 confirmed and over 7,400 probable) from 41 states. Among the cases, there have been 308 hospitalizations and no deaths.

This year's tally so far—just in July—greatly exceeds the normal number of cases the US sees in a whole year. In recent years, the US has reported between 2,000 and 5,000 cases in a year, according to CDC data. With a new outbreak announced, the tally of cases is likely to continue climbing. Nevertheless, when asked about the national surge in cases earlier this week, anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the situation was "under control."

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Federal officials on Friday announced that shredded iceberg lettuce imported from Mexico and served at Taco Bell restaurants in five states is a source of Cyclospora, the foodborne parasite causing the nationwide surge in cases of explosive, watery diarrhea. The five states are Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia.

A traceback investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration identified a single supplier in Mexico as the source of iceberg lettuce for Taco Bell restaurants where sick people reported eating. While federal authorities did not name the supplier, sources told the Washington Post that it is Taylor Farms.

Taylor Farms was also implicated in a 2024 multi-state E. coli outbreak linked to contaminated onions served at McDonald's and other fast-food restaurants. At the time, FDA inspectors found multiple violations at a Taylor Farms facility in Colorado.

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In an extremely odd case, a single 79-year-old patient was granted early access to Eli Lilly's powerful, still-experimental obesity drug retatrutide through the Food and Drug Administration's "compassionate use" program—raising immediate questions if that sole patient is President Donald Trump, according to a report by Stat News.

Lilly's retatrutide is a highly anticipated next-generation obesity drug that targets GIP and glucagon hormones in addition to GLP-1. It is currently in late-stage trials to treat obesity, diabetes, sleep apnea, and other conditions. Data from a Phase 3 trial that Lilly released in May indicates that patients with obesity (but without diabetes) who took the drug for 80 weeks lost 28 percent of their weight, an amount comparable to bariatric surgery.

Millions of Americans with obesity are eager to get the drug, with options being limited so far to enrolling in a clinical trial or trying to obtain it by dodgy methods.

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Il nuovo vaccino antinfluenzale mRNA di Moderna mostra risultati promettenti nella protezione contro l'influenza, con approvazione in arrivo.

Independent advisors for the Food and Drug Administration on Friday voted 9–0 in support of approving Moderna's seasonal mRNA flu vaccine, which a Trump appointee at the agency initially tried to block from even being reviewed.

In an all-day meeting, members of the FDA's advisory committee—known as VRBPAC for Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee—pored over data and presentations on the vaccine, which is dubbed mRNA-1010 and branded as mFlusiva. The presentations included a review from FDA scientists, which was supportive of the vaccine.

Data from a Phase 3 trial including over 40,000 adults age 50 and older found the mRNA vaccine was around 27 percent more effective against seasonal flu than a standard flu shot. A smaller Phase 3 trial, involving data from nearly 3,000 people age 65 years and older, showed the shot produces stronger immune responses than a high-dose flu vaccine, which is recommended for this age group. The safety profile of the vaccine was also generally good.

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The Food and Drug Administration this week cleared a second carcass-feasting fly species for use in maggot wound therapy, according to an announcement from Cuprina Holdings, a Singapore-based company that has dubbed its new therapeutic larvae MediFly Maggots.

With the clearance, Cuprina appears to be the only company to have FDA clearance to sell two species of fly larvae—and it's abuzz with the potential to dominate the global maggot market.

The new species is Lucilia cuprina, or Australian sheep blowfly. It's a close relative of Lucilia sericata, or the common green bottle fly, which is the fly species most often used for wound therapy, often called biosurgery or maggot debridement therapy (MDT). L. sericata is the only other fly with FDA clearance, which the agency first granted in 2004 to Ronald Sherman, who is now Cuprina’s Medical and Scientific Director.

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A gene therapy for Huntington's disease has a new path toward approval from the Food and Drug Administration after the ouster of several Trump officials, particularly Vinay Prasad, who rejected the therapy in a shocking move one former FDA official called "truly evil."

Huntington's disease is an inherited condition that typically strikes in middle age and causes nerve cells in the brain to gradually break down. There are currently no treatments for the disease, and many afflicted die in their 50s and 60s.

Gene therapy company UniQure developed a one-time treatment, AMT-130, that aims to lower brain levels of the mutant protein behind the disease, called huntingtin. Data from a small, early trial suggested the drug could slow the progression of the disease up to 75 percent, and patients and advocates have closely watched the drug's development in hopeful anticipation.

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