President Biden on Thursday held a ceremony at the White House to mark the 50 millionth Covid-19 vaccine dose administered during his first five weeks in office, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Georgia, and Minnesota.

• District of Columbia: President Biden on Thursday held a ceremony at the White House to mark the 50 millionth Covid-19 vaccine dose administered during his first five weeks in office. Biden said the United States is "moving in the right direction," and his administration is on track to deliver on his goal of having 100 million Covid-19 shots administered during his first 100 days in office. "We're halfway there: 50 million shots in 37 days," he said, adding, "That's weeks ahead of schedule" (Miller/Superville, Associated Press, 2/25; Chalfant, The Hill, 2/25).

• Georgia: Northeast Georgia Medical Center is planning to build an 11-story, $700 million patient tower that will have new outpatient observation beds and 144 new inpatient acute care beds. The hospital also intends to relocate its ED and expand both its ED and surgical services. Hospital officials expect to open the tower as early as 2024 (Ellison, Becker's Hospital Review, 2/24; Allison, Atlanta Business Chronicle, 2/23).

• Minnesota: The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation has named Joseph Lee as its president and CEO, as well as president of the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies, effective June 28. Lee will succeed Mark Mishek, who is retiring. Lee currently serves as medical director of Hazelden's Youth Continuum (Miller, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, 2/25).