Kaiser Health News Original Stories

A Proposal to Import Drugs from Other Countries Creates an Unusual Alliance in the Senate

As a Senate committee considered legislation to reauthorize the FDA’s user fee program, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul agreed on a proposed amendment related to importing drugs from Canada, the U.K., and other nations. (Victoria Knight, 6/18 )

Two Tennessee Abortion Clinics, Awaiting High-Court Ruling, Grapple With Uncertainty

The landmark Roe v. Wade decision could soon be overturned. Two Knoxville-based providers of reproductive health care wonder how — and if — they will continue to serve their patients. (Victoria Knight, 6/18 )

States Extend Medicaid for New Mothers — Even as They Reject Broader Expansion

Most of the dozen states that haven’t fully expanded eligibility for Medicaid have extended or plan to extend the postpartum coverage window for new mothers. That could mean improved maternal health, but it’s only part of the puzzle when it comes to reducing the number of preventable maternal deaths in the U.S. (Sam Whitehead, 6/18 )

It’s Hot Outside — And That’s Bad News for Children’s Health

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine takes a sweeping look at how heat — which can be a byproduct of air pollution and climate change — adversely affects people’s health, especially that of kids. (Colleen DeGuzman, 6/18 )

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Closing In on Covid Vaccines for ‘The Littles’

The wait is nearly over for parents of kids under 5 as a key advisory committee to the FDA recommends authorizing a covid-19 vaccine for the youngest children. Meanwhile, Congress is struggling to fill in the details of its gun control compromise, and, as the Supreme Court prepares to throw the question of abortion legality back to the states, the number of abortions has been rising. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too. ( 6/18 )

Political Cartoon: 'Crack Pack Sacks Quack Shack!'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Political Cartoon: 'Crack Pack Sacks Quack Shack!'" by Bob and Tom Thaves.

KHN's Morning Briefing will not be published Monday in honor of Juneteenth. Look for it again in your inbox Tuesday.

Senate Expands Veteran Benefits To Cover Toxic Exposure Sicknesses

Media outlets cover a major push to improve care of sick veterans with a new bill offering health care and tax-free benefits to veterans under certain circumstances, such as those exposed to toxic burn pits while deployed, or suffering a wider range of conditions from toxic substances like Agent Orange.

Roll Call: Senate Passes Major Benefits Expansion For Sick Veterans  The Senate on Thursday took a major step toward broadening America’s commitment to take care of sick veterans, passing a bill to offer new health care and tax-free disability benefits to as many as 3.5 million veterans on an 84-14 vote. Under the legislation written by Veterans' Affairs Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., and ranking member Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the Department of Veterans Affairs would consider a veteran with any of 23 conditions, ranging from brain cancer to hypertension, who was deployed to a combat zone during the wars in Iraq or in Afghanistan automatically eligible for care at government cost, based on the presumption that exposure to toxic chemicals in the war zone caused the ailments. (Satter, 6/16)

AP: Senate OKs Enhanced Benefits For Vets Exposed To Burn Pits The bill is projected to increase federal spending by about $283 billion over 10 years and does not include offsetting spending cuts or tax increases to help pay for it. The House in March approved similar legislation that would have cost more than $320 billion over 10 years. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said after Senate passage that the House would “move swiftly” to take up the legislation and send it to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Biden has encouraged the effort. In a statement after the vote, Biden said the bill “makes good on our sacred obligation to care for veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.” He urged the House to act quickly “so I can sign it into law right away.” (Freking, 6/16)

Politico: Senate Advances Bill On Veterans' Burn Pit Care The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) said in statement that the House will vote again on the measure, which it passed in March, next week. Biden, who has pushed for recognition of burn pit health risks since the campaign trail, is expected to swiftly sign the bill into law. (Owermohle, 6/16)

Military Times: Here Are The Veterans Who Will Benefit From Congress’ Sweeping Toxic Exposure Bill As many as one in five veterans living in America today could see new health care coverage and disability benefits under the toxic exposure legislation advanced by the Senate Thursday, but some veterans will see help sooner than others. The package — which was advanced by the Senate in a bipartisan 84-14 vote and heads now to the House for final congressional approval — would cost almost $280 billion over the next decade and radically transform how the Department of Veterans Affairs analyzes and compensates victims of military chemical and radiation exposure incidents. (Shane III, 6/16)

Military.com: Veterans Exposed To Agent Orange, Radiation, Toxic Water Included In Landmark Burn Pit Bill  In addition to improving access to benefits for post-9/11 veterans exposed to burn pits, the sweeping toxic exposure legislation approved 84-14 by the Senate on Thursday will add two new conditions to the Department of Veterans Affairs' list of Agent Orange-related illnesses and expand benefits for veterans sickened by radiation or poisoned water in certain geographic locations. The bill adds hypertension and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, or MGUS, to the list of illnesses linked to Agent Orange exposure, allowing affected veterans to apply for health care and disability benefits with the VA without having to prove that their condition was caused by their service. (Kime, 6/16)

Sticking Points Stall Gun Talks, Cast Doubt On Deal

After hours of negotiations Thursday, Senate negotiators missed their target deadline with two major unresolved points: state funding to set up red flag laws and closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole.”

The Washington Post: Gun Deal In Jeopardy After Senators Fail To Agree On Text Senators left Washington on Thursday with key elements still in dispute on a delicate bipartisan deal that could significantly expand federal gun laws for the first time in three decades. The lack of firm agreement could foil leaders’ hopes of holding a Senate vote on a bill next week, and raised the prospect that a framework agreement released Sunday might not be able to be translated into a bill. (DeBonis and Caldwell, 6/16)

NBC News: Senate Gun Group Eyes Finish Line As 'Boyfriend Loophole' Remains A Big Hurdle The four U.S. senators leading negotiations on a gun deal met for hours in a Senate basement Thursday in pursuit of a final agreement, but emerged with one major unresolved issue. The meeting among Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., did not yield a resolution on how to close the "boyfriend loophole" involving gun rights for abusive partners. (Kapur, Tsirkin and Thorp V, 6/16)

Politico: McConnell's Gun Safety Gamble Mitch McConnell is breaking character yet again, and this time it’s on one of the most polarizing issues in American politics. Once known as the Senate’s “guardian of gridlock,” the GOP leader is publicly endorsing the chamber’s bipartisan framework on gun safety, wading into a topic so volatile with his base that it ended one Republican lawmaker’s career this month. While McConnell’s position didn’t surprise his GOP colleagues, it continues a pattern of cutting against his reputation and easing up, ever so slightly, in his push to stop the Democratic agenda. (Levine and Everett, 6/16)

In other news about the gun violence epidemic —

NBC News: 2 Dead, 1 Injured In Shooting At Alabama Church Two people were killed and a third was injured when a gunman opened fire inside a church near Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday, police said. A suspect in the evening shooting at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills is in custody, police said. "From what we've gathered from the circumstances of this evening, a lone suspect entered a small group church meeting and began shooting," Vestavia Hills police Capt. Shane Ware said. The suspect's identity was not immediately released. The third person who was injured was being treated at a hospital, he said. A motive in the shooting was not disclosed. (Helsel, 6/16)

Des Moines Register: Iowa Church Shooter's Record Not Previously Shared Between Authorities The man who authorities say shot and killed two Iowa State University students this month in the parking lot of an Ames church had a legal record spanning several years that included alleged violent behavior against women, but Story County's prosecutor said his office wasn't aware of it after Johnathan Lee Whitlatch was arrested two days before the shooting. Even if other law enforcement agencies had shared or could have shared the information about Whitlatch — including previous concerns about his mental health — Story County Attorney Tim Meals said it probably would not have changed how bond was set for him after his May 31 arrest or whether he would have been allowed pretrial release. (Sitter, 6/16)

The Texas Tribune: Layla Salazar’s Burial Ends Uvalde Funerals For Shooting Victims  From Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the path to eternal rest is a 1-mile drive down Fort Clark Road to Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery. On Thursday, Layla Salazar became the final victim of the Robb Elementary School massacre to make that trip. She was 11 years old. Since the May 24 school shooting, 20 families have taken turns burying their dead. An unremitting pattern of overlapping visitations and services has laid bare the currents of grief coursing through this small town. Nine of the dead children and two of their teachers passed through Sacred Heart on their way to the cemetery now dappled with fresh mounds of dirt. One last victim, Uziyah Garcia, remains to be buried in his hometown of San Angelo, where the 10-year-old spent his last spring break learning football pass patterns from his grandfather. (Ura, 6/16)

Houston Chronicle: Gun Violence Event At Rice University To Discuss Injuries, Deaths Houston gun violence researchers and law enforcement officials will gather next Tuesday to discuss better ways to address firearm injuries and deaths at an event hosted by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The American Medical Association declared gun violence a public health crisis in 2016. Since then, firearms have surpassed car crashes as the leading cause of traumatic death among children, and the CDC released data showing a 35 percent increase in firearm homicides from 2019 to 2020. (Gill, 6/16)

Window Shutting On Deal For More Federal Covid Funds

Republicans accused the White House of providing "false" information about dwindling money, citing a big purchase of more vaccine. Biden administration officials say they've been transparent and were forced to repurpose that money from other initiatives because of the funding battle.

The Washington Post: Congressional Covid Funding Deal Appears ‘Dead’ After GOP Criticism  A congressional deal for billions of dollars in additional coronavirus funding appeared all but dead Thursday after Senate Republicans accused the White House of being dishonest about the nation’s pandemic funding needs. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who brought the Senate close to a bipartisan $10 billion covid funding deal in March, said the Biden administration had provided “patently false” information about its inability to buy additional vaccines, treatments and supplies. He cited a newly announced White House plan to repurpose some existing funds to cover the country’s most pressing vaccine and treatment needs. (Diamond, 6/16)

Stat: Mitt Romney Says White House Misled Congress On Covid-19 Funds Mitt Romney, a prominent Republican senator who spearheaded failed Covid-19 response funding negotiations, on Thursday accused the White House of misleading Congress about the urgency of the situation. In a striking monologue during a congressional hearing, Romney expressed anger that he spent months negotiating with his colleagues to craft a $10 billion funding package, when the Biden administration earlier this month announced that it had repurposed existing funding to pay for $10 billion in vaccines and therapeutics purchases in the absence of congressional action. (Cohrs, 6/16)

In covid updates from the Biden administration —

NBC News: Biden Tested Negative For Covid, Source Says, After White House Spokesperson Declined To Disclose President Joe Biden twice tested negative for the coronavirus this week, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News, despite high-profile interactions with individuals who recently disclosed positive cases. The disclosure came after the top White House spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, repeatedly refused to reveal the president’s testing status, a reversal from previous practice. (Memoli, 6/16)

AP: White House Clams Up On Biden COVID-19 Testing Regimen In an abrupt change of course, the White House is now declining to comment on the frequency of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 testing regimen, even as it maintains that it would inform the public if he were to ever test positive for the coronavirus. Since Inauguration Day, the White House had frequently answered questions from reporters about when Biden, 79, last tested negative for the virus. Now, the White House says its policy is not to answer those questions. (Miller and Weissert, 6/17)

Politico: Bidenworld: We Won The Covid Battle, Lost The Political War  The White House believes it’s finally got the Covid crisis under control. But it may be too late to claim any of the credit. Five months out from the midterms, administration health officials are increasingly confident they’ve blunted the worst of the virus’ effects. Cases continue to climb. But Covid deaths are down and hospital ICUs are emptier than they’ve been in years, with vaccines and treatments capable of fending off severe illness widely available. (Cancryn, 6/16)

NBC News: Deborah Birx To Testify Publicly For First Time Since Leaving Trump Administration Deborah Birx, who served as Covid response coordinator under former President Donald Trump, will give her first public testimony about her time in the Trump administration. Birx is scheduled to provide testimony on June 23 at a hearing before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, led by Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. (Stewart, 6/16)

Politico: Covid Doesn't Stop Anthony Fauci From Taking On Rand Paul – Again Despite this week’s Covid-19 diagnosis, the White House’s top medical adviser and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci was still up for his usual sparring with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The 81-year-old infectious disease expert testified by video and in isolation on Thursday at a Senate HELP hearing on the federal pandemic response after testing positive for Covid Wednesday. Fauci is fully vaccinated and has received two boosters, and is taking the antiviral Paxlovid. It is not yet known how he was exposed to the virus. Yet Fauci and Sen. Paul got into their typical heated back-and-forth during the senator’s allotted time for questioning. (Foley and Leonard, 6/16)

Fox News: Fauci Says COVID-19 Origin Evidence Points 'Strongly' Toward 'Natural Occurrence' Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified virtually before a Thursday Senate panel about the illness only a day after announcing he had contracted COVID-19. Fauci, when asked if there were any breakthroughs in understanding the origin of COVID-19, said that researchers had concluded that it "very, very likely" had its genesis in an animal species. Additionally, Fauci stated that the disease "almost certainly" spread to human beings in the Wuhan region of China. (Nerozzi, 6/16)

How Well Did Your State Handle Covid? Rankings List Best To Worst

Using criteria like vaccination and death rates as well as hospitalization stats, the Commonwealth Fund ranked Hawaii and Maine as the states that performed the best during the pandemic, while Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi and Georgia were at the bottom of the list.

Stateline: Hawaii And Maine Have Scored Highest On Health Care During Pandemic The health systems in Hawaii and Maine have performed best of all the states during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new rankings that weighed such factors as vaccination rates, capacity in hospital and intensive care units, and death rates. Alabama ranked at the bottom in the scorecard, followed by Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi and Georgia. The rankings, released Thursday, were compiled by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that promotes health equity and higher health care quality, efficiency and access. Every year, Commonwealth uses dozens of measures to produce a ranking of state health care systems. This year, it added categories specific to how state health care systems performed during COVID-19 from February 2020 to the end of March 2022. Vermont, Washington and Oregon rounded out the top five. (Ollove, 6/16)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia’s Pandemic Response Ranked Among The Nation’s Worst Georgia’s response to the pandemic ranked among the nation’s worst, according to an analysis released Thursday by the New-York-based Commonwealth Fund. The state ranked 44th among all states and the District of Columbia for its overall health performance according to the report, which looked at dozens of measures of health and health care access. Within that, the state ranked 47th for its response to the pandemic, which measured rates of death and COVID-19 hospitalization as well as staffing shortages and overflow in hospital intensive care units. The message, said the authors: The pandemic has been bad, but being ill prepared made it worse for citizens. (Hart, 6/16)

Commonwealth Fund: 2022 Scorecard On State Health System Performance COVID-19  We found that states that have historically performed well on our State Scorecard also performed well as the pandemic unfolded, both on our usual set of health system measures and the new COVID-19-specific measures. (6/16)

Bloomberg: Paid Leave, Affordable Child Care On Working Women’s Wish List  Universal paid leave and affordable child care and housing would ease the pandemic’s economic strain and bring more women back into the workforce, a panel of working-class women told lawmakers at a hearing. There are no suitable workplace protections in place for women dealing with deaths in the family, the rising costs of gas and groceries, and the growing wave of mental health issues among school-aged children, the women told the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday. (Brown, 6/15)

Study: Omicron's Long Covid Risks Lesser Than Delta

New research indicates that the chance of developing long covid is lower with the omicron covid variant than it is with the delta variant. Meanwhile, hospitalizations are on the rise in some parts of the country.

NPR: Study Finds Omicron Poses Less Risk Than Delta For Long COVID The omicron variant is much less likely than delta to cause long COVID, according to the first large-scale study published about the long-term risks posed by omicron. But almost 5% of people who catch omicron still experience fatigue, brain fog, headaches, heart problems or other health issues at least a month after getting infected, the study found. While some researchers found the results reassuring, others say the findings are alarming, given that so many people caught omicron and apparently remain at risk even if they're vaccinated. (Stein, 6/16)

NBC News: Long Covid Symptoms Less Likely To Occur After Omicron Infection, Study Suggests The new research, which was published Thursday in The Lancet, is an observational analysis of people who signed up for a smartphone app-led project called the ZOE Covid Study. Users regularly report any Covid symptoms, vaccination status and other demographic information. Since the app's launch in March 2020, approximately 4.7 million people, most of whom reside in the U.K., have signed on. (Edwards, 6/16)

In other news about the spread of covid —

Fox News: Covid Outbreak In Illinois Veterans Home Sparks Concern A COVID-19 outbreak at a state-run veterans home in northeastern Illinois has spread to 22 residents and staff members, a state agency said. The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs said Wednesday that 16 residents and six staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Illinois Veterans’ Home at Manteno, about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) south of Chicago, and the majority of the residents have shown no symptoms. However, a "small number" of residents are showing mild symptoms, the department said. (6/16)

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah’s COVID-19 Death Toll Rises Above 4,800 Thirteen more Utahns died of COVID-19 in the past week, bringing the state’s total death toll since the pandemic began to 4,806, according to the Utah Department of Health. Ten of the deaths in the past week were people ages 65 and over, and three were 85 or older. Another 6,522 cases of the coronavirus were also reported, just nine fewer the previous week. The number of hospitalizations and the percentage of positive tests both rose slightly. This week’s COVID-19 report comes in the midst of a coronavirus surge that is expected to continue for several more weeks. Experts say omicron subvariants are driving it. (Pierce, 6/16)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Increasing In Southern Nevada COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to rise this week, underscoring Friday’s announcement that Clark County is experiencing a high community level of the disease. The number of patients hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 in the county increased to 351 from last week’s 276, according to data released Wednesday by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. Statewide, there were 410 hospitalizations. (Hynes, 6/15)

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska Reports 35% Increase In COVID-19 Hospitalizations From Last Week The number of people sick enough to be hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alaska rose by more than 35% this week compared to last as reported cases decreased slightly. Here are a few main takeaways from the latest data available from the state Department of Health and Social Services: • By Wednesday, there were 61 COVID-positive patients hospitalized around Alaska, a significant increase from the 45 reported by the state a week earlier. Just under 5% of Alaska’s hospital patients were COVID-positive. Current hospital counts are still well below all-time peaks, but on the rise. (6/15)

Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Hinds County Reports 679 New COVID Cases; Mississippi Cases Surge 23.3% New coronavirus cases leaped in Mississippi in the week ending Sunday, rising 23.3% as 4,495 cases were reported. The previous week had 3,646 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19. Mississippi ranked 40th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 0.9% from the week before, with 753,773 cases reported. With 0.89% of the country's population, Mississippi had 0.6% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 31 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before. (Stucka, 6/16)

AP: COVID-19 Testing Provider Closing Its Public Sites In Alaska  One of Alaska’s largest private COVID-19 testing providers plans to close its public testing sites in the state by the end of June. The decision by Capstone Clinic is mainly driven by financial considerations, Matt Jones, Capstone’s director of non-clinical operations, told the Anchorage Daily News. (6/16)

The CT Mirror: Still Stuck At Home During COVID: One Person's Story Despite the persistence of highly contagious strains of COVID-19 in Connecticut and elsewhere, restrictions designed to curb the spread of the virus are more relaxed than ever. And while many are resuming travel, dining indoors or attending large gatherings, some who are immune-compromised or care for an immune-suppressed loved one face a very different “new normal,” one in which they feel left behind. For some who live with or care for people who are immunocompromised, or who themselves are immune-suppressed, the “new normal” is anything but. (Kim and Carlesso, 6/16)

Covid Shot Hesitancy Spills Over To Flu Vaccine Program: Study

Research reported in CIDRAP shows that worries over covid vaccines are negatively impacting the adult flu vaccination effort. Separate research shows covid hits children ages 5 and younger harder than influenza does.

CIDRAP: COVID Vaccine Hesitancy Threatens Flu Vaccine Uptake  Polarized views and worries about COVID-19 vaccination had spillover effects on flu vaccination in adults, according to researchers who examined data over two pandemic years on both vaccines by state. The authors of the study say the findings are a warning of declining trust in public heath, which comes at a vulnerable time as eased COVID-19 measures put populations at risk for the return of disease threats such as flu. Late-season flu activity is still under way in some parts of the United States, and health officials are closely watching Australia, where an early-season surge is already worse than some of the country's pre–COVID pandemic flu seasons. (Schnirring, 6/16)

CIDRAP: Data Highlight Greater Impact Of COVID-19 Vs Flu In Young Children A study today in JAMA Network Open comparing COVID-19 versus flu in kids 5 years old and younger finds that the novel coronavirus led to twice the rate of admissions to pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and rates of intubation one-third higher during the first 15 months of the pandemic. (6/15)

In updates on vaccines for children and teens —

Politico: DeSantis Says Florida Is ‘Affirmatively Against’ Covid-19 Vaccines For Young Kids Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday railed against providing Covid-19 vaccines to young children, saying Florida will not provide state programs to administer vaccinations for toddlers or infants. DeSantis, speaking at a press conference in Miami, said that Covid-19 vaccines have not gone through enough testing and clinical trials to determine that they are effective and added that kids are least likely to suffer serious health consequences from Covid. (Sarkissian, 6/16)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Children's Opens COVID Vaccine Appointments For Kids 5 And Under Texas Children’s Hospital is opening up appointments for children as young as 6 months old to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday unanimously recommended for emergency use authorization for millions of infants, toddlers and preschoolers. The agency’s recommendation centers on Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 4 years old, and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 5 years old. The hospital is still waiting on official FDA authorization, then a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, followed by an official sign-off from CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. If that happens, the shots could be available as early as next week. (Gill, 6/16)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Closing In On Covid Vaccines For ‘The Littles’ Children younger than 5 are the only population not eligible for a covid-19 vaccine in the U.S. But that may be about to change as an advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration recommends authorization for that group. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, senators are struggling to write into legislative language a tentative deal reached over the weekend on gun control and mental health, and the Supreme Court says no to certain administration cuts to hospitals under the Medicare program. (6/16)

AP: California Lawmaker Scraps Plan For Preteen Vaccine Consent  California lawmakers on Thursday amended a bill that would have let preteens be vaccinated against a range of health conditions without their parents’ consent, instead raising the proposed minimum age to 15, which would still be among the youngest in the U.S. Currently, minors age 12 to 17 in California cannot be vaccinated without permission from their parents or guardians, except for vaccinations to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. California state law already allows people 12 and older to consent to the Hepatitis B and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. (Thompson, 6/16)

In other news on the vaccine rollout —

CIDRAP: Boosters Plus Previous Infection Shown Most Protective Against Omicron According to a study yesterday based on COVID-19 cases in Qatar, protection afforded by natural immunity from prior infections was longer-lasting than from a primary mRNA vaccine series, but booster vaccine doses combined with prior infection provided the most protection against infections during the Omicron surge. ... Previous infection alone was 46.1% effective in protecting against infection with BA.2, an Omicron subvariant that surpassed the original (BA.1) Omicron strain in late March. The highest level of protection against BA.2 infection was in people who had a previous infection plus three doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which was 77.3%.

CIDRAP: Study Finds Low 2-Dose Vaccine Protection Against Omicron In Teens A study today in Pediatrics of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine efficacy (VE) in teens finds that VE was lower against symptomatic Omicron infection than against Delta and decreased faster, from 51% initially to 29% after 180 days, compared with 97% and 90% for the same intervals against symptomatic Delta infection. (6/16)

The Washington Post: Anti-Vaccine Doctor Simone Gold Sentenced For Jan. 6 Trespassing  A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Simone Gold, the founder of the anti-vaccine group America’s Frontline Doctors, to 60 days in prison for trespassing in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack, blasting her for using her legal woes to raise $430,000 for herself and her organization. U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper said that Gold, who pleaded guilty in March, failed to show remorse or accept responsibility for her actions during the riot. (Hsu, 6/16)

CDC Updates Monkeypox Symptom Guidelines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has detailed how the disease is presenting based on newly reported cases. The New York Post says the CDC has also released "bizarre" sex tips to try to reduce exposure risks. Meanwhile, more cases are reported across the states.

People: CDC Issues New Guidance On Monkeypox Symptoms As Cases Rise In The United States  As U.S. cases continue to rise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released new guidance for monkeypox. On Tuesday, the national public health agency detailed how to identify the rare virus based on symptoms from newly reported cases. Previously, the first signs of monkeypox were fever, headache, muscle aches, chills and exhaustion. Around one to three days after those first symptoms, infected people develop a rash, typically on the face, that then spreads to other parts of the body. Now, the CDC says most patients will first show signs of a rash — typically on the mouth or "genital or perianal area" — which will turn into fluid-filled blisters. In recent patients, these lesions appear in the same area of the body compared to previous patients that saw lesions scattered around the body. (Etienne, 6/16)

New York Post: CDC Issues Bizarre Tips For Sex While Having Monkeypox Americans who think they might have been exposed to monkeypox should take precautions like masturbating 6 feet apart from their partner to prevent the spread of the virus, according to health officials. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month issued a list of safe activities for sexually active patients to engage in. Among the recommendations, are avoiding kissing and “having sex with your clothes on or covering areas where rash or sores are present. ”Patients and prospective patients are also advised to “wash your hands, fetish gear, sex toys and any fabrics” after having sex and “masturbate together at a distance of at least 6 feet, without touching each other and without touching any rash or sores.” The odd guidance invoked New York City’s bizarre recommendation that sexually active people use “glory holes” during the coronavirus pandemic to prevent the spread of COVID-19. (O'Neill, 6/16)

CIDRAP: As More States Report Monkeypox, Officials Urge Caution In new research developments, a Dutch team that studied 18 recently confirmed patients found a 4- to 17-day incubation period, which supports current isolation and contact-tracing guidance, but offers a bit narrower window than other estimates. (Soucheray, 6/16)

The New York Times: Monkeypox Is Spreading In New York, Making Education Urgent Grindr, the social networking app, sent a pop-up message about the risk of monkeypox to millions of European and American users. A sex party organizer in New York asked invitees to check themselves for lesions before showing up. And the organizers of the city’s main Pride celebrations posted a monkeypox notice Sunday on their Instagram account. As hundreds of thousands of people gather in New York City and elsewhere to celebrate Pride this month, city and federal officials, health advocates and party organizers are rushing to disseminate an increasingly urgent health warning about the risk of monkeypox. (Otterman, 6/16)

Bloomberg: Monkeypox Cases Could Spread Unseen In US If ‘Testing Bottlenecks’ Don’t Improve US testing for monkeypox is insufficient to determine how widespread the virus is and where new cases are cropping up, according to infectious disease experts and advocates concerned about a sluggish response to the outbreak that’s already hit 32 countries. While government labs have the capacity to test as many as 8,000 samples a week, they’re only using 2% of that capability, suggesting that about 23 monkeypox tests are being performed a day, said James Krellenstein, the cofounder of PrEP4All, an HIV advocacy group that widened its focus during the pandemic. Much more testing is needed to find out where the pathogen is and how fast it’s moving, he said. (Muller, 6/16)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Reports First Presumed Case Of Monkeypox Virus; Resident Is Said To Be In Isolation With Mild Symptoms  The first suspected Maryland case of human monkeypox, a rare but contagious infection that has emerged in the United States, has been identified by the state health department. A state resident presumed to have the infection showed mild symptoms and did not require hospital care, the Maryland Department of Health said Thursday. The person is in isolation and waiting for test results to confirm an infection. Human monkeypox is a virus that causes symptoms similar to smallpox, although typically less severe. The health department provided no other details about the individual, including where in the state they reside or personal information such as age or gender. (Price, 6/16)

AP: Oregon Reports First Probable Case Of Monkeypox  Oregon health officials have reported the first probable case of monkeypox in the state. The Oregon Health Authority said in a statement Thursday the case was in an adult male who had travelled to a community with confirmed cases. He remains isolated and is following recommendations from public health officials and medical providers, authorities said. Testing to confirm the case is being done by federal officials. (6/16)

The Boston Globe: 7th Case Of Monkeypox Virus Confirmed In Mass., State Health Officials Say State public health officials on Thursday confirmed that a seventh Massachusetts resident had tested positive for the monkeypox virus. The state Department of Public Health said the man had recently traveled internationally. “DPH is working with local health officials, the patient, and healthcare providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient while he was infectious,” the statement said. “The individual is currently isolating to prevent spread to others.” (Andersen, 6/16)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Five Cases Of Monkeypox In Broward Set Off Emergency Town Hall Meeting With five cases of monkeypox in Broward County, LGBTQ community leaders are calling an emergency town hall in Wilton Manors on Thursday night to try to curb the spread. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the majority of monkeypox cases in the U.S. are in men who have had sex with men, although anyone can get it through close personal contact. Broward LGBTQ leaders said they believe there is cause for concern leading into the Stonewall Pride Parade this weekend. “We know there will be large gatherings and likely higher sexual activity,” said David Jobin, president and CEO of Our Fund Foundation. “We want the community to celebrate but use caution.” (Goodman, 6/16)

Postpartum Health Care Coverage For Lower-Income Women Expands

The money for the expanded federal program, announced by Vice President Kamala Harris, comes from the $1.9 trillion stimulus fund. Employee costs for health insurance screening, Medicare data problems, a HHS health IT task force, and more are also in the health industry news.

Los Angeles Times: VP Harris: U.S. Expands Low-Income Postpartum Health Program Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday announced an expansion of a federal program that provides healthcare coverage for lower-income women for up to a year after they give birth. The federal government, using money from the $1.9-trillion stimulus law signed last year, announced access to the program for three additional states — Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico — along with Washington, D.C. The number of jurisdictions providing the benefit stands at 15, including California. The program gives health benefits — including pelvic exams, vaccinations and screenings — through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to qualifying families. Previously, mothers were only covered for two months after giving birth. Administration officials would not say what the expansion will cost. (Bierman, 6/16)

In other news about health insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare —

USA Today: Employees Fight Health Insurance Screenings That Cost Some Workers Like many large employers, Yale University gave its clerical, food service and maintenance workers a choice: Get a routine health check or pay a $25 weekly fee. But workers alleged in a federal lawsuit the university's participate-or-pay employee wellness program violated two federal laws. In a preliminary settlement approved Tuesday by U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the university agreed to pay nearly $1.3 million to workers and attorneys and won’t assess the $25 weekly fee for four years, or until federal law or regulations change to allow such a program. Attorneys will have 45 days to notify about 6,300 eligible workers and their spouses about the settlement terms. A hearing to approve the final settlement is scheduled Nov. 22. (Alltucker, 5/16)

KHN: States Extend Medicaid For New Mothers — Even As They Reject Broader Expansion Until last year, Georgia’s Medicaid coverage for new moms with low incomes lasted 60 days. That meant the Medicaid benefits of many women expired before they could be referred to other medical providers for help with serious health problems, said Dr. Keila Brown, an OB-GYN in Atlanta. “If they needed other postpartum issues followed up, it was rather difficult to get them in within that finite period of time,” said Brown, who works at the Family Health Centers of Georgia, a group of community health centers. (Whitehead, 6/17)

Axios: Medicare Has A Data Problem The race and ethnicity data Medicare collects on its beneficiaries is less accurate for such groups as American Indians, Asian-Pacific Islanders and Hispanics, limiting the program's ability to assess health disparities, according to a federal audit. Inaccuracies can undercut efforts to address inequities and measure results. The pandemic underscored sharp disparities among Medicare beneficiaries, with Black, Hispanic and American Indians accounting for disproportionately high rates of cases and hospitalizations. (Bettelheim, 6/16)

And more from the health care industry —

Modern Healthcare: Task Force To Review Standards For ONC-Certified Tech The Health and Human Services Department's health IT agency convened a task force to assess whether to maintain or phase out its existing standards for health IT products. While it's important to introduce updated standards, "we also need to look back and talk about pruning, as well," said Micky Tripathi, chief of the HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, at a meeting of the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee on Thursday. The Adopted Standards Task Force will be part of HITAC, which advises ONC. (Kim Cohen, 6/16)

Billings Gazette: Contractor Reports 'Significant Deficiencies' At State-Run Health Facilities State-run health care facilities have "significant deficiencies" overall, according to the initial report of a contractor hired to help fix them. Alvarez & Marsal secured a $2.2 million contract in April to stabilize and manage health care facilities run by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. On Wednesday, DPHHS Director Adam Meier presented the organization's findings through May to an interim legislative budget committee. Three veterans homes and the Montana Chemical Dependency Center in Butte were each rated under the designation "challenges exist," while the mental health care facilities in Boulder, Lewistown and most of the facilities tied to the Montana State Hospital were all found to have "significant deficiencies." (Larson, 6/15)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth's Clinician Buying Spree Pressures Large Hospital Negotiations Jimmy Mayor is not sure what his next appointment at OU Health in Oklahoma City will cost. Mayor, 59, relies on disability insurance for his income after working as a commercial loan servicer for 20 years. He is among many UnitedHealthcare policyholders slated to lose in-network access to Oklahoma's only academic medical center. "I just wish those two would come to some type of agreement and think of the patients," said Mayor, who receives treatment for HIV, a brain tumor and a sleep disorder at not-for-profit OU Health. (Tepper, 6/16)

Carolina Public Press: Why Small NC Mountain City Is Taking On Nation’s Largest Hospital System  A small mountain city is challenging the nation’s largest hospital system in court. Brevard officials say that, after years of community complaints and declining medical care, they saw no other option. “Somebody’s got to be first,” said Mack McKeller, Brevard city attorney. On June 3, attorneys from Greensboro and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit on behalf of the city of Brevard alleging a scheme by HCA Healthcare to monopolize medical services in seven Western North Carolina counties — a scheme that the lawsuit claims has led to inflated prices, lower quality of care and loss of services. (Harris, 6/17)

Iowa Supreme Court To Rule On Waiting Periods For Abortions

An appeal from the state seeks to overturn a lower court's decision blocking a 2020 law imposing a 24-hour waiting period. Other state abortion and Supreme Court news is also reported.

Des Moines Register: Iowa Supreme Court To Rule On Abortion Law, Constitutional Right The Iowa Supreme Court will issue its ruling Friday in a closely-watched decision that could govern the future of abortion access in the state. The court is considering an appeal from the state, which seeks to overturn a lower court's decision blocking a 2020 law imposing a 24-hour waiting period before women can get an abortion. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland successfully sued, arguing the law was unconstitutional under a 2018 Iowa Supreme Court decision that blocked a similar 72-hour waiting period. (Morris, 6/16)

In other abortion news from Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and elsewhere —

The Texas Tribune: A Texas Abortion Clinic Considers Its Post-Roe Endgame As the frosted-glass window slides open, a dozen heads pop up, all with the same anxious, expectant look. One by one, women are called up to the desk at Alamo Women’s Reproductive Services to learn whether and when they can get an abortion. For months, the clinic has had to be the bearer of bad news, telling clients that they were too far along to terminate their pregnancies in Texas. It doesn’t get any easier, employees said, explaining again and again that the state has banned abortions after about six weeks, a point at which many don’t even know they are pregnant. But recently, the clinic has had to flip that script. Many of the women who were seen for an initial appointment on a recent Tuesday weren’t too late for an abortion — they were too early. (Klibanoff, 6/17)

Dallas Morning News: Report: Abortions Rates Rose From 2017 - 2020, But Are Declining In Texas A new report shows the number of abortions has increased nationwide, but the numbers in Texas have been decreasing since 2020. The report, published by the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute, found that abortions in the U.S. increased 8% from 2017 to 2020. The increase is a reversal of 30 years of decline in the number of abortions nationwide. The report’s authors note Texas is in some ways an outlier to the national trend. Abortions in Texas increased 7% from 2017 to 2019, then decreased 2% from 2019 to 2020. The authors said the decrease could be because of restrictions that barred most abortions from taking place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Wilson, 6/16)

Kansas City Star: Advocates Target Moderates In Kansas ‘Value Them Both’ Vote One of the first two TV ads aimed at defeating an anti-abortion amendment in Kansas doesn’t use the word abortion once. “Kansans don’t want another government mandate,” the ad, titled “mandate” says while a photo of a church closure sign flashes across the screen. The ad was released Wednesday morning by Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, a coalition of advocacy organizations and abortion providers fighting the amendment, alongside an additional 30-second spot that mentions abortion once —but only in the context of rape, incest and life of the mother. (Bernard, 6/17)

Kansas City Star: Abortion Navigators Coordinate Travel For Midwest Patients The woman in rural Oklahoma was seeking an abortion. But last month, the state enacted a ban that effectively ended the procedure there. The closest clinic with an opening was the Planned Parenthood in Overland Park — nearly a 10-hour round-trip drive. Money and time were an issue. So last week, Angela Huntington made it happen for her. As an abortion patient navigator, she arranged for the woman to fly in a small, private plane to and from her procedure, at no cost. Huntington, who works in Columbia, Missouri, is one of six such navigators for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which serves Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. They work with hundreds of patients every month to ensure anyone can access the procedure, even if they can’t afford it and even if they live in states that ban it. (McCarthy, 6/17)

KHN: Two Tennessee Abortion Clinics, Awaiting High-Court Ruling, Grapple With Uncertainty Corinne Rovetti is worried about what will happen to the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health if the Supreme Court overturns the constitutional right to abortion. The clinic, where she has worked for 33 years helping people across a four-state region, could close. “We’re unsure if we’ll be able to maintain services at all,” said Rovetti, who is the co-director and a nurse practitioner at KCRH, which provides medication abortions and abortion procedures, as well as gynecological and family planning services. Each year, the center provides abortion services to 1,300 to 1,400 patients, including people from Kentucky, Georgia, and Virginia. (Knight, 6/17)

Axios: Black Health Advocates Brace For Post-Roe Landscape As the Supreme Court weighs the fate of Roe v. Wade, advocates and health care providers fear that cutting off access to abortion will lead to more pregnancy-related complications and deaths that disproportionately affect Black people. Black women in the U.S. are already three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications compared to white women. And the states poised to ban or severely limit abortion already tend to have poor health outcomes and fewer safety net programs in place for mothers and children. (Chen, 6/17)

In related news about the Supreme Court —

The Hill: Biden Signs Bill Boosting Security For SCOTUS Justices, Families  President Biden on Thursday signed bipartisan legislation to bolster security protection for Supreme Court justices and their families.  The bill passed the House in a 396-27 vote on Tuesday, less than a week after an armed man was arrested outside of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home and charged with attempted murder. The White House said in a press release on Thursday evening that Biden had signed the bill.  (Chalfant, 6/16)

The New York Times: Sotomayor Says Supreme Court Can ‘Regain The Public’s Confidence’  Justice Sonia Sotomayor urged an audience of progressive lawyers on Thursday not to give up on the Supreme Court. “We have to have continuing faith in the court system and our system of government,” she said, adding that she hoped “to regain the public’s confidence that we — as a court, as an institution — have not lost our way.” Justice Sotomayor spoke as the court entered the homestretch of a tumultuous term. In the coming weeks, it will issue momentous decisions on abortion, gun rights, climate change and religion, and there is good reason to think she will find herself in dissent in most or all of them. (Liptak, 6/16)

Looking ahead to a post-Roe world —

The Boston Globe: Could An Abortion Ban Mean More Maternal Deaths? In a post-Roe world, reproductive health specialists warn, more mothers are likely to die — not only from a return of unsafe illegal abortions but also from pregnancy itself, which leads to a surprising number of deaths in the United States. In 2020, 861 people died in childbirth or within 42 days of the end of their pregnancy, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last January. Women in the United States are more likely to die from childbirth or pregnancy-related causes than those in other developed countries. In 2020, the United States had the highest maternal mortality rate of 10 high-income countries, including Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. (Ebbert, 6/17)

Axios: Doctors Push To Make Birth Control Available Without Prescription The nation's biggest physicians group is joining calls for the FDA to make birth control pills accessible over the counter. With abortion rights in flux, physicians are joining reproductive health advocates in urging increased access to oral contraceptives, which could join already approved emergency contraceptives, like Plan B, on pharmacy shelves. "It takes on a new urgency as we look down the path of having the loss of the right to abortion in this country," Dana Singiser, co-founder of the Contraceptive Access Initiative, told Axios. (Dreher, 6/16)

Roche Alzheimer's Drug Fails Long-Running Trial

A study of the drug crenezumab showed it failed to prevent the advance of Alzheimer's among a community in Colombia with a severe genetic risk of developing the disease. Other pharmaceutical news includes illegal drug rebate schemes, Walgreens and diversity in drug trials, and more.

USA Today: Closely Watched Alzheimer’s Study Fails To Prevent Advance Of Disease The Alzheimer's drug crenezumab did not slow or prevent cognitive decline in a long-running study of Colombian families who carried a genetic mutation that put them at near certain risk to develop the mind-robbing disease. The study of 252 people tested whether the pharmaceutical giant Roche's antibody crenezumab could slow or halt the disease if participants took the medication before memory or thinking problems surfaced. The drug did not demonstrate a significant benefit in tests measuring cognitive abilities or memory function among study participants, Roche said Thursday in a news release. (Alltucker, 5/16)

The New York Times: Trial Of New Alzheimer’s Drug Reports Disappointing Results  In the trial, 169 people with the mutation received either a placebo or the drug, crenezumab, produced by Genentech, part of the Roche Group. Another 83 people without the mutation received the placebo as a way to protect the identities of people likely to develop the disease, which is highly stigmatized in their communities. The trial investigators had hoped that intervening with a drug years before memory and thinking problems were expected to emerge might hold the disease at bay and provide important insights for addressing the more common type of Alzheimer’s that is not driven by a single genetic mutation. (Belluck, 6/16)

Stat: A Roche Alzheimer's Treatment Fails To Slow Cognitive Decline In Patients The study was noteworthy because it enrolled people from an extended family in Colombia diagnosed with autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease caused by a mutation in a gene called presenilin 1 E280A. The study participants began the study before they showed any signs of disease, with the hope that regular infusions of crenezumab would slow or prevent the onset of cognitive decline and memory loss. This inherited form of early onset Alzheimer’s is relatively rare, but the failure of crenezumab is another setback for the scientific argument that removing toxic protein plaques called beta amyloid from the brain can slow or prevent Alzheimer’s disease. (Feuerstein, 6/16)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

Stat: FTC Warns Drugmakers And PBMs On Illegal Rebate Schemes In a notable move, the Federal Trade Commission put drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers on notice that the agency will “ramp up enforcement” of any “illegal bribes and rebate schemes” that make it harder for patients to access lower-cost medicines. The new policy statement noted the FTC plans to scrutinize rebates and assorted fees for signs that these payments are violating antitrust and consumer protection laws. As part of that effort, the agency expects to monitor lawsuits and file its own legal briefs in cases where it can provide assistance in analyzing illegal practices that may raise prescription drug prices. (Silverman, 6/16)

Bloomberg: Walgreens Aims To Add Diversity To Drug Trials Through Stores Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is moving into a new dimension of health care with a business designed to help improve diversity in drug trials by making them more accessible to patients. Typically conducted in hospitals, doctors’ offices, universities and research clinics, human trials of experimental drugs and devices have often failed to reach a wide variety of ages, races and ethnicities. Walgreens will start offering its retail locations, which number more than 9,000, and connections to patients to help fix the long-standing problem. (Rutherford, 6/16)

Bloomberg: Bausch Health Suspends Plan For IPO Of Skin-Care Unit Bausch Health Cos. has suspended plans for an initial public offering of its Solta Medical skin-care business, a month and half after the spinoff of another unit fell short of its fundraising goals. With its own stock battered this year amid volatility and inflation fears, Bausch Health said in a statement Thursday that it decided to suspend its Solta plans “in light of challenging market conditions and other factors.” The company said the interests of its stakeholders are best served in the near-term by focusing on driving Solta’s revenue, profits and cash flow. (Hytha, 6/16)

KHN: A Proposal To Import Drugs From Other Countries Creates An Unusual Alliance In The Senate  Harmony is not often found between two of the most boisterous senators on Capitol Hill, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.). But it was there at Tuesday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee markup of legislation to reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration’s user fee program, which is set to expire Sept. 30. (Knight, 6/17)

The Hill: More Than 400,000 Bottles Of Over-The-Counter Medication Recalled Due To Issues With Child-Proofing  The Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday announced the recall of over 400,000 bottles of over-the-counter medicine due to issues with the child-resistant packaging, which did not meet the requirements in the Poison Prevention Packaging Act. Aurohealth recalled about 137,300 units of Walgreens brand acetaminophen, as well as approximately 25,660 units of Kroger brand arthritis pain acetaminophen. (Scully, 6/16)

Study: US Life Expectancy Up Slightly, But Not If You Are Native American

A study of U.S. life expectancy over the two decades before covid showed the only groups not to see a rise in life expectancy are Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Child hepatitis cases, a possible link between vitamin D deficiency and dementia, dangerous heat, and more are also reported.

Stat: Life Expectancy For Native Americans Has Stagnated — Long Before Covid Native American and Alaska Native populations were the only Americans to see no increase whatsoever in life expectancy in the two decades preceding the Covid pandemic, living 73.1 years on average in 2019 — nearly six years less than white Americans. The figures were included in a new detailed analysis of life expectancy published Thursday that showed that overall life expectancy for Americans rose slightly over the period, to 79.1 years in 2019, but that persistent and widespread disparities remained between different racial and ethnic groups. (McFarling, 6/16)

In other public health news —

CIDRAP: CDC reports 16 more kids' unexplained hepatitis cases, 290 total In a weekly update, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday reported 16 more unexplained hepatitis cases in kids, raising the national total to 290 cases under investigation. So far, 41 states or jurisdictions have reported cases, up from 39 the previous week. The CDC has said case increases don't necessarily signal a spike in new cases, given that investigations stretch back to October 2021. (6/16)

Fox News: Vitamin D Deficiency Linked To Dementia In Certain Populations When Levels Are Very Low: Study With many Americans concerned about vitamin D deficiency, a new study finds a causal link between vitamin D deficiency and dementia, according to a paper published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition this April. "Vitamin D is a hormone precursor that is increasingly [recognized] for widespread effects, including on brain health, but until now it has been very difficult to examine what would happen if we were able to prevent vitamin D deficiency," said lead author Elina Hyppönen, senior investigator and director of University of South Australia’s Australian Centre for Precision Health. "Our study is the first to examine the effect of very low levels of vitamin D on the risks of dementia and stroke, using robust genetic analyses among a large population." (Sudhakar, 6/16)

The Washington Post: What You Need To Know About The Tampon Shortage The average cost of tampons has risen nearly 10 percent in the past year, according to a Bloomberg News report citing data from NielsenIQ. Walgreens told The Post that it is dealing with “brand-specific shortages in certain geographies.” CVS Health said in a statement that there have been times in recent weeks when suppliers have been unable to fill orders for period products. (Somasundaram, 6/15)

KHN: It’s Hot Outside — And That’s Bad News For Children’s Health  Heat waves are getting hotter and becoming more frequent because of rising rates of air pollution, putting children’s health at risk, a wide-ranging new report finds. A June 15 article in the New England Journal of Medicine reviews current research to take a sweeping inventory of how air pollution and climate change interact to adversely affect people’s health, especially that of kids. It examined the link between fossil fuel emissions and a variety of consequences of climate change — including extreme weather events; wildfires; vector-borne illnesses such as malaria, Zika, and Lyme disease; and heat waves, a topic at the forefront of many people’s minds. (DeGuzman, 6/16)

PBS NewsHour: California Has Some Of The Worst Air Quality In The Country. The Problem Is Rooted In The San Joaquin Valley The ongoing effects of climate change have left much of the western United States to suffer from worsening air quality in recent years, with more than 40 percent of people in the country now living in places that earned failing grades for unhealthy levels of particle pollution or ozone, according to the American Lung Association. But in places like California’s San Joaquin Valley, home to large productions of oil, agriculture and warehouse distribution, this has been the case for years. The region has been out of compliance with Environmental Protection Agency standards for 25 years, earning the region the unwanted distinction of being among the most polluted regions in the country, and residents and air quality activists say there have been few significant solutions. As California heads into another wildfire season, environmentalists and lawmakers are trying to revive a decades-long push to strengthen air quality regulation to curb pollution and reduce the many consequences of daily life with dirty air, including rising health care costs. (Rodriguez-Delgado, 6/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: State Supreme Court Allows Customers To Sue Amazon Over Hazardous Products The state Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed consumers to sue Amazon for failing to warn the public about potential harm from products sold on its website, such as mercury in skin-lightening creams. This is the first time a California court has allowed damage claims for online advertising of products manufactured and sold by others. A state appeals court ruling in March reinstating the lawsuit became final Wednesday when the state’s high court denied review of Amazon’s appeal and allowed the ruling to stand as a binding precedent for lower courts statewide. (Egelko, 6/15)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Looks At Tightening PFAS Standards After Feds Say Almost No Level Is Safe Pioneering Maine restrictions on “forever chemicals” could be tightened further after the federal government said that virtually any level of exposure in drinking water is unsafe, policymakers said on Thursday. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a nonbinding health advisory on Thursday for four of the most common per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — known as PFAS — that would reduce drinking water standards from 70 parts per trillion to four parts per quadrillion, a level 17,500 times lower. Maine’s interim standard is 20 parts per trillion. (Andrews, 6/16)

Backlash Grows Over Va. Official Who Says Racism Isn't A Public Health Crisis

Black state lawmakers are "nothing short of outraged" after state health commissioner Colin Greene told The Washington Post that invoking racism alienates white people. Other state news is from Ohio, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Alaska, and Missouri.

The Washington Post: Black Lawmakers Outraged By Youngkin's Public Health Chief Demand Action Black state lawmakers on Thursday demanded accountability from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin after his health commissioner, Colin Greene, dismissed the impact of structural racism on negative health outcomes for mothers of color and their babies, demoralizing a staff committed to protecting them. Lawmakers, who said they were “nothing short of outraged at the actions and insular comments,” stopped short of calling for Greene’s resignation but requested a meeting with Youngkin (R), Greene and John Littel, secretary of Health and Human Resources, to determine how the administration will tackle health disparities. (Portnoy and Schneider, 6/16)

Columbus Dispatch: A Franklin County Toddler Is Ohio's First Measles Case Since 2019 A 17-month-old girl from Franklin County is Ohio's first case of measles since 2019, the state Department of Health announced Thursday. The infected toddler recently traveled to a country with confirmed measles cases. She is under the jurisdiction of the Columbus Department of Health, which means she most likely resides in Columbus, though there is a slight chance she lives in Worthington since the department also serves that city. A statement by the Columbus Department of Health said an early investigation showed little risk to the public, and the affected family is isolating at home. The state is not disclosing additional information about the girl. (Behrens, 6/16)

AP: Massachusetts House OKs Bill To Expand Mental Health Access The Massachusetts House approved a bill Thursday designed to expand access to mental health services. Democratic House leaders said the proposal addresses a variety of pressing needs including acute psychiatric care, the behavioral health of young people, strengthening community-based mental health services and investing in the behavioral health workforce. The bill was passes unanimously by the House. (LeBlanc, 6/16)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Students With Disabilities Get More Time To Finish School Under Bill Heading To Sununu A new bill would give students with disabilities an extra year to finish high school and extend access to special education services. House Bill 1513 passed in the New Hampshire Legislature and is awaiting Gov. Chris Sununu’s approval. The state would change how it defined the age window of “children with disabilities.” Right now, children ages 3 to 21 are eligible for special education services offered by school districts. HB 1513 would extend the age limit to “21 inclusive,” meaning students could receive services until they turn 22, a provision that aligns with federal law. Karen Rosenberg, the policy director of Disability Rights Center, said the passage of this law would be a crucial step for New Hampshire. (Bratton, 6/17)

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H. Providers Learn How To Better Help Brazilian Immigrants New Hampshire is home to a growing Brazilian population, but some local advocates and medical providers say miscommunication and cultural misunderstandings can make it difficult for people in this community to access healthcare. A recent training hosted by Ascentria Care Alliance, an organization supporting local immigrants and refugees, sought to help New Hampshire medical providers better meet the needs of their Brazilian patients. The virtual webinar brought together Brazilian health professionals to answer questions and offer advice about improving patient-doctor interactions: addressing language barriers, taking more time to get to know their patients during medical appointments, and better understanding the hurdles that might make it challenging to access healthcare. (Lozada, 6/17)

Anchorage Daily News: Mat-Su School Board Approves First Local Transgender Athlete Ban In Alaska The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District board on Wednesday approved Alaska’s first local ban on transgender girls participating in girls sports and other school-sponsored activities. The change requires schools designate school-sponsored athletic teams or sports as male, female or coed and require participation in a female sport to be based on the participant’s biological sex at birth. Officials say the Mat-Su policy will not apply to visiting teams from other districts. (Hollander, 6/16)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Faisal Khan, Acting St. Louis County Health Director, To Step Down  Dr. Faisal Khan, acting director of the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, will step down from his post Sept. 2, officials announced Thursday. Khan, 48, submitted a resignation letter Thursday to County Executive Sam Page, calling his appointment over the last year “an honor and a privilege. ”The letter did not state a specific reason for the departure. Khan did not respond to a request for comment. Khan has served as acting health director since February 2021, returning to a department where he had worked from 2010 to 2018, including the last three years as health director. (Benchaabane, 6/16)

Reversing A 5-Week Decline, Covid Deaths Rise Globally: WHO

In its most recent pandemic update, the World Health Organization said deaths are rising again after a long period where they've been declining. And the World Trade Organization approves a covid vaccine patent waiver with the aim of boosting production of shots in poorer nations.

AP: WHO: COVID-19 Deaths Rise, Reversing A 5-Week Decline After five weeks of declining coronavirus deaths, the number of fatalities reported globally increased by 4% last week, according to the World Health Organization. In its weekly assessment of the pandemic issued on Thursday, the U.N. health agency said there were 8,700 COVID-19 deaths last week, with a 21% jump in the Americas and a 17% increase in the Western Pacific. (6/16)

Bloomberg: WTO Approves Covid Vaccine-Patent Waiver To Help Combat Pandemic The World Trade Organization approved a politically important deal Friday to water down intellectual property restrictions for the manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines after an almost two-year effort involving scores of high-level meetings and much political arm twisting. During the early morning hours in Geneva, WTO ministers approved a package of agreements that included the vaccine patent waiver, which Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala previously said was necessary to end the “morally unacceptable” inequity of access to Covid-19 vaccines. (Baschuk, 6/17)

Politico: Canada Has A Massive Surplus Of Unused Ventilators  More than half of the 40,000 ventilators the Canadian government ordered early in the pandemic are now sitting unused in the federal emergency stockpile. Just over 2,000 of the ventilators have been deployed, either in Canada or abroad. Ottawa is now working to cancel orders for ventilators that have yet to be delivered, but won’t say how much it has paid for the machines. (Forrest, 6/16)

The New York Times: Man Paralyzed 12 Years Ago Becomes Italy’s First Assisted Suicide For more than a year, media reports kept Italians up-to-date on the travails of a 44-year-old man known only as “Mario” as he sought to end his life through physician-assisted suicide. Paralyzed 12 years ago in a traffic accident, “Mario” faced a series of legal, bureaucratic and financial hurdles in his pursuit of death. On Thursday, “Mario,” identified for the first time by his real name, Federico Carboni, ended his life, becoming Italy’s first legal assisted suicide, in his home in the central Italian port town of Senigallia. (Povoledo, 6/16)

The Washington Post: Spain, France To See Historic June Heatwave Through Weekend A punishing heat wave is underway in parts of Western Europe, with widespread temperatures near or above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) expected through the weekend. Heat is expected to peak in France on Saturday and center over Germany by Sunday, but Spain, Poland and Austria will all feel abnormally high temperatures for the next few days. (Livingston, 6/16)

Fox News: World’s Mental Health Care Needs Urgent Makeover: WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released its most comprehensive review of the world's mental health in over 20 years with an action plan that every WHO state member has signed to transform mental health care, according to a recent press release. "Everyone’s life touches someone with a mental health condition. Good mental health translates to good physical health and this new report makes a compelling case for change," said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. (Sudhakar, 6/16)

Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed

Each week, KHN finds longer stories for you to enjoy. This week's selections include stories on autism, weight-loss drugs, genital cutting, Lizzo, mastectomy, and more.

The New York Times: Can Virtual Reality Help Autistic Children Navigate The Real World?  Vijay Ravindran was noodling around with a virtual reality headset when his son asked to try it out. After spending 30 minutes using the headset in Google Street View, the child went to his playroom and started acting out what he had done in virtual reality. “It was one of the first times I’d seen him do pretend play like that,” Mr. Ravindran said. “It ended up being a light bulb moment.” Like many autistic children, Mr. Ravindran’s son struggled with pretend play and other social skills. His son’s ability to translate his virtual reality experience to the real world sparked an idea. A year later, Mr. Ravindran started a company called Floreo, which is developing virtual reality lessons designed to help behavioral therapists, speech therapists, special educators and parents who work with autistic children.

NBC News: Calorie Counts On Menus: Have They Helped? Calorie labeling on menus hasn’t dramatically changed how many calories most people consume when they dine out, new research has found four years after the Food and Drug Administration began requiring chain restaurants nationwide to post calorie counts. “Some studies have shown that there’s not much of a difference in what people are ordering, or if there is, it’s a slight difference, anywhere from like 25 to 100 fewer calories for the meal,” said Colleen Tewksbury, a senior research investigator at the University of Pennsylvania and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Now as to how much of an impact that makes over their overall diet, it’s not really clear. So it’s a slight change. It’s not as drastic of a change as many people may have expected.” (Stenson, 6/11)

NBC News: New Weight-Loss Drugs Are Highly Effective, So Why Aren’t They Widely Used? A new class of weight-loss drugs is giving some patients with obesity new hope that they’ll be able to lose excess pounds and improve their health without experiencing the dangerous side effects of older medications. But despite mounting evidence that the drugs are both safe and effective, doctors say relatively few of the country’s millions of eligible patients are taking them.  (Dunn, 6/10)

The New York Times: Growing Numbers Of Girls Resist Genital Cutting In Sierra Leone  When Seio Bangura’s final high school exam results arrived not long ago, she learned she had earned grades high enough to get into college. It was a thrilling moment for the daughter of farmers who never finished primary school. But Ms. Bangura is not making plans for university. Instead, she spends most days sitting on a bench, watching others head to class or work. Ms. Bangura, 18, left home almost five years ago, after her parents gave her a choice: to be initiated in a ceremony centered on genital cutting, or leave. The ceremony allows entrance to bondo, or “the society,” a term for the gender-and-ethnicity-based groups that control much of life here. (Nolen, 6/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Lizzo Changes ‘Grrrls’ Lyrics After Criticism From Disability Advocates  Lizzo, the Grammy Award-winning singer and flutist, said she changed the lyrics in her new single “Grrrls” because of criticism that it contained a word that is offensive to people with a type of cerebral palsy. The tweak was made on Apple Music, Spotify and other music-streaming apps Monday, three days after the single made its debut and about a month before the release of Lizzo’s new album, “Special.” (Pisani, 6/14)

The Washington Post: ‘Gangnam Style’ Singer Psy’s Water Cannon Concerts Prompt Covid Warnings About Wet Masks  K-pop superstar Psy, whose hit song “Gangnam Style” propelled him to international fame a decade ago, is back with a new album and new concerts, but has found it tough going in a South Korea changed by covid and climate change. The singer has been criticized for bringing back his signature Psy’s Drenched Show concerts amid drought conditions in the country and an ongoing pandemic. The summer concert series, famous for using a large amount of water to splash the audience, is set to return in early July after a pandemic hiatus. However, South Korean health authorities on Thursday raised concerns about heightened infection risk among drenched concertgoers. “There is a higher risk of germs spreading on a wet mask, and it is necessary to take appropriate measures like changing to a new mask,” said Koh Jae-young, a spokesman for the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Koh added that he needs to review the official coronavirus rules to determine whether Psy’s concert will constitute a violation for spraying water to the audience. (Kim, 6/16)

The Washington Post: Some Women Want Flat Chests After Mastectomy. Some Surgeons Don’t Go Along During her training as a breast surgeon, Deanna Attai, an associate professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, read studies and heard mentors say that women who opted against breast reconstruction after a mastectomy generally had a lower quality of life. But Attai found that didn’t jibe with what she was had been seeing online in the past few years: Facebook groups with names such as “Not Putting on a Shirt” and “Flat and Fabulous” that included many hundreds of women’s happy stories — and photos — about their choice to have an “aesthetic flat closure,’’ the term used by the National Cancer Institute starting in 2020, and forgo breast reconstruction. So Attai did her own survey of close to 1,000 women who’d had a single or double mastectomy without reconstruction. Published last year in Annals of Surgical Oncology, it found that close to three-quarters of the women said they were satisfied with the outcome. (Kritz, 6/11)

The Washington Post: Debunking Myths About Cancer For someone recently diagnosed with cancer, or just terrified of getting the disease, the world — especially social media — is full of scientifically inaccurate information about how to avoid it, how to treat it and what to fear about it. Yet to the frustration of many cancer doctors, these outdated myths — such as whether, absent scientific evidence, you should eat or avoid certain foods, take herbs or other supplements, or skip therapy in favor of a “naturalistic” approach — continue to appeal to many patients, harming how they cope with a cancer diagnosis and putting their treatment at risk. (Cimons, 6/10)

The Washington Post: Getting Closer To A Vaccine For Cancer  For decades, researchers have been trying to harness the natural power of the human immune system to fight cancer, looking for ways to circumvent the defenses tumors use to thwart it. Despite early disappointments and challenges, scientists studying cancer vaccines believe they now are closer than ever before. While these vaccines are still a long way from approval, researchers think they represent the future of cancer care. “It’s a very exciting time for the field of cancer vaccines,” says Vinod Balachandran, an oncologist and surgeon-scientist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “We have made so much progress in understanding how the immune system recognizes cancers. There are dozens of cancer vaccine candidates under study by researchers around the world.” (Cimons, 6/14)

Viewpoints: Heat Waves Harm Health; Small Steps Needed To Improve Refugee Health Care

Editorial writers weigh in on these public health topics.

The Washington Post: Extreme Heat Isn’t A Joke. It’s A Public Health Crisis When dangerously high temperatures become an inescapable part of life in Phoenix every year, people bring out a tired old joke: “It’s a dry heat.” Sure, there’s some truth to that, but when the high temperature is well over 100 degrees for days on end, as it is now, low humidity doesn’t mean much: Each day is just brutally, menacingly hot. And, in any case, the line is amusing only if you’re privileged enough to confine your existence to a finely air-conditioned home, car and workplace, with the occasional dip in the pool. (Fernanda Santos, 6/16)

NPR: From Kigoma To Kyiv, Refugees Everywhere Deserve Quality Health Care  At the Nyarugusu refugee camp in western Tanzania, a 39-year-old Congolese refugee and mother of nine came into our lives at what was almost the end of hers. She was bleeding to death from complications of childbirth. We met this patient in April as part of a collaboration with the Tanzania Red Cross Society. As trainees in medicine and public health at Johns Hopkins University, we were visiting the camp to understand and improve the quality of its health care and surgical services. (Alexander Blum and Zachary Enumah, 6/15)

The Boston Globe: Medical Devices That Are Music To Our Ears Could Save Lives  If you’ve spent any time in a hospital, you know just how anxiety-provoking the experience can be. Medical devices are constantly sounding off in long whines and staccato beeps, all competing for attention. Yet despite the distress these blaring alarms seem to convey, you’ll hardly ever see doctors and nurses running toward them. That’s because up to 99 percent of these sounds in hospitals aren’t really “alarms” in the way you might think. They’re more like notifications, providing useful updates about everything from a patient’s blood pressure to how much liquid is left in an IV bag. It’s only the very rare sound that serves as an all-hands-on-deck alarm, indicating a serious event like cardiac arrest. (Michael Schutz, 6/16)

Kansas City Star: KS Amendment Vote Will Determine Women’s Reproductive Choices I’m from a small town in south central Kansas, and I wasn’t a voter until I had to move out of state to receive emergency, lifesaving health care. Now — as if my life and yours depends on it — I’ve launched a nonprofit to encourage other people to start voting and change the future of my home state. I wasn’t a voter because I didn’t think my vote mattered. I felt that I didn’t understand everything about rather polarizing issues, and that I shouldn’t insert myself into outcomes that voting decides through elections. Until I had to leave Kansas to get the health care I needed. (Peyton Browning, 6/17)

Stat: Medical Schools Can Play A Role In Preventing Gun Violence  Like so many Americans, we watched in horror the news reports about the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, and the heartbreaking aftermath of families grieving their losses. As medical students, we are being trained to one day manage the consequences of gun violence: people dead on arrival in the emergency department or those wounded so badly there is little that can be done; bodies torn apart by bullets and shrapnel that will never be the same again; the lingering pain or post-traumatic stress disorder; and more. What we aren’t being taught is what matters most: how to prevent gun violence in the first place. (David Velasquez and Jesper Ke, 6/17)

Palm Springs Desert Sun: Music Can Help In Pandemic-Highlighted Mental Health Crisis  It’s OK to say that you’re not OK, but it’s hard.More Americans than ever now receive treatment for mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression and PTSD. The solutions we currently have revolve around either therapy or medication and have mixed results.For years, we have been overlooking what could prove to be a highly effective treatment: music. (Bill Protzmann, 6/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: No, I’m Not ‘Fine’ And Neither Are Millions Of Americans I spent my early 20s eyeing bridges, subways, high-rise windows and busy-traffic corridors, assessing which one would provide the most assured escape from my mental pain. Although inpatient treatment for my severe depression helped save my life, two decades later, I know I’m not “fine.” Depression has crept back as I’ve shouldered pandemic fatigue, grief from my father’s death, and accumulated work and caregiver burnout. The smallest tasks require courage and tremendous energy. (Stacy Torres, 6/16)

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