AP: Biden, CDC Director Warn Of Virus Rebound If Nation Lets Up
President Joe Biden and a top health official warned that too many Americans are declaring virus victory too quickly, appealing for mask requirements and other restrictions to be maintained or restored to stave off a “fourth surge” of COVID-19. The head of the CDC said she had a feeling of “impending doom” if people keep easing off. “This is deadly serious,” Biden said, urging governors to reinstate mask mandates and other restrictions that some states have been easing. (Miller, 3/30)

The Washington Post: Biden, Health Officials Sound Alarm As Signs Of Covid Surge Proliferate
Even as the nation’s immunization program continued to pick up speed and new research showed coronavirus vaccines are highly effective in real-world conditions, Biden said states should suspend reopening plans and governors who had rescinded mask mandates should reinstate them. “Please, this is not politics,” Biden said. “Reinstate the mandate if you let it down, and businesses should require masks as well. A failure to take this virus seriously — precisely what got us into this mess in the first place — risks more cases and more deaths.” (Bernstein, Eunjung Cha, Guarino and Stanley-Becker, 3/30)

CNN: As Covid-19 Numbers Rise, The CDC Chief Says She's Scared About Where US Is Headed. But It's Not Too Late To Change Country's Course 
New Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are beginning to rise in the US again, one of the country's top health leaders said Monday. The latest findings, shared by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, may just be the start of what experts have for weeks warned about: another surge. A surge that could come just as the country inches closer to a return to normalcy and officials nationwide race to get as many Covid-19 vaccine shots into arms as possible. (Maxouris, 3/30)

Politico: Internal CDC Data Shows Virus Regaining Foothold As Biden Urges States To Pause Reopening
Signs that the country has begun to lose ground against the virus prompted emotional remarks from CDC director Rochelle Walensky at a White House briefing on Monday morning. Walensky said she felt "a sense of impending doom" and told Americans, "Right now, I'm scared." The visibly shaken CDC director added: "I'm asking you to just hold on a little longer, to get vaccinated when you can." (Owermohle and Banco, 3/29)

Stat: 'Right Now I'm Scared': CDC Director Warns Of Spike In Covid-19 Cases
As Covid-19 cases begin again to spike throughout the United States, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky issued an urgent plea to Americans Monday to continue following public health measures. “We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope, but right now I’m scared,” said Walensky, who noted she has begun experiencing a “recurring” feeling of “impending doom.” (Florko and Joseph, 3/29)

USA Today: 'We're Skating On A Knife's Edge Right Now:' Scientists Worry US Could Be Headed For Yet Another COVID-19 Surge
As COVID-19 cases creep up again across the country, federal officials and epidemiologists say they're worried we could hit another tipping point, leading to a fourth significant surge of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. "We're skating on a knife's edge right now," said Nicholas Reich, a biostatistician at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Average daily reported cases are up 10% compared to a week earlier, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows, with more than 30 million COVID-19 cases reported since early last year. Hospitalizations and deaths, which usually lag cases by a few weeks, have inched upward as well, after a decline and plateau that began in early January. (Weintraub, 3/30)

And Donald Trump responds to comments from his former pandemic team —

Politico: Trump Lashes Out At Fauci And Birx After CNN Documentary
Former President Donald Trump on Monday attacked Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, his administration’s top coronavirus advisers, in a highly personal — and at times inaccurate — statement released after the two criticized the administration for its response to the pandemic. “Based on their interviews, I felt it was time to speak up about Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, two self-promoters trying to reinvent history to cover for their bad instincts and faulty recommendations, which I fortunately almost always overturned,” Trump said. “They had bad policy decisions that would have left our country open to China and others, closed to reopening our economy, and years away from an approved vaccine — putting millions of lives at risk.” (Din, 3/29)

Roll Call: Biden Says 90 Percent Of Adults Will Be COVID-19 Vaccine Eligible By April 19 
By April 19, at least 90 percent of U.S. adults will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines, President Joe Biden announced Monday. Biden had previously announced that he wanted to have all adult Americans eligible to receive vaccines no later than the beginning of May, but many states are moving ahead more quickly whether or not sufficient supply has yet materialized. (Lesniewski, 3/29)

CBS News: Biden Says 90% Of All U.S. Adults Will Be Eligible For COVID-19 Vaccine By April 19
Mr. Biden on Monday also touted the fact that 100 million vaccine doses had been administered well ahead of his original goal of 100 days. He has since doubled his goal to 200 million doses of the vaccine in his first 100 days. More than 145 million vaccine doses have been administered so far, according to the CDC. To help more Americans access the vaccine, Mr. Biden said he is directing his COVID team to locate vaccination sites within 5 miles of 90% of all Americans. The White House is expanding the number of pharmacies that can administer the vaccine, and by April 19, there will be 12 more federally run vaccination sites. (Linton and Quinn, 3/29)

Stat: Biden Leans Heavily On Flagship Trump-Era Initiative Operation Warp Speed
The Biden White House has made no secret of its disdain for President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed. The “Star Trek”-inspired name is gone. The seal, emblazoned with its floating, red and blue coronavirus structure, was stripped from command headquarters. But if not in name, Trump’s colossal effort to develop and distribute Covid-19 vaccines in record time lives on — now, as internally called, “The Operation.” (Florko, 3/30)

Meanwhile, more states announce eligibility expansions —

Axios: New York To Make All Adults Eligible For COVID Vaccine Beginning April 6 
New York State will make adults over the age of 30 eligible for the coronavirus vaccine on March 30, and all adults 16 years and older eligible beginning April 6, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday. The state was the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., and it's reported nearly 50,000 total deaths since the pandemic began. New York will make all adults eligible for the vaccine almost one month ahead of President Biden's goal for all states to do so by May 1. (3/29)

Axios: Texas Expands Vaccine Eligibility To All Adults 
Texas joined five other states on Monday in rolling out COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to anyone over the age of 16, "regardless of health conditions," per the New York Times. Texas is the biggest state to expand this eligibility for coronavirus inoculations. Some 22 million Texans can now get vaccinated against the virus, and health officials told the NYT people were lining up for a dose Monday. (Falconer, 3/30)

Stat: 'Real World' Study Shows Pfizer And Moderna Vaccines Were 90% Effective
A new study suggests the messenger RNA vaccines produced by Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech partnership appeared to be 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 infection in a real-world setting. ... The study followed nearly 4,000 health care workers, first responders, and other essential workers in eight U.S. locations as the first Covid vaccines were rolled out starting in December. Participants were tested weekly to look for all cases of Covid infection, even asymptomatic ones. (Branswell, 3/29)

Reuters: Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 Vaccines Highly Effective After First Shot In Real-World Use, U.S. Study Shows
COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc with BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc reduced risk of infection by 80% two weeks or more after the first of two shots, according to data from a real-world U.S. study released on Monday. ... The results validate earlier studies that had indicated the vaccines begin to work soon after a first dose, and confirm that they also prevent asymptomatic infections. Some countries dealing with limited vaccine supplies have pushed back schedules for second doses with the hope of getting some protection to more people. U.S. public health officials, however, continue to recommend two doses be given on the schedule authorized by regulators based on clinical trials. (Banerjee and Chander, 3/29)

CNBC: One Dose Of Pfizer Or Moderna Vaccines Was 80% Effective In Preventing Covid In CDC Study Of Health Workers
The new CDC findings are likely to bolster arguments from some health experts and public health officials that the U.S. should prioritize giving Americans just one dose of the vaccines before moving on to second doses, accelerating the pace of vaccinations across the nation. (Lovelace Jr., 3/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer, Moderna Covid-19 Vaccines Effective In Real World, CDC Says
In addition, the data indicated the vaccines can reduce the risk of coronavirus infections whether or not they cause symptoms, the CDC said. “This study shows that our national vaccination efforts are working,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. “The authorized vaccines are the key tool that will help bring an end to this devastating pandemic.” (Hopkins, 3/29)

Reuters: White House Sees No Federal Mandate For COVID-19 Vaccine Verification
The White House said it expected the private sector to take the lead on verification of COVID-19 vaccines, or so-called vaccine passports, and would not issue a federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential. The Biden administration was reviewing the issue and would make recommendations, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday, but she added, “We believe it will be driven by the private sector.” (3/29)

CBS News: White House Leaves Vaccine "Passports" To Private Sector
"This is going to hit all parts of society, and so naturally, the government is involved," Andy Slavitt, acting director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said during a White House COVID-19 briefing Monday. "But unlike other parts of the world, the government here is not viewing its role as the place to create a passport, nor a place to hold the data of — of citizens. We view this as something that the private sector is doing and will do. What's important to us, and we're leading an interagency process right now to go through these details, are that some important criteria be met with these credentials." (Watson, 3/29)

And warnings over privacy violations and scams are raised —

CNBC: Vaccine Passports Could Prove To Be A Privacy Minefield
When the EU announced its plans for a “digital green certificate” this month, the tourism industry breathed a sigh of relief that maybe summer could be salvaged. Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the concept of a “vaccine passport” has been floated regularly. Once inoculated against Covid-19, a person could carry proof of vaccination that would allow them to travel or access services that are otherwise shut under lockdown. (Keane, 3/30)

ABC News: Increased Use Of Vaccine Passports Could Lead To Scams, Experts Warn
"The darknet is booming with activity related to the vaccines," said Ekram Ahmed, spokesperson for Check Point, a cybersecurity firm. "Cyber criminals are looking to capitalize on the public's interest to both get the vaccine or avoid the vaccine." Since the beginning of the pandemic, scams surrounding coronavirus testing, fake protective equipment and fake COVID-19 vaccines have circulated on the internet. Now experts are concerned about a rise in fake vaccine certificates. "Vaccination certificate for Covid (for those who do not want to be vaccinated)," said one ad found on the dark web, according to Check Point. (Romero and Croll, 3/30)

Axios: Florida Man Fired After Fake Vaccine Card Business Exposed On TikTok 
A Tampa-area man lost his job at a marketing and web design company after a TikTok user exposed his video advertising a fake COVID-19 vaccine card business. Without an official database for verifying vaccinations, those little pieces of paper are currently the best source of proving vaccination status — and vaccines remain our best chance to reach herd immunity. (San Felice, 3/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Canada Urges Halt In Use Of AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine In People Under 55
Canadian authorities recommended Monday a halt on administering the AstraZeneca PLC Covid-19 vaccine on people under the age of 55 in light of evidence from Europe on potentially serious side effects targeting younger women. The change in guidance marked a sharp shift from Canadian health officials, who up until now have said the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe for people of all ages—a point they emphasized earlier this month when governments in Europe paused the vaccine’s use amid worries over blood clotting. This also marks the latest setback for the British-Swedish drugmaker, which has faced pushback from governments, regulators and the public about the rollout of its vaccine. (Vieira and Mackrael, 3/29)

CNN: Canada Halting AstraZeneca Vaccine Shots For People 55 And Younger 
Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommended Monday that the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine should not be used in adults under age 55 while rare cases of serious blood clots following vaccination are being investigated, according to a release from the committee. The rare cases of serious blood clots, known as vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia (VIPIT), have recently been reported in Europe following post-licensure use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, primarily in women under the age of 55. (Riess and Almasy, 3/29)

Axios: Johnson & Johnson To Supply 400M COVID Vaccine Doses To African Union 
Johnson & Johnson has inked a deal with the African Union (AU) to supply up to 400 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine starting in the third quarter of the year, the drugmaker announced Monday. Disparities in vaccine access remain a challenge for Africans, especially as the continent struggles to contain the coronavirus variant that originated in South Africa. (Chen, 3/29)

In other development news —

Axios: The Growing Fight Over Coronavirus Vaccine Patents 
A growing chorus of advocates wants to weaken some of the intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines, which they say will quickly expand global supplies. But critics say the move wouldn't work, and would set a bad precedent. The Biden administration is evaluating the idea, including whether it would work as intended. (Owens, 3/30)

The Atlantic: How MRNA Technology Could Change The World 
Synthetic mRNA, the ingenious technology behind the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, might seem like a sudden breakthrough, or a new discovery. One year ago, almost nobody in the world knew what an mRNA vaccine was, for the good reason that no country in the world had ever approved one. Months later, the same technology powered the two fastest vaccine trials in the history of science. (Thompson, 3/29)

KHN: Ask KHN-PolitiFact: How Can Covid Vaccines Be Safe When They Were Developed So Fast?
The development of the first covid vaccines may have seemed to occur at a dizzying pace. After all, scientists identified a new virus and created vaccines to protect against its most severe effects within a year. But the research underpinning these vaccines isn’t that new at all, vaccine experts say. Some of it is decades old. This foundation, combined with technical expertise, urgency and financial resources, enabled scientists to pull off the medical marvel. (Heredia Rodriguez, 3/30)

USA Today: 'You Can't Trust The Government': Spanish-Speaking Social Media Spreads COVID-19 Vaccine Disinformation, Adds To Hesitancy
It took Maria Teresa Kumar weeks to find out why her mom wouldn’t take a COVID-19 vaccine and to convince her it is safe. Kumar’s mother, a Colombian American woman who runs a small eldercare facility in Northern California, received a video on WhatsApp featuring a speaker who claimed to be a pharmacist. In Spanish, the speaker warned viewers not to get the shot because it was a "new technology never introduced into humans before. "It was one of several alarming videos her mother shared with her, all laced with unbacked, fearmongering claims surrounding COVID-19 vaccines. (Hassanein, 3/29)

CNN: Mitch McConnell Encourages Republican Men To Get Vaccinated 
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday encouraged "all Republican men" to get the Covid-19 vaccine, as new polls indicate many in the group are skeptical of getting the shot. "I can say as a Republican man, as soon as it was my turn, I took the vaccine. I would encourage all Republican men to do that," said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, on Monday, when asked what kind of messaging he can push as the GOP leader to help encourage people, specifically Republican men, that the vaccine is safe and they should get it. (Zaslav, 3/29)

KHN: Covid Vaccine Hesitancy Drops Among All Americans, New Survey Shows
A new poll of attitudes toward covid vaccinations shows Americans are growing more enthusiastic about being vaccinated, with the most positive change in the past month occurring among Black Americans. About 55% of Black adults said they had been vaccinated or plan to be soon, up 14 percentage points from February, according to a poll released Tuesday by KFF. The rate now approaches that of Hispanics, at 61%, and whites at 64%. (Asian Americans were not polled in sufficient numbers to compare their responses with other racial and ethnic groups.) (Huetteman, 3/30)

Bloomberg: How The U.S. Is Vaccinating Its Way Out Of The Pandemic
On Dec. 14, 2020 a milestone was reached in the U.S. The nation’s first Covid-19 vaccine started to arrive at hospitals across the country, nine months after the coronavirus shuttered the U.S. economy, killed hundreds of thousands and wreaked havoc on every aspect of American life. That day reflected both a landmark scientific achievement and a logistical triumph. Cameras captured Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse, receiving a shot of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s vaccine in New York. Lindsay became the first known person to get the vaccine in the U.S. following regulatory clearance. (LaVito, Tozzi and Shah, 3/30)

The Atlantic: 'Which Vaccine Did You Get?' Small Talk Is Back In America 
The vaccines are here, and with them, the promise of getting back to some sort of normal. Over the coming months, many Americans will be returning to offices or schools, traveling to see family and friends, eating cheeseburgers inside sports bars. But the vaccines’ arrival has also provided a more immediate relief: giving people something to talk about. After a year of awkward conversation, the United States has entered vaccine exuberance. People are sharing vaccine selfies, posting photos of their vaccine cards to Instagram, and even just broadcasting tips on where they got appointments or found short lines. “I got my first shot” is news worth hearing. Finally, you have an answer to the dreaded “How’s it going?”: perhaps, “My parents are fully vaccinated as of today. What a relief.” (Bogost, 3/29)

In regional distribution news —

North Carolina Health News: Health Centers Get New Funds For COVID Vaccination Gap 
Even as North Carolina’s health care providers have administered nearly 5 million coronavirus vaccinations, the state’s Latino and African American populations remain underrepresented among those who received at least one shot. To help decrease that gap, the Biden Administration has awarded a collective $161 million to 40 safety net clinic operators. Community health centers  — 250 of which are in North Carolina — serve hundreds of thousands of uninsured and underinsured patients across the state. (Engel-Smith, 3/30)

Roll Call: DC Didn’t Qualify For A FEMA Mass Vaccine Site Because It’s Not Part Of A Larger State 
The District of Columbia has “a high social vulnerability” when it comes to COVID-19, but the city did not qualify for a mass vaccination site because it isn’t part of a larger state, acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Bob Fitton told reporters on Friday. FEMA currently has 21 mass vaccination sites scattered across the country to help quickly get shots in arms. These sites, which were set up after the Biden administration took office, can inoculate thousands of people per day. Many of the sites are near cities with high minority populations and many people who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. (Cohen, 3/29)

AP: Native American Health Clinics Offering Vaccine To Visitors
The Indian Health Service announced Monday that it is shifting its vaccine distribution system to target individual hospitals and clinics with high demand for shots and taper supplies to hubs where most eligible patients have received doses. The U.S. agency is part of a two-pronged national effort to immunize Indigenous communities that also relies on state health agencies. Native Americans have been disproportionately sickened and killed by the pandemic, and are also now at the forefront of federal efforts to deploy vaccine shots in the United States. (Lee, 3/30)

CNN: Covid-19: World Leaders Unite To Call For Pandemic Treaty, Saying: 'No One Is Safe Until We Are All Safe' 
Global leaders have called for a new treaty to help the world prepare for future pandemics, in a warning against rising vaccine nationalism. More than 20 national leaders, including France's Emmanuel Macron, Britain's Boris Johnson and Germany's Angela Merkel, wrote a piece published in several media outlets on Tuesday warning that it is a question of "not if, but when" the next health crisis strikes. (Rahim, 3/30)

CNBC: Global Pandemic Treaty: World Leaders Call For More Cooperation
Global leaders have published a letter calling for a pandemic treaty to improve cooperation and transparency in the case of future outbreaks, but China and the U.S. were not among the signatories. In the joint letter, published Tuesday in newspapers around the world, the leaders argued that the Covid-19 crisis had posed the “greatest challenge for the global community since the late 1940s.” (Ellyatt, 3/30)

Reuters: Pandemic Treaty Could Be Advanced By May WHO Assembly: WHO's Tedros
A proposed international treaty on pandemics could be advanced at the World Health Organization’s annual ministerial assembly in May, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday. The WHO chief said the treaty would help to tackle gaps exposed by COVID-19, strengthen implementation of international health regulations and also provide a framework cooperation in areas such as pandemic prevention and response. (3/30)

Also, WHO's report on the origins of covid-19 will be released today —

NPR: Where Did Pandemic Originate? WHO Report Out Tuesday Points To Wildlife Farms 
The highly anticipated World Health Organization report on the origins of the coronavirus that sparked a global pandemic is due out Tuesday. NPR has obtained an early copy. According to the report, data suggests that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was not the original source of the outbreak. In addition, the report noted that "introduction through a laboratory incident" — a leak from the lab in Wuhan — "was considered to be an extremely unlikely pathway." (Doucleff and Lohmeyer, 3/29)

Axios: Long-Awaited WHO-China Report Inconclusive On Coronavirus Origins 
A report from a team of scientists assembled by the World Health Organization and China leaves unresolved the question of where the coronavirus originated, but calls the possibility that it leaked from a laboratory "extremely unlikely," according to a copy obtained by Axios. The process of investigating the origins of the virus has been fraught with geopolitical tensions, and the report set to be released on Tuesday will likely create more questions than it answers. (Owens and Basu, 3/29)

The Wall Street Journal: WHO Report Into Covid-19 Origins Leaves Key Questions Unanswered
A World Health Organization-led team investigating the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic said in a report that data examined during a recent mission to China was insufficient to answer the critical questions of when, where and how the virus began spreading. The long-awaited report, which has yet to be made public but was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal on Monday, calls for closer examination of Chinese hospital records and blood samples from before the first known cases in December 2019, as well as more extensive testing of farms that supplied wild animals to a market linked to many early cases. (Hinshaw, McKay and Page, 3/29)

Stat: The Drug Pricing Policies Dems May Use To Fund Biden’s Next Big Bill 
Democrats in Congress are already gearing up for their next big legislative push, and drug pricing reforms will be a tempting piggy bank to pay for their extensive wish list. It’s still too early to tell precisely how much money Democrats will need to offset the costs of the economic recovery plan President Biden is hoping to advance. But lobbyists are expecting lawmakers to ask drug makers to pony up significant taxpayer savings to help pay for policy on infrastructure and the social safety net. (Cohrs, 3/30)

Stat: Congressional Lawmakers Urge FTC To Investigate Insulin Makers Over Their Pricing 
In the latest flare up over the cost of insulin, several Congressional lawmakers want the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the three big manufacturers of the diabetes treatment for “exploiting” their market power and repeatedly raising prices. The lawmakers, who are all Democrats, cited instances in which the companies — Eli Lilly (LLY), Novo Nordisk (NVO), and Sanofi (SNY) — raised prices nearly simultaneously. As an example, two of the insulin makers increased prices by 16% within a day of each other. In fact, there were at least 13 such cases involving Sanofi and Novo Nordisk between 2009 and 2019, and Lilly often followed suit, they claimed. (Silverman, 3/29)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

Stat: Uniqure Probe Clears Hemophilia B Gene Therapy As Cause Of Cancer Case
Uniqure, the Dutch gene therapy company, said Monday that its one-time treatment for hemophilia B was not responsible for a previously reported case of liver cancer that put the program on clinical hold. Findings from the investigation, conducted by an independent lab, were submitted to the Food and Drug Administration last week along with a request to restart the program, the company said. (Feuerstein, 3/29)

Stat: Former Lilly Lobbyist Sues Firm For Alleged Discrimination And Harassment
A former top lobbyist at Eli Lilly (LLY) has filed a lawsuit accusing an executive and a senior manager at the drug maker of sexual harassment and discrimination, as well as retaliation against several women in its Washington, D.C., office. In her lawsuit, Sonya Elling alleged that Leigh Ann Pusey, a senior vice president for corporate affairs, repeatedly made sexist remarks, undermined her authority, and subjected her to a sexually hostile work environment. Eventually, it alleges, Pusey forced her to resign following a “veiled threat” to fire her in the form of a warning to improve her job performance, which was “riddled with misrepresentations.” (Silverman, 3/29)

KHN: Getting A Prescription To Die Remains Tricky Even As Aid-In-Dying Bills Gain Momentum
Linda Heim knew her dad didn’t plan to wait for the cancer to kill him. For decades, he’d lived in Montana, which they’d thought was one of the few places where terminally ill people could get a prescription to end their life. After two years of being sick, Heim’s dad got the diagnosis in 2019: stage 4 kidney cancer. His physician offered treatments that might extend his life by months. Instead, the 81-year-old asked the doctor for help dying. Heim said her parents left the appointment in their hometown of Billings with two takeaways: The legality of medically assisted death was questionable in Montana, and her father’s physician didn’t seem willing to risk his career to put that question to the test. (Houghton, 3/30)

USA Today: COVID-19 Vaccines, Hydroxychloroquine Generate Dozens Of Injury Claims
A federal program charged with compensating people for serious side effects from COVID-19 drugs and vaccines did not pay or reject any claims during the first year of the pandemic. The 106 injury claims for vaccines, hydroxychloroquine and other COVID-19 treatments remained under medical review as of March 15, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Resources and Services Administration, the agency within HHS that runs the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program, provided data to USA TODAY showing injury claims for 20 types of COVID-19 treatments. (Alltucker, 3/28)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Antibodies Appear To Ward Off B117 Better Than B1351
COVID-19 survivors and those vaccinated against coronavirus appear able to fight off infection with the B117 SARS-CoV-2 variant but may not have the same level of protection against the B1351 variant, according to two new studies. In the first study, published late last week in Nature Medicine, researchers at Institut Pasteur in Paris isolated infectious B117, the variant first identified in the United Kingdom, and B1351, first discovered in South Africa, from the nasal swabs of symptomatic COVID-19 patients. Like some other emerging variants, B117 and B1351 are more infectious than previously dominant varieties, leading to fears that they could evade natural and vaccine-induced immunity. (Van Beusekom, 3/29)

Health News Florida: Scientists Seek COVID Treatment Answers In Cheap, Older Drugs 
Could a decades-old antidepressant be a secret weapon against COVID? A few scientists think so, after two small studies showed that fluvoxamine, typically prescribed for obsessive-compulsive disorder, prevented serious illness in all participants who took the pills soon after developing symptoms. (Landhuis, 3/29)

CIDRAP: Pre-Symptomatic Cases Tied To Substantial Portion Of COVID-19 Spread
Close contacts of symptomatic COVID-19 index cases have a 3.8-fold greater likelihood of getting infected with COVID-19 than if they were exposed to an asymptomatic index case, but pre-symptomatic transmissions accounted for almost 40% of secondary cases, according to a study published late last week in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The researchers looked at four provinces and one municipality in China, collecting information on transmission events for lab-confirmed cases. From Jan 5 to Apr 7, 2020, 393 symptomatic index cases led to 128 out of 3,136 infections among close contacts (4.1%), while the 185 asymptomatic index cases led to 12 infections out of 1,078 close contacts (1.1%). A shared household and meal sharing were associated with 8.27 and 2.90 increased risks of transmission, respectively, regardless of whether the index case-patient had symptoms. (3/29)

Modern Healthcare: Amazon Gets FDA Nod On Its Coronavirus Test
Amazon has received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for its SARS-CoV-2 assay. The Amazon RT-PCR test is designed to detect the virus in anterior nasal swab specimens self-collected either under the supervision of a healthcare provider or unsupervised at home. The test may be used with either individual samples or up to five pooled samples. (3/29)

Axios: IBM, Cleveland Clinic Partner On Next-Gen Computing For Health R&D 
IBM and the Cleveland Clinic are launching a 10-year partnership to apply advances in AI, high performance computing in the cloud and quantum computing to research on viral pathogens and drug development. The effort aims to ease bottlenecks in collecting, storing and analyzing data and speed research on viruses and cancers caused by them. (Snyder, 3/30)

Stat: Humanigen Drug Kept Covid Patients Off Ventilators. But Are Data Missing?
A small biotech firm, Humanigen, said Monday that its experimental drug reduced the risk of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 being put on ventilators. Shares in the company rose 86% on the news, and Humanigen said it would ask the Food and Drug Administration to grant an emergency use authorization based on the results. But whether or not the drug becomes a new tool to help patients with severe Covid-19 may depend on data and details that Humanigen has not shared, including data from 33 trial subjects who were in the 517-patient study, but were not included in the analysis of the drug’s efficacy. (Herper, 3/29)

NBC News: Arkansas Passes Bill To Ban Gender-Affirming Care For Trans Youth
The Arkansas Senate passed a bill Monday that would ban access to gender-affirming care for transgender minors, including reversible puberty blockers and hormones. The bill now heads to Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican. Unless he vetoes it, Arkansas will become the first state to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth. (Yurcaba, 3/29)

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Transgender-Treatment Ban For Minors Is OK'd
Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, the Senate sponsor of HB1570, told his colleagues that "my heart goes out to those who suffer with gender dysphoria and to their parents" and that "it is not an easy thing to deal with." ... "This does not stop anyone at 18 from doing whatever they want to do, but it does prohibit children from making mistakes that they will have a very difficult time coming back from, although many do," Clark said. (Wickline, 3/30)

The Guardian: How Trans Children Became 'A Political Football' For The Republican Party
Republican lawmakers in more than 25 US states have advanced legislation banning transgender children from certain sports teams and limiting their access to gender-affirming healthcare. Trans youth represent just a fraction of the US population – recent estimates suggest they make up 0.7% to 2% of youth. But conservative lawmakers have introduced more than 80 bills regulating their lives in the first three months of 2021, the highest-ever number of anti-trans legislative proposals filed in a single year. (Levin, 3/23)

Stat: Researchers Turn To Health Records To Fill In Data Gaps For Trans Populations
Electronic health records are enabling a new generation of health care researchers to study thousands and millions of patients at a time. But scientists can’t easily tap into that promise for transgender and gender diverse populations — because in many cases, the records simply don’t reflect their identities. (Palmer, 3/30)

Politico: Supreme Court Agrees To Hear First Abortion Case With 6-3 Conservative Majority
The Supreme Court on Monday announced it will hear its first abortion case with a newly fortified 6-3 conservative majority, taking up a procedural question of who has the power to defend state abortion restrictions in court. The justices agreed to hear the Kentucky attorney general’s bid to intervene in a lawsuit over a state abortion ban that the governor refused to defend. However, the court refused the Kentucky attorney general’s request to consider whether a lower court decision striking down the ban should be thrown out. (Miranda Ollstein, 3/29)

Louisville Courier Journal: Supreme Court Decides If Daniel Cameron Can Challenge Abortion Ruling
Cameron, a Republican who opposes abortion, on Monday praised the decision in a news release, saying "we look forward to making our case before the Supreme Court." "I promised Kentuckians that I would defend our laws all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and that's what we've done," he said. But opponents of the abortion law, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which had challenged it, denounced it as a last-minute effort to "jump into the case." (Yetter, 3/29)

Other news on state abortion-related laws —

Vox: The Supreme Court Will Hear A Major Abortion Case — But There’s A Catch
The Court’s limited action on EMW, in other words, combined with its non-action in Dobbs, suggests that the justices may be taking a fairly cautious approach to abortion. The Court still has a 6-3 conservative majority. And the Court did take a swipe at abortion rights last December. So the long-term future of Roe v. Wade still looks quite grim. (Millhiser, 3/29)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Senate OKs Bills To Restrict Abortions, Including "Heartbeat Bill"
The Texas Senate gave initial approval Monday to a half-dozen bills that would restrict access to abortion, including a priority measure that could ban abortions before many women know they are pregnant. The measures are among the earliest bills to be debated by the full Senate — whose presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, has given two abortion proposals top billing this session. Each piece of legislation must be voted on again in the upper chamber and then go through a similar process in the House before becoming law. (Najmabadi, 3/29)

Tulsa World: Oklahoma Senate Panel Advances Three Abortion Bills
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed three abortion measures along party-line votes on Monday. House Bill 1102 would classify abortion as unprofessional conduct, subjecting a physician who performs one to at least a one-year medical license suspension. (Hoberock, 3/29)

Concord (N.H.) Monitor: New Abortion Bill Could Deprive Families Of Last Moments With Infants, Advocates Say
Janice Steenbeke, of Boscawen, fears a bill passed in late February by the N.H. House, dubbed the “Born Alive Infant Protection Act,” might take those limited minutes away from other families dealing with a similar loss. The bill, HB 233, requires that health care providers take “all medically appropriate and reasonable actions to the preserve the life and health” of a newborn infant. Proponents of the bill argue it respects the life of infants, especially those who are born via late-term abortions. Critics fear this legislation would interfere with the grieving process for families of fatally ill newborns. (Rosenbluth, 3/29)

Modern Healthcare: Black Patients Have Worse Safety Outcomes, Receive Care In Less Safe Hospitals
Black Americans are more likely to receive care in hospitals with worst patient safety outcomes than white Americans, and also experience more adverse events after a surgery, according to new research. The Urban Institute study released Monday found Black patients were significantly less likely to be admitted into hospitals classified as "high quality," which was defined as hospitals that had better rates of safety than the median total on each quality measure. For instance, Black patients were 25.5% less likely than white patients to receive care in a hospital effective at preventing postoperative respiratory failure, and 41.7% less likely than white patients to be admitted to a hospital that was effective at preventing perioperative pulmonary embolisms. (Gillespie, 3/29)

NPR: Racial Equity In Vaccination? Dialysis Centers Can Help With That
Frankie Shaw was diabetic by age 22, had a stroke at 35, and for the last five years has been on dialysis, a grueling treatment regime that requires either multiple visits to a clinic each week or hours a day, multiple days a week on a home machine. Over the past year, fear of COVID-19 dogged Shaw, who's now 44 and a retail store manager. Friends died; her twin brother was recently hospitalized with it and still has difficulty breathing. That terrified Shaw, who also has hypertension. "Just imagine if I had COVID, or if I didn't have anything to help boost my immune system to help fight it off? "Shaw's situation is pretty typical of the 550,000 people in the U.S. on dialysis. (Noguchi, 3/30)

Scientific American: Racial Disparities Have Been Found In Screening For Postpartum Mood Disorders
Imagine giving birth and caring for a newborn without support. During the coronavirus pandemic, mothers are doing exactly this amid changing hospital policies and social distancing guidelines. The experience is even more harrowing for women of color, particularly non-Hispanic Black women, who are more than three times as likely to experience maternal death as compared with non-Hispanic white women. (Iyer, 3/30)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Look To Build New Relationships During Vaccine Rollout
Well before the rollout of the first approved COVID-19 vaccine, questions loomed over how those tasked with its administration planned to ensure access for member of communities hardest hit by the pandemic. Yet, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that as of March 25, only 8% of Blacks, 9% of Latinos, 5% of Asians, less than 2% of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, and just .6% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders have received at least one dose compared to 66% of white individuals. Hospitals have taken a leading role in trying to address this disparity. (Johnson, 3/29)

Modern Healthcare: States Can Restart Normal Hospital Survey Activities Effective March 23
State survey agencies can restart normal hospital survey activities effective March 23, CMS said Friday. The agency had limited 30-day hospital surveys to complaint surveys involving immediate jeopardy, noncompliance with Medicare hospital conditions of participation and the need for immediate action to protect the health and safety of patients. CMS had paused hospital recertification surveys for most hospitals and enforcement actions for deficiencies near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a memo, all non-immediate jeopardy complaints received since Jan. 20 must be investigated within 45 days. Hospitals must also file their plans of correction for deficiencies noted in surveys since Jan. 20. (Brady, 3/29)

CNN: A Year Ago, This Frontline Worker Was Fighting For His Life. Now He's Walking For The First Time Since Covid-19 
It's been nearly a year since healthcare worker, Peter Woullard, has walked on his own. The 53-year-old, who contracted Covid-19 last March, lost his ability to stand and walk after spending months in the hospital fighting for his life. "I have nerve damage in certain areas of my body and also weakness," he told CNN on Monday. "From just laying in one position for so long it took a lot of my strength from me." (Jackson, 3/30)

Modern Healthcare: Malpractice Premiums Peak In 2020, AMA Survey Shows
Medical liability insurance premiums have started to tick up after holding relatively steady over the past decade, a new report found. More than a quarter of physician practices' malpractice premiums increased in 2019 and 2020, up from around 13% to 15% from 2011 to 2018, according to the American Medical Association's annual rate surveys that monitor general surgery, obstetrics and internal medicine. More than 5% of physician practices saw their premiums jump more than 10% in 2020; 25.9% experienced up to a 9.9% increase, which was the highest share over the past decade. The 2020 premiums were set prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers noted. (Kacik, 3/29)

Modern Healthcare: Stressing The Already Burdened Pediatric Behavioral Health System
Emily Hangen said it only took a few weeks after her family began isolating in their home in Winslow, Ariz., for her to notice changes in her four children. “There were behavioral issues, incidents of acting out, being angry, sleeping more or sleeping less depending on the child,” Hangen recalls. “We had one that just wanted to eat and one that didn’t want to eat at all—overall depression. ”While Hangen’s oldest child was receiving counseling services for issues with depression diagnosed prior to the pandemic, getting behavioral healthcare support for her other three children has been a major problem. (Johnson, 3/29)

Modern Healthcare: Mental Health Access For Children Needs Attention
Jennifer Pannone needed help. The resident of Schenectady, N.Y., was pregnant, a global pandemic was unfolding and her fiancé had committed suicide weeks earlier, on New Year’s Day 2020. Despite getting support from a local health system, including more than 50 referrals to behavioral health specialists, she has not been able to find a specialist who was accepting new patients. (Johnson, 3/29)

The Hill: Study Finds Adolescents More Likely To Become Addicted To Marijuana, Prescription Drugs
Adolescents and teenagers who try marijuana or misuse prescription drugs are more likely to develop a substance abuse disorder than young adults who are at least 18 years old, according to a new analysis of federal data. The study, led by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), underscores the vulnerability of adolescents to substance abuse disorders and the importance of screening for substance misuse among younger populations. (Weixel, 3/29)

CNBC: Covid Piles More Stress And Financial Strain On Family Caregivers
Over the past year, Ellen Minor has been caring for her 93-year-old father in their Covid bubble. It’s been far from easy. “I can’t tell you how close I have come to forcing myself to retire early, which means paying for my own medical insurance,” said Minor, a 61-year-old teacher at a California charter school. “I have come very close, with the stress,” she said. “I just can’t take it.” (Fox, 3/29)

CNN: Physical Inactivity Could Increase Risk Of Diseases, Study Finds 
Not exercising enough could increase your risk of developing certain diseases by up to 8%, according to a new study. Little to no exercise increases your risk of getting noncommunicable diseases such as depression and dementia, according to the study's analysis of data from 168 countries. The study published Monday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. (Marples, 3/29)

The New York Times: New York Must Offer Vaccine To All Prisoners Immediately, Judge Rules
New York must immediately begin to offer Covid vaccines to all incarcerated people in the state’s prisons and jails, a judge ruled on Monday, making the state one of few in the nation to provide doses to such a broad population behind bars. The order, the first involving any of the country’s largest correctional systems, comes as the coronavirus continues to roar through facilities in New York. At least 1,100 people living behind prison walls have tested positive for the virus since the start of last month, and five have died. (Closson, 3/29)

The Wall Street Journal: HHS Flags Covid-19 Aid Paid To California Clinic
Federal officials have flagged to investigators payments to a California outpatient clinic that received more government funds for treating uninsured Covid-19 patients than all but one medical provider in the U.S., a person familiar with the matter said. Elite Care Medical Group Inc. has received about $81 million under a relief program meant to ease financial strains on hospitals and doctors caring for Covid-19 patients who can’t pay their own bills, according to government data updated March 25. The Department of Health and Human Services reimburses providers for their care, including emergency room visits and the use of ventilators, at rates set for Medicare patients. (Evans, 3/29)

AP: Arizona Senate Revokes Mask Mandate After Governor's Action
The Republican-controlled Arizona Senate voted Monday to rescind its mandatory mask policy and the House speaker made the same move on his own authority. The Senate vote on the rules designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus got no support from minority Democrats. All 16 Republicans voted for the rule change. Face masks are now optional, and members continue to have the option of voting from their offices. (Christie, 3/29)

The Washington Post: New Accounts Detail How New York Health Officials Were Told To Prioritize Coronavirus Testing Of People Connected To Andrew Cuomo
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s relatives and other well-connected New Yorkers were among those given preferential treatment at state coronavirus testing centers. State troopers were on standby to rush their samples to a lab to be expedited. And those with priority status got results within hours or a day compared to a wait of up to a week that other New Yorkers faced at the time. Seven individuals with firsthand knowledge of testing practices said that some people with access to power were able to largely bypass the overburdened resources available to the general public when the pandemic first gripped New York last year. (Brittain, Dawsey and Ellison, 3/30)

And on school reopenings —

Politico: 'Boogers Down': Biden’s Bid To Reopen Schools May Hinge On ‘Pooled’ Testing
The Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief law is steering $10 billion toward developing a national school coronavirus testing strategy as its latest bid to reopen schools. That plan is still in flux but some attention has turned to the practice of “pooled” testing that uses a collection of swabs from a fixed group of kids attending classes together. The process is meant to limit the spread of a potential outbreak while minimizing the costs of the frequent large-scale testing needed to keep the disease in check. Pooled testing can extend testing capacity by testing groups of samples at once rather than each person individually. If a pool sample comes back positive, each individual in the pool is then tested. (Quilantan, 3/29)

The New York Times: Schools In Long Beach, Calif., Start Reopening This Week
Elementary students returned to classrooms in Long Beach, Calif., on Monday and campuses from Los Angeles to Boston prepared for significant expansions of in-person instruction as a majority of the nation’s districts have now begun to reopen school buildings, many of which have been closed for more than a year. On Monday, Burbio, which monitors some 1,200 districts including the largest 200 in the country, reported that 53.1 percent of students were in schools offering daily, in-person classes, and that for the first time, the proportion of students attending school virtually or in hybrid classes had dropped. (Hubler, 3/29)

The New York Times: In San Francisco, Turmoil Over Reopening Schools Turns A City Against Itself
The pandemic has brought grinding frustrations for parents, educators and students across the country. But perhaps no place has matched San Francisco in its level of infighting, public outrage and halting efforts to reopen schools. In February, the city sued its own school system, which has been entirely remote for a year, and board of education, charging they were violating state law by not resuming in-person instruction. (Fuller and Taylor, 3/29)

AP: Tennessee Gov Revives K-12 Mental Health Trust Fund Push
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is reviving a proposal to put $250 million into a trust fund that would help expand mental health services for school-aged children. The Republican announced the plan Monday at a news conference alongside fellow GOP leaders in the Legislature. Lee proposed the idea in early 2020, but removed it and other items from his budget plan when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. (3/30)

The Wall Street Journal: As Vaccines Flood The U.S., Covid-19 Soars Where Shots Are Scarce
As rapid Covid-19 vaccine campaigns in the U.S. and some other rich countries hold the promise of a return to more normal life for their citizens, some countries, particularly poor ones, face a starkly different reality: soaring coronavirus cases, including new highs, more than a year into the pandemic. Public health experts have for months warned that uneven vaccine distribution would leave swaths of the world exposed to fresh waves of infection, economically devastating lockdowns and potentially new virus strains. That divide—between rapidly vaccinating nations poised for an economic revival and those still trapped in the throes of the pandemic—is beginning to emerge. (Emont, 3/29)

Axios: Coronavirus Cases Are Rising All Over The World 
Brutal surges in coronavirus cases are hitting much of the world all at once, from Europe to Brazil to India. Cases are rising just about everywhere, in a swift reversal from early February, when they were falling on every continent. They're also now ticking up in the U.S., which is in the midst of a race between vaccines and variants. (Lawler, 3/29)

Stat: Canadian Company Pursues Compulsory License To Distribute Covid Vaccine
Twice in recent months, a small Canadian company has approached two large drug makers to obtain licenses to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines so the shot could be distributed in low and middle-income countries where supplies are scarce. But a request made to AstraZeneca (AZN) was ignored, while Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) denied the overture, according to executives at Biolyse. So now, the privately held company is asking the Canadian government to sidestep the vaccine patents in what could be a test of the willingness of a wealthy country to help ensure Covid-19 vaccine supplies reach impoverished corners of the globe. (Silverman, 3/29)

CNBC: Double Mutation Covid Variant In India May Spread To Other Countries, Doctor Says
The double mutation of a Covid-19 variant discovered in India is of grave concern — and could spread to other countries, according to Dr. Kavita Patel, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution. “It is something to watch very closely, and something that will not be limited to India. It is something we will likely see around the world as we have with other variants,” she told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday. (Ng, 3/30)

AP: Some Medical Experts Unconvinced About Holding Tokyo Games
The Tokyo Olympics open in under four months, and the torch relay has begun to crisscross Japan with 10,000 runners. Organizers say they are mitigating the risks, but some medical experts aren’t convinced. “It is best to not hold the Olympics given the considerable risks,” Dr. Norio Sugaya, an infectious diseases expert at Keiyu Hospital in Yokohama, told The Associated Press. “The risks are high in Japan. Japan is dangerous, not a safe place at all.” Sugaya believes vaccinating 50-70% of the general public should be “a prerequisite” to safely hold the Olympics, a highly unlikely scenario given the slow vaccine rollout in Japan. (Kageyama and Wade, 3/30)

The New York Times: Cautiously, Britain Begins Relaxing Strict Lockdown Rules
Across Germany and France, shops are closing, travel is being restricted, and the authorities are ordering people back into their homes. But in Britain, the government moved on Monday to relax its strict national lockdown, allowing people to gather outdoors in groups of up to six people. The latest cautious steps, announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, widened the gulf between how Britain and much of Europe have handled the latest phase of the pandemic. From the rate of vaccinations to new cases of the virus and hospital admissions, the two seem to be moving in opposite directions. (Landler and Castle, 3/29)

Reuters: UK Wants To Vaccinate All Adults Before Sharing Vaccine With Other Countries
Britain will focus on vaccinating the whole of its adult population before it can to provide any surplus shots to other countries such as its close neighbour Ireland, British business minister Kwasi Kwarteng said on Tuesday. More than 30 million Britons have received their first COVID-19 shots in the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, with the aim of offering shots to all adults by the end of July. However, Britain has found itself involved in a public spat with the European Union, where the vaccination programme has been much slower, over the supply of doses. (3/30)

AP: Turkey Reinstates Restrictions After Sharp Virus Cases Rise
Turkey is reinstating weekend lockdowns in most of Turkey’s provinces and will also impose restrictions over the Muslim holy month of Ramadan following a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases. Virus infections in Turkey have soared less than a month after the country divided its 81 provinces into four color-coded categories and relaxed restrictions in some provinces under a “controlled normalization” effort. The number of confirmed daily infections have since almost tripled to around 30,000, matching the record numbers that were reported in December. The country is also reporting around 150 deaths per day, up from around 65 at the start of the month. (Fraser, 3/30)

Bloomberg: After Covid Let's Keep Our Masks On
It has been a year since the pandemic hit India and, for me, the oddest thing is how healthy I’ve been. Like most but not all of the people I see on the streets, I have been masked up these past 12 months. I’ve washed my hands religiously and avoided crowds. As a result, for the first time in my life, I haven’t caught a cold all year. This is remarkable. Living in Delhi, with its crowds and its sudden changes of season, usually means one picks up pretty much every bug that’s going around. I am not fond of masks. And, in the steam-bath summers of north India, wearing something on your face can be stifling. And yet I find myself hoping that once this pandemic ends, the habit of mask-wearing will remain. (Mihir Sharma, 3/28)

NBC News: Covid Vaccine Priority For College Students Makes Sense Even It Seems Wrong
The spring break chaos in Miami Beach and the resurgence in Covid-19 cases is leading many to wag their fingers at college students who flooded relatively open Florida and likely brought Covid-19 with them. Instead, we should be wagging our fingers at policymakers. First, we should admonish them for not having had the foresight to recognize that young people fed up with social distancing and public health restrictions for more than a year might decide to let loose. Second, they have erred by not having placed college students higher on the vaccination distribution list. It is time to rethink that policy, and fast. (Christopher R. Marsicano, 3/29)

Boston Globe: No More Drama In Communicating About Vaccine Effectiveness 
Shoring up public confidence in COVID-19 vaccines is more important than ever as we try to reach the point where enough people achieve immunity to stop the spread of the virus and end this pandemic. As it is, officials warn that we must remain vigilant in our efforts to slow the spread in order to get back to normal, given a recent spike in cases in the United States despite a steady increase in vaccinations. So it’s crucial that AstraZeneca and other vaccine makers, as well as the National Institutes of Health and public officials, adopt a new mantra when it comes to public communications about vaccine efficacy: No more drama. (3/29)

Boston Globe: US Should Share Vaccines It’s Not Using With The World 
At least 3 million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine have been sitting in American warehouses for at least a month. There are outbreaks of COVID-19 in Peru and Jordan, where AstraZeneca’s vaccine is authorized for use. AstraZeneca has not yet applied for US authorization, and any authorization likely will not come for several weeks. While these valuable doses sit, the United States is now vaccinating about 2.7 million people per day and the numbers steadily grow. This is a moral tragedy. It is also a health problem for Americans and people around the world and a huge diplomatic blunder. (Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Govind Persad, 3/30)

The New York Times: What Can You Do Once You’re Vaccinated? 
Americans have entered a new phase of the pandemic where a large part of the U.S. population is vaccinated and most is not. That leads to a big question: What can you do after you’re fully vaccinated? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued new guidelines, and other experts have weighed in with their thoughts. But when it comes to what you personally should or shouldn’t do, you will need to do your own risk assessment. I spoke to experts to develop a science-backed framework for post-vaccination decision-making. Here are important factors to keep in mind that, when paired with your own appetite for risk, can help you navigate this next stage of the pandemic. (Tara Haelle, 3/30)

Stat: Too Many Hospitalized Covid-19 Patients Are Given Antibiotics 
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues into its second year, public health experts are increasingly concerned that the response to this global crisis may be accelerating another one: the development and persistence of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as superbugs. Why? All antibiotic use hastens the emergence of resistance. And although antibiotics aren’t used to treat Covid-19, which is a viral illness, they’re often prescribed to Covid-19 patients who are at risk for bacterial infection. New research from our organization, the Pew Charitable Trusts, sheds additional light on the extent to which antibiotics are being prescribed unnecessarily in the midst of the pandemic. In a study of nearly 6,000 hospital admissions between February and July 2020 among patients with Covid-19, at least one course of antibiotics was given to more than half (52%) during their hospital stays. (David Hyun and Rachel Zetts, 3/30)

The Washington Post: Long-Haul Covid-19 Is A Big Mystery Of The Pandemic. Scientists Must Solve It. 
Long-haul covid-19 is cropping up as another of the great mysteries of the coronavirus pandemic. It is a mystery because no one yet knows precisely why some people, including those who had only mild cases of covid-19 and were not hospitalized, continue to feel lousy months after infection. Lest this virus scar a generation with lasting medical ailments and mental health wounds, there’s an urgent need to figure out what’s going on and why. So far, the answers are murky. As Lenny Bernstein and Ben Guarino reported in The Post recently, clinicians and researchers in the United States have yet to reach a consensus on a definition for long-haul covid-19. They do not know how many people have it. Steven Deeks, an infectious-disease physician at the University of California at San Francisco, said the only thing certain is that an unknown proportion of those who get sick with the virus have long-term symptoms. “We know the questions,” he said. “We have no answers. Hard stop.” (3/29)

USA Today: We've Achieved Herd Immunity For The Measles. Will We Ever Get There On COVID-19?
These days, everyone is talking about herd immunity. But what actually is it? We are all a part of a larger herd, and when a critical mass of immunity is reached, the contagion slows to a crawl or even a stop. Herd or population immunity is based on how transmissible a pathogen is. If it spreads easily, then a higher percentage of immune hosts are needed to slow it down, until the pathogen runs out of available options. With measles, probably the most easily transmissible respiratory virus, that number is around 95%, and since almost all of us take the vaccine as young children, we achieve it. So when can we expect to get to herd immunity on COVID-19? (Dr. Marc Seigel, 3/30)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Can't Afford To Pass On Medicaid Expansion
Gloria is a San Antonio mom raising three kids. Two of her children have disabilities, so she’s not able to work more than a part-time job. She has chronic asthma but can’t afford to see a doctor because she can’t afford health insurance. So, Gloria has to go to the emergency room when she has a severe asthma attack. Amber is a student at the University of Houston. She’s worked throughout the pandemic at a grocery store to help pay her tuition and has been constantly worried about getting her family sick with COVID-19. Balancing work and school means she doesn’t work enough hours to get health insurance benefits. So, Amber puts off going to the doctor for recurring pain. Gloria and Amber aren’t eligible for subsidized health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace because they make too little, and they aren’t eligible for Texas Medicaid because they make too much. Like more than one million Texans between the ages of 19 and 64, they fall into the coverage gap. (Elena Marks, 3/29)

Scientific American: To Achieve Mental Health Equity, Dismantle Social Injustice 
In her book Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, Ijeoma Oluo describes a phrase that she and her fellow social justice advocates use whenever injustice occurs in society: “works according to design,” meaning that our unequal society didn’t come about by accident – it was designed to keep historically marginalized people on the margins. Oluo uses the example of the many unarmed Black people killed by the police, while the perpetrators consistently avoid criminal trials. We recently observed this system at work with the differential law enforcement response to the attack of mostly white insurrectionists on the Capitol building compared to the crackdown on Black Lives Matter protesters last year. ( Ruth S. Shim, Sarah Y. Vinson, 3/29)