CNBC: Pfizer CEO Says Third Covid Vaccine Dose Likely Needed Within 12 Months
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will “likely” need a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated. His comments were made public Thursday but were taped April 1. Bourla said it’s possible people will need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus annually. “A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role,” he told CNBC’s Bertha Coombs during an event with CVS Health. (Lovelace Jr., 4/15)

CNBC: Moderna Hopes To Have Booster Shot Ready By The Fall, Says CEO
Moderna hopes to have a booster shot for its two-dose Covid vaccine available in the fall, CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC on Wednesday. “I want to make sure there are boost vaccines available in the fall so that we protect people as we go into the next fall and winter season in the U.S.,” Bancel said in an interview on “Squawk Box.” (Stankiewicz, 4/14)

The New York Times: Pfizer And Others Are Planning For Covid Vaccine Boosters
Scientists have long said that giving people a single course of a Covid-19 vaccine might not be sufficient in the long term, and that booster shots and even annual vaccinations might prove necessary. In recent days, that proposition has begun to sound less hypothetical. Vaccine makers are getting a jump-start on possible new rounds of shots, although they sound more certain of the need for boosters than independent scientists have. (Tumin, 4/16)

CBS News: Biden Administration Working To Ensure U.S. Will Have Booster COVID-19 Shots If They Become Necessary 
The Biden administration is "in discussions" to ensure that it can obtain booster COVID-19 shots if they become necessary, a top official told lawmakers on Thursday. The announcement comes as drugmakers are touting their progress in developing the additional shots, which are designed to increase the body's immune response months after the initial doses are administered.  "We are in discussions right now, making sure that we can secure those vaccines for a boost or variants. We are in that process right now," Dr. David Kessler, chief science officer for the administration's COVID-19 response, told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. (Tin, 4/15)

In related news about mRNA vaccines —

The Washington Post: Is The Second Dose Of The MRNA Coronavirus Vaccine Necessary? Yes. Here’s Why. 
More than 100 million people in the United States have taken one of the coronavirus vaccines authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on track to more than meet President Biden’s goal of 200 million inoculations during his first 100 days in office. But some people have not shown up for the second shot of the messenger-RNA vaccines, which require two doses to achieve the strongest and longest-lasting immunity. (Bever, 4/15)

The Baltimore Sun: Are The Side Effects Of The Second COVID Vaccine Worse Than The First? Your Coronavirus Vaccination Questions Answered. 
Michael Berry got his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at a big clinic in Rockville run by the Montgomery County Department of Health. It was March 9, and the 72-year-old said he received a shot of the immunization made by Moderna. A Silver Spring resident, Berry said he was told to expect a series of emails when it was time for him to schedule an appointment for his second dose... But April 9 marked four weeks to the day, and Berry said no such email arrived. (Mann, 4/16)

CBS News: Study Shows Vaccines Carry Much Lower Risk Of Blood Clots Than COVID-19 
A study by researchers at Oxford University in England suggests the risks of experiencing dangerous, rare blood clots in the brain are far higher in those who catch the coronavirus than in those who get either the AstraZeneca vaccine, or the vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna in the U.S. Another finding of the research, which was disputed by Pfizer and called "confusing" by the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., was that the number of people who experience clots after getting the vaccines made by the American companies appears very similar to the number who get the rare condition after a shot of the AstraZeneca drug, which was developed in conjunction with Oxford's vaccine institute. (Reals and Berriman, 4/16)

CIDRAP: Study: COVID Much More Likely Than Vaccines To Cause Blood Clots
COVID-19—the actual disease—poses 8 to 10 times the threat of blood clots in the brain than do coronavirus vaccines, a large, non–peer-reviewed study led by University of Oxford researchers finds. The study, published today on the preprint server OSF, involved an electronic health records network of 81 million patients at 59 healthcare systems, mainly in the United States. (Van Beusekom, 4/15 )

Fox News: Seventh Clot Case Involving Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Revealed
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) committee learned Wednesday of a seventh woman who developed a rare and severe type of blood clot after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, and an additional incident involving a man which occurred during a clinical trial but could not be linked to the jab at the time. The seventh case brought to the committee's attention did not occur in the brain, as the other six did, sparking further questions about what evidence the committee needs to consider. The other incident that occurred during the clinical trial involved a 25-year-old male. Up until this point, the six cases, out of the more than 7.2 million shots administered, had all been identified in women and occurred within one to three weeks of vaccination. (Hein, 4/15)

New York Post: Man Partially Paralyzed, Unable To Talk After J&J Vaccine
A Mississippi man who experienced a blood clot after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, has been left paralyzed on one side of his body and unable to talk, his family said. Brad Malagarie, 43, of St. Martin, suffered a stroke soon after stepping out last week to get the one-dose shot, news station WLOX reported. (Salo, 4/15)

In other updates on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine —

NPR: J&J Vaccine Pause Creates 'Perfect Storm' For Misinformation
CNN. ABC News. The New York Times. Fox News.Those are the publishers of four of the five most popular Facebook posts of articles about the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine this week. They're ranked 2 to 5 in total interactions, according to data from the tracking tool CrowdTangle. The No. 1 posting, however, isn't from a news organization. Or a government official. Or a public health expert. The most popular link on Facebook about the Johnson & Johnson news was shared by a conspiracy theorist and self-described "news analyst & hip-hop artist" named An0maly who thinks the pandemic is a cover for government control. (4/15)

The Hill: Johnson & Johnson Delay Prompts Criticism Of CDC Panel 
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel is coming under increased criticism for continuing a pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is keeping doses on the shelf while the pandemic rages. Many experts backed the initial pause, announced on Tuesday, when it appeared that it would only last for a few days and would give time to alert health care providers to treatment guidelines around extremely rare cases of blood clots in people receiving the J&J vaccine. (Sullivan, 4/15)

Bloomberg: J&J’s Limbo Status Crimps U.S. Vaccine Drive At A Pivotal Moment
Communities across the U.S. are suddenly revamping their vaccination campaigns to adjust to an indefinite halt in Johnson & Johnson’s doses, which has required officials to reschedule tens of thousands of appointments as they seek to reassure people that Covid-19 vaccines are safe. Health professionals are split on whether the delay should continue. On the one hand, the blood-clotting syndrome that led to the pause in J&J vaccinations is serious and can be deadly. Conversely, with J&J doses out of circulation, that means fewer people are getting immunized even as fast-spreading Covid variants are tightening their grip, and concern about the J&J shots risks expanding vaccine hesitancy. (LaVito and Rutherford, 4/16)

Axios: Johnson & Johnson Coronavirus Vaccine Pause Hurts Its Reputation 
Americans' confidence in the safety of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine took a big dip this week after the pause in its use, per new YouGov polling, even though the risk of blood clots following the shot is extremely low, if it exists at all. For the majority of people, particularly high-risk Americans, getting the J&J shot is almost certainly less dangerous than remaining vulnerable to the coronavirus. (Owens and Fernandez, 4/16)

ABC News: Prisons Postpone Vaccinations With Johnson & Johnson Shots Paused
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause, likely to last another seven to 10 days while a federal advisory committee evaluates a possible link to a rare but severe blood clotting disorder, may deal a blow to vulnerable populations -- the homebound, homeless and incarcerated among them -- because it had been easier to get those individuals one shot than two, health experts said. In addition to being a single dose, the J&J vaccine "is easier to store than the two mRNA vaccines that require freezing," said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University. "That adds to the complexity of trying to set up vaccinations in settings that are not clinical." (Shumaker, 4/16)

CNN: Johnson & Johnson Vaccine: Dr. Leana Wen Addresses Your Concerns 
The US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that they were recommending a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. The agencies cited the cases of six women between the ages of 18 and 48 who had developed a rare and severe condition called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a brain blood clot, combined with thrombocytopenia, or low platelet counts, after their J&J vaccination. What does all of this mean for people who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine? What about those who are scheduled to receive it? (Chiu, 4/15)

AP: US Opens More Distance In Worldwide Race Against Coronavirus
The United States opened more distance between itself and much of the rest of the world Thursday, nearing the 200 millionth vaccine administered in a race to protect the population against COVID-19, even as other countries, rich and poor, struggle with stubbornly high infection rates and deaths. Nearly half of American adults have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, and about 30% of adults in the U.S. have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the picture is still relentlessly grim in parts of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia as variants of the virus fuel an increase in new cases and the worldwide death toll closes in on 3 million. (Bynum, 4/15)

CBS News: At Least A Dozen Colleges And Universities Are Requiring Students To Get COVID-19 Vaccine 
At a growing number of colleges and universities around the U.S., getting a COVID-19 vaccination is a must for students who plan to return to campus this fall. Since Rutgers University in New Jersey first announced in March that students would have to be immunized, at least a dozen schools have said they will require proof of inoculation for those who want to attend classes in person and participate in other on-campus activities. (Cerullo, 4/15)

Bloomberg: Unused Vaccines Are Piling Up Across U.S. As Some Regions Resist
The data indicate as many as one in three doses are unused in some states. Appointments for shots often go untaken, with few people signing up. Bloomberg analyzed state and U.S. data from Monday, providing a snapshot of vaccine use before Johnson & Johnson shelved millions of shots pending federal health officials’ investigation into rare cases of blood clots. That pause will likely cause the number of unused shots to fluctuate, but will little change the comparisons of states. (Edney and Armstrong, 4/15)

In other updates on the vaccine rollout —

The Advocate: Federally Backed Vaccination Site Opens In Baton Rouge As Signs Of Another COVID Surge Linger
The number of Louisiana residents who have completed their COVID-19 vaccine series topped 1 million for the first time Thursday, a reassuring milestone tempered by warnings from public health officials that the deadly virus is showing early signs of a comeback. Hospitals across the state are reporting an uptick in COVID-like illnesses in their emergency rooms, particularly among young people, and the number of tests coming back positive has jumped slightly after weeks of steady declines, said Dr. Joe Kanter, the state health officer. (Paterson, 4/15)

ABC News: Lin-Manuel Miranda Welcomes COVID-19 Vaccine Site To Broadway 
The newest venue on Broadway is a COVID-19 vaccination site for the entertainment community. The facility that serves theater, movie and television workers in Times Square administered its first shots on Monday and opened with plenty of fanfare and star power. Mayor Bill de Blasio was joined by "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, health commissioner Dave Chokshi and Anne del Castillo, the commissioner of the Office of Media and Entertainment, to tour the Broadway COVID-19 vaccine site. (Long, 4/13)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Cashman Center COVID-19 Vaccination Site To Close
Despite giving record numbers of shots early this week, Clark County’s mass COVID-19 vaccination site at Cashman Center will close on May 5, public health officials announced Thursday. Word of the closure came on a day when there were no lines and plentiful open appointments at the site. “Our numbers are down across the board, not only at the large sites but the smaller sites, even the casinos,” the Southern Nevada Health District’s Greg Cassell said at a late morning briefing with reporters. (Hynes, 4/15)

The Baltimore Sun: State Agrees To Provide Vaccines, Cleaner Conditions For Inmates At Baltimore Jail To End COVID-19 Lawsuit 
All detainees at the Chesapeake Detention Facility in Baltimore will be offered coronavirus vaccines by May 1 and the facility will undergo monthly independent inspections, ending a federal lawsuit and providing a level of protection from COVID-19 that inmates and their supporters sought. The settlement between detainees and the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services requires officials at the facility to take steps in line with state and federal guidelines, and with what much of those outside the prison walls have been allowed. (Davis, 4/15)

Also —

CIDRAP: 1 In 5 Americans Say They Won't Get COVID-19 Vaccine 
A poll published yesterday from Monmouth University found that 1 in 5 Americans remain unwilling to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Partisanship continues to be the defining factor determining which Americans are willing to get vaccinated and which are not: 43% of Republicans say they will avoid the vaccine, compared with just 5% of Democrats, and 22% of independents say they want to avoid getting the vaccine altogether. (Soucheray, 4/15)

AP: Amid Hesitancy, Louisiana Gets Creative In Vaccine Outreach
Brass bands playing at a 24-hour drive-thru coronavirus vaccine event. Doses delivered to commercial fishermen minutes from the docks. Pop-up immunization clinics at a Buddhist temple, homeless shelters, truck stops and casinos, with shots available at night or on weekends. And now, door-to-door outreach getting underway in neighborhoods where few people have gotten vaccinated. (Deslatte, 4/16)

Albuquerque Journal: NM Battles Lies About The Virus And The Vaccine
The clamor for COVID-19 vaccines in New Mexico doesn’t seem to be abating, with more than 107,000 doses administered in the past seven days. But here and nationally, public health officials are assessing how to get shots in the arms of those who aren’t so eager. U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., said Thursday that ensuring the public has “clear and transparent” information about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines is key to getting more vaccine uptake across the country. “Unfortunately, in too many places, we are struggling to provide trusted evidence-based information, creating a void. Misinformation and disinformation rushes to fill this gap,” said Luján, who chaired a two-hour hearing of his Senate subcommittee on communications, media and broadband. (Heild, 4/15)

The Washington Post: Montgomery County, Md., Reports Progress In Closing Racial Gaps In Vaccinations
Montgomery County has narrowed the coronavirus vaccination gap among different racial groups, County Executive Marc Elrich said Thursday. In February, about 20 percent of Black and Latino county residents older than 65 had been vaccinated, compared with 30 percent of Asian residents and 40 percent of White residents in that age group. As of early April, about 60 percent of Black and Latino residents over 65 had been vaccinated, compared with 70 percent of Asian residents and 65 percent of White residents in that age group. (Tan, 4/15)

Salt Lake Tribune: Gov. Spencer Cox Touts Efforts To Close The Gap In Vaccinating Utah's Minority Populations
Utah is closing the gap in vaccinating its ethnic minority populations against COVID-19, Gov. Spencer Cox said — though the nationwide pause in doling out the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could put a speed bump in those efforts. A month ago, 18,700 Latinos had been vaccinated statewide, Cox said Thursday during his monthly news conference at the PBS Utah studios in Salt Lake City. As of this week, that number has gone up to 85,800. Similarly, the number of Asian Americans in Utah to get at least one dose of the vaccine has risen from 6,900 to 31,500. And the number of Black Utahns vaccinated is up from 2,400 to 8,400. (Means and Rodgers, 4/15)

The Oregonian: Latino Groups Rebuke State’s Coronavirus Vaccine Drive, State Stands Chastened 
Latino advocacy groups fired a frank and emotional broadside at state health officials Thursday, claiming Oregon has all but ignored their pleas to ensure more Latinos get vaccinated against the coronavirus. While short on quantifiable requests for funds, vaccine doses or clinics, the speakers at a news conference organized by the Latino Network displayed a sense of urgency, citing disheartening statistics and warning of the impending doom riding in on the coronavirus pandemic’s fourth wave. (Zarkhin, 4/15)

CNN: Nearly Half Of US States Reported An Increase In Covid-19 Cases This Week. Here's What Experts Say Can Help Stop Another Surge
At least 21 states have recorded at least a 10% rise in daily average positive cases of Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University data Thursday, demonstrating that the fight against the pandemic is far from over. In Michigan, hospitals are increasingly overwhelmed and reaching full capacities in part due to the influx of new coronavirus cases. State and local officials across the country are attempting to avoid a similar situation and are pushing to increase vaccination levels among adults, which shows continuing signs of improvement. (Caldwell, 4/16)

CNBC: Daily U.S. Covid Cases Remain Above 70,000 Amid Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Pause
The rate of new U.S. coronavirus cases remains elevated as the country tries to ramp up its vaccination campaign following the distribution halt of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine. The country is reporting about 71,200 new Covid cases per day, based on a seven-day average of data from Johns Hopkins University. That is far below the nation’s winter peak but in line with levels seen during the summer surge, when average daily cases topped out at more than 67,000. (Rattner, 4/15)

The Washington Post: Spring Wave Of Coronavirus Crashes Across 38 States As Hospitalizations Increase
The coronavirus pandemic in the United States has turned into a patchwork of regional hotspots, with some states hammered by a surge of infections and hospitalizations even as others have seen the crisis begin to ease. The spring wave of the pandemic has driven hospitalizations above 47,000, the highest since March 4. Thirty-eight states have reported an increase during the past week in the number of people hospitalized with covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, according to a Washington Post analysis of data provided by the Department of Health and Human Services. (Achenbach and Dupree, 4/15)

Michigan, Maryland and Pennsylvania cope with a surge in coronavirus infections —

AP: Virus Is 'Runaway Train' At Michigan Hospital System
Michigan’s largest hospital system is dealing with a “runaway train” as it confronts a crush of COVID-19 patients in suburban Detroit, even turning to outdoor evaluations as people show up for care, a doctor said Thursday. Beaumont Health, which has eight hospitals in southeastern Michigan, said it had more than 800 patients being treated for COVID-19, up from about 500 two weeks ago and just 128 at the end of February. The surge isn’t limited to Beaumont: The number of patients confirmed with COVID-19 was near 4,000 statewide. Four hospitals this week said they were at 100% capacity. (White and Eggert, 4/15)

Detroit Free Press: Beaumont Health Sets Up Triage Units, Tents To Manage COVID-19 Surge
Michigan's third COVID-19 surge is "like a runaway train," Dr. Nick Gilpin, Beaumont Health’s medical director of infection prevention and epidemiology, said Thursday. More than 800 coronavirus patients fill all eight of the hospitals in the state's largest health care system, "taxing our staff and our resources," Gilpin said, yet there's no policy in place this time to restrict in-person dining, sports or schools, where the virus is known to spread.  (Jordan Shamus, 4/15)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘Deeply Concerning’: Baltimore City Emerging As A COVID Hot Spot; Officials Urge Vigilance 
Cases of COVID-19 in Baltimore City have spiked in recent weeks, outpacing every county in Maryland and rivaling an infection level not recorded since the winter peak. The reasons aren’t entirely clear, but state and local data suggest the pandemic could worsen still in the city before it gets better this summer as vaccinations against the disease continue. (Cohn and Miller, 4/16)

Philadelphia Inquirer: As COVID-19 Cases Rise Among Children, Parents Wonder What’s Safe: ‘No Activity Is Risk-Free’
Coronavirus vaccines are becoming more available and businesses are reopening, yet COVID-19 cases among children are on the rise, as people begin to socialize more and highly contagious new strains spread. It’s a confusing combination of good news and bad news that has left parents unsure how to proceed, with summer just around the corner. Children who contract COVID-19 generally experience milder illness and often are asymptomatic. Still, the rise in cases among kids is a reminder of the importance of keeping up with safety protocol and making sure that those who are eligible get vaccinated in order to protect those who are unable to be vaccinated and could spread the virus, doctors said. (Gantz, 4/16)

Also —

AP: 2 Tigers At Virginia Zoo Test Positive For The Coronavirus
Two tigers at a zoo in Virginia have tested positive for the coronavirus. The Virginian-Pilot reported Wednesday that the Malayan tigers live at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. The zoo said it doesn’t know how its tigers were infected. It’s working with health officials and other experts to find out. The big cats are named Stubbley and Osceola. They started showing mild symptoms such as dry cough and wheezing last week. Testing later confirmed they have COVID. Test results for a third tiger are pending. (4/15)

Fox News: NY Health Department Surveyor Potentially Exposes NYC Nursing Home To COVID-19, Source Reveals
A New York Department of Health surveyor auditing a Bronx nursing home last week exposed residents and staff to COVID-19, a source told Fox News. According to an employee at Pelham Parkway Nursing Home, a team of health department surveyors began auditing the facility on April 5. While department guidance "strongly encourages" all visitors be tested before entering a nursing home facility in New York, the source said surveyors declined testing on-site. Four days later, nursing home staff were told one surveyor had tested positive with COVID and was quarantined. (Hasnie, 4/15)

Politico: Proud Boy Charged With Pepper Spraying Police During Capitol Riot Contracts Covid In Jail 
A member of the Proud Boys charged with pepper spraying a line of police officers at the Capitol is urging a federal appeals court panel to free him from pretrial detention, citing a Covid-19 diagnosis he received while being held in a Washington, D.C., jail. Christopher Worrell is particularly vulnerable to Covid, his lawyer Allen Orenberg said, because he's also in the midst of treating non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and has a compromised immune system. Worrell had previously sought relief from U.S. District Court, citing symptoms that had emerged as a result of his lymphoma, saying that he had been unable to access his cancer medication while in the D.C. lockup. (Cheney, 4/15)

Stat: Merck To Continue Tests Of Covid Pill, But Stop Trial In Hospitalized Patients
Merck said Thursday that it has seen “encouraging” results in a clinical trial of an antiviral pill to treat Covid-19 early in the disease’s course, but the pill failed to help hospitalized patients and must be used very early in the disease. At the same time, the company said it will stop efforts to develop a second medicine for patients who have already been hospitalized with the disease. (Herper, 4/15)

Bloomberg: Merck Setback Limits Study of Covid Pill to Milder Disease
The drugmaker is also scrapping a therapy, MK-7110, that it acquired in a $425 million deal less than five months ago, marking another setback in its hunt to curb the pandemic after shutting down its vaccine program in January. It plans to focus on developing molnupiravir as an outpatient treatment, where there are few medicines available, after it showed signs of helping control the virus. (Griffin and Koons, 4/15)

In other covid research news —

CIDRAP: P1 COVID-19 Variant More Transmissible, May Evade Cross-Immunity
The P1 SARS-CoV-2 variant, which was first identified in Brazil, may be more than twice as transmissible as non-P.1 lineages, and it may lower protective immunity from non-P1 variants 21% to 46%, according to a study published yesterday in Science. From November 2020 to January 2021, the researchers conducted genomic sequencing on 184 COVID-19 samples  collected from the city of Manaus in Brazil's Amazonas state, which has experienced two major COVID-19 surges. Phylogenetic analysis showed that P1 and another lineage, P2, were descendants of lineage B1128, and that P1 probably diverged around Nov 15 after a period of faster molecular evolution. This was 3 to 4 weeks before Manaus, home to 2.2 million people, saw a COVID resurgence. (4/15)

CIDRAP: Dogs Able To Sniff Out COVID-Positive Urine, Saliva In Pilot Study
Nine dogs were able to sniff out COVID-positive urine and saliva samples in a proof-of-concept study published yesterday in PLOS One, but the researchers note that a lack of sample diversity made it difficult to tell how generalizable the training was. Training was conducted with a scent wheel that had various scents at the end of the spokes. First the dogs were trained to detect a distinctive scent with a universal detection compound. Then they moved onto COVID-positive and -negative urine samples, all treated so the virus was inactivated, and lastly, treated saliva samples. (4/15)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘It Puts People’s Minds At Ease’: UMBC Using Maryland-Made COVID-Detection Device In Labs, Classrooms, Dorms 
After a visitor to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Performing Arts & Humanities Concert Hall tested positive for COVID-19 last week, Mike Pound wheeled a lab cart carrying a printer-sized device with a large megaphone-like attachment into the room. The BioFlash, a Maryland-made technology, sucked in an air sample, which passed over a compact disc-like biosensor containing a COVID-19 antibody. In a matter of minutes, a small digital panel on the side read: “Test complete — No agents detected.” The room was cleared for class to take place the next day. (Campbell, 4/16)

Stat: Some Experts Fear Next-Generation Covid Vaccines May Be Worse
With Covid-19 vaccines, the world hopes to beat back the virus that causes the disease. But some scientists are increasingly concerned that, because of a quirk of our own biology, future iterations of the vaccines might not always be quite as effective as they are today. The concerns stem from a phenomenon that is known as imprinting, sometimes called original antigenic sin, which is believed to affect how we respond to some pathogens. (Branswell, 4/16)

KHN: Mysterious Ailment, Mysterious Relief: Vaccines Help Some Covid Long Haulers 
An estimated 10% to 30% of people who get covid-19 suffer from lingering symptoms of the disease, or what’s known as “long covid.” Judy Dodd, who lives in New York City, is one of them. She spent nearly a year plagued by headaches, shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and problems with her sense of smell, among other symptoms. (Stone, 4/16)

Roll Call: Health Officials Push Vaccinations As Fauci And Jordan Spar
The nation’s top infectious disease officials were hesitant during a House committee hearing Thursday to set a specific COVID-19 caseload threshold for rolling back public health guidelines meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the nation should focus on vaccinating people quickly while trying to drive down the spread of the virus. Fauci said the current average number of new reported cases each day is at an “unacceptably high level.” (McIntire, 4/15)

The Boston Globe: ‘You’re Ranting Again’: Dr. Fauci And Representative Jordan Spar Over COVID-19 Measures
The nation’s top infectious disease expert and Representative Jim Jordan engaged in a heated exchange during a congressional hearing on Thursday over when Americans will be able to stop engaging in public health measures that help prevent the spread of COVID-19, with Dr. Anthony Fauci at one point telling Jordan: “You’re ranting again.” During a House subcommittee hearing on the end of the COVID-19 pandemic that involved testimony from a number of public health officials, the Ohio Republican repeatedly pressed Fauci on what metric COVID-19 infections in the United States would have to reach before Americans can stop wearing masks and social distancing. Jordan repeatedly referred to the loosening of pandemic-related restrictions and recommendations as Americans being able to “get their freedom back.” (Kaufman, 4/15)

Fox News: Maxine Waters Snaps At Jim Jordan As COVID Hearing With Fauci Erupts Into Shouting Match: ‘Shut Your Mouth’
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus held a hearing Thursday titled, "Reaching the Light at the End of the Tunnel: Ending COVID-19," but it erupted into shouting match when Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, pressed Dr. Anthony Fauci on when that end might become a reality in terms of restrictions being lifted. Jordan got right to the point, noting that Fauci had recently written that it is not yet the time to cease taking precautionary measures such as social distancing, avoiding gatherings, and wearing face masks. (Blitzer, 4/15)

The Hill: Fauci Believes Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Will Get Back On Track 'Quickly'
Top U.S. infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci on Thursday said he is hopeful that the distribution and administration of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine will get “back on track” soon. Fauci's remarks come just one day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) postponed making a recommendation about the continued use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following a pause in the vaccine's use due to rare cases of blood clots. (Jenkins, 4/15)

The New York Times: On Capitol Hill, Top Health Officials Urge Americans To Get Shots 
Three top federal health officials appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday and implored Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, but said little about the investigation into whether the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may be linked to a small number of cases of rare blood clots, or when that vaccine might be put back into use. “Hopefully we’ll get a decision quite soon, as to whether or not we can get back on track with this very effective vaccine,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s top medical adviser for the coronavirus, told a House panel. (Stolberg, 4/16)

Politico: Dems Weigh Narrower Health Ambitions For Infrastructure Package 
Democratic leaders are signaling they’ll scale back the party’s pent-up ambitions for Medicare expansion and drug pricing reform as negotiators eye the next phase of President Joe Biden’s sweeping infrastructure package. The “social infrastructure” piece of the $2 trillion-plus bill would be progressive lawmakers’ best chance to broaden the social safety net and curb pharmaceutical costs before the mid-term election, with Democrats’ full control of Washington on the line. It's also the only sure vehicle to make good on some of Biden’s signature campaign pledges, like lowering Medicare's eligibility age. (Ollstein and Luthi, 4/15)

Stat: Hints Emerge About A Key Senate Committee’s Plans For Health Care 
A Senate hearing Thursday provided one of the clearest roadmaps to date for how Senate Democrats plan to use their newfound majority to advance new health care policies. The hearing was scheduled to let lawmakers vet both Andrea Palm, Biden’s pick to serve as deputy secretary of the federal health department, and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, his pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but it accomplished little in the way of vetting. The two-and-a-half-hour meeting was cordial and barely touched on hot-button topics like abortion or coronavirus lockdowns. (Florko, 4/15)

Roll Call: Becerra Questioned About Abortion, Immigration At HHS Budget Hearing 
Immigration policy and abortion restrictions were among the issues discussed with the newly confirmed Health and Human Services secretary during a House appropriations hearing Thursday on the administration’s fiscal 2022 health care budget. The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking a $131.7 billion overall fiscal 2022 request for HHS, a 23.5 percent increase over the 2021 enacted level. The White House on Friday revealed its budget blueprint, which would seek the largest budget discretionary funding increase for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in nearly two decades. (Raman, 4/15)

In other news from Congress —

The Hill: Biden Is Asking Congress For $670M To End The HIV/AIDS Pandemic 
Even before the coronavirus pandemic has ended, President Biden is gearing up to tackle another public health crisis — this time for good. In his request for discretionary funding from Congress, Biden requested $670 million with the goal of ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic. With the money, the Biden administration is committing to “help accelerate and strengthen efforts to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States.” An estimated 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV today, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and roughly 1 in 7 don't know of their diagnosis. The disease has long battled the stigma related to racial minorities and the LGBTQ+ community, who are disproportionately affected by the epidemic.  (Srikanth, 4/14)

Los Angeles Times: Biden Meets With Congress' Asian American Leaders As Senate Takes Up A Hate-Crimes Bill 
President Biden met Thursday with leaders of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, which has pushed for more Asian Americans in his administration and for a law to combat the sort of hate crimes against the group that have risen since the COVID-19 pandemic began in China. “We need to stand with the AAPI community,” Biden said, referring to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, before reporters were ushered out of the Oval Office ahead of the private meeting. (Stokols and Haberkorn, 4/15)

AP: Biden To Address Congress Under Security, COVID Restrictions 
President Joe Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress will look like no other in recent memory. The traditional speech for the new president, set for April 28, will unfold against the backdrop of heightened security in the aftermath of the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot and ongoing coronavirus protocols. (Mascaro and Miller, 4/14)

The Hill: Cruz No Longer Wearing Mask In Capitol 
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Thursday that he will no longer be wearing a mask at the Capitol since he is fully vaccinated. "At this point I've been vaccinated. Everybody working in the Senate has been vaccinated," Cruz told CNN. "CDC has said in small groups, particularly with people who were vaccinated, don't need to wear masks.” (Lonas, 4/15)

Stat: Health Officials Toss Trump-Era Proposal To Exempt AI Tools From Review
In a searing rebuke, the Biden administration is formally withdrawing a last-minute proposal by the Trump administration to exempt a wide swath of medical devices and artificial intelligence tools from regulatory review. Officials with Biden’s Health and Human Services Department and the federal Food and Drug Administration posted a document on the federal register indicating that they will not proceed with the proposed exemptions. The document sharply criticizes a lack of transparency by Trump officials and cites errors and badly flawed logic in proposing to relax scrutiny of some devices whose malfunctioning could result in serious harm or even death. (Ross, 4/15)

The Washington Post: Biden Administration Poised To Change Trump Restrictions On Fetal Tissue Research 
The Biden administration is preparing to announce Friday that it will alter Trump-era restrictions on federal funding of research that uses fetal tissue, according to the nation’s top health official, potentially allowing a resumption of thwarted scientific studies into covid-19 treatments, HIV and other diseases. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told Capitol Hill lawmakers Thursday that the National Institutes of Health would make an announcement about what he characterized as a fetal tissue ban. (Goldstein, 4/15)

KHN: The Great Undoing: Which Of Trump’s Policies Will Biden Reverse?
KHN has put together an interactive tool of significant health policies implemented by the Trump administration using its own authority — executive orders, agency guidance or formal regulations — and is tracking Biden administration and court actions. (Rovner)

In other news from the Biden administration —

AP: AP Sources: Tool Behind Crackdown On Opioids Could Expire
The Biden administration has been slow-walking its work on the extension of a legislative order that would keep in place a sweeping tool that’s helped federal agents crack down on drugs chemically similar to fentanyl, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. In recent weeks, the people said, the White House and Justice Department leaders have, on several occasions, canceled meetings with officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration to discuss the plan around so-called fentanyl analogues, which are generally foreign-made drugs with a very close chemical makeup to the dangerous opioid. The people had direct knowledge of the discussions but were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. (Balsamo, 4/15)

AP: The Problem Within: Biden Targets Lead Pipes, Pushes Equity
Given short shrift by public officials for decades, the lead pipes snaking through Chicago and communities of every size from rural Maine to suburban California are in the national spotlight now as President Joe Biden pushes to spend $45 billion to replace every lead water pipe in the country as part of his big infrastructure package. The moon-shot plan could have huge ramifications for this city and others where a swath of Black, Latino and low-income residents have been left effectively drinking from a lead straw decades after scientists established that lead consumption is unsafe at any level. The White House holds out its lead-pipe proposal as a generation-changing opportunity to reduce brain-damaging exposure to lead in 400,000 schools and child care centers and 6 million to 10 million homes. It’s also an effort that the administration says can help create plenty of good-paying union jobs around the country. (Madhani, 4/15)

Stat: FDA Wants More Data On Promising ALS Drug, Frustrating Patients 
People living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in the U.S. will have to wait longer than their counterparts in Europe and Canada for access to a potentially beneficial treatment, even though the medicine is being developed here. Patient advocates have responded by accusing the Food and Drug Administration of ignoring the desperate needs of people with ALS and reneging on commitments to speed the approval of new medicines to treat the fatal, neuro-degenerative disease. (Feuerstein, 4/15)

Stateline: New OSHA Leader Urged To Issue Pandemic Workplace Rules
For the better part of a year, workplace safety advocates have called on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue COVID-19 safety standards to protect workers during the pandemic. With the nomination of a new leader for OSHA, they’re hoping they will finally be heard. Earlier this week, President Joe Biden appointed Doug Parker, head of California’s workplace safety division, to lead the federal agency. In California, Parker helped put into place the nation’s strictest COVID-19 safety standards. (Brown, 4/15)

Indianapolis Star: Federal Jobs Program Aims To Help People Struggling With Mental Health
Indiana is one of seven states selected to participate in a federal program that aims to help people with mental health issues find jobs and make career advancements. In addition to Indiana, the states of Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisconsin will work with mental health advocacy organizations to develop their own plans. There's no federal funding, but states will get federal assistance to start the programs. Federal officials are working with the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor said. (Huang, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: FCC To Open Next Round Of COVID-19 Telehealth Program Applications
The Federal Communications Commission will begin accepting applications for the second round of its COVID-19 telehealth program on April 29, the agency announced Thursday. The initial application window for the program, under which the FCC will distribute at least $150 million of the $249.95 million allocated by Congress, will close the following week on May 6. The agency will award funding in two phases, so that applicants have the opportunity to provide the agency with supplemental information if they're denied funding during the first phase. (Kim Cohen, 4/15)

In news about the Trump administration —

CBS News: Mike Pence Undergoes Surgery To Have Pacemaker Implanted 
Former Vice President Mike Pence underwent surgery on Wednesday to have a pacemaker implanted, his office said on Thursday. "The routine surgery was successful, and he is expected to fully recover and return to normal activity in the coming days," Pence's office said. Pence's office said that in 2016, he disclosed to the Trump team that he had a diagnosis of asymptomatic left bundle branch block, and over the past two weeks, he experienced symptoms such as a slow heart rate. (Linton, 4/15)

Stat: A Drug Maker Sues A Medical Journal, Its Editor, And Several Authors For Libel
In an unusual move, Pacira Biosciences (PCRX) has filed a libel lawsuit against a medical journal, its editors, and the authors of several recently published papers, arguing the articles were based on “faulty scientific research” and as a result, its only medicine was portrayed as ineffective. The drug maker alleged the papers published this past February in Anesthesiology reflected a “bias” against its Exparel painkiller and “disparaged” the drug, which is used after surgeries. Consequently, customers have either canceled contracts, declined to purchase the drug, which is not an opioid, or are considering removing it from hospital formularies, according to the lawsuit. (Silverman, 4/15)

The Boston Globe: Cheating Allegations Engulf Dartmouth Medical School
A Dartmouth medical student was halfway through a timed practice test for a high-stakes board exam last month when an e-mail flashed on her phone. She was startled to find a formal message on her medical school’s letterhead. The e-mail accused her — and, she later learned, more than a dozen other students — of cheating by accessing online course materials while taking a test on a different software platform. The school said that it had electronic evidence of misconduct, and that she was invited to make a brief statement defending herself at a tribunal to be held over Zoom in a week. (Krantz, 4/15)

In other health care industry news —

Boston Globe: Thermo Fisher Buys Contract-Research Company PPD For $17.4 Billion
Thermo Fisher Scientific announced Thursday that it will buy PPD, a contract-research company for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, in a deal valued at $17.4 billion, plus the assumption of about $3.5 billion in debt. The acquisition will allow Waltham-based Thermo Scientific, a leader in laboratory equipment and services, to expand its reach in life sciences. PPD, based in North Carolina, provides services to help drug companies run clinical trials. (Gardizy, 4/15)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: UGA To Get Up To $92 Million For Federally Funded Center To Fight Flu
The University of Georgia will be home to a federally funded center to increase understanding of influenza virus emergence and infection in humans and animals while also making preparations to combat future outbreaks or pandemics. The National Institutes of Health has approved a contract to establish the Center for Influenza Disease and Emergence Research (CIDER) at UGA, university officials announced late Wednesday. The contract will provide $1 million in first-year funding and is expected to be supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of NIH, for seven years and up to approximately $92 million. (Stirgus, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Private Equity's Estimated Healthcare Spending Halved In First Quarter
Private equity's estimated investment in healthcare in the first quarter of 2021 was half of its total in the final quarter of 2020, when the broader economy was recovering from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Private equity firms' healthcare deals totaled $20.2 billion in the quarter ended March 31, according to data contained in a new report from PitchBook. That's a noteworthy decline from the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2020, when private equity dropped $41 billion on healthcare deals. (Bannow, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Oscar Names New Virtual-First Care Division President
Oscar Health announced a new lead to its medical group on Thursday. The new lead comes as Oscar experiences growth in its virtual-first product, a new benefits structure that other insurers have been working to emulate. Dr. Okiki Louis will assume the role of president of Oscar Medical Group at the end of April, heading the New York-based startup's collection of physician-owned practices, which provide virtual urgent care and digital primary care services to its members. (Tepper, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: CHIME, HLTH To Host Joint Spring Conference Next Year
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and HLTH, the organization behind the HLTH conference that launched in 2018, will co-host an annual joint conference dubbed ViVE, beginning March 2022, the organizations announced Thursday. The inaugural event will take place March 6-9 in Miami Beach, Fla. "They're a great organization," Russel Branzell, president and CEO of CHIME, said of HLTH. "We continue to look for great partnerships." (Kim Cohen, 4/15)

Stat: Biotech Analyst Josh Schimmer On Pandemic Drug Development 
The pandemic has shined a spotlight on the biopharmaceutical industry, proving its value through the speed of vaccine development to a society that ranked it even lower in its esteem than the federal government. But when it comes to drugs for Covid-19, how has the industry performed? Josh Schimmer has been analyzing the industry for decades now with the firm Evercore ISI, and he was early to flag the risks of this new virus in the beginning of 2020. He wrote in a research note “very mixed feelings about how the biotech industry delivered during the pandemic.” (Tirrell, Garde and Feuerstein, 4/16)

In obituaries —

The Baltimore Sun: Dr. Michael S. Shear, A Union Memorial Hospital Physiatrist Who Helped Patients Find Relief From Chronic Pain, Dies 
Dr. Michael S. Shear, a Union Memorial Hospital physiatrist whose work focused on seeking relief for patients who suffered from chronic pain, died April 5 of cancer at Stella Maris Hospice. The Towson resident was 68. (Rasmussen, 4/15)

WLRN 91.3 FM: Florida Education Chief: Masks Should Be Voluntary In Schools 
Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran on Wednesday asked school superintendents to revise their school district’s mask policy, if they have one, to be voluntary instead of mandatory for the 2021-22 school year. In a memo, Corcoran bolded and underlined reasons that he says are why districts should make masks voluntary. (4/15)

AP: High School League Seeks Relief From Masks In Outdoor Sports
The Minnesota State High School League board asked state health officials Thursday to allow spring sports athletes to compete outdoors without wearing masks. The recommendation by the league’s sports medicine advisory committee applies only to actual competition. Athletes would be required to wear masks during breaks such as before and after races and while sitting in the dugout or standing on the sidelines. (4/15)

Scientific American: Schools Can Open Safely During COVID, The Latest Evidence Shows
Now, more than a year after schools around the country first shut down, many experts agree they can remain open safely if they implement measures such as mask wearing, physical distancing and good ventilation. Studies of school districts in states such as Florida, Utah and Missouri found that in-person instruction did not lead to a noticeable spike in COVID cases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its guidelines to say that three feet of distancing (as opposed to the six feet recommended earlier) is sufficient to limit transmission among elementary school children—and among middle and high school kids when community transmission levels are low—as long as masks are worn. The guidelines also emphasize the importance of universal mask wearing and good ventilation and recommend having “cohorts” of students that spend the day together and maintain distance from other cohorts. (Lewis, 4/15)

In other public health news —

Axios: CDC: 4 In 10 Transgender Women In Major U.S. Cities Have HIV 
Transgender women in the U.S. are contracting HIV at extremely high rates, as they face poverty, discrimination, and gaps in gender-affirming medical treatment, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds. Two-thirds of Black trans women and more than one-third of Hispanic trans women surveyed across seven major cities have HIV, in what the CDC called one of the most comprehensive surveys of trans women in the U.S. (Rummier, 4/15)

PBS NewsHour: New Poll Shows Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Anti-Transgender Laws
The rights of transgender Americans has been a growing topic of debate on sports fields, in state capitols and in Congress. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, says more than 30 state legislatures have proposed more than 115 bills that would limit transgender rights, from participation on sports teams to access to medical care. But two-thirds of Americans are against laws that would limit transgender rights, a new PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll found. That opposition includes majorities of every political ideology from liberal to conservative and every age group. (Loffman, 4/16)

KHN: Pandemic Highlights Need For Urgent Care Clinics For Women
Last spring, only weeks into the pandemic, Christina Garcia was spending her days struggling to help her two young sons adjust to online schooling when she got such a heavy, painful period she could barely stand. After a few days, her vision began to blur and she found herself too weak to open a jar. Garcia’s regular OB/GYN — like most medical offices at the time — was closed, and she was terrified by the prospect of spending hours waiting in an emergency room shoulder to shoulder with people who might have covid. (Scheier, 4/16)

KHN: Ask KHN-PolitiFact: I’ve Recovered From Covid. Why Do I Still Have To Mask Up? 
More than 120 million Americans have joined arguably the most sought-after club on Earth: those immunized against the coronavirus. Fully vaccinated people were given the green light in March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to gather with other fully vaccinated people or with low-risk unvaccinated people from one other household without a mask and, earlier this month, to travel without quarantining afterward. (As reports of state and local case surges mount, the CDC is increasingly urging caution.) But what about all the people — a number impossible to count, though estimated to be in the millions — who now possess some degree of immunity because they recovered from covid-19? (Heredia Rodriguez, 4/16)

Health News Florida: Florida House Backs More Power For Physician Assistants 
The Florida House overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday that would broaden the “scope of practice” for physician assistants, authorize them to prescribe 14-day supplies of psychiatric controlled substances for minors and bill insurers for services. The House voted 106-5 to pass the bill (HB 431), after sponsor Bob Rommel, R-Naples, made a change Tuesday that would cap the number of physician assistants a doctor could supervise at one time. (4/15)

In Medicare and Medicaid news from Florida, Missouri and Georgia —

Health News Florida: Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Bill Headed To DeSantis 
The Florida House on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill (SB 348) that would require the Medicaid program to pay Medicare deductibles and cost sharing for non-emergency transportation services. The Senate had previously passed the measure, meaning it is now ready to go to Gov. Ron DeSantis. (4/15)

AP: Missouri House Redirects Money Meant For Medicaid Expansion
The GOP-led Missouri House on Thursday passed an alternative plan for spending funding initially meant for Medicaid expansion. House lawmakers voted 143-1 to send the proposal to the Senate, where Republican leaders have also voiced support for defunding Medicaid expansion. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith said the spending plan represents “the prioritization of the people who are most needy in our state.” (Ballentine, 4/15)

Georgia Health News: Long-Delayed Medicaid Report Outlines State’s Ambitious Strategies 
Georgia’s new report on Medicaid quality, which came out more than a year late, says state officials will focus more on addressing health disparities in the public insurance program. The report, released April 1, is a road map outlining the goals of the Georgia Medicaid program for the next two years. (Grapevine, 4/15)

In other news from Georgia, West Virginia, New Jersey and California —

WSB-TV Channel 2 - Atlanta: Atlanta VA Continues To Lose Medical Devices Despite Warning 2 Years Ago, Investigation Finds 
Channel 2 Action News has learned that lifesaving medical devices lost at the Atlanta VA Medical Center were found sitting on shelves – expired. In a joint investigation by Channel 2 Action News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, we learned that the Atlanta VA was warned about the problem but didn’t fix it. Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray found out the devices include things like heart stents and dental implants. (Gray, 4/14)

Charleston Gazette-Mail: Justice Signs Harm Reduction Licensing Bill After Health Professionals Urged Him To Veto
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has signed a bill that more than 300 health care professionals urged him to veto. Justice signed Senate Bill 334, the Senate Clerk reported Thursday. SB 334 establishes a licensing program within the state Department of Health and Human Resources for harm reduction programs operating syringe exchange programs. All new and existing programs will need to apply to the Office for Health Facility Licensure and Certification. Programs will need support from the majority of the county commission and the majority of the governing body of a municipality. (Stuck, 4/15)

AP: Smoking Foes: Make COVID Casino Smoking Ban Permanent In NJ
Health advocates say New Jersey’s temporary coronavirus-related ban on smoking in the Atlantic City casinos should be made permanent, and some state legislators said Thursday they will push to make that happen. But the casinos say permanently banning smoking once the pandemic has ended will drive away customers, leading to job losses and lower tax revenue for the state. They say the gambling halls have invested heavily in air filtration equipment that renders the workspaces safe. (Parry, 4/15)

Los Angeles Times: Are Shipping Containers For Homeless People In L.A. Humane?
It measures only 8 feet by 8 feet. But to Stephen Smith, the tiny red house in North Hollywood is the place he calls home. Until early last month, Smith had been living out of his car in locations around the San Fernando Valley, collecting cans from city parks as a way of making spare change. He ended up on the street not through a single event, but a slippery chain of them: the death of his mother last year followed by the pandemic, which left him in an emotional and economic lurch. “Me and my mom were best friends,” he says. “I took it kind of bad.” (Miranda, 4/15)

AP: Shortage Of Intubation Drugs Threatens Brazil Health Sector
Reports are emerging of Brazilian health workers forced to intubate patients without the aid of sedatives, after weeks of warnings that hospitals and state governments risked running out of critical medicines. One doctor at the Albert Schweitzer municipal hospital in Rio de Janeiro told the Associated Press that for days health workers diluted sedatives to make their stock last longer. ... Lack of required medicines is the latest pandemic problem to befall Brazil, which is experiencing a brutal COVID-19 outbreak that has flooded the nation’s intensive care units. The daily death count is averaging about 3,000. (Jeantet and Biller, 4/16)

NBC News: In Brazil, An Alarmingly High Number Of Babies And Children Are Dying Of Covid-19
The coronavirus has killed an estimated 1,300 babies in Brazil since the beginning of the pandemic, even though there's overwhelming evidence that Covid-19 rarely kills young children. While data from the Health Ministry suggest that over 800 children under age 9 have died of Covid-19, including about 500 babies, experts say the real death toll is higher because cases are underreported because of a lack of widespread coronavirus testing, according to the BBC, which first reported the story. (Acevedo, 4/15)

CNBC: WHO Chief Warns Infection Rate Approaching Highest Level So Far
The head of the World Health Organization on Friday said an alarming trend of rising Covid cases has resulted in global infections now approaching their highest level since the start of the pandemic. “Around the world, cases and deaths are continuing to increase at worrying rates,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing focused on Papua New Guinea and the western Pacific region. (Meredith, 4/16)

Stat: WTO Head Urges Movement On Controversial Covid-19 Vaccine Proposal
Amid mounting pressure to widen global access to Covid-19 vaccines, the head of the World Trade Organization laid out a series of steps that should be taken by vaccine makers, which have resisted a proposal that has spurred debate over intellectual property rights. In remarks at the end of a meeting on Wednesday, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said she expects the vaccine makers to “advance negotiations” on the proposal, which would temporarily waive a provision in a trade agreement and more readily transfer the necessary technology and know-how so that vaccines could be manufactured by other companies. (Silverman, 4/15)

In other global developments —

NPR: Scientists Create Early Embryos That Are Part Human, Part Monkey
For the first time, scientists have created embryos that are a mix of human and monkey cells. The embryos, described Thursday in the journal Cell, were created in part to try to find new ways to produce organs for people who need transplants, said the international team of scientists who collaborated in the work. But the research raises a variety of concerns. "My first question is: Why?" said Kirstin Matthews, a fellow for science and technology at Rice University's Baker Institute. "I think the public is going to be concerned, and I am as well, that we're just kind of pushing forward with science without having a proper conversation about what we should or should not do." (Stein, 4/15)

CIDRAP: WHO Report Highlights Shortage Of New Antibiotics 
The latest antibiotic pipeline analysis from the World Health Organization (WHO) concludes that there has been little progress made in efforts to develop new, desperately needed antibiotics to tackle drug-resistant infections. The review, released today, analyzed 43 antibiotics currently in development and found that none address extensively or multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria and that novel drugs targeting WHO priority pathogens like carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are lacking. The analysis also found a gap in oral antibiotic options for multidrug-resistant infections that would allow patients to be treated outside of hospitals. (Dall, 4/15)

The Atlantic: The Full Story Of Nancy Reagan And The AIDS Crisis
In mid-1981 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control noticed a set of medical curiosities: an alert from Los Angeles that five previously healthy young men had come down with a rare, fatal lung infection; almost simultaneously, a dermatologist in New York saying that he had seen a cluster of unusually aggressive cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma, an obscure skin cancer. These seemingly unconnected occurrences had two things in common. First, all of the victims were sexually active gay men. Second, their maladies pointed to a catastrophically compromised immune system. (Tumulty, 4/12)

ABC News: The Disabled Hope Their Oscar Moment Can Become A Movement 
Right down to its production design, the Oscars have not always felt like the most welcoming place for the disabled. “I’ve always seen that stage with its stairs as a symbol that they don’t expect people who had mobility issues to be nominated or to win an award,” said Jim LeBrecht, the co-director and co-star of the Oscar-nominated documentary “ Crip Camp.” “It’s always been this kind of negative tacit statement." (Dalton, 4/14)

The Washington Post: Memorial To Gun Violence Points To How We Should Remember Victims Of The Pandemic 
The coronavirus epidemic has made the gun violence memorial even more powerful today than in 2019. It points toward a new generation of memorials that are fundamentally open, memorials not just to past traumas, but to present ones that seem to be expanding, and perhaps permanent. The pandemic has taught us that it is in the nature of America to stagger, not stride; to bleed, not heal. We are self-destructive and unwilling to make the basic changes necessary to get better. And our memorials must reflect that. They must be open-ended, expandable and dynamic, like our propensity to violence and death. (Kennicott, 4/9)

NPR: Being Mentored Helps Black Medical Students Face Isolation, Racial Microaggressions
Jamel Hill, 30, describes his first few months in medical school in 2016 as a "rude awakening." With few people looking like him in the lecture hall, he felt isolated. But it was some conversations being had in the classroom and the hospital that left him the most uncomfortable. "I've had patients tell nurses that they don't want Black physicians," Hill says. "You know, we're in the 2020s, and you would think that doesn't happen, but it very much so does." (Yousry, 4/15)

Bloomberg: 'Shrink Next Door' Psychiatrist Is Ordered To Give Up New York License 
The psychiatrist who was the focus of Bloomberg’s “The Shrink Next Door” podcast was ordered to surrender his license to practice in New York after violating professional standards in dealings with several patients. A five-member hearing committee convened by the state’s Department of Health determined that the psychiatrist, Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf, violated “minimal acceptable standards of care in the psychotherapeutic relationship.” In an order filed Tuesday, the committee said it had found Herschkopf guilty of all counts of professional lapses alleged by the state including gross negligence, incompetence, exercising undue influence, fraudulent practice and moral unfitness. (Nocera, 4/13)

Also —

Undark: Growing Pains: Why Covid's Disruptions Take A Heavy Toll On Teens
For 16-year-old Zuri Arreola, life today differs in almost every way since the Covid-19 pandemic began more than a year ago. Last year, she was a gregarious high school sophomore, passionate about acting and dancing. Today, Arreola rarely if ever sees her friends and has no time for hobbies. “I was so social, and now I feel so — I don’t know, introverted, awkward,” she says. Her public school in Los Angeles has been remote since last March. The online classes, which she finds exhausting, sometimes give her throbbing headaches. (Moyer, 4/14)

PBS NewsHour: Veterinarians, Teachers, And Students Are Stepping Up To Form America’s Volunteer Vaccinator Workforce 
When the coronavirus pandemic hit last year, Ellen Wormser’s work as a nurse-midwife for Fair Haven Community Health Care, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Connecticut, changed significantly. Gone were the sort of family scenes that Wormser said she was accustomed to seeing in delivery rooms before COVID-19, when women giving birth often had a number of people cheering them on. Wormser said she saw many of her colleagues don PPE to assist COVID-positive women in labor, often spending hours face-to-face with them. “I was scared for all of us but everybody went and did their job,” Wormser said. “We were so anxiously awaiting a vaccine because we knew that that would turn the corner in allowing patients to come in and get the care that they need.” (Vinopal, 4/15)

The Washington Post: Essential, Invisible: Covid Has 200,000 Merchant Sailors Stuck At Sea
Brian Mossman says he has read “Moby Dick” nearly 200 times. The 61-year-old captain of the container ship Maersk Sentosa says he revisits the Melville classic nearly every voyage, because each time reveals something new about the people who take to the sea: people like him and the two dozen merchant mariners on his crew. Sentosa means “a place of peace and tranquility” in Malay, but Mossman says the 1,048-foot super carrier is more of a “floating industrial plant.” It runs around-the-clock hauling cargo to 14 ports in eight countries, from the eastern United States to the Middle East, supplying embassies and military bases and delivering humanitarian aid. (Telford and Bogage, 4/9)

The Washington Post: Mexican Consulates In U.S. Repatriate Remains Of Coronavirus Migrant Dead 
The calls keep coming. A farmworker from Oaxaca dead in Florida. A construction worker from Zacatecas in Los Angeles. A housekeeper from Puebla in New York. For more than a year, Mexican consulates across the United States have catalogued the toll the coronavirus has taken on America’s migrant workforce, one desperate phone conversation at a time. Thousands of Mexicans in the United States, most of them undocumented immigrants deemed “essential workers” by state labor departments, have died of covid-19. By one measure, the community’s death rate soared by nearly 70 percent. Even in death, their immigration status haunted them. That’s where the Mexican diplomats came in: It was their job to repatriate the bodies of the pandemic dead. (Sieff, 4/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Italy’s Covid-19 Vaccinations Bypassed The Elderly, And More Are Dying 
Thousands of people have been dying each week of Covid-19 in Italy, one of the highest numbers and per-capita death rates in the West. One factor, according to Italy’s own government: For many weeks, Italy was slow to vaccinate the elderly. While national authorities gave priority to older people and those in nursing homes alongside front-line healthcare workers, regional authorities have given numerous shots to younger workers. (Legorano, 4/14)

Politico: ‘They Weren’t Supposed To Be Heroes’ — Italy’s Lost Doctors 
At the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic last year, the Italian province of Bergamo had to call in military trucks to haul away hundreds of coffins because the city’s crematoriums were already over capacity. Among the first victims of the virus were general practitioners who, as a result of decades of health care cuts and the closure of small provincial hospitals, had become many Italians’ sole recourse for care. (Privitera, 4/15)

Bloomberg: Don't Write Off China's Vaccines. The World Needs The Sinovac Shot, Too 
It’s been an awkward time for the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Gao Fu was cited over the weekend as telling a health conference that the agency was considering options to improve the efficacy of China’s shots against Covid-19, which was currently “not high.” His remarks, perhaps the first significant hint of official concern over the protection rate offered by homegrown vaccines, were censored. Gao hurriedly gave an interview dismissing the episode as a misunderstanding. But the harm was done — because he was right. China’s vaccines do appear to shield less effectively than those developed elsewhere. This is bad news for everyone, in a week when Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine became the latest paused over blood-clot concerns. We all need the most populous country in the world to inoculate its citizens, and to succeed in supporting vaccination drives in countries like Indonesia, the worst-infected nation in Southeast Asia. Low efficacy fuels hesitancy and, crucially, makes it harder to achieve herd immunity — the point at which normal life can resume. (Clara Ferreira Marques, 4/15)

The Washington Post: Healthy And Refusing A Covid Vaccine? Shame On You.
The recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration to pause use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine — citing six women who developed serious blood clots in their brains after vaccination — could hardly have come at a worse time. This news arrived just as vaccination eligibility was opening up and a whole new tranche of people were making the decision to either get or refuse the stick of a needle. Nearly half the eligible population has received at least one injection. Uptake is still limited by vaccine supply in many places. But as public health authorities try to reach the country’s second half — or at least enough to reach herd immunity — they will eventually be recruiting along a descending path of public enthusiasm. And any news that heightens the impression of risk makes their task harder. (Michael Gerson, 4/15)

USA Today: The Importance Of Distributing The COVID Vaccine To The Right People
President Joe Biden’s announcement this month that all American adults will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine by Monday marks the start of the next phase of the vaccination campaign that will end the epidemic in the United States. No more phased eligibility and having to figure out whether you have a qualifying medical condition or occupation. No more disparity in eligibility among states and even within states. Get in line and get your shot. If only it were that simple. We’ve done a great job getting shots into arms. About 184 million people in the United States have received at least one dose since Biden was sworn in Jan. 20, and we’re now administering about 3 million shots a day. We’re on track to beat his goal of 200 million shots well before April 30, his 100th day in office. (Dr. Tom Frieden, 4/16)

The New York Times: I Got The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine. I'm Not Losing Sleep. 
About a week ago, I received the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. It was a joyous moment, after more than a year of fear of the coronavirus. Then, on Tuesday, I had a flurry of texts from concerned family members, friends and colleagues who had recently seen the news. Health authorities had requested a pause for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to investigate six blood clotting cases among women who had been vaccinated. The news that a vaccine that has been given to over seven million Americans could cause a rare but serious side effect is understandably concerning. Especially when the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been lauded as a way to reach high-risk and underserved communities, such as people who are homebound. The decision to pause the use of this vaccine is also controversial; many public health experts are worried that this will hinder vaccination rates and erode confidence in people who are reluctant or skeptical of vaccines, ultimately preventing people from getting vaccinated and pushing population-level immunity further out of reach. (Angela L. Rasmussen, 4/15)

Scientific American: Doctors Should Talk To Patients About Firearm Injury Prevention 
For years, we doctors have advocated to approach gun violence as a health care issue—with studies showing that public health strategies can be beneficial in preventing firearm injury similar to approaches taken for COVID-19, substance use and motor vehicle safety. We appreciate the unique position of the health care industry in being able to address gun violence from a purely apolitical, harm-reduction standpoint. And for those who wonder, most patients, gun-owning or not, are supportive of questions related to firearm injury prevention being asked by their doctors as they understand it relates to health. But there’s one major issue: most health care workers still don’t talk to patients about firearm injury prevention. In many health care settings, questions and counseling about firearm safety continue to be taboo and fall well outside the umbrella of “routine care,” being reserved for high-risk patients like those who are suicidal or with perceived risk. As you can imagine, this targeted screening can introduce a significant amount of bias, judgment and stigmatization, which in itself hinders our ability to normalize conversations about firearm safety with our patients. ( Chethan Sathya, Sandeep Kapoor, 4/15)

Stat: Overcoming The Challenges Of Developing Microbiome-Based Drugs 
Manipulating the human microbiome appears to be an effective approach for treating a range of inflammatory, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases, among them inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease. Yet the promise of this approach has been hindered by significant barriers in drug development, which manufacturers must strategically address to successfully drive adoption. Current clinical research in microbiome-based therapies focuses mainly on manipulating bacteria in the gut, the most abundant and diverse microbial community in humans, which has a direct impact on metabolism, immunity, and behavior. Probiotic therapies, which involve administering beneficial bacteria to patients to restore healthy microbial function, are so far the most advanced type of microbiome-altering therapy. (Andrew Thomson, Brian Carpenter and Robert Broadnax, 4/16)

New England Journal of Medicine: Warming Up To Cold Perfusion 
Each year, thousands of people in the United States die while awaiting lifesaving liver transplantation because there is an insufficient supply of donor organs. This crisis has prompted increased interest in expanding the organ supply through the promotion of both deceased and live liver donation and has led to the encouragement of use of organs from so-called expanded-criteria donation — grafts from older donors, grafts with suboptimal organ quality (e.g., with varying degrees of fatty liver deposits or steatosis), or grafts that had sustained prolonged ischemia times after they were obtained. Livers from deceased donors that are obtained after circulatory death (i.e., DCD [donation after circulatory death] livers) are perhaps the riskiest organs in this category. The challenge in using DCD livers lies in their obligatory exposure to warm ischemia while circulatory death is awaited. The current standard preservation method of ischemic cold storage may lead to profound ischemia–reperfusion injury at the time of transplantation, causing poor outcomes. These may include inferior graft survival and serious short-term complications, the most troublesome of which is ischemic cholangiopathy, which involves scarring of the biliary tree with resultant biliary obstruction and recurrent episodes of cholangitis. Because of these complications, the use of DCD livers is discouraged. Thus, many potentially transplantable organs may be declined; the utilization rate of livers obtained from a donor after circulatory death is only approximately 25%.1 (Winfred W. Williams, M.D., and James F. Markmann, M.D., Ph.D., 4/15)