First Edition: Aug. 24, 2021

KHN: Mission And Money Clash In Nonprofit Hospitals’ Venture Capital Ambitions
Cone Health, a small not-for-profit health care network in North Carolina, spent several years developing a smartphone-based system called Wellsmith to help people manage their diabetes. But after investing $12 million, the network disclosed last year it was shutting down the company even though initial results were promising, with users losing weight and recording lower blood sugar levels. The reason did not have to do with the program’s potential benefit to Cone’s patients, but rather the harm to its bottom line. Although Cone executives had banked on selling or licensing Wellsmith, Cone concluded that too many competing products had crowded the digital health marketplace to make a dent. (Rau, 8/24)

KHN: Headed Away To School? Here’s What Students With Health Issues Need To Know
College is a time of transition, but for those managing chronic medical conditions, it may also be the first time they will be wholly responsible for their own health: setting appointments, securing supplies and pharmaceuticals, and monitoring symptoms. For those heading to schools far from home, it can be especially tricky navigating the complex world of insurance to pay for such crucial care. Coverage networks from back home might not cover a patient’s new doctors or a trip to an urgent care clinic. New plans may not cover the same medicines or procedures. (West, 8/24)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Meet The Mississippi Lawyer Who Helped Start The Fight For Charity Care 
Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, famous for taking on Big Tobacco in the ’90s and winning, worked on a series of ill-fated national lawsuits against nonprofit hospitals. The goal? Get nonprofit — or “charity” — hospitals to actually provide charity care instead of price-gouging and dunning low-income patients. Scruggs didn’t exactly score a total victory — some hospitals kept behaving shamefully. And he lost big, eventually. But he did help start important changes. (Weissmann, 8/24)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Fully Approves Pfizer Vaccine 
Already on Monday, the Pentagon announced that the country’s 1.4 million active-duty troops would have to be vaccinated, and Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey said that all teachers in that state would have to get shots or submit to weekly testing. Chevron and CVS both said they would require some of their employees to receive coronavirus vaccines, and the State University of New York and the University of Minnesota systems announced similar requirements for students. Wall Street rose, with investors buoyed by the vaccine news. The S&P 500 stock index was up almost 1 percent, and shares of Pfizer climbed 2.5 percent. (LaFraniere and Weiland, 8/23)

Stat: FDA Grants Full Approval To Covid-19 Vaccine Developed By Pfizer
The vaccine is the first of the pandemic vaccines used in the United States to transition from emergency use status to full licensure, a major victory for a partnership that decided to forgo funding through the government’s Operation Warp Speed program on the belief that the development project could move faster without being part of the government fast-tracking program. (Branswell and Joseph, 8/23)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Gives Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine Full Approval
Of the three authorized vaccines in the U.S., only Pfizer had submitted all the required information to the FDA for full approval, according to the companies, and analysts expected it to be the first to receive clearance. Moderna, whose authorized two-dose shot uses similar mRNA technology as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, has said it is still completing rolling data submissions. Johnson & Johnson, whose shot was authorized in February, has said it plans to file for full approval later this year. (Hopkins and Armour, 8/23)

AP: US Regulators Give Full Approval To Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called the FDA’s action “an important milestone that I think will unlock some of the more skeptical minds.” Pfizer said the U.S. is the first country to grant full approval of its vaccine, in a process that required a 360,000-page application and rigorous inspections. Never before has the FDA has so much evidence to judge a shot’s safety. The formula, jointly developed with Germany’s BioNTech, will be marketed under the brand name Comirnaty. (Neergaard and Perrone, 8/23)

AP: Pentagon To Mandate COVID-19 Vaccine, As Pfizer Is Approved
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the steps Monday to make the vaccine mandatory are an effort to ensure the safety of service members. Concerns about the virus are especially acute in the military, where service members live and work closely together in barracks and on ships, increasing the risks of rapid spreading. Any large virus outbreak in the military could affect America’s ability to defend itself in any security crisis. In a message to the force earlier this month, Gen. Mark Milley said medical professionals recommend the vaccine, and that getting the shot is key to maintaining a military that is prepared to defend the nation. At the bottom of his message, Milley scrawled a handwritten note: “Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is a key force protection and readiness issue.” (Baldor, 8/23)

USA Today: Biden Encourages Employers To Require Vaccines
President Joe Biden encouraged private companies to require vaccination, urging employers to "do what I did last month," in reference to his vaccination requirements for federal employees. "If you're a business leader, a nonprofit leader, a state or local leader, who has been waiting for full FDA approval to require vaccinations, I call on you now to do that. Require it," Biden said. Although companies like Google, Facebook, Tyson Foods and Netflix have announced that employees at their work sites will need to be vaccinated, many others have been waiting for official word from the FDA, likely to fend off lawsuits. (Ortiz, Yancey-Bragg and Miller, 8/23)

NBC News: FDA Vaccine Approval Is Good News For Markets, Employment, Economy
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision Monday to grant full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech's two-dose Covid-19 vaccine pushed markets higher, boosting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 300 points and propelling the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to new highs. Investors appeared to express confidence that the move could be an inflection point for the economic recovery. ... “I think some companies and state and local governments will all be feeling more comfortable in issuing vaccine mandates,” said Eric Diton, president and managing director of The Wealth Alliance, an investment advisory firm. “All of that is going to contribute to a higher vaccination percentage, which means a reduced impact of Covid and the delta variant, which should ultimately lead to a strengthening of the economy.” (White, 8/23)

ABC News: FDA-Approved Pfizer Vaccine Not OK For Off-Label Use In Kids, Official Says 
When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted full approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for people ages 16 and older Monday, it did so with a warning to parents and medical providers. The vaccine -- the first covid-19 vaccine to transition from an emergency authorization status to full FDA approval -- should not be given to young children as off-label use, according to FDA commissioner Janet Woodcock. (Kindelan, 8/23)

NBC News: After FDA Approves Pfizer Vaccine, Several Steps Remain Before Kids Under 12 Can Be Vaccinated
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision to grant full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine Monday for people ages 16 and up is a pandemic milestone, but parents may wonder what it means for their young children who still aren’t authorized to get vaccinated. ... Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a video news conference Monday that trials for vaccines for children continue and that the agency “has to wait for the company to submit the data from those trials so that we have a good safety dataset, because we certainly want to make sure that we get it right in the children ages 5 through 11 and then even in younger children after that.” (Silva, 8/23)

NPR: It's Pronounced Koe-Mir'-Na-Tee. How One Of The COVID-19 Vaccines' Name Came To Be
Say it with me: Koe-mir'-na-tee.No, it's not some new term coined by Generation Z. Comirnaty, as it's known, is the official, brand name for Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine was given full approval by the Food and Drug Administration this week. As part of the approval process, the vaccine also gets its brand name approved for use in the U.S. So, how did Pfizer and BioNTech settle on this unique moniker? (Diaz, 8/24)

The Washington Post: Behold The Online Roast Of ‘Comirnaty,’ The Brand Name Of The Pfizer Vaccine
The Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Monday, making it one of the most important days in the history of the pharmaceutical company. But, since nothing can be purely good on the Internet, the company immediately became a punchline. We regret to inform you, dear reader, that they named the vaccine Comirnaty. Comirnaty?Yes, Comirnaty. (Andrews, 8/23)

Bloomberg: Biden Administration Asks Supreme Court To Keep Eviction Ban
The Biden administration urged the Supreme Court to keep in place the moratorium on evictions in parts of the country hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, saying the rise of the delta variant has heightened the need for tenant protections. Landlords and real-estate trade associations from Alabama and Georgia asked the court last week to lift the ban, set to run through Oct. 3. The challengers say the moratorium exceeds the authority Congress has given the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Stohr, 8/23)

The Hill: House Democrats Punt Key Vote On Budget To Tuesday 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her leadership team struggled to round up the votes to move forward with a strategy to enact President Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar domestic agenda, ultimately opting to punt a key procedural vote until Tuesday. After hours of negotiations, Pelosi late on Monday night failed to strike a deal with the leaders of a 10-member bloc of centrists who are demanding a vote on the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill before considering a budget resolution that paves the way for a $3.5 trillion spending plan to expand social support programs and combat climate change. (Marcos and Wong, 8/24)

The New York Times: Democrats Scrounge For Votes To Pass $3.5 Trillion Budget Plan 
Democratic leaders worked feverishly on Monday to cobble together the votes needed to push their $3.5 trillion budget blueprint through the House, facing an internal revolt from moderates who have vowed to block the measure until a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan is passed. But after a day of frenetic negotiations, Democrats ultimately scrapped tentative plans for a vote on Monday. Lawmakers went home shortly after midnight without a clear agreement on how to pave the way for Congress to move quickly to enact an ambitious expansion of the nation’s social safety net over Republican opposition. (Cochrane and Tankersley, 8/23)

AP: Senators Question FDA On Work With Opioid Maker Consultant
Several U.S. senators are questioning the Food and Drug Administration’s work with a consulting firm that helped businesses sell prescription painkillers during the nation’s overdose crisis. Democrat Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, among others, have asked the FDA about potential conflicts of interest in its work with McKinsey and Co. The senators sent a letter Monday to the FDA noting that the agency paid McKinsey more than $140 million after hiring it several times starting in 2008. (Murphy, 8/23)

AP: OxyContin Maker's Lawyer Warns Of Long, Expensive Litigation
A lawyer for Purdue Pharma said Monday that a judge needs to accept the OxyContin maker’s plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the opioid epidemic or face “years or decades of Hobbesian hell” with complicated litigation that would not result in fair payouts to abate the epidemic or pay individual victims. Marshall Huebner, a lawyer for Purdue, made his case during an ongoing videoconference hearing to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain, who expects to rule this week on whether to accept the Stamford, Connecticut-based company’s reorganization plan. (Mulvihill, 8/23)

Bloomberg: Covid Optimists See U.S. Nearing Delta Peak, But Risks Abound
Covid-19 cases are falling in many of the original delta-variant hot spots in the U.S. That means the rest of the country could soon follow, dodging the mass hospitalizations and surging deaths seen recently in Florida and the Deep South. Maybe. The U.S. is recording more than 1,000 deaths a day, a count that has more than tripled in a month. But in Arkansas and Missouri, where the delta surge began, the seven-day average of cases is down 12% from the peak, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Florida and Louisiana -- the second phase of the U.S. delta wave -- are starting to see similar declines. Cases are climbing in other states, but the pace has slowed. (Levin, 8/23)

CNBC: Covid Deaths Could 'Climb Even Higher In The Next Couple Weeks,' Warns Dr. Ashish Jha
Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, warned about the toll of the pandemic as Covid deaths in the U.S. climb, yet again, to more than 1,000 a day. “I think we’re going to see death numbers climb even higher in the next couple weeks, but I’m hoping big outbreak states like Florida, Louisiana -- they’re at their peak and they may be coming down,” Jha said on “The News with Shepard Smith.” “Let’s hope so.” (DeCiccio, 8/23)

Fox News: Fauci Says He Misspoke On When He Believes US Could Get COVID Under Control
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top disease expert in the U.S., said in an interview Monday that he misspoke when he said the country may get the virus under control by fall 2022—another full year. Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN the error occurred during an earlier interview with NPR. Fauci apologized and said he listened to the interview. He tried to clarify and said if more Americans sign up to take the vaccines – as well as those who have already recovered from the virus--the country could get "some good control in the spring." (DeMarche, 8/24)

Houston Chronicle: Southeast Texas Surpasses 4,000 COVID Hospitalizations For The First Time
Southeast Texas on Monday surpassed 4,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations for the first time, while the number of infected people seeking care in Houston remains “frightening,” said Dr. James McDeavitt, executive vice president and dean of clinical affairs at Baylor College of Medicine. Regionally, 4,231 people were hospitalized with COVID in general beds and ICUs in the 25-county region that includes Houston, according to the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council. Hospitals in the region reported 720 patients, 107 of whom were critical, stuck in ERs waiting for a general or ICU bed. (Gill, 8/23)

Houston Chronicle: Memorial Hermann Closes 3 Standalone Emergency Rooms Due To COVID Surge
Memorial Hermann Health System announced Monday that it would be closing three of its 24-hour emergency rooms beginning at 5 p.m. until further notice, "due to the continued COVID-19 surge and its ongoing impact to our system’s operations." The affected emergency rooms are located at 4533 Kingwood Drive, Kingwood; 7474 N. Grand Parkway West, Spring,; and 8780 Texas Highway 6, Suite B, Sienna. (Umanzor Jr., 8/23)

AP: Arkansas COVID Patients On Ventilators Reaches New Record
The number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators in Arkansas reached a new high on Monday as Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he hoped the full approval of Pfizer’s vaccine would encourage more people in the state to get the shots against the virus. The Department of Health said the number of virus patients on ventilators rose by 12 to 349, surpassing the previous high reached Saturday. The number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital increased by 42 to 1,411. (DeMillo, 8/24)

AP: Kentucky: Record Numbers Of COVID Patients In Hospitals
Kentucky was hit with record numbers of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and intensive care units as cases are driven up by the fast-spreading delta variant, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday. More than 20 Kentucky hospitals are confronting critical staffing shortages, and some hospitals are converting space to treat the influx of ICU patients, the governor said. (Schreiner, 8/24)

CNN: National Guard Will Be Deployed Across Kentucky To Help Overwhelmed Hospitals. Healthcare Workers High-Fived When They Heard The News 
Kentucky hospital officials high-fived one another during a press conference Monday as they learned multiple National Guard teams would be deployed to hospitals across the state dealing with rising Covid-19 cases and hospital staffing shortages. Between 21 and 25 of the state's regional hospitals are at a critical staffing shortage stage, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a news conference Monday. "Covid is burning through our population here in Kentucky," Beshear said, adding that the state is coming off its third highest week of cases in the entirety of the pandemic. (Holcombe and Sarisohn, 8/24)

AP: Oregon, Once A Virus Success Story, Struggles With Surge
Oregon was once the poster child for limiting the spread of the coronavirus, after its Democratic governor imposed some of the nation’s strictest safety measures, including mask mandates indoors and outdoors, limits on gatherings and an order closing restaurants. But now the state is being hammered by the super-transmissible delta variant, and hospitals are getting stretched to the breaking point. The vast majority of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated. (Selsky and Cline, 8/24)

Bangor Daily News: COVID-19 Hospitalizations In Maine Surge To Highest Level In 3 Months
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Maine increased by 66 percent over the past week to their highest level since mid-May, with unvaccinated patients continuing to make up a wide majority of those admitted to hospitals. The sharp rise reflects the wide reach of the virus within Maine with the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. As of Saturday, 123 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 here, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, up from just 74 a week prior and 25 a month ago. Nearly half of currently hospitalized patients are in critical care beds, while one-fifth are on a ventilator, according to state data. (Piper, 8/23)

Newsweek: Nearly 2,000 Georgia Kids Diagnosed With COVID Each Day Amid Delta Surge
Georgia has been amongst the southern states hit hard by COVID-19 resurgences in the past few weeks, and now it appears that children are being more heavily affected, according to the Georgia Department of Health. New data from the department shows that nearly 2,000 children ages 0-17 have tested positive for COVID-19 per day in the Peach State recently. This is based on the age group's average number of daily cases over the last week, which is 1,823. School districts in Atlanta, the largest metro area in the state and one of the largest in the country, have reported over 13,000 positive cases overall among students, both kids and teens, since the 2021-2022 school year began. (Kika, 8/23)

Indianapolis Star: COVID In Schools: More Than 3,500 New Student Cases Reported
More than 3,500 positive tests for COVID-19 in Hoosier students were reported to the Indiana State Department of Health last week. The number of cases among students continues to multiply. This week's student cases are more than double the number of newly reported cases in students in last week's state dashboard update, which was four times the number reported the week before that. Schools report positive cases among students, teachers and staff members who have been on school grounds to the state. The state updates the public-facing dashboard each Monday at noon. (Slaby, 8/23)

AP: Dozens Test Positive For COVID-19 At Pierce County Jail
Up to 35 inmates at the Pierce County Jail have tested positive for COVID-19.The News Tribune reports over the last few days inmates reported feeling ill and were tested at the jail’s health clinic. By Sunday, 25 to 35 COVID tests came back positive. More tests are pending. Following a protocol developed last year, jail officials immediately put roughly 180 inmates in quarantine. That’s about one third of the jail’s population, which numbered 548 Sunday. (8/24)

CIDRAP: COVID May Be Most Infectious 2 Or 3 Days Around Symptom Onset 
The risk of SARS-CoV-2 spread among COVID-19 patients to their close contacts was strongest in the 2 days before and 3 days after symptom onset and when index patients were mildly or moderately ill rather than asymptomatic, according to a US study of Chinese patients today in JAMA Internal Medicine. The researchers wrote. "Infected contacts of asymptomatic index patients were less likely to present with COVID-19 symptoms, suggesting that quantity of exposure may be associated with clinical presentation in close contacts." (Van Beusekom, 8/23)

Modern Healthcare: Preventable COVID-19 Hospitalizations Cost $2.3 Billion In June And July
About 113,000 Americans could've avoided the hospital in June and July if they received a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new study. Instead, they got sick enough to be admitted—at an estimated direct cost of $2.3 billion. More than 98% of people hospitalized with a COVID-19 diagnosis between May and July 2021 were unvaccinated, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports in a research brief published Friday. While not all hospitalizations would've been stopped by the vaccine, the report estimates that 113,000 of the 185,000 inpatient stays with a COVID-19 diagnosis in June and July were preventable. (Kacik, 8/23)

Modern Healthcare: Number Of Homebound Adults More Than Doubles During Pandemic
The number of homebound individuals in the U.S. more than doubled during the past decade, according to a paper published in JAMA Internal Medicine Monday. The share of the population that rarely or never leaves their homes rose held steady at about 5% from 2011 to 2019 but leaped to 13% last year, likely driven by isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mount Sinai researchers found. The greatest increases were among Blacks and Hispanics, who also experienced poorer health and less digital access, the study shows. (Christ, 8/23)

The New York Times: N.Y.C. Educators Must Be Vaccinated By September, De Blasio Says 
New York City will require all Department of Education employees to have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine by Sept. 27, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. The announcement represents a major step in the effort to fully reopen the country’s largest school district next month, and a significant escalation of the mayor’s push to vaccinate more New Yorkers. Mr. de Blasio has put reopening city schools at the center of his plan to help New York recover from the pandemic. The mayor is eager to reassure anxious parents and educators that schools will be safe this year despite an uptick in cases in the last two months linked to the Delta variant, especially since the city is no longer offering a remote learning option. (Shapiro, 8/23)

CNBC: Disney World To Require Covid-19 Vaccinations For Unionized Employees
Disney has reached a deal with its unions to require all of its unionized employees working at Walt Disney World in Florida to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by October 22, 2021. The move comes nearly a month after Disney mandated that all of its salaried and non-union hourly employees in the U.S. needed to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by the end of September. No deal has been struck with unions on the west coast that cater to Disneyland Resort employees. (Whitten, 8/23)

AP: CVS Requires Pharmacists, Nurses To Get Vaccine
CVS Health Corp. is joining the group of U.S. companies that require employees who have contact with customers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Nurses and other employees who interact with patients, as well as all corporate staff, must be vaccinated by Oct. 31, the company said Monday. It said pharmacists have until Nov. 30 to be vaccinated. (8/24)

The Washington Post: Carnival Cruise To Require Vaccination Proof For All Passengers 12 And Over 
Carnival Cruise Line is tightening its vaccine mandate beginning this week, announcing that vaccination will be required for all passengers except children under 12 and adults with medical conditions that prohibit inoculation. The move came Sunday, three days after the Bahamas issued an emergency order barring cruise ships from entering the country’s ports beginning Sept. 3 unless all passengers over 12 have gotten the shots. An exception is made for those with medical issues that preclude inoculation. (Shammas, 8/23)

The New York Times: Carnival Cruise Passenger Dies Of Covid Amid Uptick In Cases
As the highly contagious Delta variant surges across the world, the health and safety protocols established for cruise ships are being put to the test. Over two weeks in late July and early August, 27 coronavirus infections were identified aboard the Carnival Vista cruise ship sailing out of Galveston, Texas. One of those infected, a passenger, later died. It was the highest number of cases aboard a ship reported since June, when cruises restarted in the Caribbean and United States, and the first death. (Yeginsu, 8/23)

AP: Commissioner Calls For Federal Firefighter Vaccine Mandate
The leader of Washington state’s wildfire response is calling on federal agencies to take the additional step of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations among their wildland firefighting forces to secure the country’s wildfire response capability. In a letter Monday to U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, State Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz also called for the deployment of federal resources to make vaccinations available at all fire camps on federal land. (8/23)

AP: 2 Days Left To Enter Last Kentucky $1M Vaccine Drawing
Kentuckians who want to participate in the state’s last vaccine lottery drawing have two days to get a COVID-19 vaccine in order to enter, Gov. Andy Beshear said. On Friday, one $1 million winner and five more full-scholarship winners will be announced. The deadline for the final drawing is 11:59 p.m. EDT Wednesday. (8/24)

AP: School Mask Mandate Ban Challenged In New Utah Lawsuit
A ban on school districts requiring masks is forcing parents of vulnerable kids to wrestle with the painful choice of whether to risk coronavirus infections at school or keep them at home yet again, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Utah. Parents like Jessica Pyper say a Utah law that blocks districts from passing mandates wrongly prevents children from getting a safe education. She wants her 10-year-old son Ryker to join his fifth grade classmates this year, but his Type 1 diabetes puts him at serious risk. (Whitehurst, 8/23)

AP: Florida School Mask Mandate Power Struggle Goes Before Judge
Florida’s power struggle over wearing masks in school to guard against coronavirus infections landed Monday before a judge considering a lawsuit that challenges Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order reserving the mask decision for parents. The three-day hearing before Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper pits pro-mask parents against the Republican governor and state education officials who say parents, not schools, should choose whether their children cover up inside schools. (Anderson and Spencer, 8/24)

AP: Data Breach Exposes Student Requests For Vaccine Exemptions
Personal information from students at a California college who requested a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine has been posted online after an apparent data breach. The records from about 130 students at California State University, Chico were dumped on an anonymous internet message board, the Sacramento Bee reported Monday. (8/23)

Fox News: One-Third Of US Adolescents Vaccinated Against COVID-19 As School Begins
Federal data indicates one-third of adolescents aged 12-15 are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as the school year gets underway amid rising infections and a divide over mask mandates. Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), noted the figure during an interview Monday, after he was pressed over the issue of yet-approved vaccine among younger children under 12 amid spread of the highly transmissible delta variant. Collins told CNBC co-hosts that use of the vaccine in kids younger than 12 is under careful review along with ongoing studies. Kids aged 12-15 are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, however. (Rivas, 8/23)

CIDRAP: Most Youth Would Consider COVID-19 Vaccination, Survey Says
A US text message survey for ages 14 to 24 found that almost three out of four were interested in getting a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a JAMA Health Forum research letter late last week. The open-answer survey was sent out Mar 12, and demographics were matched with US national demographics such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, and region of the country. The mean age of respondents was 19.3 years. Not every participant answered all five questions, but most (1,074 out of 1,155) answered at least one. (8/24)

AP: Students' Lack Of Routine Vaccines Muddies Start Of School
The vaccinations that U.S. schoolchildren are required to get to hold terrible diseases like polio, measles, tetanus and whooping cough in check are way behind schedule this year, threatening further complications to a school year already marred by COVID-19. The lag was caused by pandemic-related disruptions last year to routine doctor’s visits, summer and sports camps at which kids usually get their immunizations. Now, pediatricians and educators are scrambling to ensure that backlogs don’t keep kids from school or leave them vulnerable to contagious diseases. (Smyth, 8/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Schools Plan To Spend $2.9 Million On Air Purifiers To Combat Wildfire Smoke, Coronavirus Risk
Classrooms in San Francisco public schools that open their windows to curb the spread of the coronavirus may soon get more portable air cleaners to keep kids from inhaling unhealthy smoke from wildfires — a step that some parent groups welcomed but said was long overdue. The San Francisco Unified School District on Monday announced a plan to spend $2.9 million on air purifiers, saying that only a fraction of its classrooms have them. If the school board approves the purchase, up to 3,750 machines would be distributed on a rolling basis as soon as possible, according to district spokesperson Laura Dudnick — covering all classrooms but not all offices. (Hwang, 8/23)

AP: Governor: Now Is Not A Good Time To Travel To Hawaii
Hawaii’s governor asked Monday that visitors and residents reduce travel to the islands to essential business only while the state struggles to control COVID-19 as the highly contagious delta variant spreads in the community. Gov. David Ige wants to curtail travel to Hawaii through the end of October. “It is a risky time to be traveling right now,” he said. He said restaurant capacity has been restricted and there’s limited access to rental cars. (8/24)

Crain's Chicago Business: NorthShore, Edward Elmhurst In Talks To Combine
Evanston-based NorthShore University HealthSystem is in merger talks with Naperville-based Edward Elmhurst Health, sources close to the hospitals say. A combination would create a nine-hospital network, including a behavioral health hospital, and give fast-growing NorthShore better access to patients in the western suburbs. Representatives for NorthShore and Edward Elmhurst didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. (Goldberg, 8/23)

Modern Healthcare: Cerner To Pay New CEO Feinberg Nearly $35M Through 2022
Cerner's compensation package for new CEO Dr. David Feinberg will total roughly $34.5 million through 2022, according to a federal filing. Feinberg—who currently serves as vice president of Google Health, a division that Google plans to disband after he leaves—will join Cerner in October. Under an executive employment agreement approved by the Cerner board of directors, Feinberg's initial annual base salary will be $900,000, according to an 8-K form that Cerner filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. He'll receive a one-time cash bonus of $375,000 to replace annual incentives he had accrued with Google. (Kim Cohen, 8/23)

Stat: Four Takeaways On Pfizer’s $2.3 Billion Purchase Of Trillium
Pfizer said Monday that it is buying Trillium, a Toronto developer of cancer drugs with which it already has a development partnership, for $2.3 billion. The purchase represents nothing but a win for Trillium shareholders, capping off a two-year period in which Trillium traded below 30 cents and as high as $20.96. The deal price — Pfizer is paying $18.50 per share — is triple the stock’s recent closing price and almost at that all-time high. (Herper, 8/23)

Stat: FDA, Drug Makers Propose Pilots Aimed At Speeding Rare Disease Drugs
The Food and Drug Administration and the drug industry have jointly agreed to create several new pilot programs aimed at speeding drugs to market for rare or previously untreatable conditions. The agreement announced Monday lays out the improvements the FDA will make in exchange for the millions of dollars it receives from drug makers who pay fees when the agency reviews their applications for new drug approvals. The industry and FDA negotiated the agreement throughout the fall and winter as part of a scheduled update to a joint agreement from five years ago. (Florko, 8/23)

Bloomberg: Cilo Cybin Plans Cannabis IPO, Then Expansion Into Magic Mushrooms
Cilo Cybin Pharmaceutical Ltd. is considering an initial public offering in the next 12 months after becoming the first South African company to win the right to grow, process and package cannabis products. The firm, named after the psychoactive substance in magic mushrooms, received the required certification from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority. It will now be able to produce marijuana for sale to consumers around the world, founder and Chief Executive Officer Gabriel Theron said in an interview. (Prinsloo and Sguazzin, 8/24)

The New York Times: Seeking Early Signals Of Dementia In Driving And Credit Scores 
Learning your odds of eventually developing dementia — a pressing concern for many, especially those with a family history of it — requires medical testing and counseling. But what if everyday behavior, like overlooking a couple of credit card payments or habitually braking while driving, could foretell your risk? A spate of experiments is underway to explore that possibility, reflecting the growing awareness that the pathologies underlying dementia can begin years or even decades before symptoms emerge. (Span, 8/23)

CNN: Risk Of Stroke Is Higher In A Certain Group Of Adults Under 60, Study Finds 
Adults under 60 who spend most of their days sitting have a higher risk of stroke compared to those who spend more time being physically active, a new study finds. People who reported sitting eight or more hours daily and were not very physically active otherwise were seven times more at risk of having a stroke than people who spent fewer than four hours being sedentary and at least 10 minutes exercising each day, according to a study published in Stroke from the American Heart Association. (Marples, 8/23)

AP: California Wildfire Smoke Closes Reno Schools, Tahoe Parks
Dense smoke from massive wildfires burning in neighboring California created hazardous air quality in the Reno-Tahoe area on Monday, canceling flights and forcing the closure of schools, parks and popular summer beaches. Government air monitors were recording some of the region’s most hazardous conditions in years. Weather forecasters and health officials said little relief is expected in western Nevada through mid-week. (Sonner and Metz, 8/24)

Stateline: Scorching Heat Is Killing Workers. Some States Are Stepping In
Federal safety regulators have issued no standards to protect workers from heat-related hazards, even as climate change increases the risk of deadly heat waves and extreme weather conditions. But some states have begun acting on their own, requiring employers to provide shade, cooldown breaks and drinking water, among other measures. Washington state and Oregon issued emergency standards last month after a heat wave broke temperature records across the Northwest and caused hundreds of deaths. Maryland regulators will issue heat rules by next year, after lawmakers passed a bill requiring them to do so. And Virginia officials announced earlier this year that they have begun the rulemaking process for a heat standard. (Brown, 8/23)

AP: New Orleans Resident Has Serious West Nile Case
The City of New Orleans says a city resident has a serious case of West Nile virus, and an airplane will spray part of the city for mosquitoes Tuesday night. The state health department reported the case this week, saying it involves the patient’s brain or nervous system, a news release from the New Orleans Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control Board said. The symptoms began showing up the week of Aug. 13. (8/23)