NPR: Biden Says The U.S. Is Embarking On Era Of Relentless Diplomacy
In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, President Biden framed the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as ending "a period of relentless war" and starting "a new era of relentless diplomacy." Speaking to the delegates for the first time as president, Biden used the world stage to outline his administration's aspirations for cooperation with the nation's allies and called on nations to work together against COVID-19, climate change, human rights violations and "new threats" from emerging technology. "We must work together as never before," he said. Biden noted the deaths of some 4.5 million people worldwide from COVID-19, calling each death "an individual heartbreak." "We need to act now to get shots in arms as fast as possible and expand access to oxygen, tests, treatments to save lives around the world," he said. (Naylor, 9/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Urges Global Cooperation On Covid-19, Climate Change
President Biden outlined a U.S. foreign-policy vision rooted in global alliances during his first address to the United Nations as commander-in-chief, emphasizing the importance of diplomacy at a moment when relations with some U.S. allies are strained. Mr. Biden called for a shift away from armed conflict after two decades of war in Afghanistan and the Middle East. “As we close this period of relentless war, we’re opening a new era of relentless diplomacy,” he said, standing in the U.N. assembly hall in front of the iconic serpentinite stone backdrop. (Restucci and Thomas, 9/21)

AP: Philippines' Duterte Blasts 'Selfish' Nations Over Vaccines
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte criticized rich nations at the U.N. General Assembly for hoarding COVID-19 vaccines while much of the developing world continues to suffer shortages. “The picture is bleak. It is a man-made drought of vaccines ravaging the poor countries,” Duterte said in a video message. “Rich countries hoard life-saving vaccines while poor nations wait for trickles. They now talk of booster shots, while developing countries consider half doses just to get by.” (9/21)

In other news from the United Nations summit —

Newsweek: Joe Biden Stayed In Same Hotel As Brazil Lawmaker Who Tested Positive For COVID
Multiple reports have confirmed that Brazil's minister of health Marcelo Queiroga was staying in the same New York hotel as President Biden. Newsweek has contacted the White House to ask if they are taking any precautions regarding the health minister testing positive. Queiroga told CNN Brasil that he had worn a mask the entire time that he was in the UN building this week, and that he will now quarantine in New York for 14 days. (Dutton, 9/22)

AP: Brazil Health Minister Tests Positive For The Coronavirus
Brazil’s health minister tested positive for the coronavirus in New York after President Jair Bolsonaro spoke at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. Brazil’s government said in a statement that Marcelo Quiroga was in good health and would remain in isolation in the United States. He got his first shot of coronavirus vaccine in January. Other members of Brazil’s government in New York tested negative for the virus, the statement said. (9/22)

The Washington Post: Brazil’s Unvaccinated Bolsonaro Appears To Break U.N. Vaccine ‘Honor System’ During Address 
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was the first world leader to speak Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly, creating a defiantly awkward opener for an event expected to focus largely on the global response to the coronavirus pandemic. ... While he devoted only a small part of his address to the pandemic, his presence at the assembly spoke volumes on it: As he has not been fully immunized, Bolsonaro appears to have broken U.N. rules that asked for all those who entered the General Assembly Hall to be fully vaccinated under an “honor system.” (Taylor and Timsit, 9/21)

AP: Biden Doubling Vaccine Purchase, Calls For More Global Shots
President Joe Biden is set to announce that the United States is doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots to share with the world to 1 billion doses as he embraces the goal of vaccinating 70% of the global population within the next year. The stepped-up U.S. commitment is to be the cornerstone of the global vaccination summit Biden is convening virtually Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, where he plans to push well-off nations to do more to get the coronavirus under control. (Miller and Keaten, 9/22)

NPR: The U.S. Is Buying 500 Million More Pfizer Vaccine Doses To Donate To Other Countries
President Biden is set to announce on Wednesday that the United States is buying 500 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to donate to countries around the world, a pledge that will bring the total promised U.S. vaccine donations to more than 1.1 billion. (Keith, 9/22)

CNBC: U.S. To Donate Millions More Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Doses To Poorer Nations
Deliveries of the initial 500 million doses began in August, and the total 1 billion doses under the expanded agreement are expected to be delivered by the end of Sept. 2022, the company added. The first doses allocated through this program arrived in Rwanda in mid-August and since then, more than 30 million doses have been shipped to 22 countries. (Ellyatt, 9/22)

Bloomberg: Joe Biden To Host Covid-19 Vaccine Summit, Pledge Donation Of Pfizer Doses
President Joe Biden will call for 70% of the world to be vaccinated by this time next year during a virtual vaccine summit he’ll host Wednesday that’s intended to spur countries, businesses and organizations to set firm targets to defeat the coronavirus pandemic. Biden will pledge a U.S. order of 500 million doses of Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE’s vaccine for donation abroad, pushing the total U.S. donation pledge above 1.1 billion doses as he leans on other nations to do the same, according to officials familiar with the event. (Wingrove, 9/22)

Newsweek: Vladimir Putin Snubs Joe Biden's Virtual COVID Summit
Vladimir Putin will not be attending the global COVID-19 summit to be hosted by President Joe Biden later this week. The ​​Russian president was said to have received an invitation to the virtual summit last week but does not plan to participate, his press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to state-owned news agency RIA. (Lock, 9/20)

More on U.S. donations —

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Pledge To Vaccinate Poor Countries Stumbles Amid Logistical Challenges
A White House plan to donate hundreds of millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines has been hampered in many developing countries by a lack of infrastructure to handle storage and distribution, leaving poorer nations far behind the developed world in vaccination rates. After a delayed start—the U.S. missed its first donation target—the Biden administration has been ramping up overseas donations, shipping around 137 million doses, most of them Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson. It expects to send 500 million doses of a shot developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE by the end of June 2022, the largest donation total of any country. (Steinhauser, Siddiqui and Armour, 9/21)

In other news on the administration's pandemic response: Testing is key to Biden's plan, but they are hard to find —

AP: Biden Bets On Rapid COVID Tests But They Can Be Hard To Find
President Joe Biden is betting on millions more rapid, at-home tests to help curb the latest deadly wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is overloading hospitals and threatening to shutter classrooms around the country. But the tests have already disappeared from pharmacy shelves in many parts of the U.S., and manufacturers warn it will take them weeks to ramp up production, after scaling it back amid plummeting demand over the summer. The latest shortage is another painful reminder that the U.S. has yet to successfully manage its COVID-19 testing arsenal, let alone deploy it in the type of systematic way needed to quickly crush outbreaks in schools, workplaces and communities. (Perrone, 9/21)

Axios: Manufacturers Warn U.S. Of COVID Rapid Test Shortages 
Manufacturers are warning that the U.S. is, at best, weeks away from the production levels needed for President Biden's plan of mass-scale rapid COVID-19 testing. The U.S. has been far more cautious than places like Britain about embracing rapid, at-home testing, AP notes. Places like schools are far behind target on testing students, despite $10 billion in federal funds. (Allen, 9/21)

Bloomberg: FDA Expected To Decide On Pfizer Covid Vaccine Booster Shots On Wednesday
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide as soon as Wednesday on a recommendation for Covid-19 boosters made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, two people familiar with the matter said, the latest step in a process that could open the door to extra shots in the coming days. The agency’s decision would tee up consideration by an advisory panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has scheduled a meeting for Wednesday and Thursday to discuss boosters. (Wingrove and Langreth, 9/21)

CNBC: Dr. Scott Gottlieb Weighs In On Pfizer's Covid Booster Approval Process
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC he anticipates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may soon offer greater clarity on who will be eligible for Covid booster doses. Gottlieb, a Pfizer board member, elaborated on the FDA and CDC’s booster approval process during an interview Tuesday on “The News with Shepard Smith.” The FDA could make a formal decision on Pfizer’s boosters before the CDC begins a two-day series of meetings on third doses Wednesday and Thursday, where Gottlieb said health officials may expand upon the FDA’s direction. (Towey, 9/21)

Philadelphia Inquirer: COVID-19 Booster Shots Coming Soon To Pa. And N.J. For Eligible Groups
Suzie Oswald, an emergency medical technician, has been ready for her coronavirus booster shot since last month, when she first heard the Biden administration discuss its plan for a broad rollout. While the ensuing mixed messages from federal officials on the need for boosters have left the 39-year-old Jenkintown resident with questions, she said she is still ready to roll up her sleeve. “I’m a little confused, only because it seems they’re not sure how long the vaccines are working for,” she said. “But for me, if it’s going to protect me longer, I’m all for it.” (McCarthy, 9/21)

In other news about the vaccine rollout —

Bloomberg: U.S. Racial Vaccine Gaps Are Bigger Than We Thought
The White vaccination rate is not as bad as it had seemed, and Hispanic communities are lagging more than previously thought. Updated city and state population figures from the 2020 U.S. Census released last month gave a clearer picture of the country’s racial and ethnic makeup. In every state, the White-only share of population was smaller than projected, and, as a result, a larger percentage of White people in many places have received shots than previously reported. As of this month, around 30 states have vaccinated a majority of their White populations with at least one dose, according to new calculations by Bloomberg using the 2020 Census data. Florida saw the biggest jump, with an increase of almost 14 percentage points among White people. (Tartar, 9/21)

CNN: 'Funeral Home' Ad Spreads Message For The Unvaccinated 
The truck had the name of a funeral home on it. But instead of a soothing thought that might double as a company slogan, the message on the side read: "Don't get vaccinated." The black truck advertising for "Wilmore Funeral Home" delivered that blunt and unexpected message on Sunday to football fans in downtown Charlotte as they headed to watch the Carolina Panthers play the New Orleans Saints. (Ebrahimji, 9/21)

Houston Chronicle: Dr. Hasan Gokal, Cleared Of Vaccine Theft Charge, Sues Harris County For Racial Discrimination
When Dr. Hasan Gokal was fired by Harris County Public Health a week after he drove around his Sugar Land community to administer 10 leftover doses of the Moderna COVID vaccine, he was stunned by the termination. Gokal, who oversaw a Humble vaccination site on Dec. 29, said the county had not yet established wait lists or protocols for leftover doses. After staff on site declined the shots, he took the vial home and called his phone contacts, hoping to line up 10 elderly or immunocompromised people before the doses expired at midnight. (Zong, 9/21)

The Washington Post: His Dad Died Of Covid Last Year. On His 12th Birthday, His Only Wish Was To Get Vaccinated.
Gavin Roberts didn’t want a big party, the newest gaming console or sports gear for his birthday this year. Instead, the soon-to-be 12-year-old wanted something free that he had waited over a year to get: protection from the virus that killed his dad. The wait was over on Sunday. At 10:10 a.m., 20 minutes before he was scheduled to get his first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, Alice Roberts and her son, Gavin, arrived at a pharmacy miles from their Glen Ridge, N.J., home. The preteen was so set on getting the vaccine on his birthday that his mom said he asked to be driven to a pharmacy farther from their home rather than waiting for one closer by to open on Monday. (Salcedo, 9/21)

Misinformation continues to spread unabated —

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Clark County Declares COVID Falsehoods A Health Crisis
A majority of the Clark County Commission took a formal stand Tuesday against COVID-19 misinformation, declaring it a public health crisis amid concerns from other lawmakers that doing so might agitate a deep division within Southern Nevada. The 5-2 vote made the county one of few jurisdictions in the U.S. to label falsehoods related to COVID-19 — often rooted in an extreme mistrust of the government — a crisis that has prolonged the pandemic by undermining efforts to combat spread of the disease. “It’s important for our governing board to declare health misinformation as a public health crisis and commit to doing all we can to combat the falsehoods that continue to jeopardize the lives of our citizens,” Commissioner Justin Jones, who proposed the resolution, said in a statement immediately following the vote. (Johnson, 9/21)

AP: Hawaii Anti-Vaccine Leader Has Regrets After Getting COVID
A man who helped organize a Hawaii group that opposes COVID-19 vaccines and mandates says he contracted the disease and now has regrets. Chris Wikoff told Hawaii News Now this week that he helped start the Aloha Freedom Coalition last October. He said he believed government shutdowns and mandates were threatening liberties and harming businesses. ... But then he and his wife contracted COVID-19. “We were told the COVID virus was not that deadly. It was nothing more than a little flu. I can tell you it’s more than a little flu,” he said. (9/22)

KHN: Will ‘Dr. Disinformation’ Ever Face The Music?
Earlier this month, Dr. Rashid Buttar posted on Twitter that covid-19 “was a planned operation” and shared an article alleging that most people who got the covid vaccine would be dead by 2025. His statement is a recent example in what has been a steady stream of spurious claims surrounding the covid vaccines and treatments that swirl around the public consciousness. Others include testimony in June by Dr. Sherri Jane Tenpenny before Ohio state legislators that the vaccine could cause people to become magnetized. Clips from the hearing went viral on the internet. On April 9, 2020, Dr. Joseph Mercola posted a video titled “Could hydrogen peroxide treat coronavirus?” which was shared more than 4,600 times. In the video, Mercola said inhaling hydrogen peroxide through a nebulizer could prevent or cure covid. (Knight, 9/22)

NPR: Modelers Project A Calming Of The Pandemic In The U.S. This Winter
Americans may be able to breathe a tentative sigh of relief soon, according to researchers studying the trajectory of the pandemic. The delta surge appears to be peaking nationally, and cases and deaths will likely decline steadily now through the spring without a significant winter surge, according to a new analysis shared with NPR by a consortium of researchers advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For its latest update, which it will release Wednesday, the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub combined nine different mathematical models from different research groups to get an outlook for the pandemic for the next six months. (Stein and Wroth, 9/22)

Meanwhile, delta has become the dominant variant worldwide —

The Washington Post: Delta Is The Dominant Coronavirus Variant Worldwide, WHO Says
The delta variant has “by far” become the world’s dominant coronavirus strain, appearing in some 185 countries as global cases near 230 million and deaths surpass 4.7 million since the start of the pandemic. That’s according to a top World Health Organization scientist, Maria Van Kerkhove, who said Tuesday that “less than 1 percent of the sequences that are available right now are alpha, beta and gamma,” referring to the three other variants the organization considers “of concern.” (Ang and Timsi, 9/22)

AP: 'Soul-Crushing': US COVID-19 Deaths Are Topping 1,900 A Day
COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed to an average of more than 1,900 a day for the first time since early March, with experts saying the virus is preying largely on a distinct group: 71 million unvaccinated Americans. The increasingly lethal turn has filled hospitals, complicated the start of the school year, delayed the return to offices and demoralized health care workers. “It is devastating,” said Dr. Dena Hubbard, a pediatrician in the Kansas City, Missouri, area who has cared for babies delivered prematurely by cesarean section in a last-ditch effort to save their mothers, some of whom died. For health workers, the deaths, combined with misinformation and disbelief about the virus, have been “heart-wrenching, soul-crushing.” (Hollingsworth, 9/21)

CIDRAP: Pediatric COVID-19 Case Surge Continues Across US 
Today, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released its latest numbers on how many American children are being infected with COVID-19 and said nearly 226,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported from Sep 9 to 16, the third highest number of child cases in a week since the pandemic began. Children represented 25.7% of the weekly reported cases. (Soucheray, 9/21)

In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —

AP: Idaho's COVID Outlook Is Dire As Cases Continue To Climb
Health care workers are exhausted and angry. Some of Idaho’s coronavirus vaccines are expiring because they have sat unused for so long. And coronavirus case numbers and deaths continue to climb, putting the state among the worst in the nation for the rate of new COVID-19 diagnoses. Idaho’s public health leaders painted a grim picture — again — during a weekly briefing on the pandemic Tuesday. (Boone, 9/21)

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska’s COVID-19 Case Rate Is Now The Highest In The Nation As State Reports 6 Deaths
With many hospitals still in crisis, Alaska is now recording the highest case rate per capita of any U.S. state after surpassing its winter-level peak for COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. According to a New York Times tracker updated Tuesday, Alaska’s average rate of daily new infections over the last week is more than double the national average — and higher than any state. The state on Tuesday reported 861 cases after recording more than 2,000 new cases in three days over the weekend. While case counts and case rates don’t account for how many of the people who test positive for COVID-19 are symptomatic or severely ill, rising case counts are often followed weeks later by a similar uptick in hospitalizations and deaths. (Berman, 9/21)

AP: Gianforte Sends National Guard To Aid In Virus Response
National Guard soldiers will assist Montana hospitals with their COVID-19 response as the state struggles with a surge in infections, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Tuesday. A total of 70 soldiers will assist six different hospitals in Helena, Billings, Butte, Missoula and Bozeman. They will begin helping the hospitals either this weekend or next weekend, according to an announcement from the governor’s office. The Guardsmen will support staffing with non-medical intensive care assistance, environmental services, patient data entry and virus testing. (9/21)

KHN: At An Overrun ICU, ‘The Problem Is We Are Running Out Of Hallways’ 
Nurses fill the hospital room to turn a patient from his stomach to his back. The ventilator forcing air into him is most effective when he’s on his stomach, so he is in that position most hours of the day, sedated and paralyzed by drugs. Lying on his stomach all those hours has produced sores on his face, and one nurse dabs at the wounds. The dark lesions are insignificant given his current state, but she continues just the same, gently, soothingly, appearing to whisper to him as she works. (Ehli, 9/22)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Hospitals ‘In For A Bumpy Ride’ With Record COVID-19 Patients Stretching Capacity
Patients have been diverted from Maine hospitals or treated in hallways over the past few weeks as record COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to stress the health care system. A record number of 225 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Tuesday, eclipsing a record set the day before. On Monday, 90 percent of those hospitalized were unvaccinated, continuing a trend with relatively few breakthrough cases occurring in the state. The state had 48 critical care beds available with 82 people in those units, which are increasingly becoming defined by the number of people available to staff them as a workforce shortage stretches further. (Andrews, 9/22)

In updates from Florida —

WUSF Public Media: Florida COVID Hospitalizations Tick Upward For First Time In A Month 
Figures released Monday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show 9,187 Floridians are hospitalized with COVID-19 — 211 more than Sunday. A month ago, nearly twice as many people were hospitalized. On Aug. 19, there were 17,198 COVID patients statewide, and numbers have been falling steadily since then. In addition, 2,359 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care Monday, up 51 from a day earlier. That's 37.5% of the state's staffed ICU beds. (Sheridan, 9/21)

Health News Florida: 10,000+ TSA Workers Have Gotten COVID. How Many Worked At Florida Airports?
More than 10,000 Transportation Security Administration workers across the country have tested positive for the COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Miami International Airport ranks No. 1, with more than 500 cases, according to federal statistucs. Two other Florida airports, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Orlando, ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with more than 360 cases each.The only other Florida airport with more than 100 cases is Tampa International, with 115. (9/21)

BBC News: Covid: Immune Therapy From Llamas Shows Promise 
A Covid therapy derived from a llama named Fifi has shown "significant potential" in early trials. It is a treatment made of "nanobodies", small, simpler versions of antibodies, which llamas and camels produce naturally in response to infection. Once the therapy has been tested in humans, scientists say, it could be given as a simple nasal spray - to treat and even prevent early infection. Prof James Naismith described nanobodies as "fantastically exciting". (Gill, 9/22)

Fox News: FDA-Approved Gout Drug Could Show Promise In Fighting COVID-19
A gout drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could reportedly show promise in fighting the coronavirus. According to a recent study from the University of Georgia (UGA) published in Nature's Scientific Reports, probenecid has potent antiviral properties that make the oral medication a prime candidate to combat not only SARS-CoV-2 infection but other common and deadly respiratory viruses. The school noted that probenecid is primarily used to treat gout and has been on the market for more than 40 years, with minimal side effects to patients. (Musto, 9/21)

CBS News: A Look At COVID-19 Treatments: Which Ones Work Best? 
Hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, ivermectin and monoclonal antibodies are some of the most-talked about drugs when it comes to COVID-19. CBS Dallas spoke with Dr. Robert Gottlieb, of the Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, to learn more about each. "There are many therapies that work on paper, or even in the laboratory, that don't work when you bring them to a human" Dr. Gottlieb told us. "We have to remember that we're not trying to treat a virus in a test tube, we're trying to treat a virus in a human being." (Katz, 9/21)

In news from California and Hawaii —

Los Angeles Times: Monoclonal Antibody COVID Treatment Hard To Get In California 
Health officials in California are warning of shortages and distribution problems for a medical treatment that can keep COVID-19 patients from falling critically ill. Monoclonal antibodies have been developed as a treatment for COVID-19. They are thought to be a way to counteract the coronavirus before it can begin destroying the body’s organs, said Dr. Rais Vohra, the interim Fresno County health officer. The antibodies can be used to treat mild or moderate COVID-19 in patients who are not hospitalized. (Lin II and Money, 9/21)

AP: Hawaii COVID-19 Antibody Treatments Capped Amid Shortage
Hawaii health care providers are receiving only half the number of monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19 that they requested amid a shortage of the drugs. The federal government has capped Hawaii’s weekly allocation at 680 treatments, Brooks Baehr, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “There is no question that we would have loved to get more,” Baehr said. (9/21)

AP: Experts Eye More Travel Testing To Contain COVID In Hawaii
Hawaii officials are facing pressure to increase COVID-19 testing for travelers as the islands deal with a record surge of new infections, hospitalization and deaths. The calls come as federal guidelines change to require negative virus tests from both vaccinated and unvaccinated people coming to the U.S. Despite evidence that more COVID-19 testing would help reduce the spread of disease, especially in an isolated destination like Hawaii, state leaders have resisted the implementation of a two-test policy for arriving travelers. (Jones, 9/21)

The Boston Globe: R.I. Will Allow Unvaccinated Health Care Workers To Work If They’re Critical To Patient Needs
Rhode Island will allow health care workers who aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19 to work even after Oct. 1 if there’s a risk to quality of care in their absence, the state Department of Health announced Tuesday. The state had previously given workers an Oct. 1 deadline to get vaccinated, unless they have an approved medical exemption, or they would not be allowed to work. The announcement Tuesday provided some leeway to that edict in the most dire situations, and comes after leaders of some facilities — notably nursing homes — said they worried the deadline would worsen staffing shortages. (Gagosz and Amaral, 9/21)

CNN: Novant Health Suspends Hundreds Of Employees For Not Getting A Covid-19 Vaccine 
A North Carolina-based health care provider announced Tuesday it has suspended hundreds of employees for not meeting the company's Covid-19 vaccine requirements. Novant Health says employees, by now, must have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine or applied for -- and received -- a medical or religious exemption. Those that hadn't -- about 375 workers across 15 hospitals and hundreds of clinics and outpatient facilities -- are now suspended. (Lemos and Henderson, 9/21)

The Oregonian: Oregon Gives 24,000 State Employees Six More Weeks To Get Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 
More than half of Oregon’s state employees now have an extra six weeks to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with the deadline pushed back to Nov. 30. The change affects about 24,000 state employees represented by the Service Employees International Union 503 out of about 42,000 state executive branch employees. It’s unclear if the changes will apply to the remaining 18,000 state employees covered by Gov. Kate Brown’s vaccination mandate. But SEIU’s success at pushing back Brown’s initial Oct. 18 deadline for full vaccination may bode well for other unions. (Zarkhin, 9/21)

In other news about vaccine mandates —

Los Angeles Times: San Francisco Airport To Require COVID Vaccines For Workers
San Francisco International Airport is now requiring all workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the first airport in the U.S. to implement such health requirements. “As SFO prepares for the upcoming holiday travel season and the return of pre-pandemic passenger levels, we have an obligation to provide a safe airport facility for the traveling public and our on-site employees,” airport director Ivar C. Satero said. The requirement, effective Tuesday, obligates all tenants and contractors at the airport to ensure their on-site workers are vaccinated. Those who are exempt for medical reasons or because of religious beliefs must submit to weekly testing for the coronavirus. (Dolan, 9/21)

AP: Massachusetts Community Colleges To Require Vaccinations
Students, faculty and staff at all 15 Massachusetts state community colleges will be required to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by January, the schools’ presidents said. “While a significant number of students, faculty, and staff are already vaccinated or are in the process of becoming vaccinated, the 15 colleges are seeking to increase the health and safety of the learning and working environment in light of the ongoing public health concerns and current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” they said in a statement released Monday. (9/21)

Axios: Massachusetts State Police Union Sues Over COVID Vaccine Mandate 
The Massachusetts State Police union has filed a lawsuit to delay Gov. Charlie Baker's (R) coronavirus vaccine mandate, which requires state employees to get the shot by Oct. 17 or face termination. The union represents 1,800 members and is asking a judge to postpone the vaccination requirement so it has time to bargain, the Boston Globe notes. Troopers would undergo "irreparable harm" otherwise, the lawsuit said. (Chen, 9/21)

WUSF Public Media: Sarasota Store Suing Florida Over Lack Of Vaccine Requirement 
In some states, vaccination cards have become the golden ticket to restaurants, bars and stores. But in Florida, businesses are legally not allowed to require proof of vaccination for entry. The owners of Bead Abode, a Sarasota craft store, are suing the Florida surgeon general over the law. The store has been closed since March 2020 but wants to reopen its new location in October with safety protocols — such as a proof-of-vaccination requirement to protect customers, said Andrew Boyer, co-owner and legal counsel. (LeFever, 9/21)

Detroit Free Press: GM's Reuss Addresses Idea Of Vaccine Mandate And Flint's Future
General Motors President Mark Reuss on Tuesday addressed the idea of mandating a vaccine for GM's workforce and said he believes there is a "major risk" for another pandemic. The Detroit Three automakers have been working with the UAW, the union that represents most hourly autoworkers, on workplace safety and vaccinations. Reuss did not know the status of those conversations. But, he said, GM leadership is having difficult conversations around a vaccine mandate after President Joe Biden said earlier this month that all employers with more than 100 workers must require employees to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly. (Lareau, 9/21)

Houston Chronicle: U.S. Department Of Education Is Investigating Gov. Abbott's Ban On School Mask Requirements
The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday launched a civil rights investigation into Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates in schools, making Texas the sixth state to face a federal inquiry over mask rules. The investigation will focus on whether Abbott’s order prevents students with disabilities who are at heightened risk for severe illness from COVID-19 from safely returning to in-person education, in violation of federal law, Suzanne B. Goldberg, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights wrote in a letter to Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath. (Wermund, 9/21)

The Washington Post: A Couple Wore Masks Inside A Texas Restaurant To Protect Their Newborn Son. The Owner Kicked Them Out.
Natalie Wester and her husband were waiting for their appetizer to arrive when the server came to their table, not with the fried jalapeños, but an ultimatum. Take your masks off or get out. On Sept. 10, the couple left their 4-month-old son, Austin, with his maternal grandmother and went to Hang Time Sports Grill & Bar in Rowlett, Tex., a Dallas suburb — a rare night out for the young parents, Wester told The Washington Post. The plan was to have dinner and a couple of drinks, catch up with friends they hadn’t seen in a while and call it a night. (Edwards, 9/21)

In news about mask-wearing in Kentucky —

The Washington Post: Kentucky School Boards Overwhelmingly Keep Mask Mandates After Republicans Repealed Statewide Directive
Mark Dougherty, an infectious-disease physician in Lexington, Ky., sees the toll the state’s most severe coronavirus wave is inflicting on communities with the school year back in session: The teacher placed on a ventilator, the bus driver nearing intubation, the critically ill custodian. He feared their cases would be the “tip of the iceberg” after the mostly Republican state legislature during a special session earlier this month repealed a statewide school mask mandate unilaterally put in place by the Democratic governor. But most Kentucky school districts made a different choice: They kept mask mandates in place. All but six of Kentucky’s 171 school districts kept mask mandates, including those in rural, conservative areas, according to tracking by the state school board association. (Nirappil, 9/21)

AP: Kentucky Elementary Suffers Third COVID-19 Death Among Staff
A grief-stricken elementary school in eastern Kentucky suffered its third COVID-19 death among its staff since the school term began when a beloved counselor died from the coronavirus, the district’s superintendent said Tuesday. Lee County Elementary counselor Rhonda Estes died Monday, Superintendent Sarah Wasson said. Estes was a fixture in the tight-knit community, working 35 years for the school system. A custodian and an instructional aide at the same school also died from the virus in recent weeks. (Schreiner, 9/21)

In other updates on covid mandates —

The Washington Post: County Health Director Says Woman Tried To Run Him Off The Road After He Backed Mask Mandate
Two days after his department issued a mask mandate, a health official had a plea for his county’s board of commissioners: “I need help.” “There is a sickness in America more far more insidious than COVID,” Adam London, director of Michigan’s Kent County Health Department, wrote in an Aug. 22 email. “You are more empowered to fight this disease than I am.” ... He said a woman driving more than 70 miles per hour tried to run him off the road twice in one night. He said someone also called him an expletive and then yelled, “I hope someone abuses your kids and forces you to watch!” (Anders, 9/21)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: UGA Faculty Risking Jobs By Planning Mask Mandate For Their Classes
More than 50 University of Georgia faculty members say they will soon require their students wear masks in their classes to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, violating rules against mandates the educators say could result in disciplinary action that includes losing their jobs. The faculty members, many with expertise in the study of infectious diseases, sent a letter Tuesday to university administrators detailing their plans concerning the mask requirement, which they plan to start in two weeks. The potential action is likely the largest effort by faculty at any University System of Georgia school. At least one UGA professor has already enacted a mask requirement for his classes. (Stirgus, 9/21)

AP: Iowa Focuses On Masks As Coronavirus Deaths Rise
More than 18 months after Iowa’s first coronavirus case, the state finds itself in a protracted argument over the value of wearing masks, especially in schools where children are increasingly becoming infected with the virus. As the COVID-19 death toll in Iowa tops 6,400 people, discussions in the state have shifted away from vaccination efforts and more toward masks following a federal judge’s ruling that temporarily blocked a state law banning mask mandates in schools. (Pitt, 9/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: West Contra Costa Teachers File Cal/OSHA Complaint Over COVID Safety Rules
Teachers in West Contra Costa Unified School District have filed a complaint with state workplace safety regulators alleging that the district policies on COVID testing and outbreaks are inconsistent and that teachers are told they cannot send home students who exhibit symptoms. The complaint filed on Aug. 31 with the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health comes as the district struggles to contain the virus, with more than 200 confirmed cases among students and staff, and 25 classrooms closed since the beginning of the school year. (Swan, 9/21)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Parents Who Push For Medical Exemptions To School Mask Rules Get Pushback From Doctors
After the mother missed the deadline to sign up for remote schooling, she begged her son’s pediatrician to sign a letter exempting the 5-year-old from the Philadelphia School District’s mask mandate. The child had mild asthma, and she thought a mask would make it worse. She also thought he was too young to comply with the all-day rule. Daniel Taylor, director of community pediatrics and child advocacy at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, patiently explained why he couldn’t provide an exemption: A mask would not affect the child’s asthma and since asthma could worsen COVID-19, masking was particularly important for him. Teachers were being trained to help kids wear face coverings properly. And the best thing the mother could do to protect her son and herself would be to get vaccinated. (McCullough, 9/21)

Prescription Drug Watch: For more news on rising drug costs, check out our weekly roundup of news coverage and perspectives of the issue.

Politico: House Leadership Looks To Jam Holdouts On Drug Pricing 
Top House Democrats are setting up a showdown vote on drug pricing as early as next week, rolling a leadership-backed plan into the party's sweeping social spending package and daring holdout centrists who previously derailed the plan in committee to vote it down again. Top Democrats think enough of the four — Reps. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), and Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) — will cave and back the proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate prices for a wide swath of high-cost drugs rather than risk upending the entire $3.5 trillion package. (Ollstein, 9/21)

Vox: Build Back Better Act’s Health Care Section Turns On Cutting Drug Costs
Democrats had big dreams for health care reform this year. In the forthcoming budget reconciliation bill, they planned to cover 4 million uninsured people and offer dental and vision benefits to people on Medicare, while also cutting prescription drug costs. But now those grand ambitions are crashing against the hard reality of legislating with incredibly narrow margins in Congress. If only a few members balk at what the Biden White House and Democratic leaders want to do, that could be enough to doom the bill — or at least the major health care proposals. (Scott, 9/22)

Politico: House GOP Unlikely To Rescue Biden's Infrastructure Bill On The Floor 
If House Democrats keep pushing their two-track plan for a party-line social spending bill and a bipartisan infrastructure bill, they can't expect many GOP passengers on that second train. Fewer than a dozen House Republicans are expected to vote for the $550 billion infrastructure bill — which got 19 Senate GOP votes last month — according to multiple lawmakers in the party. But the infrastructure measure's House GOP support could triple if Democrats detach its fate from a party-line social spending bill with a multitrillion-dollar price tag, several House Republicans estimated in Monday interviews. (Beavers, 9/21)

Politico: Biden Set To Play Peacemaker For Warring Democratic Factions
The two fractious wings of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s caucus are tumbling toward intraparty war. President Joe Biden is hoping to head off disaster. Biden will hold a series of meetings with key Democrats Wednesday, including Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as party leaders try to salvage their two-part domestic agenda — a massive social safety net expansion and bipartisan infrastructure bill — amid a fresh round of hostage-taking from centrist and progressive members. (Caygle and Ferris, 9/22)

On the looming debt ceiling deadline —

Roll Call: House Passes Stopgap Funding, Debt Ceiling Suspension Bill
The House passed a catchall budget package Tuesday that’s intended to avoid a partial government shutdown and debt limit crisis, but it seems likely to come back for a do-over once the Senate works its will. The stopgap funding bill, which passed on a 220-211 party-line vote, would extend federal agency budget authority through Dec. 3 and provide nearly $35 billion in aid to disaster victims and relocation assistance Afghan refugees who helped the U.S. government during two decades of war. (Shutt, 9/21)

The Hill: GOP Warns McConnell Won't Blink On Debt Cliff
Republicans are warning that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) won’t blink as Congress barrels toward dual fiscal debt-shutdown cliffs, with massive economic consequences. Democrats are seeking to suspend the debt ceiling through 2022, tying it to a short-term government funding bill and disaster relief, in a move aimed at squeezing McConnell and GOP senators by bringing the fight to a head just days before the Oct. 1 deadline for preventing a government shutdown. (Carney, 9/22)

The Washington Post: U.S. Default This Fall Would Cost 6 Million Jobs, Wipe Out $15 Trillion In Wealth, Study Says
The United States could plunge into an immediate recession if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling and the country defaults on its payment obligations this fall, according to one analysis released Tuesday. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, found that a prolonged impasse over the debt ceiling would cost the U.S. economy up to 6 million jobs, wipe out as much as $15 trillion in household wealth, and send the unemployment rate surging to roughly 9 percent from around 5 percent. (Stein, 9/21)

Reuters: U.S. House Democrats Advance Abortion Rights Bill, Senate Passage Unlikely 
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives advanced a bill on Tuesday that would protect the right to abortion and annul some new restrictions passed by Republican-controlled state governments. If the "Women's Health Protection Act" passes the Democratic-controlled House, it is unlikely to succeed in the 100-member Senate, where Republicans also are a minority but hold enough votes to prevent it from reaching the 60-vote threshold to pass most legislation. (9/21)

Roll Call: House Prepares For Abortion Fight 
Tensions between Democrats and Republicans over an abortion rights bill that the House is teeing up for a vote this week are rising in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to let Texas essentially ban most abortions for now and its agreement to hear oral arguments in another major abortion case in December. The chamber is expected later this week, likely Friday, to pass the bill that would protect access to abortion and the ability of providers to perform them. (Raman, 9/21)

Dallas Morning News: House Seeks To Cement The Right To Abortion Into Federal Law, Superseding Texas’ New Restrictions
The U.S. House is poised to vote on a bill that would put Roe vs. Wade protections into federal law and cement women’s legal right to an abortion — an effort that would nullify a Texas ban on the procedure as early as six weeks that Gov. Greg Abbott signed this month. “It is important to give women back their rights,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said on the House floor Tuesday. “Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, and we are going to pass that legislation … because people are suffering with the Texas law. It has no place in society. It is a violation of the Constitution of the United States, and it should be quashed with the Roe v. Wade codification.” (Caldwell, 9/21)

In related news about Texas' abortion law —

The Guardian: New Texas Law Bans Abortion-Inducing Drugs After Seven Weeks Pregnancy
By the end of the year Texas may have even more restrictions on the ability to get an abortion after its Republican governor Greg Abbott quietly signed into law new restrictions banning the mail order provision of abortion medication seven weeks into pregnancy. The law prevents providers from prescribing abortion-inducing drugs more than seven weeks into pregnancy, instead of ten weeks, the current limit. It takes effect on December 2. (Schreiber, 9/22)

Bloomberg: Texas Abortion Doctor Lawsuits Filed By Allies May Go Nowhere
The first two lawsuits filed in the wake of a Texas bill that allows private citizens to sue doctors who perform abortions in all but the earliest weeks of pregnancy may have trouble gaining traction. That’s because the lawsuits against Alan Braid, a San Antonio doctor who wrote a newspaper column in which he admitted to violating rules that forbid abortions after about the sixth week of pregnancy, were filed by people who believe the procedure should be legal. Their suits are an attempt to get a judge to toss the law, rather than a bid to just collect the $10,000 bounty it provides to private citizens who take abortion providers and anyone who assists in helping a woman get an abortion to court. (Brubaker Calkins and Wheeler, 9/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Texas Abortion Law Faces Pushback From Some Companies 
Dozens of businesses are going public with their opposition to a new Texas law that bars abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, a move that follows weeks of debate inside companies about how to respond. Employers including ride-sharing service Lyft Inc., cloud-storage company Box Inc., online fashion retailer Stitch Fix Inc. and investment group Trillium Asset Management LLC signed a statement set to be released Tuesday that says “restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the health, independence, and economic stability of our workers and customers.” (Cutter, 9/21)

CBS News: After Texas' New Abortion Law, Some Clinics In Nearby States Can Barely Keep Up With Demand
The nation's most restrictive abortion law is forcing people to flee Texas in search of clinics elsewhere — and some of those clinics say they can barely meet the new demand. CBS News had rare access to a facility in Denver, where nearly half the patients are from Texas. The Texas law, which took effect three weeks ago, bans 84% of abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute. People more than six weeks pregnant now have to cross state lines to get an abortion. (Shamlian, 9/22)

Politico: House Sends Bill Aiding ‘Havana Syndrome’ Victims To Biden’s Desk 
The House on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill to aid Americans believed to be suffering from “Havana Syndrome,” as the Biden administration struggles to understand how and why U.S. spies and diplomats are developing mysterious, debilitating brain injuries. The illness, believed to be the result of an invisible directed-energy attack, has long stumped U.S. intelligence officials, and reports of what the government officially calls “anomalous health incidents” have skyrocketed in recent months. At the same time, the victims — which total around 200, officials say — have faced bureaucratic hurdles as they seek medical care for symptoms that can range from severe headaches to brain damage. (Desiderio, 9/21)

NBC News: In Tense Blinken Meeting, 'Havana Syndrome' Diplomats Complain Of Skepticism
U.S. diplomats suffering from the unexplained “Havana Syndrome” used a tense meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken this month to voice growing dismay over continuing stigma and disbelief within the U.S. government about their injuries, more than four years after the incidents began. In his first meeting with the cohort of State Department staffers affected in Cuba and China, Blinken spent more than an hour offering reassurances and fielding questions, with most affected staffers joining remotely by phone. His message: Those suffering must be believed, and that the administration is doing all it can to investigate and provide care. (Lederman and Breslauer, 9/21)

BBC News: ‘Havana Syndrome ’ And The Mystery Of The Microwaves 
Doctors, scientists, intelligence agents and government officials have all been trying to find out what causes "Havana syndrome" - a mysterious illness that has struck American diplomats and spies. Some call it an act of war, others wonder if it is some new and secret form of surveillance - and some people believe it could even be all in the mind. So who or what is responsible? It often started with a sound, one that people struggled to describe. "Buzzing", "grinding metal", "piercing squeals", was the best they could manage.  One woman described a low hum and intense pressure in her skull; another felt a pulse of pain. Those who did not hear a sound, felt heat or pressure. But for those who heard the sound, covering their ears made no difference. Some of the people who experienced the syndrome were left with dizziness and fatigue for months.  (Corera, 9/9)

In updates on leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services —

Politico: Becerra Takes A Back Seat While Others Steer Covid Response 
As President Joe Biden’s health secretary, Xavier Becerra runs the sprawling department responsible for delivering on the administration’s vow to end the coronavirus pandemic. But when Biden’s senior health officials gathered one Sunday in August to make the high-stakes decision that all adults should get Covid-19 booster shots, Becerra wasn’t included on the call. The nation’s top health official was instead preparing for a multi-day tour up the East Coast to tout Biden’s broader agenda, while others including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky mapped out the specifics of the government’s booster strategy. (Cancryn, 9/21)

KHN: Public Health Experts ‘Flabbergasted’ That Biden Still Hasn’t Picked An FDA Chief 
President Joe Biden’s failure to name someone to lead the Food and Drug Administration, more than 10 months after the election, has flummoxed public health experts who say it’s baffling for the agency to be without a permanent leader during a national health crisis. The pandemic has taxed the FDA, an 18,000-person agency whose chiefs have traditionally received bipartisan backing during the Senate confirmation process. Many leaders in public health, industry and consumer groups agree that Biden’s foot-dragging on finding a new director has demoralized the staff and sent the wrong message about the agency’s importance, even as the toll of covid-19 mounts, with an average of 130,000 new cases and 1,500 deaths daily, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Pradhan, 9/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Most Of $9.2 Billion In Questionable Medicare Payments Went To 20 Insurers, Federal Investigators Say
Medicare insurers drew $9.2 billion in federal payments in one year through controversial billing practices, with 20 companies benefiting disproportionately and together accounting for more than half of the total, according to federal health investigators. The findings by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services are the latest sign of growing scrutiny of Medicare Advantage insurers, which offer private plans under the federal benefit program. The inspector general’s report focuses on certain procedures used by insurers to document health conditions, which helps determine how much they are paid. The investigators said the findings raise concerns that insurers might be gaming the process to improperly boost federal payments. (Wilde Mathews, 9/22)

Modern Healthcare: CMS To Retool Medicare Advantage To Better Serve Dual-Eligibles
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to retool the Medicare Advantage program to improve the patient experience for people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, an agency official said during AHIP's National Conference on Medicare, Medicaid and Dual Eligibles Online Tuesday. The agency wants to build on the lessons learned from Medicare-Medicaid Plans participating in its Financial Alignment Initiative by incorporating them into the Medicare Advantage program, said Tim Engelhardt, director of CMS' Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office. CMS could announce the changes as soon as this fall, he said. "It's really time for us to focus on bringing more of the successful elements to greater scale through Medicare Advantage," Engelhardt said. "Stay tuned." (Brady, 9/21)

AP: Consumers Get Online Tool To Check Nursing Home Vaccine Data
Families and patients have a new online tool to compare COVID-19 vaccination rates among nursing homes, Medicare announced Tuesday, addressing complaints from consumer groups and lawmakers that the critical data had been too difficult to find. The information is now being made available through the “ Care Compare ” feature at Medicare.gov, the online tool for basic research on quality and safety issues at nursing homes. Consumers will be able to compare up to three nursing homes at the same time, and the webpage shows vaccination rates for residents and staff, as well as national and state averages. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/21)

Bloomberg Law: Long-Term Care Providers Get New Look At Medicare Bad Debt Pay
Eight long-term care providers will recover more Medicare money to satisfy bad debts because the federal government wrongfully reduced payments for years they weren’t enrolled in state Medicaid programs, a federal court said. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a part of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, must reevaluate nearly $2 million in claims filed by providers operated by Select Medical Corp. in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said. (Pazanowski, 9/21)

North Carolina Health News: NC Restores SHIIP For Seniors Choosing Medicare Plans 
The state’s popular NC senior health insurance information program, or SHIIP, decided Monday to bring back online, state-compiled Medicare information that, until a change this year, consumers had used to choose among different Medigap plans. It’s a reversal of a decision earlier this year when the state’s Department of Insurance, which runs SHIIP, had switched to a database created by a commercial vendor that has potential financial interest in the valuable health-care data that seniors enter into the system. (Goldsmith, 9/22)

In Medicaid news —

Yahoo Finance: Closing The 'Medicaid Gap' Would Save Lives And $2 Billion In Medical Debt, Study Finds
All U.S. states adopting Medicaid expansion would save an estimated 7,000 lives each year, shave off $2 billion of medical debt in collection, and lead to 48,640 fewer evictions on an annual basis, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP). Health insurance is “about far more than just coverage,” Emily Gee, co-author of the report and senior economist for health policy at CAP, told Yahoo Finance. “It can improve so many facets of people’s well-being, whether that’s health-related or financial, or even just peace of mind. My goal was to quantify the benefits of closing the coverage gap. The number of lives saved, reductions in evictions, and the reductions in medical debt is staggering.” (Belmonte, 9/21)

Fierce Healthcare: OIG: Most States Not Doing Enough To Monitor Medicaid Telehealth Fraud For Behavioral Health Services
Many states don’t monitor for telehealth fraud and fail to evaluate how telehealth has impacted patient access and care, a Department of Health and Human Services watchdog found. The agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report Tuesday that explored how states are evaluating the use of telehealth to treat behavioral health in Medicaid. While states have increasingly turned to telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, OIG found that a few don’t even know what services are offered virtually. (King, 9/21)

Mississippi Today: Congress Considers Medicaid Expansion Workaround To Aid Poor Mississippians
Democrats in the U.S. Congress are considering a way to offer health care insurance for low income Mississippians who have been denied coverage because of the refusal of the state’s political leadership to expand Medicaid. The proposal would provide health care coverage to people who are below the federal poverty level (an individual making $12,880 per year or less) in the 12 primarily Southern states — including Mississippi — that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Two million Americans could access health care coverage through the plan, with the bulk of those being in Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, according to an analysis by Judith Solomon, a health policy analyst with the Washington-based Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. (Harrison, 9/21)

In other insurance news related to high medical bills —

The New York Times: Their Baby Died In The Hospital. Then Came The $257,000 Hospital Bill
Brittany Giroux Lane gave birth to her daughter, Alexandra, a few days before Christmas in 2018. The baby had dark eyes and longish legs. She had also arrived about 13 weeks early, and weighed just two pounds. Alexandra initially thrived in the neonatal intensive care unit at Mount Sinai West. Ms. Lane, 35, recalls the nurses describing her daughter as a “rock star” because she grew so quickly. But her condition rapidly worsened after an infection, and Alexandra died early on the morning of Jan. 15 at 25 days old. ... Last summer, Ms. Lane started receiving debt collection notices. The letters, sent by the health plan Cigna, said she owed the insurer over $257,000 for the bills it accidentally covered for Alexandra’s care after Ms. Lane switched health insurers. (Kliff, 9/21)

Health News Florida: Hospital Administrators Ask State Lawmakers For Help Amid Staffing Crisis
Hospital administrators on Monday gave state House committees a glimpse into the challenges facing health care professionals, describing efforts to reimagine how care is delivered amid a nursing shortage and sizable financial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the forefront of the concerns is a shortage of nurses, which the executives told lawmakers has created an emergency for hospital administrators. (Dailey, 9/21)

In other health care industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Health Insurer CEO-To-Employee Salary Ratio Narrowed In 2020
Across the insurance industry, health plan CEOs are awarded the highest salaries and pocket the most compared to their subordinates, although the gap narrowed during the pandemic, a new survey shows. Centene CEO Michael Neidorff's $25 million compensation package ranked the highest among the 20 publicly traded insurance company chiefs, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence report published Monday. Neidorff took home 362 times more than the median $68,987 his workers earned, representing the greatest salary spread between employees and CEOs among health, property and casualty, and life insurance companies. Centene employees had the highest median pay among health insurers, S&P reports. (Tepper, 9/21)

Modern Healthcare: Dignity Health Nurses Ratify Union Contract
More than 14,000 registered union nurses at Dignity Health ratified a four-year contract with the health system that includes wage increases and provisions to recruit and retain workers. Members of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee voted to approve the contract with the San Francisco-based health system on Sept. 17. The contract covers Dignity Health nurses in California and Nevada. (Devereaux, 9/21)

The Boston Globe: Walgreens Boots Takes A Controlling Stake In Shields Health Solutions
The parent company of the Walgreens drugstore chain said Tuesday it will invest $970 million for a controlling stake in Shields Health Solutions, a Stoughton company that works with hospitals to set up specialty pharmacies. The deal will leave Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. with about 71 percent of Shields Health, the companies said in a statement, up from 23 percent. It values Shields Health, which was launched in 2012, at about $2.5 billion, and gives Walgreens Boots the option to buy the rest of the company in about two years. In 2019, Walgreens Boots teamed up with private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe to buy about half of Shields Health for between $850 million and $900 million. (Edelman, 9/21)

The Baltimore Sun: Johns Hopkins Bayview And University Of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Among Most ‘Socially Responsible’ Hospitals, Health Care Think Tank Says 
Two Baltimore hospitals — Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus — have been ranked among the top 10 most “socially responsible” health centers in the U.S. by a health care think tank and consulting organization. The ranking, released Tuesday by the Lown Institute, a Massachusetts-based think tank, placed Hopkins Bayview as the third most socially responsible hospital and UMMC Midtown as the fifth. The institute, which said it is dedicated to helping develop “a just and caring system for health,” launched the ranking to highlight the importance of health equity, calling it the missing piece for many elite hospitals. (Miller, 9/21)

Modern Healthcare: Providence Launches National Foundation To Spur Innovation
Providence has formed a national foundation to fund efforts to tackle a wide range of challenges straining the nation's healthcare system, the not-for-profit Catholic provider announced Monday. The healthcare giant seeks to accelerate the adoption of whole-person care, spur innovation and develop additional clinical research and best practices to improve access to healthcare services. The health system also aims to address the needs of vulnerable populations by better integrating mental health services and addressing social determinants of health. Health equity initiatives and environmental stewardship are also top funding priorities for the new Providence National Foundation. (Brady, 9/21)

Crain's Cleveland Business: MetroHealth Names Leaders For Equity Initiatives
MetroHealth has named two senior leaders to new roles in moves to underscore the system's commitment to inclusion, diversity and equity, according to a news release. Alan Nevel, who has served as MetroHealth's chief diversity and human resources officer since 2018, will become its first chief equity officer, a new position in which he will work with MetroHealth departments and initiatives to eliminate disparities and make equity a central principle of all the system does. (Coutré, 9/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Apple Is Working On IPhone Features To Help Detect Depression, Cognitive Decline
Apple Inc. is working on technology to help diagnose depression and cognitive decline, aiming for tools that could expand the scope of its burgeoning health portfolio, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Using an array of sensor data that includes mobility, physical activity, sleep patterns, typing behavior and more, researchers hope they can tease out digital signals associated with the target conditions so that algorithms can be created to detect them reliably, the people said. Apple hopes that would become the basis for unique features for its devices, according to the people and documents. (Winkler, 9/21)

In pharmaceutical news —

Stat: Biogen Considers Cost-Cutting Measures After Slow Aduhelm Sales
Earlier this month, Biogen executives admitted publicly that the launch of Aduhelm, its treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, was going slower than expected. Privately, the company is facing a situation far bleaker than what it has publicly disclosed, forcing Biogen to consider cost-cutting measures, including layoffs. (Feuerstein and Garde, 9/22)

Fox News: Poison Ivy Vaccine Making Progress: Report
Researchers are reportedly working on a vaccine to combat humans' response to poison ivy. According to Scientific American, scientists at the University of Mississippi and Hapten Sciences are "proceeding with a compound called PDC-APB" to be injected once every year or two to prevent the poison plant's effects. "We believe the shot will lead to desensitization and reduce or eliminate reactions to poison ivy, oak and sumac," Ray Hage, CEO of Hapten Sciences, told the outlet. "Every March I start to get e-mails from people asking, ‘Where is the drug? Can I be in a trial?’" (Musto, 9/21)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘Typhoid Mary’ Still Stalks The World, But Scientists Show Older Vaccine Works Against The Old Foe
Even as COVID-19 continues its rampage across the globe, an older health nemesis continues a more clandestine and increasingly deadly spread. Typhoid infects an estimated 11 million people a year and kills more than 160,000, largely in Asian and African countries with poor water and sanitation systems. Long treatable with antibiotics, the disease is growing resistant now, prompting health researchers to revive an older vaccine developed to prevent it. (Cohn, 9/22)

In updates on the Theranos trial —

Bay Area News Group: Elizabeth Holmes Trial: Patient Says Pregnancy Test Was Wrong
Brittany Gould received a goody-bag for new mothers when she went into a clinic to confirm she was pregnant, then minutes later received a Theranos blood test result that wrongly indicated she was miscarrying, Gould testified Tuesday at the criminal fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Gould was the first of 11 patients the prosecution has said it plans to call to testify at Holmes’ trial on a dozen felony counts. (Baron, 9/21)

CNN: Sexual Assault Linked To Brain Damage Later In Life, Study Finds 
Women who have been sexually assaulted have a higher risk of developing a type of brain damage that has been linked to cognitive decline, dementia and stroke, a new study found. "It could be either childhood sexual abuse or adult sexual assault," said study author Rebecca Thurston, a professor and director of the Women's Biobehavioral Health Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health. (LaMotte, 9/22)

In more news about women's health —

AP: Report: Births Decline In Pandemic May Have Turned Corner
While there has been a decline in births in the U.S. during the pandemic, a new report released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau suggests the drop may have turned a corner last March as births started rebounding. The decline in births was most noticeable at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021. In December 2020, births in the U.S. were down 7.7% from the previous year, and they were down 9.4% last January compared to the previous January. (Schneider, 9/21)

KHN: Home Births Gain Popularity In ‘Baby Bust’ Decade 
In a back-to-the-future twist on birth trends, California is seeing a sustained rise in the number of women choosing to deliver their babies in settings other than a hospital, a shift that accelerated as the pandemic created more risky and onerous conditions in many hospitals. About 5,600 people gave birth outside a hospital in California in 2020, up from about 4,600 in 2019 and 3,500 in 2010. The shift took place during a widespread “baby bust,” so the proportion of births outside hospitals rose from 0.68% in 2010 to 1.34% in 2020, according to a KHN analysis of provisional data from the California Department of Public Health. The proportion of births outside hospitals stayed relatively high — 1.28% — from January through July 2021. (Reese, 9/22)

Fox News: Most Women Aren't Getting Regular Tests For Cancer, Other Dangerous Diseases, Survey Shows
A new multiyear, global survey of women's health shows that most women aren't getting regular tests or screenings for cancer and other dangerous diseases that kill millions of people every year. The 2020 inaugural Hologic Global Women's Health Index listed several ailments, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. On average 33% of women across the 116 countries and territories surveyed said they had been tested in the past 12 months for high blood pressure. Fewer than 19% of women reported being tested for diabetes in the past year, though it is the sixth-leading cause of death for women. (Musto, 9/21)

In other public health news —

Axios: Care For Kidney Disease Plummeted In The Pandemic 
The number of patient visits for chronic kidney care plummeted by more than 26% in the early months of the pandemic, according to new data from the nation's largest insurer, UnitedHealth Group. Researchers are racing to understand just how much care people skipped — and whether it actually affected their health. (Reed, 9/22)

Roll Call: Report Renews Calls For Research On Social Media’s Impact On Kids 
Child safety advocates say an explosive report that Facebook failed to disclose data showing its products negatively affect the mental health of teenagers should be the final straw for lawmakers worried about social media’s impact on young users. Democrats and Republicans zeroed in on child safety as a bipartisan area of concern this year, even before a Wall Street Journal article published last week detailed internal research showing that teens — especially girls — blamed Instagram, a Facebook subsidiary, for anxiety and depression. (DeChiaro, 9/21)

Fox Business: FAA Asks Airlines To 'Take More Action' In Curbing Unruly Passenger Incidents
The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday urged representatives of major U.S. airlines to come up with ways they can do more to help stop the surge of reported "unruly" passenger incidents – and asked them to lay out those plans in a matter of days. The agency sat down with industry groups including Airlines for America and the Regional Airline Association, saying in a statement following the meeting that the FAA had "asked the airlines to commit to take more action and tell the FAA in a week the additional steps they will implement during the next month to curb unruly behavior," according to Reuters. Airlines for America told FOX Business that the organization is on board with the FAA's initiatives "aimed at preventing and responding to unruly passenger incidents," and that it took issue with how the gathering was presented by some in the press. (Dumas, 9/21)

AP: West Nile Virus At High Levels In Arizona Due To Wet Monsoon
This year’s wet monsoon in Arizona is contributing to a record-high season for the West Nile virus, which is spread through mosquito bites, health officials said. Arizona had 123 cases and four deaths through late last week, the state Department of Health Services said Tuesday. Nearly all of the cases were reported in Maricopa County, where the virus has been detected in record numbers of mosquitos studied, the department said. (9/22)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Public Health Expert Warns Of Vermin-Born Illnesses As Trash Pickup Continues To Lag
Health experts are sounding the alarm over vermin-borne illnesses stemming from the lack of trash pickup as residents remain tormented by the lack of this essential municipal service. Dr. Ronald Blanton, chair of Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, says viruses, bacterial infections and other illnesses could soon emerge from this crisis if they have not already. Flies that are attracted to the growing heaps of uncollected trash, are just “an incredible problem in their ability to carry pathogens,” he said. “There’s also a huge risk for transmission of disease from mosquito breeding.” (Ravits, 9/21)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Has The Most Cases In Cross-Country Salmonella Outbreak. The CDC Still Doesn't Know The Source
The CDC is still searching for the source of a multi-state salmonella outbreak that is impacting Texas the most. Of the 127 confirmed infections of the outbreak strain Salmonella Oranienburg, 45 live in Texas, the CDC reported on Sept. 17. Although cases have been reported in 25 total states, no other state has reported more than 13 salmonella infections connected to the outbreak. Confirmed infections are still climbing, and the CDC is planning to provide a new update later this week, a department spokesperson said on Tuesday. (Shelton, 9/21)

In other news from California, New York, Wisconsin and Oklahoma —

The New York Times: California’s Wildfires Had An Invisible Impact: High Carbon Dioxide Emissions 
This wildfire season so far in California has been extraordinary, producing thousands of fires — including one that, at nearly a million acres burned, is the largest single fire in state history — and spewing so much smoke that air quality has been affected thousands of miles away. Wildfires can have a global climate impact as well, because burning vegetation releases planet-warming carbon dioxide. And from June through August, California fires emitted twice as much CO2 as during the same period last year, and far more than any other summer in nearly two decades. (Fountain, 9/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Launching Program To Track Violent Deaths In LGBTQ Community
The evidence that LGBTQ people are more likely to die violent deaths is already glaring: Reported homicides of transgender women have surged, and almost half of young people in the community contemplated suicide last year. But the totality of those crises isn’t clear because no state currently tracks how many LGBTQ people die as a result of violent acts, including homicide, suicide and police use of deadly force. California, long a pioneer in LGBTQ rights, is on track to become the first state to do so. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a measure last week that will create a pilot program for medical examiners and coroners in six counties to report the gender identity and sexual orientation of people who die violent deaths. (Gardiner, 9/21)

AP: Rikers Island Should Close, Say 4 House Democrats From NY
Four members of Congress from New York demanded the release of inmates and closure of New York City’s troubled Rikers Island jail complex after another inmate was reported dead at the facility. Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jerry Nadler, Jamaal Bowman and Nydia Velázquez called conditions at the jail “deplorable and nothing short of a humanitarian crisis,” in a letter Tuesday to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. (Price, 9/21)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republican Lawmaker Seeks $100M In Funds For Mental Health In Schools
A Republican lawmaker is proposing legislation that would require Gov. Tony Evers to set aside at least $100 million in federal pandemic aid for school mental health programs. But it faces opposition from the Department of Public Instruction and Evers, who have pushed for significant funding increases in the past but say they should be made during the budget process using state funds instead of providing a one-time infusion of money that won't be available in the future. The funding proposed by Rep. Jon Plumer of Lodi would come from the billions in federal aid flowing to the state through the federal laws known as the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan Act. (Beck, 9/21)

Oklahoman: Mental Health Professionals On Calls Would Benefit Police, Study Shows
A bi-partisan study held Monday by Oklahoma's House Public Safety Committee affirmed that law enforcement would benefit from enhanced participation by mental health professionals on crisis calls. Rep. Randy Randleman, R-Eufaula, and Rep. Collin Walke, D-Oklahoma City, requested the study to establish the need for more mental health crisis units and help the police identify mental health crises more accurately, according to a news release from the Oklahoma State House of Representatives. The study comes after the Oklahoma City Police Department was recently given recommendations from an additional study that included implementing an alternative response model for mental health calls. (Williams, 9/22)

Bloomberg: Mauritius To Become Second African Nation To Offer Covid Booster Shots
Mauritius will offer Covid-19 booster shots from Sept. 23 to people who received double doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to avert future coronavirus surges. “The campaign will start with people who had their second dose four months ago,” Health Minister Kailesh Jagutpal told reporters in Port Louis, the capital, on Tuesday. Nations from Israel to the U.S. have either started administering booster shots or plan to as the contagious delta variant threatens efforts to end the pandemic. Mauritius will become the second country in Africa after the Seychelles to do so as new surges could threaten plans for the island nation to attract tourists. (Bhuckory, 9/21)

Bloomberg: Thailand Says Pfizer Spurs Top Response After Sinovac, Astra Jab
One of Thailand’s main Covid-19 vaccine regimes generates a lower immune response than inoculation combinations that include an mRNA-based dose, according to a study by the Siriraj Institute of Clinical Research. Preliminary results showed that a Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine as a first shot followed by an AstraZeneca Plc jab -- a pairing widely used in Thailand -- elicited a weaker immune response than a two-dose regime in which Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine was administered as the second shot four weeks after an initial jab of either Sinovac or Astra, the study said. (Thanthong-Knight, 9/22)

The New York Times: One Covid Case Prompts Closures Across A Chinese City Of 10 Million
Harbin, a city in far northern China, ordered gyms, cinemas, bathhouses, mahjong parlors and other leisure venues to close on Tuesday after a single resident in the city of 10 million was confirmed to have Covid. The closures in Harbin were part of a raft of measures that kicked in, enforcing the Chinese government’s “zero tolerance” approach that seeks to extinguish even small outbursts of infections with sweeping measures. (Buckley, 9/22)

The Washington Post: A Japanese Man Threatened A ‘Bloodbath’ At A Vaccination Site. He Sent His Warning Via Fax. 
A man claiming to be a part of an organized crime group threatened a "bloodbath" at a covid vaccination center in Tokyo this weekend, and did so in a decidedly Japanese way: via fax, with a cover page titled "Death Threat." Despite repeated attempts to wean officials off fax machines, Japan remains hugely dependent on these technological relics that can feel out of place in the country that invented emoji. (Lee and Inuma, 9/22)

AP: German Officials Fear Anti-Mask Radicalization After Killing
Senior officials in Germany expressed shock Tuesday over the killing of a young gas station clerk who was shot dead at the weekend by a man opposed to the country’s pandemic restrictions. A 49-year-old German was arrested in the fatal shooting of the clerk Saturday in the western town of Idar-Oberstein. The suspect is being held on suspicion of murder. Authorities said the man told officers he acted “out of anger” after being refused service by the clerk for not wearing a mask while trying to buy beer at the gas station. (Jordans, 9/21)

In other global developments —

The Washington Post: Russian Hackers Target Iowa Grain Co-Op In $5.9 Million Ransomware Attack
Russian hackers leveled a ransomware attack on an Iowa farming co-op and demanded $5.9 million to unlock the computer networks used to keep food supply chains and feeding schedules on track for millions of chickens, hogs and cattle. Fort Dodge-based New Cooperative, a member-owned alliance of farmers that sells corn and soy products, contained the breach and developed a workaround to continue accepting grain shipments and distributing feed, a person close to the company told The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. (Bogage and Reiley, 9/21)

CBS News: 18 Million Americans Can't Afford Needed Medications, Gallup Finds 
About 18 million Americans, or 7% of U.S. adults, say they were recently unable to pay for at least one prescription medication for their household, according to a new poll from Gallup. The finding shows in "stark terms" how high health-care costs and prescription drug prices are impacting households across the nation, the polling firm said. The situation is even worse for low-income households with annual income of less than $24,000, with almost 20% unable to pay for at least one prescription medication in the prior three months, Gallup found in its survey of almost 5,000 adults in June. About 1 in 10 adults say they've skipped a pill in the prior year as a way to save money. (Picchi, 9/21)

Axios: Democrats' Case For Prioritizing Health Care Policies In Reconciliation Package 
Health care advocates are making the case that the pieces of Democrats' legislative agenda that lower health care costs and expand coverage are the most popular with voters — and should thus be prioritized. Why it matters: Democrats are trying to figure out what topline spending number they have to work with for their reconciliation package. The lower that number goes, the more the party will have to cut from the package. (Owens, 9/21)

The Daily Pennsylvanian: Health Experts Discuss High Drug Prices And Potential For Reform At Virtual Penn Event 
Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics hosted a virtual seminar in which panelists discussed high drug prices and possibilities for reform in the present political climate. The seminar, entitled "Drug Pricing: Policy and Politics," featured American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Benedic Ippolito, Washington University law professor Rachel Sachs, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health scientist Mariana Socal. The event was moderated by Perelman School of Medicine and Wharton School professor Rachel Werner on Friday. (Dasgupta, 9/20)

Also —

Texas Monthly: How Mark Cuban Plans To Dunk On The Drug Industry 
The subject line on the email began with two words: “Cold pitch.” When Alex Oshmyansky hit send, he figured he’d never even get a reply from the recipient, Dallas billionaire Mark Cuban. After all, Cuban deletes most of the thousand or so emails he gets each day. And Oshmyansky’s message, like most of those that end up in Cuban’s trash folder, was asking for an investment—in a company called Osh’s Affordable Pharmaceuticals. But to Oshmyansky’s surprise, the Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank host replied. Cuban told Oshmyansky, a bespectacled 36-year-old with an MD from Duke University, that he was intrigued by the concept, which had already attracted $1 million in funding. Osh’s Affordable Pharmaceuticals was set up to buy generic drugs from their manufacturers and sell them directly to pharmacies, undercutting pricing for a few important medications by leapfrogging what Oshmyansky has called the “monopolistic middlemen in the supply chain.” (Shinneman, 9/15)

Los Angeles Business Journal: How GoodRx Fended Off Amazon
A year ago this month, Santa Monica-based GoodRx Holdings Inc. and its prescription drug comparison price shopping app went public, making a splash as one of the few profitable companies to go through with an initial public offering. In the year since, GoodRx and its consumer-focused health care apps have managed to hold their own and even thrive despite an escalating threat from a prescription drug discount program launched by ecommerce giant Amazon.com Inc. late last year. (Fine, 9/20)

The Hill: Like FDR, Biden Should Welcome Their Hatred
President Joe Biden and his agenda are appropriately inspiring comparisons to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. Biden himself has welcomed the comparisons, even traveling to Warm Springs, Ga., FDR’s famous getaway, to give a speech just one week before the 2020 election. Biden is on the verge of proving those comparisons correct — if he, like FDR, stands strong against wealthy special interests. If Biden is successful in enacting a bold Build Back Better package, he will cement his place in history. Future historians will explain that Biden effectively built on Roosevelt’s legacy in important and ambitious ways. (Nancy Altman, 9/21)

The Guardian: Guess What The Three Democrats Blocking Lower Medication Prices Have In Common? 
The three conservative Democratic lawmakers threatening to kill their party’s drug pricing legislation have raked in roughly $1.6m of campaign cash from donors in the pharmaceutical and health products industries. One of the lawmakers is the House’s single largest recipient of pharmaceutical industry campaign cash this election cycle, and another lawmaker’s immediate past chief of staff is now lobbying for drugmakers. The threat from Democratic representatives Kurt Schrader (Oregon), Scott Peters (California) and Kathleen Rice (New York) comes just as the pharmaceutical industry’s top lobbying group announced a seven-figure ad campaign to vilify the Democratic legislation, which aims to lower the cost of medicines for Americans now facing the world’s highest prescription drug prices. (David Sirota and Andrew Perez, 9/20)

Rexburg Standard Journal: Prescription Drug Prices: Politicians Are All Talk, No Action 
On July 26, 2020, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order under which the US government’s Medicare Part D program would have negotiated lower prescription drug prices based on an “International Price Index.” Implementation of the order was delayed pending counter-proposals from Big Pharma, but the Democratic response was swift. “Instead of meaningfully lowering drug prices, President Trump’s Executive Orders would hand billions of dollars to Big Pharma,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) complained, without explaining why or how. (Thomas Knapp, 9/16)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Time Has Come To Bargain Drug Prices 
For years, elected leaders have occasionally called for the federal government to begin negotiating the price of prescription drugs for Medicare. The idea has come around once again, this time in the form of a Biden administration proposal. The plan would finally allow the federal government to bargain the prices for prescription drugs — something so obviously sensible it often baffles consumers to imagine any buyer not negotiating. The Health and Human Services Department proposal would not only bring down the cost of drugs for the federal government but also for all consumers. (9/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden’s Price Controls Will Make Good Health More Expensive 
Democrats are looking for ways to finance their $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill and one plan is to put price controls on prescription drugs. If enacted, these policies would harm patients enormously. Far from saving money, price controls would make better health more expensive. The Biden White House has proposed requiring Medicare to “negotiate” drug prices. Companies face a tax as high as 95% on sales if they don’t concede to the government price, meaning this isn’t a negotiation but a demand. Drug companies would have to offer commercial insurers the same rates. The plan would also tie price increases to inflation, which will only translate to higher prices for drugs at launch. (Tomas J. Philipson, 9/15)

Also —

The New York Times: Our Generic Drug Supply Is Sick 
The American health care system is built on the idea that a pill is a pill. Generic drugs are considered equal to and interchangeable with one another — and also with the name brand. This gospel has existed since 1984, when a law known as Hatch-Waxman was passed, allowing companies to make drugs that had gone off patent without having to replicate the same expensive clinical trials. For the most part, all they had to do was prove that the generic was manufactured using good practices and worked in the body in a similar way, within an acceptable range. Hatch-Waxman has been a stunning success. Americans have grown increasingly comfortable with generic medications, which now represent 90 percent of the prescriptions that are filled in this country. Their widespread use has translated into trillions of dollars in savings. Politicians and experts agree that any hope we have for affordable, universal health care rests on generic drugs. (Farah Stockman, 9/18)

Modern Healthcare: More Action Needed To Stem The Tide Of Burnout, PTSD 
So much has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in hospitals across the U.S. and the rest of the world. This is especially true of the healthcare workplace environment. The ways in which people work, from new personal protection protocols and varied work schedules to how caregivers engage with colleagues and patients, are all inherently different from the pre-pandemic world. (Cassandra Godzik, 9/21)

CNN: Texas Doctor Could Be What Real Allyship On Abortion Rights Looks Like 
Women in Texas need allies. And not the silent kind who quietly grumble to like-minded people about how heinous it is that a group made up of mostly well-off White men decided to pass an abortion law that would disproportionately affect the poorest women of color: those who can't afford to travel out of the vast state of Texas for a safe abortion, can't take time off work to do so, can't get child care for their children while they are away, don't have private health insurance or are undocumented. (Keith Magee, 9/21)

The Atlantic: What It’s Like To Be Black And Disabled In America 
When angel love miles arrived at Penn State in 1998, she realized she was going to have to fight to finish school. To begin with, Miles was a low-income Black student, and Penn State was mostly white. In addition, she has spina bifida, a condition that affects spinal development in utero. In Miles’s case, this means she uses crutches or a wheelchair. (Shalene Gupta, 9/21)

Stat: Capping Medicare Part B Payments Will Limit Outpatient Access To CAR-T
The revolutionary life-extending approach to treating cancer known as CAR-T is under threat from a quotidian source: policy proposals to limit Medicare reimbursement in the outpatient setting to the average sales price of the treatment plus a small addition for overhead. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies have been changing the cancer treatment landscape. These one-time customized treatments created from an individual’s own T cells represent a significant advancement in treatment. Expanding their use across care settings is essential to improving patient outcomes and quality of life. (Richard Maziarz and Sophie Snyder, 9/22)

The Boston Globe: Reimagining Public Health Infrastructure In The 21st Century 
The coronavirus pandemic has ushered in the opportunity for a once in a generation reimagining of America’s public health infrastructure. To meet this opportunity, a new multidisciplinary academic field of public health technology should be established to integrate diverse expertise in public health, technology, engineering, data analytics, and design to help build the products, programs, and systems necessary to modernize the nation’s public health infrastructure and ready it for 21st-century challenges and opportunities. (Susan J. Blumenthal and David Sun Kong, 9/22)

Houston Chronicle: Congress Has A Historic Opportunity To Expand Medicaid In Texas
Despite billions of federal dollars on the table, strong statewide public support and the ravages of COVID-19, Texas legislators have refused to expand Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program that covers Americans with limited incomes. They’re not alone. Texas is one of 12 states that have said no to Medicaid expansion. By opting out, these states have left approximately 2.2 million people — predominantly people of color — without any pathway to basic, life-saving health care coverage. They don’t qualify for traditional Medicaid programs, which cover only a small number of parents and exclude those without dependent kids entirely (Texas’ rules are the most stringent), but also earn too little to receive marketplace insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. (Marisa Bono, 9/21)

The Washington Post: The CDC Should Let Americans Decide For Themselves If Their Risk Warrants Getting A Booster Shot 
Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously on Friday to authorize a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at least six months after the initial two doses to those 65 and older and others deemed high risk for severe covid-19. Though I wish the agency went further to allow boosters for all adults, I think the FDA reached a reasonable decision — one that I hope will be reaffirmed this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Leana S. Wen, 9/21)

Stat: Do We Need Vaccine Exemption Boards? 
When I was a senior in college, the U.S. government tried to draft me — and thousands of other young men like me — into the armed forces. The war in Vietnam was being fought with an army of conscripts. I was exempt from the draft as a college student, but my graduation loomed and the government had instituted a lottery system to determine who would be drafted first. Each day of the year was assigned a random number according to your birthdate; those with the lowest numbers were called first. (Arthur L. Caplan, 9/22)

Bloomberg: Covid-19: Companies Should Hurry Up And Require Vaccines 
It’s been less than two weeks since President Joe Biden said the federal government would throw its weight behind new Covid-19 vaccine and testing mandates for corporate America. And there are already signs of progress. Last week, Biden hosted some of the country’s top business leaders at the White House to discuss the push. Afterward, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Raytheon Technologies Corp. said all their employees in the U.S. — about 250,000 and 130,000 workers, respectively — would have to get vaccinated. (Walgreens, like some of its corporate counterparts, is allowing workers to enroll in a testing program if they choose not to get a jab.) (Timothy L. O'Brien, 9/20)

The Atlantic: Pandemic Policy Is A Matter Of Democracy, Not Just Science 
When President Joe Biden announced last month that the U.S. would offer a third vaccine dose to Americans who had already received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, he exposed a divide between an administration that has pledged to “follow the science” and many prominent health experts who disagreed with the decision. I am a physician and public-health professional specializing in infectious diseases, and I can think of many potential scientific, regulatory, logistical, and ethical objections to Biden’s announcement. (Jay Varma, 9/21)

CNN: What Vaccine Inequity Means If You're A Young Woman In Uganda 
When Uganda ran out of vaccines shortly after the first doses arrived in March, it was another blow for girls and young women who have made extraordinary sacrifices as our country struggles to keep Covid-19 at bay. Schools and universities were again shuttered, leaving 15 million students at home or on the streets. Workers went unpaid and fear spread through the communities. The impacts were felt first and hardest by women, especially if they were young. (Agnes Cynthia Amoding, 9/20)

Los Angeles Times: What Would Jesus Do? He'd Get Vaccinated, That's What
One year ago, when my father was sliding toward the end, I had occasion to call 911 three times in the weeks before he died. During each fraught first-responder visit, my house filled with at least half a dozen brawny, uniformed paramedics and firefighters. We stood inches from one another as they took my father’s vital signs to determine why he had fallen or passed out or — on the last visit — whether he’d had a catastrophic stroke. This is the kind of vulnerable person that our vaccine-resistant firefighters are metaphorically spitting on when, in the name of personal or religious freedom, they refuse any of the widely available, safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccines. (Robin Abcarian, 9/22)

Newsweek: The World Needs More Equity In COVID Vaccine Access 
The decline in the COVID-19 fatality rate in vaccinated populations is evidence of the efficacy of vaccines. In the U.S., 65 percent of the adult population has received at least one dose and 54 percent is fully vaccinated. The average figure for the European Union's 27 member countries is 70 percent. In Africa, meanwhile, just 3 percent of adults are fully vaccinated. Africa rightly feels indignant about the unfair global distribution of vaccines. The vast majority of AstraZeneca, Janssen, Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines available in 2021 have been reserved by upper-middle- and high-income countries, leaving the African Union's Africa Vaccine Access Trust (AVAT) and the COVAX vaccine sharing scheme empty. (Githinji Gitahi and Charles Okeahalam, 9/22)

The New York Times: We Have Gone Badly Off Track In The Global Covid Fight 
The giant steel vats used to make most of the world’s vaccines are not easy to come by. They’re highly specialized pieces of equipment; there are only so many of them to go around, and it’s expensive and time-consuming to make more. So when vaccine developers were figuring out how to produce billions of Covid-19 vaccine shots as quickly as possible, they decided to use an alternative: disposable bioreactor bags. At first, it was a win-win. The bags are quicker and cheaper to make than the tanks, and using them can shave precious hours off manufacturing times because they don’t have to be cleaned and sterilized after each use. (Jeneen Interlandi, 9/21)