USA Today: Vaccine Appears To Work In Young Kids, FDA Says
Federal health regulators said for the first time late Friday that kid-size doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine appear highly effective at preventing symptomatic infections in elementary school children and caused no unexpected safety issues. The Food and Drug Administration posted its analysis of Pfizer’s data ahead of a public meeting next week to debate whether the shots are ready for the nation’s roughly 28 million children ages 5 to 11. The agency will ask a panel of outside vaccine experts to vote on that question and is expected to authorize the vaccine for young children as early as next week. (Santucci and Carless, 10/23)

The Washington Post: FDA Review Appears To Pave The Way For Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine For Children 5 To 11
The review found that for four scenarios that were weighed, “the benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine 2-dose primary series clearly outweigh the risks.” But in one, when the virus was at its lowest levels, there could be more hospitalizations related to a rare heart side effect associated with the vaccine than the number of hospitalizations prevented from covid-19, the illness caused by the virus. Even then, the review found, “the overall benefits of the vaccine may still outweigh the risks under this lowest incidence scenario” because of how hospitalized cases of the two conditions differ. The vaccine-related myocarditis cases have tended to resolve in a few days, unlike covid-19 infections, which can lead to death. (Johnson and McGinley, 10/22)

Also —

Reuters: Fauci Says Vaccines For Kids Between 5-11 Likely Available In November 
Vaccines for kids between the ages of 5 and 11 will likely be available in the first half of November, top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Sunday, predicting a timetable that could see many kids getting fully vaccinated before the end of the year. "If all goes well, and we get the regulatory approval and the recommendation from the CDC, it's entirely possible if not very likely that vaccines will be available for children from 5 to 11 within the first week or two of November," Fauci said in an interview with ABC's This Week. (Pamuk, 10/24)

CNN: How To Talk To Your Younger Kids About The Covid-19 Vaccine 
An 11-year-old girl was petrified -- her word -- of needles, so much so that she didn't want to talk about it with me. She couldn't talk about it without becoming visibly upset. Her heart raced, her breathing became rapid, and her stomach hurt when she tried to answer my questions. So, we backed up and started from the beginning. I first had her look at cartoon images of children getting vaccines. When I asked her how it felt to do that, she rolled her eyes and reminded me that it wasn't real. Next, I had her look at photos of medical needles. She reported that she didn't like the pictures, but she could handle looking at them. (Hurley, 10/25)

In related news about children —

Politico: CDC Director Encourages Halloween Trick-Or-Treating 
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Sunday encouraged families to celebrate Halloween and other holidays amid the Covid-19 pandemic, though still urged “prevention strategies.“ Speaking to host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday,” she said, “I would say put on those costumes, stay outside and enjoy your trick-or-treating.“ (Cohen, 10/24)

CNN: People Who Got Covid-19 Vaccines Were Less Likely To Die From Any Cause Compared To Unvaccinated People, Study Finds
People who got Covid-19 vaccines were not only less likely to die from the virus, but they were less likely to die from any cause over the following months, researchers reported Friday. The research team was trying to demonstrate that the three authorized Covid-19 vaccines are safe and they say their findings clearly demonstrate that. "Recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Janssen vaccines had lower non--COVID-19 mortality risk than did the unvaccinated comparison groups," the researchers wrote in the weekly report of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Fox, 10/22)

In other news about the vaccine and booster rollout —

The Washington Post: Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Recipients Rush To Get Boosters 
Jennifer Lopez, 58, had jumped at the chance to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last March but soon began feeling regret when data showed it might be less effective than other coronavirus vaccines. So, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on booster shots Thursday night for all Johnson & Johnson recipients who had gone two months since their shot, Lopez wasted no time seeking one out. (Shepherd and Sun, 10/23)

The Washington Post: Americans Abroad Search For A First Vaccine Dose As Millions At Home Get Their Third One
U.S. Army veteran Leighton Slattery, 83, who lives with his daughter outside of Jakarta, Indonesia, says the two have spent much of the year housebound as they implored officials to share coronavirus vaccines donated by the U.S. government. In Bangalore, India, Asray Gopa, 17, still waits to get vaccinated because — unlike his friends in the United States — he is not old enough to obtain the shots under that country’s rules. (Diamond, 10/24)

NBC News: ‘Left Behind’: For Those With Weakened Immune Systems, Vaccines Have Not Provided Same Freedoms
One morning in March 2020, Terez Giuliana sat down to compose an email to her daughter. In the subject line, she wrote, “If I die.” Giuliana, 65, of Philadelphia, has common variable immune deficiency, a disorder characterized by an inability to produce antibodies, sometimes even after receiving vaccines, leaving those who suffer from it very vulnerable to infections. Covid-19 posed an extraordinary threat to her health. So as the virus began to sweep through the United States, Giuliana felt a need to get her affairs in order — just in case. (Chuck, 10/23)

USA Today: COVID Vaccine: Why Mental Health Disorders May Qualify For Boosters
Research during the pandemic has shown those with mental health disorders are more vulnerable to COVID-19, but it wasn't until last week that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added them to the list of underlying medical conditions associated with a higher risk of severe disease. Although mental health experts say the addition should have come sooner, they applaud the agency’s update as the Food and Drug Administration authorizes COVID-19 boosters for millions of vulnerable Americans. (Rodriguez, 10/23)

The Boston Globe: Chelsea, A City Hit Hard By COVID, Has Become A Vaccination Standout
“The Chelsea experience is one we really need to learn from,” said Carlene Pavlos, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association. “It’s one where we can see the value of efforts that are locally designed, locally led, and developed by the people most familiar with the community and most trusted by the community.” (Freyer, Vázquez Toness and Bravo, 10/24)

Also —

PBS NewsHour: WATCH: CDC Says The Definition Of ‘Fully Vaccinated’ May Change As More People Get Boosters
Currently, the CDC says people still are considered fully vaccinated starting two weeks after the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, or the single-dose J&J shot. “So even after you boost, it remains important for us to remain smart about our prevention strategies,” Walensky said. “We still have over 93% of our counties with high or moderate community transmission, currently around 64 million Americans remain unvaccinated, leaving themselves and their children, their families, their loved ones and communities vulnerable.” (10/22)

The Hill: GOP Leaders Escalate Battle Against COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
GOP officials in states including Florida, Alabama and Arizona took steps to push back on the looming requirement for businesses with more than 100 employees to require workers to be vaccinated or tested regularly. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate, on Thursday requested a special session of the state legislature focused on combating the mandates after previously floating plans to sue the administration.  (Coleman, 10/23)

The Hill: DeSantis Eyes $5,000 Bonus For Unvaccinated Police To Relocate To Florida
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Sunday that he is looking to enact legislation that will provide a $5,000 bonus to police officers to relocate to Florida, where they can avoid vaccine mandates. DeSantis told host Maria Bartitomo on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that Florida is “actively working” to recruit law enforcement officers from other states who are being fired for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine. (Schnell, 10/24)

USA Today: Florida's Top Health Official Refused To Wear A Mask During Meeting
Florida's top health official was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of a state senator who had cancer. Tina Polsky, a Florida senator, recently received a breast cancer diagnosis and asked state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo to wear a mask when he arrived for a Wednesday meeting. He refused to wear one. Ladapo had asked to meet with Polsky as he seeks confirmation in the Senate after being named to the post by Gov. Ron DeSantis last month. DeSantis has been steadfast in his opposition to COVID-19 vaccination mandates, calling them unfair and discriminatory. (Tebor, 10/25)

Houston Chronicle: AG Paxton Vows To Sue The Feds For Any State Agency Defying Biden Vaccine Mandate
As President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors took effect, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told state agencies he’d gladly sue the federal government if they choose to instead follow Gov. Greg Abbott’s order blocking such requirements. He also warned the agencies that “any violation of state law may expose your agency and its principals to liability.” “We will support any agency that follows state law and seeks to resist the repressive funding conditions being unlawfully imposed by President Biden,” Paxton wrote to Texas state agencies in an Oct. 15 letter obtained by Hearst Newspapers. (Goldenstein, 10/25)

Dallas Morning News: More Than Half Of Dallas’ City Employees Have Gotten COVID-19 Vaccines
More than half of Dallas’ city employees have reported being vaccinated against COVID-19 since an incentive was announced in late August giving workers extra vacation days if they got the shot. Over 7,500 workers have provided proof of their vaccination status as of Oct. 1, said Kim Bizor Tolbert, the city manager’s chief of staff. The city has more than 12,900 employees, she said Friday, and officials believe reported vaccination numbers will exceed 70% by the time the incentive ends after Oct. 31. “Within the first 30 days, we had over 6,200,” Bizor Tolbert said Friday during a virtual meeting with The Dallas Morning News’ editorial board. “We’re tracking right now close to 8,000.” (Bailey Jr., 10/25)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Universities Stuck Over Conflicting COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Many Texas universities — which collectively hold billions of dollars in federal contracts — are wrestling with how to navigate the Biden administration’s mandate that all federal contractors be vaccinated by Dec. 8 in a state that bans vaccine mandates. Several public universities — all managed by Gov. Greg Abbott appointees — told The Texas Tribune they are still evaluating the executive order, which applies to new federal contracts of $250,000 or greater and awarded as of Nov. 14 or existing contracts that have been renewed as of Oct. 15. (McGee, 10/25)

In other news about covid mandates —

NPR: Thousands Of Workers Are Getting Fired For Refusing The Vaccine
Employers are firing workers for refusing to comply with vaccine mandates. They represent only a tiny fraction of overall employees, not even 1% in some workplaces. But it can add up to thousands. (Hsu, 10/24)

The New York Times: Their Jobs Made Them Get Vaccinated. They Refused. 
Under the threat of losing their jobs, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers finally got a Covid-19 vaccine. Teachers, nurses and home health aides accepted their occupations’ mandates. The mass resignations some experts had predicted did not occur, as most workers hurriedly got inoculated. Josephine Valdez, 30, a public school paraprofessional from the Bronx, did not. (Nir, 10/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Rejected 6% Of Medical Exemptions For School Vaccinations This Year, In Hint Of Fight Ahead
As California moves toward requiring all students to be inoculated against COVID-19, state officials have revoked more than 180 medical exemptions granted to families for other required school vaccinations since the start of the year. The revocations, which reflect a tension that may grow in coming years, came under a new law that seeks to crack down on suspected abuse in the process for forgoing the immunizations that every California student must get. The California Department of Public Health told The Chronicle that as of early October, it had revoked 182 medical exemptions through a new administrative review process because they did not meet federal guidelines for immunization practices — representing nearly 6% of the 3,136 exemption requests the department had reviewed. (Koseff, 10/24)

KHN: In Maine, Vaccine Mandate For EMTs Stresses Small-Town Ambulance Crews 
On a recent morning, Jerrad Dinsmore and Kevin LeCaptain of Waldoboro EMS in rural Maine drove their ambulance to a secluded house near the ocean, to measure the clotting levels of a woman in her 90s. They told the woman, bundled under blankets to keep warm, they would contact her doctor with the result. “Is there anything else we can do?” Dinsmore asked. “No,” she said. “I’m all set.” This wellness check, which took about 10 minutes, is one of the duties Dinsmore and LeCaptain perform in addition to the emergency calls they respond to as staffers with Waldoboro Emergency Medical Service. (Wight, 10/25)

The Washington Post: Pro-Kyrie Irving, Anti-Vaccine-Mandate Protesters Demonstrate Before Nets Game 
A group of anti-vaccine-mandate protesters demonstrated Sunday afternoon at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in support of Nets guard Kyrie Irving, who has been told by the team to stay away as long as he refuses to receive a coronavirus vaccination. The incident occurred before the Nets’ home opener against the Charlotte Hornets. At one point, a number of demonstrators pushed through a row of metal barricades and rushed to an arena entrance. According to an arena spokesperson, none managed to enter the arena. (Bieler, 10/24)

CNN: Brain Fog In Covid-19 Patients Can Persist For Months, Even In Those Who Were Not Hospitalized, Study Finds
Cognitive impairment -- described as brain fog -- can persist for months in Covid-19 patients, even for some who were not hospitalized, according to a new study. The research, published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open, found that nearly a quarter of Covid-19 patients in a Mount Sinai Health System registry experienced some issues with their memory -- and although hospitalized patients were more likely to have such brain fog after a coronavirus infection, some outpatients had cognitive impairment too. (Howard, 10/22)

NBC News: Many Covid Patients Have Memory Problems Months Later, New Study Finds
Many people who have recovered from Covid-19 infection are still experiencing cognitive impairment more than seven months later, according to new research. The study, which describes the the kinds of cognitive problems experienced by patients who had been treated at the Mount Sinai system in New York, adds to the growing evidence that Covid "long haulers" can experience myriad ailments weeks and months after recovering from the initial illness. As many as 24 percent of people who have recovered from Covid-19 continue to experience some sort of cognitive difficulties, including problems with memory, multitasking, processing speed and focusing, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai reported Friday in JAMA Network Open. (Carroll, 10/23)

In other news about covid —

The Hill: CDC Director: 'We Can't Be Complacent' Amid Drop In COVID-19 Cases
Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Sunday that she was "encouraged" by dropping COVID-19 cases across the country but warned "we can't be complacent." Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Walensky gave her assessment of the current state of the pandemic to host Chris Wallace, who noted that the U.S. is still seeing over 70,000 COVID-19 cases a day but that cases have seen a decrease compared to the prior month that saw a surge due to the delta variant. (Choi, 10/24)

Anchorage Daily News: September Was Alaska’s Deadliest Pandemic Month. Here’s What That Might Tell Us About The Future Of COVID-19 In The State
In Alaska, at least one COVID-19 death — but usually two or more, and as many as 10 — was reported for each day in the month of September, state data shows. It was the deadliest month of the pandemic so far, with 138 people dead. September 2021 broke records on multiple other fronts, including the number of COVID-positive patients in Alaska’s hospitals and daily case counts. Elevated hospitalization and case numbers have carried on into October. Health experts say the darkest, grimmest weeks of the pandemic can teach us that without more vaccinations and prevention measures, the potential for a continued surge or a new one remains, and the pandemic’s deadly toll will likely continue until cases decrease. (Krakow, 10/24)

Houston Chronicle: As Delta Wave Fades, Texas Children's Battles Fatigue - And A Troubling Chain Of Infections
Isaiah Gonzalez grimaced as the nurse approached his hospital bed, his small hands bound with surgical tape to safeguard the tubes delivering a steady flow of antibodies to his bloodstream. He squeezed his pink-stained eyelids shut as the masked nurse put a thermometer in his armpit to check whether his skyhigh fever had fallen. He was thinking of monkeys. “I want to go to the zoo,” the 3-year-old said, reaching for his mother as his face twisted in distress. It has taken all Isaiah’s powers of imagination to escape the confines of his bed in the intensive care unit at Texas Children’s Hospital. He is battling multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, a dangerous but poorly understood illness that arose with the coronavirus pandemic last year. Fevered and weak, the Baytown resident was hospitalized earlier this month as the inflammation attacked his heart, kidneys and blood vessels. (Mishanec, 10/22)

Salt Lake Tribune: COVID Denial, Communism And QAnon. Conspiracy Theory-Fueled Conference Hits Salt Lake City
A conspiracy and religion-fueled political conference in downtown Salt Lake City drew about 1,000 attendees on Friday to the Salt Palace Convention Center. People there heard from some of the leading far-right political figures, including retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne. The Western Conservative Action Network, or WeCANact event, was billed as a place to learn to fight “against the socialist, communist, and Marxist ideologies” in government, schools and the media. The event did focus on that promise, but also offered up a large helping of misinformation about COVID-19, vaccines and the 2020 election. And, to top off the fringe political buffet, there were lots of references to the QAnon conspiracy theory. (Schott, 10/23)

Also —

Fox News: COVID-19 Hospital Airborne Transmission Prevented By Air Filters, Study Suggests
COVID-19 particles can be effectively filtered from the air to prevent transmission in the hospital using portable air filters and ultraviolet (UV) light sterilization technology, according to a recent study. Nature recently reported the study, which is currently not peer reviewed, to be the first to demonstrate how portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters can reduce hospital transmission of detectable airborne COVID-19 virus in a real-world health care setting. The research is currently reported in the preprint server MedRxiv. (Sudhakar, 10/24)

Fox News: Summer Camp Strategies Aimed At Preventing COVID Spread Led To 'Almost Zero' Transmissions: CDC
Implementation of multiple strategies prevented almost zero transmission of COVID-19 among 7,173 campers and staff members who attended nine U.S. overnight camps this summer, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study. During this summer, nine affiliated camps worked with the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Camp Association as well as state and local departments to design protocols specific to their individual site. (Sudhakar, 10/24)

KHN: Fresh Faces, Fewer Tools: Meet The New Bosses Fighting Covid
Emilie Sayler’s roots run deep in southwestern Montana. She serves on a nearby town council and the board of the local Little League. She went to college in a neighboring county and regularly volunteers in the schools of her three kids. Just a few months into her new job as public health director for Madison County, she had hoped that those local connections might make a difference, that the fewer than 10,000 residents spread out across this agricultural region would see her familiar face and support her efforts to curtail the covid-19 pandemic raging here. (Ehli, 10/25)

CBS News: Pennsylvania Congressman Confirms Breakthrough COVID-19 Case Hours After Appearing On House Floor 
Representative Glenn "GT" Thompson, who is vaccinated, has tested positive for COVID-19, his office confirmed Friday. The Pennsylvania Republican had voted on the House floor earlier Friday, according to House records. ... He was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center "out of an abundance of caution," his office said. "He is in good spirits and further updates will be made available in the coming days." (Reardon, 10/22)

The New York Times: Singer Ed Sheeran Announces He Has Tested Positive For The Coronavirus.
The singer Ed Sheeran announced Sunday on social media that he had tested positive for the coronavirus and would be canceling public appearances and working at home, in quarantine. It wasn’t immediately clear what appearances would be canceled or rescheduled, or whether Mr. Sheeran was sick with symptoms of Covid-19. (Carl, 10/24)

The Washington Post: Pelosi: Democrats Near Deal On Biden’s Build Back Better Plan, Will Vote On Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill This Week 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Democrats are on the verge of an agreement on a social spending bill and also plan to vote on a separate $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill this week. “I think we’re pretty much there now,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, when asked whether President Biden would “have a deal in hand” on his “Build Back Better” agenda before he travels to Europe later this week. “We’re almost there. It’s just the language of it.” (Wang, 10/24)

The New York Times: Biden Meets With Manchin And Schumer To Iron Out Spending Bill
President Biden huddled with key Democrats on Sunday to iron out crucial spending and tax provisions as they raced to wrap up their expansive social safety net legislation before his appearance at a U.N. climate summit next week. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said Democrats were close to completing the bill, displaying confidence that the negotiations over issues like paid leave, tax increases and Medicare benefits that have bedeviled the party for months would soon end. (Edmondson and Cochrane, 10/24)

Democrats assess their legislative priorities —

Politico: What's Still In The Dem Megabill? Cheat Sheet On 12 Big Topics
Democrats are making big sacrifices to slash the price tag of their social spending bill from $3.5 trillion to roughly $2 trillion as they close in on a deal that can satisfy both the party's moderate and progressive factions. Promises like free community college are dead altogether. Dreams of paid leave and expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing are at risk. Originally permanent expansions of Medicaid and the Child Tax Credit will now run for as little as one year. (Scholtes, Levine and Miranda Ollstein, 10/25)

Politico: Dems Weigh Ditching Medicare Expansion And Paid Leave In 11th Hour Of Social Spending Talks 
Democrats are haggling over whether to drop two of the most popular elements of their social spending bill as negotiations reach the zero hour, according to a half-dozen sources close to the discussions. While high-level talks on the $1 trillion-plus package are ongoing, lawmakers, staffers, advocates and lobbyists said that a plan to expand Medicare with dental, vision and hearing benefits for tens of millions of seniors — as well as a pitch to guarantee paid family and medical leave to all U.S. workers — is now in danger of getting cut from the bill entirely. (Caygle, Ollstein, Mueller and Levine, 10/23)

Stat: Drug Pricing Talks Heat Up As Democrats Work To Win Over Skeptics
As drug pricing talks in Congress heated up this week, Democrats negotiated in earnest to get skeptics of their drug pricing policies on board. With crunch time approaching for talks on a major legislative package containing the cornerstone of President Biden’s domestic agenda, drug pricing policy remained unresolved as lawmakers scramble to get consensus on a complicated, contentious issue. Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) is involved with the negotiations, said sources following the talks. (Cohrs, 10/22)

Politico: Pelosi Tries To Salvage Housing Aid 
Progressives are gaining traction in a bid to preserve housing funding in Democrats’ $2 trillion social spending package, after negotiators earlier floated plans to slash the aid by two-thirds. Democratic lawmakers and White House officials on Friday were considering devoting between $150 billion and $175 billion of the bill to housing, according to three sources familiar with the discussions. While it would be a major cut from the $327 billion that was initially proposed, it’s up from the $100 billion level that was on the table earlier this week. (O'Donnell and Cassella, 10/22)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

Bloomberg: Twitter Suspends Republican Lawmaker For Calling Rachel Levine A Man
Twitter Inc. suspended Representative Jim Banks’ official account for calling Dr. Rachel Levine, the Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary, a man. Banks, a Republican from Indiana and a top conservative in the House of Representatives, violated Twitter’s terms of service, which bars users from harassing people based on their gender identity. He made the comment in a tweet referencing that Levine, a transgender woman, would be sworn in as a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Levine will be the first woman to reach that rank. (Allison, 10/24)

Crain's Detroit Business: Hospitals Still Charge Wildly Different Amounts For Same Procedure, Even With More Transparency
For years, patients have complained they often do not know how much hospitals charge for healthcare services until they are billed, unlike other commercial products such as gasoline, clothes or housing. But published hospital prices show wide variations in prices — up to eight times — for the same care, demonstrating to advocates that price transparency can help consumers shop for the best prices. For example, the cash price for a hip or knee replacement is $17,448 at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and $12,035 at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. That same procedure is priced at $48,911 at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Oakland in Pontiac and $49,265 at DMC's Harper-Hutzel Hospital in Detroit, according to Turquoise Health, a San Diego-based health technology company. (Greene, 10/22)

In other health care industry news —

Stat: Hospitals Sidestep Health Records Giants To Better Harness Patient Data
Seventeen major hospital networks with operations in 40 states have joined Truveta, a hospital-led company seeking to aggregate de-identified patient data and put it in a standardized format so it can be sold for medical research. A separate cluster of health systems has formed a nonprofit called Graphite Health to create a marketplace that would make it cheaper and easier to plug in novel software applications. “I’m sure the EHR vendors see [Truveta] as people stepping into their market space,” said Robin Damschroder, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Henry Ford Health System, a member of the new company. “Truveta probably wouldn’t need to exist if Epic and Cerner and every other medical record company had advanced interoperability and data sharing.” (Ross, 10/25)

The Atlantic: How Public Health Took Part In Its Own Downfall
By one telling, public health was a victim of its own success, its value shrouded by the complacency of good health. By a different account, the competing field of medicine actively suppressed public health, which threatened the financial model of treating illness in (insured) individuals. But these underdog narratives don’t capture the full story of how public health’s strength faded. In fact, “public health has actively participated in its own marginalization,” Daniel Goldberg, a historian of medicine at the University of Colorado, told me. As the 20th century progressed, the field moved away from the idea that social reforms were a necessary part of preventing disease and willingly silenced its own political voice. By swimming along with the changing currents of American ideology, it drowned many of the qualities that made it most effective. (Yong, 10/23)

Bloomberg: 23andMe To Buy Telehealth Provider Lemonaid In Care Expansion
Consumer DNA testing giant 23andMe Holding Co. agreed to purchase telehealth upstart and drug-delivery service Lemonaid Health Inc. in a bid to make its personalized genetics approach part of patients’ primary care. 23andMe will pay $400 million for Lemonaid, with 25% of the purchase price in cash and the rest in stock, according to a statement Friday. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year. (Brown, 10/22)

Modern Healthcare: Cerner To Lay Off 150 Workers Next Month
New Cerner CEO Dr. David Feinberg on Thursday told employees that a set of layoffs will take place in November, a company spokesperson confirmed to Modern Healthcare. Feinberg, who took the helm as Cerner's CEO on Oct. 1 following nearly three years leading Google Health, sent an email to employees Thursday evening after noticing a comment on Reddit, according to the Kansas City Star, which first reported the news. The Reddit commenter had said they were a company employee that recently learned they would be laid off. (Kim Cohen, 10/22)

Modern Healthcare: Another Health Plan Targets Dual-Eligibles Through Medicare Advantage-As-A-Service
A regional health insurer is banking on the growing number of seniors with highly-complex needs to fuel its geographic expansion. MVP Health Care, which counts 700,000 individuals as members, has partnered with Belong Health to launch a joint venture that creates the first Special Needs Plan available in upstate New York and Vermont, which starts at the beginning of 2022. The company said 135,000 individuals in its existing geographic footprint are currently eligible for the Medicare Advantage plan for high-risk individuals. (Tepper, 10/22)

KHN: Confronting Ageism In Health Care: A Conversation For Patients, Caregivers And Clinicians 
What does ageism in health care look like? It can be a thoughtless quip that makes an older person feel diminished. Or an assumption that patients are unable to follow a conversation or make their own decisions. Maybe it occurs when a concern is voiced, then discounted or dismissed. Ageism is reflected in care strategies that ignore a patient’s values and ideas about what constitutes a productive life. Too often, attitudes such as “these patients are old and near the end anyway” or “there’s not much we can do to help them” prevail. (10/22)

KHN: 3 States Limit Nursing Home Profits In Bid To Improve Care
Nursing homes receive billions of taxpayers’ dollars every year to care for chronically ill frail elders, but until now, there was no guarantee that’s how the money would be spent. Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York are taking unprecedented steps to ensure they get what they pay for, after the devastating impact of covid-19 exposed problems with staffing and infection control in nursing homes. The states have set requirements for how much nursing homes must spend on residents’ direct care and imposed limits on what they can spend elsewhere, including administrative expenses, executive salaries and advertising and even how much they can pocket as profit. Facilities that exceed those limits will have to refund the difference to the state or the state will deduct that amount before paying the bill. (Jaffe, 10/25)

In news about the Johnson & Johnson talc lawsuits —

Bloomberg: J&J Loses A Round In Bankruptcy Spat Over Baby Powder Suits
Johnson & Johnson can’t immediately halt lawsuits claiming the company’s talc baby powder hurt tens of thousands of women, a federal judge ruled. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Whitley sided with lawyers for more than 38,000 people who have sued J&J over claims one of the company’s most recognized products caused cancer and other health problems. The ruling, over whether the lawsuits can continue during bankruptcy proceedings, is just the opening move in what is likely to be a long court fight. (Church, 10/22)

Stat: Deadly Infection Linked To Contaminated Room Spray Sold At Walmart
Four cases of a serious, sometimes fatal infection called melioidosis that have bedeviled public health investigators for months appear to have been linked to an aromatherapy room spray sold at Walmart, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday. The product, Better Homes and Gardens Lavender and Chamomile Essential Oil Infused Aromatherapy Room Spray with Gemstones, was sold at 55 Walmart locations and on the company’s website from February to Oct. 21. Walmart has issued a recall for roughly 3,900 bottles of the product that it sold. The recall includes five other scents of the Better Homes and Gardens Gem Room Spray: lemon and mandarin, lavender, peppermint, lime and eucalyptus, and sandalwood and vanilla. (Branswell, 10/22)

NPR: Walmart Recalls Essential-Oil Infused Spray Due To Dangerous Bacteria Found
Walmart is recalling an essential-oil aromatherapy spray after a "rare and dangerous bacteria" that can cause a potentially fatal condition was reported, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says. Officials are investigating four confirmed cases and there have been two deaths, including that of a child, associated with the bacteria, according to the agency. The CPSC said that about 3,900 bottles of Walmart's Better Homes and Gardens-branded Essential Oil Infused Aromatherapy Room Spray with Gemstones are being recalled due to the discovery of a rare and dangerous bacteria called Burkholderia pseudomallei. The bacteria is known to cause melioidosis, a condition that is difficult to diagnose and can be deadly, the recall notice says. (Franklin, 10/22)

In other public health news —

Fox News: New Study Suggests Breastfeeding May Help Prevent Cognitive Decline
Breastfeeding can have long-term cognitive benefits for the mother, a new study has found. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, conducted a study that found women over the age of 50 who had breastfed their babies performed better on cognitive tests compared to women who had never breastfed. "While many studies have found that breastfeeding improves a child’s long-term health and well-being, our study is one of very few that has looked at the long-term health effects for women who had breastfed their babies," Molly Fox, the study’s author, said in a news release. (Chasmar, 10/24)

AP: Maine Warns Of Ticks Amid Record Year For Babesiosis
Health authorities in Maine are warning residents of a second peak in tick activity in the state this fall. Many people associate deer ticks with summer, but they peak again from late September to November, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said. The ticks can carry diseases, such as Lyme disease, and are often found in wooded and leafy areas. (10/24)

The New York Times: James Michael Tyler, Who Played Gunther On ‘Friends,’ Dies At 59 
James Michael Tyler, who played the deadpan, smitten barista Gunther on the TV show “Friends,” died on Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 59. His manager, Toni Benson, said the cause was prostate cancer, which was diagnosed in September 2018. After his diagnosis, Mr. Tyler shared his story to encourage others to get screened for prostate cancer as early as 40. (Patel and Jimenez, 10/24)

USA Today: COVID-19 Updates: Europe Air Travel To US Won't End, Says CDC Chief
An alarming rise in cases of the "delta plus" COVID-19 variant in the United Kingdom is unlikely to result in a ban on flights from Britain and Europe, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Sunday. "We’re not anticipating that now," Walensky said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We're absolutely following the science very, very carefully, but we are not anticipating or looking into that right now." The delta plus variant, identified by British scientists last month, is considered a relative of the delta variant that fueled a deadly surge across the U.S. this summer. Because it isn’t a variant of interest or concern, it has not yet been named after a letter of the Greek alphabet. The U.N. health agency is tracking about 20 variations of the delta variant. (Santucci and Bacon, 10/24)

CNN: Covid In Europe Enters A Second Pandemic Winter As Chaos Grips The East And Uncertainty Haunts The West
Lockdowns, spiraling cases and a vaccine divide is framing the start of Europe's second pandemic winter, bringing chaos to eastern European countries and uncertainty to those in the West. Despite the widescale availability of vaccines this winter compared to the last, Europe is the only part of the world reporting an increase in new Covid-19 cases globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday. This is the third consecutive week the region has recorded a rise in cases, it added. The suffering has been acute in Eastern Europe and Russia, battling mounting deaths and cases fueled by vaccine hesitancy that has seen coverage rates dip as low as 24%, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). (John, 10/25)

CNN: Tens Of Millions Of Filthy, Used Medical Gloves Imported Into The US
Trash bags stuffed full of used medical gloves, some visibly soiled, some even blood-stained, litter the floor of a warehouse on the outskirts of Bangkok. Nearby is a plastic bowl, filled with blue dye and a few gloves. Thai officials say migrant laborers had been trying to make the gloves look new again, when Thai health authorities raided the facility in December. There are many more warehouses just like it still in operation today in Thailand -- trying to cash in on the demand for medical-grade nitrile gloves, which exploded with the coronavirus pandemic. And they're boxing up millions of these sub-standard gloves for export to the United States, and countries around the world amid a global shortage that will take years to ease. (McLean, Davey-Attlee, Olarn and Lister, 10/24)

The New York Times: Here’s Why Developing Countries Can Make MRNA Covid Vaccines
Across the developing world, hundreds of millions of people are unable to get a vaccine to protect themselves from the ravages of Covid-19, and millions of them have already become infected and died. Depending on wealthy nations to donate billions of doses is not working, public health experts say. The solution, many now believe, is for the countries to do something that the big American mRNA vaccine makers say is not feasible: Manufacture the gold-standard mRNA shots themselves. (Nolen, 10/22)

In other global news —

New York Post: ‘Flesh-Eating’ STD That Causes ‘Beefy Red’ Sores Is Spreading In UK 
A once-rare flesh-eating sexually transmitted disease that causes "beefy red" ulcers is spreading across the UK, according to a report Friday. Cases of donovanosis — which causes thick sores that damage genital tissue — have been steadily growing in the region since 2016, and cases are expected to rise,  according to data and experts cited by Birmingham Live. "Figures suggest that donovanosis — which was previously thought to be restricted to places including India, Brazil, and New Guinea — is becoming more common on these shores," Dr. Datta, of MyHealthCare Clinic in London, told the outlet. Health officials reported 30 cases of the STD in the UK in 2019, but more infections in the past two years could pose a public-health risk, she warned. (10/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: A Winter COVID Surge Is Coming. How Other Countries Can Teach The Bay Area To Prepare
The Bay Area’s recent wave of COVID infections, driven by the delta variant, is well into its decline. Cases are down by over 75% since their peak in early August, hospitalizations have waned, and we’re entering the “moderate” transmission category, where the CDC no longer recommends universal indoor masking. All of this is great news. Yet, having gone through a summer in which many of us thought COVID wouldn’t surge again, followed by another surge in cases anyway, people are wondering what comes next. Now is a good time to look back at what we learned from delta and to study best practices from around the world in both preventing future hospitalizations and deaths, and getting our society back to normal. (Tracy Beth Hoeg and Scott Balsitis, 10/23)

Stat: Insurers Should Cover Electricity Costs For Home Medical Equipment 
Some Americans working from home during the pandemic noticed sizable increases in their monthly electric bills from increased energy use. But for patients like ours with advanced lung disease — and those living with other chronic conditions — who depend on medical equipment, large electric bills represent a monthly cost to simply stay alive. (Christopher M. Worsham and Peter A. Kahn, 10/19)

Dallas Morning News: Positive Report About D-FW Mental Health Is Encouraging But Not The End Of The Issue
There was good news about mental health during the pandemic last week: a survey of U.S. adults with surprisingly positive results. According to Barna Research, 74% of Americans say the pandemic has not adversely affected their mental health. And even better news: Respondents in Dallas-Fort Worth say they are faring better than the rest of the nation in almost every category on the survey. (10/25)

The Atlantic: My Daily Life Is A Game Of Roulette 
A pair of realities: This week, Colin Powell, the former secretary of state whose service under President George W. Bush is most prominently associated with the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, died at 84 due to complications from COVID-19, despite having been fully vaccinated. And: There are conditions under which any generally healthy person would most likely have a seizure. These facts, as strange as they seem in juxtaposition, are related—neither describes events at all out of the ordinary, and yet both arrive as a kind of shock, with the sense that something must be amiss. They share this: They’re matters of probability, and probability is a fact of life in medicine, and a chaos agent in discourse. (Elizabeth Bruenig, 10/21)

Chicago Tribune: Op-Ed: Who Will Answer The Call From First Responders Who Always Answer The Call?
Make no mistake, Chicago’s first responders and many other essential workers across our country are under siege. Hyperbole? I assure you it is not. And some of the individuals leading this attack are the ones who routinely pay lip service to working families in their political campaigns and hold themselves out as champions of first responders’ mental health and collective bargaining rights. (Robert Tebbens, 10/21)

Stat: Counterfeit Vaccines And Medicines Spell Trouble For Controlling Covid-19
Anotable rallying cry that emerged early during the Covid-19 pandemic was “flatten the curve.” It reflected the reality that hospitals lacked the resources, knowledge, and therapies to accommodate everyone in need. Nearly 18 months later, the situation around the globe is different. Clinicians have a better understanding of how to prevent Covid-19, and how treat people with severe cases of it. Vaccines have brought much-needed relief. But the picture is now being complicated by the emergence of substandard and falsified Covid-19 vaccines and medical products, which are becoming increasingly pervasive. (Muhammad H. Zaman, Ravi Sundaram and Walter Gabriel , 10/25)

The Boston Globe: Children’s Vaccines Are Coming. So Is An Even Fiercer Debate About Mandates
The news Friday that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective in children raises hopes that by Christmas, kids as young as 5 could be receiving their shots and the pandemic could be another big step closer to the end. Unfortunately, it also sets the stage for even more emotional and divisive battles ahead over whether to make those shots mandatory for children. Much depends on the course of the pandemic as well as the regulatory process. But if and when federal regulators fully approve COVID shots for children, it would make sense to add them to the list of mandatory vaccinations children must receive to attend school safely. (10/25)