First Edition: May 27, 2021

KHN: Enough To Wreck Their Rest: $10,322 For A Sleep Study
José Mendoza’s snoring was bad — but the silence when he stopped breathing was even worse for his wife, Nancy. The sudden quiet would wake her and she waited anxiously for him to take another breath. If too many seconds ticked by, she pushed him hard so that he moved and started breathing again. This happened several times a week. Diagnosed with severe sleep apnea 15 years ago, Mendoza was prescribed a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device to help him breathe easier. But the machine was noisy and uncomfortable. After a month, he stopped using it. (Andrews, 5/27)

KHN: Confronting Our ‘Frailties’: California’s Assembly Leader Reflects On A Year Of Covid
When his 20-month-old daughter developed a rash earlier this month, Anthony Rendon did what many other parents do when their child is sick: The speaker of the California Assembly took Vienna to her pediatrician — but he did so via video from the comfort and safety of his home. Many Californians have relied on telehealth to connect with their health care providers during the covid-19 pandemic, but the option isn’t available to everyone. That imbalance is just one of the “frailties” in America’s health system that Rendon says lawmakers must address. (Young, 5/27)

The New York Times: Biden Orders Intelligence Inquiry Into Origins Of The Coronavirus
President Biden ordered U.S. intelligence agencies on Wednesday to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, indicating that his administration takes seriously the possibility that the deadly virus was accidentally leaked from a lab, in addition to the prevailing theory that it was transmitted by an animal to humans outside a lab. In a statement, Mr. Biden made it clear that the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies had not yet reached a consensus on how the virus, which prompted a pandemic and has killed almost 600,000 Americans, originated in China. He directed them to report back to him in 90 days. (Shear, Barnes, Zimmer and Mueller, 5/26)

CNBC: Biden Orders Review Of Covid Origins As Intel Weighs Wuhan Lab Leak Theory
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he has ordered a closer intelligence review of what he said were two equally plausible scenarios of the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. Biden revealed that earlier this year he tasked the intelligence community with preparing “a report on their most up-to-date analysis of the origins of Covid-19, including whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident.” (Wilkie and Mendez, 5/26)

Politico: Facebook No Longer Treating 'Man-Made' Covid As A Crackpot Idea
Facebook will no longer take down posts claiming that Covid-19 was man-made or manufactured, a company spokesperson told POLITICO on Wednesday, a move that acknowledges the renewed debate about the virus’ origins. A narrative in flux: Facebook’s policy tweak arrives as support surges in Washington for a fuller investigation into the origins of Covid-19 after the Wall Street Journal reported that three scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in late 2019 with symptoms consistent with the virus. The findings have reinvigorated the debate about the so-called Wuhan lab-leak theory, once dismissed as a fringe conspiracy theory. (Lima, 5/26)

Axios: New Coronavirus Cases Decline For Fifth Week In A Row 
The pace of new coronavirus infections in the U.S. fell by nearly 20% over the past week — the fifth straight week of double-digit declines. America’s vaccination drive is working, and as it continues to expand, the country can safely get back to many of its pre-pandemic routines. (Baker and Witherspoon, 5/27)

The New York Times: Immunity To The Coronavirus May Persist For Years, Scientists Find
Immunity to the coronavirus lasts at least a year, possibly a lifetime, improving over time especially after vaccination, according to two new studies. The findings may help put to rest lingering fears that protection against the virus will be short-lived. Together, the studies suggest that most people who have recovered from Covid-19 and who were later immunized will not need boosters. Vaccinated people who were never infected most likely will need the shots, however, as will a minority who were infected but did not produce a robust immune response. (Mandavilli, 5/26)

ABC News: US Health Agencies Will Decide If COVID-19 Booster Shots Are Needed – Not Vaccine Companies
With coronavirus variants popping up across the globe, new questions are beginning to arise about how long the immunity from the vaccines will last, and whether booster shots will be needed to maintain protection against the mutating virus. Although vaccine companies are already in the process of conducting clinical trials for booster shots, and preparing for potential widespread distribution, a decision pertaining to if and when the updated shots will be needed in the months and years to come will ultimately be made by a team of independent scientists and U.S. government officials .But in this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, there is still very little known about COVID-19, and when a booster shot might be needed. (Mitropoulos, Ramanathan and Salzman, 5/26)

The New York Times: Broad Coalition Of Democrats Presses Biden To Expand Medicare
A broad coalition of Democrats from across the ideological spectrum plans on Thursday to begin what it promises will be a noisy and sustained campaign to pressure President Biden to include a major expansion of Medicare in his infrastructure package. More than 150 House Democrats — including Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the leader of the progressive wing in the House, and Representative Jared Golden of Maine, one of the chamber’s most centrist Democrats — have teamed up on the effort, which is all but certain to draw Republican opposition but contains proposals that are popular with a wide segment of voters. (Broadwater, 5/27)

Roll Call: Democrats In Both Chambers Launch Public Option Effort 
Two key committee chairs in the House and Senate are taking the first step toward crafting legislation to create a public health insurance option, reviving a debate between the parties on the federal government’s role in coverage and setting up a fight with the insurance industry. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., and House Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., issued a request for information Wednesday asking for input on a public option, which would establish a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers. (McIntire, 5/26)

Politico: Biden Expected To Use Budget To Strengthen Abortion Rights Bona Fides
As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden told Democratic primary voters that he “could no longer continue to abide by the Hyde Amendment” — the prohibition written into annual congressional spending bills since 1976 barring almost all federal funding for abortion. The first real test of his resolve will come when Biden sends his fiscal 2022 budget proposal to Capitol Hill on Friday. (Ollstein, 5/27)

The Washington Post: Bills Touted By Jon Stewart May Help Millions Of Veterans Get Care For Toxic Exposure
Two measures introduced in Congress by lawmakers this week would overhaul the way the Department of Veterans Affairs cares for millions of former service members who were exposed to toxic substances, from atomic radiation sites in the Pacific to open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. The sweeping legislation, mostly focused on the issue of burn pits from recent wars, would compel VA to presume certain illnesses are linked to exposure to hazardous waste incineration, removing the burden of proof from veterans. (Horton, 5/26)

Rome News-Tribune: Isakson To Help Raise Funds For Neurocognitive Diseases Research 
Former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson launched a nonprofit organization Wednesday to raise awareness and funding for neurocognitive diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and related dementia. Isakson, R-Ga., announced his diagnosis with Parkinson’s in 2015 and retired from Congress at the end of 2019, midway through his third term in the Senate. (Williams, 5/26)

The New York Times: Judge Clears Purdue Pharma’s Restructuring Plan For Vote By Thousands Of Claimants
A federal bankruptcy judge in New York indicated Wednesday that he would permit Purdue Pharma’s proposal to remake itself as a nonprofit company to be put to a vote by thousands of plaintiffs, who have sued to compel the maker of OxyContin to help pay for the terrible costs of the opioid epidemic. The restructuring plan is at the centerpiece of an intensely negotiated blueprint for a collective settlement with more than 600,000 claimants who contend that for two decades the company falsely and aggressively marketed its prescription opioid OxyContin as a nonaddictive painkiller, and as a result contributed to hundreds of thousands of opioid-related overdoses and deaths. (Hoffman and Williams Walsh, 5/26)

AP: Feds Take Down Medicare Scams That Preyed On Virus Fears
The Justice Department announced criminal charges Wednesday against more than a dozen people from Florida to California in a series of Medicare scams that exploited coronavirus fears to bill tens of millions of dollars in bogus claims. A common hook involved a pandemic variant of identity theft: Fraudsters allegedly offered COVID-19 tests to get the Medicare numbers of unsuspecting patients, and then used that information to bill for lucrative but unneeded genetic tests that can cost thousands of dollars. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/26)

Stat: Drug Makers Argue An HHS Rule Would Penalize Them For Co-Pay Coupons
After months of controversy, the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest trade group has filed a lawsuit accusing the federal government of issuing an “invalid” rule that it argues would penalize drug makers for providing financial assistance to patients. At issue are widely used promotional tools such as co-pay coupons and discount cards, and whether these should be included when calculating the so-called ‘best price’ that drug makers must offer the government to participate in the Medicaid program. (Silverman, 5/26)

The Hill: FDA, FTC Warn 5 Companies Over Supplements Sold To Treat Infertility, Reproductive Disorders
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Wednesday that they sent warning letters to five companies accusing them of illegally selling dietary supplements that allegedly treat infertility and reproductive health disorders. The agencies issued the cautionary letters to the companies last week, saying that they violated federal laws by selling their products without FDA approval and by advertising the products’ abilities without evidence. The five companies that received the warnings were LeRoche Benicoeur/ConceiveEasy, Eu Natural Inc., Fertility Nutraceuticals LLC, SAL NATURE LLC/FertilHerb and NS Products Inc. (Coleman, 5/26)

CIDRAP: Air Travel Up To Pre-Pandemic Levels Across US
As the country prepares for Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer, new numbers from federal aviation security officials showed that US air travel hit the highest daily level of the pandemic era on Sunday, the Washington Post reports, with 1.8 million passengers screened. Last year, Memorial Day weekend parties set off a summer surge of infections in swaths of the southern and western United States. But this year, widespread vaccination of  US adults means most can gather safely as long as they are fully vaccinated. (Soucheray, 5/26)

CNN: Tokyo Olympics: US Health Experts Say Current Plans Not Informed By 'Best Scientific Evidence' 
With less than two months until the Tokyo Olympics begin, a group of US public health experts are among the latest to warn that pushing forward with the rescheduled 2020 Games puts athletes -- and the public -- at risk amid the pandemic. The experts, including Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy among other scientists, call for "urgent action" to assess the Covid-19 risks associated with the Games and the additional measures that could be put in place to mitigate those risks. (Howard, 5/26)

AP: Physician Warns Tokyo Olympics Could Spread Variants
A physician representing a Japanese medical body warned Thursday that holding the postponed Tokyo Olympics in two months could lead to the spread of variants of the coronavirus. Dr. Naoto Ueyama, chairman of the Japan Doctors Union, said the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government had underestimated the risks of bringing 15,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes into the country, joined by tens of thousands of officials, judges, media and broadcasters from more than 200 countries and territories. (Wade, 5/27)

The New York Times: To Test Covid Protocols, Cruise Lines Turn To Volunteer Guinea Pigs
Since March of last year, cruise ships carrying more than 250 people have been prohibited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from sailing in U.S. waters. To start again, they need to follow a complex process that, in some cases, involves simulated cruises designed to test Covid-19 protocols. Hundreds of thousands of frustrated and restless cruise fans have lined up to be guinea pigs. Jennifer Juenke is one of them. (Yeginsu, 5/27)

Kasier Family Foundation: Polling Shows Vaccine Myths Are Persisting Among Unvaccinated People 
Big myths about COVID vaccines are showing real staying power among unvaccinated Americans. While misinformation isn't the only factor fueling hesitancy, it's an ongoing problem the media, health leaders and trusted messengers need to chip away at. (Drew Altman, 5/26)

The Washington Post: Resistance To Vaccine Mandates Is Building. A Powerful Network Is Helping
The Americans lodging complaints against coronavirus vaccine mandates are a diverse lot — a sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina, nursing home employees in Wisconsin and students at the largest university in New Jersey. But their resistance is woven together by a common thread: the involvement of a law firm closely tied to the anti-vaccine movement. Attorneys from Siri & Glimstad — a New York firm that has done millions of dollars of legal work for one of the nation’s foremost anti-vaccination groups — are co-counsel in a case against the Durham County Sheriff’s Office. They’ve sent warning letters to officials in Rock County, Wis., as well as to the president of Rutgers University and other schools. (Stanley-Becker, 5/26)

AP: Production Of Another COVID-19 Vaccine To Begin In Weeks
Production of another potential vaccine against COVID-19 will begin within weeks, its developers Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline said Thursday as they launched a large trial enrolling 35,000 adult volunteers in the United States, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The study will test vaccine candidate formulas against the original coronavirus that spread from Wuhan, China, and against the variant first seen in South Africa, the pharmaceutical firms said. If the trial is successful, regulators could approve the vaccine for use in the last three months of the year, the drugmakers said in a statement. (5/27)

Reuters: Sinopharm's Two COVID-19 Shots Effective, Study Says
Two COVID-19 vaccines from China's Sinopharm showed more than 70% efficacy against symptomatic cases, but it remains unclear how much protection they provide against severe or asymptomatic cases, according to the first detailed result of a large late-stage study published to the public. A vaccine developed by a Wuhan-based subsidiary of Sinopharm was 72.8% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 at least two weeks after second injection, based on interim results, the peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed on Wednesday. (5/27)

The New York Times: Latest Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Approved For High-Risk Patients
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized a monoclonal antibody drug developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Vir as the third treatment of its kind cleared to help keep high-risk Covid patients out of the hospital. In laboratory tests the newly authorized drug, known as sotrovimab, has been able to neutralize the virus variants first identified in Britain, South Africa, Brazil, California, New York and India. The federal government, which has so far purchased the other antibody treatments given to Covid patients in the United States, has not announced any plans to purchase the new drug. (Robbins, 5/26)

CNN: Study Finds Majority Of Severe Covid-19 Cases Had Longterm Symptoms, As Officials Race To Vaccinate 
Mask mandates are being lifted across the US. Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are dropping. People are getting vaccinated. All these promising signs suggest the summer of 2021 could be very different from a year ago. Half of the adult population is now fully vaccinated, according to data published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the past week, the US averaged about 28,000 daily new cases, a 19% drop compared to the previous week, according to the CDC. (Elamroussi, 5/27)

CIDRAP: Low Testosterone Concentration Associated With Men's COVID Severity
Low testosterone concentrations in men with COVID-19 are associated with a greater likelihood of COVID-19 infection severity, artificial ventilation or intensive care unit (ICU) treatment, and death, according to a study yesterday in JAMA Network Open. The researchers looked at the hormone levels in an observational cohort of 152 men and women with symptomatic COVID-19 at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis from March to May 2020 (mean age, 63 years). Of the 143 who were admitted, hormones were also measured at days 3, 7, 14, and 28 as long as they were still hospitalized. (5/26)

CIDRAP: Mild, Asymptomatic COVID-19 Cases May Be As Infectious As Severe Ones
Only 8% of more than 25,000 German COVID-19 patients had high viral loads, one-third of whom were presymptomatic, asymptomatic, or mildly symptomatic, according to a study published yesterday in Science. High viral loads suggest greater infectiousness. Led by researchers from the Charite-Universitatsmedizin Berlin, the study involved measuring SARS-CoV-2 viral loads and estimating probability of virus cell culture isolation in 25,381 coronavirus patients, 24% of whom were identified at testing facilities, 38% of whom were hospitalized, and 6% of whom were infected with the B117 variant first seen in the United Kingdom. (Van Beusekom, 5/26)

Axios: Clear Labs' Plan To Use Genomic Sequencing To Track COVID Variants 
Clear Labs, a California-based startup that provides rapid genetic sequencing for pathogen surveillance, will announce a new $60 million funding round this morning. Clear Labs' whole genome sequencing can identify the unique genetic code of a pathogen within 24 hours, allowing hospitals or public health agencies to track unusual variants in diseases like COVID-19 as well as food safety threats like salmonella. (Walsh, 5/26)

AP: Change May Allow Scientists To Grow Human Embryos Longer
New guidelines released Wednesday remove a decades-old barrier to stem cell research, recommending that researchers be allowed to grow human embryos longer under limited conditions. The “14-day rule,” an international ethical standard that limits laboratory studies of human embryos, has been in place for decades and has been written into law in countries including Britain and Australia. Scientists previously have been required to destroy human embryos grown in a lab before they reach 14 days. Some researchers have favored revising the rule to further study the development process while opponents say such experiments at any stage cross a moral boundary and it’s unclear the change would advance research. (Cheng, 5/26)

Stat: Panel Loosens Rule On How Long Human Embryos Can Be Grown In Lab
An influential scientific panel cracked open the door on Wednesday to growing human embryos in the lab for longer periods of time than currently allowed, a step that could enable the plumbing of developmental mysteries but that also raises thorny questions about whether research that can be pursued should be. For decades, scientists around the world have followed the “14-day rule,” which stipulates that they should let human embryos develop in the lab for only up to two weeks after fertilization. (Joseph, 5/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Bayer To Rethink Roundup Formula For U.S. Consumers
Bayer AG said it will evaluate whether to continue using the active ingredient in its popular Roundup weedkiller in the residential U.S. market, in the wake of a court setback Wednesday in the company’s efforts to limit future liability over whether the product causes cancer. Bayer has said it would pay up to $9.6 billion to settle existing Roundup cases that tie the glyphosate-based product to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and another $2 billion toward future claims. The German company lost three trials between 2018 and 2019 brought by Roundup users who said the product caused their cancer and is working to resolve around 125,000 similar claims. (Randazzo and Bender, 5/26)

CIDRAP: Four Weeks Of Antibiotics For Kids' Chronic Cough No Better Than 2, Study Finds
The results of a small clinical trial in Australia indicate that a 4-week course of antibiotics for children with a chronic wet cough offers little advantage over 2 weeks, but some children may benefit from a longer course, Australian investigators reported yesterday in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted at four Australian hospitals among children ages 2 months to 19 years of age who had a wet cough lasting more than 4 weeks and were suspected of having protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB). Current US and European guidance for treatment of chronic wet cough with suspected PBB is 2 weeks of amoxicillin-clavulanate, extending to 4 weeks if the cough doesn't resolve, but there is some uncertainty about optimal treatment. The British Thoracic Society, for example, recommends 4 to 6 weeks. (Dall, 5/26)

Stat: As Covid Dissipates In U.S., Colds And Flu May Return With A Vengeance
A curious thing happened during the Covid-19 pandemic: With masks, social distancing, and Purell galore, we kept most other germs at bay. Flu vanished. Cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which in a normal winter puts nearly 60,000 children under age 5 in the hospital, were nonexistent. Most of us appeared to sidestep the soup of bugs that cause colds. But as masks come off, schools reopen, and some travel resumes, we should expect a resurgence of these viruses — perhaps a big one. Some experts fear we’re in for a nasty cold-and-flu season or two, pointing to a combination of factors that could make for a rough re-entry to the mixed microbes world. (Branswell, 5/27)

Stat: More Leading Universities Are Reporting Clinical Trial Results
Over the past two years, many major U.S. universities have done a better job of registering clinical trials and reporting results to a federal database, a sign that demands for greater transparency are starting to have an effect on study sponsors, according to a new analysis. Specifically, the percentage of unreported trials that were sponsored by 40 universities fell to 7% this past February from 30% in March 2019. And 17 institutions were fully compliant with reporting requirements under federal law, up from 13 two years ago. At the same time, the number of studies that were registered with ClinicalTrials.gov more than tripled to 1,500 from nearly 450 in early 2019. (Silverman, 5/26)

Axios: Call It The Fauci Effect: Interest Spikes In Health Crisis Communication 
A number of U.S. colleges and universities say they've seen a surge of students who say the COVID-19 crisis inspired them to pursue the public health field, and crisis communication in particular. The pandemic exposed the need for and challenges of well-executed public health messaging — particularly in a time rife with misinformation campaigns and polarizing politics. (Fernandez, 5/27)

Stat: From Two Unusual Organ Donations, A Trove Of Single-Cell Gene Data 
Late at night, in a California hospital, a brain-dead patient was being prepared to offer the ultimate gift. That May evening in 2019, she would be taken off her ventilator, and many of her organs and tissues — everything from the bladder to the lungs to muscle — would be donated to a unique project led by the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. (Molteni and Palmer, 5/27)

CIDRAP: Health Worker Survey Shows Concerns, Fear During COVID-19
In a May to June 2020 survey, about 1,200 US health workers relayed frustrations with unsafe and devaluing working conditions, according to a George Washington University press release. Most respondents worked in a hospital setting, and many were nurses. While some said they had employers who were trying their best to provide adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), more said that they felt unsafe because of the lack of it, and many reported retaliation or bullying in response to any workplace concern. Additionally, the constantly changing guidelines from their employer or federal agencies left them frustrated. (5/26)

NBC News: 'Keeps Me Up At Night': Doctors Who Care For Transgender Minors Brace For Bans
Dr. Stephanie Ho, a family medicine physician in Fayetteville, Arkansas, said she’s had state legislators in her exam room before. Ho, who has provided gender-affirming care to transgender people in the state since 2015, is also an abortion provider, so she is familiar with lawmakers' restricting the care she provides. She said she wasn’t surprised when the Legislature overrode Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of a bill last month that would ban puberty blockers, hormones and surgery for transgender minors. (Yurcaba, 5/27)

Stat: A New Tool Puts Health Disparity Data In The Public’s Hands
Over and over, the pandemic has reinforced the reality of racial disparities in the U.S. health system. But that story remains difficult to see in the data, which is still inconsistently collected and reported across the country. On Wednesday, a coalition of researchers and advocates launched a tool they hope will fill some of those gaps: the Health Equity Tracker, a portal that collects, analyzes, and makes visible data on some of the inequities entrenched in U.S. medicine. (Palmer, 5/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Google Strikes Deal With Hospital Chain To Develop Healthcare Algorithms
Alphabet Inc.’s Google and national hospital chain HCA Healthcare Inc. have struck a deal to develop healthcare algorithms using patient records, the latest foray by a tech giant into the $3 trillion healthcare sector. HCA, which operates across about 2,000 locations in 21 states, would consolidate and store with Google data from digital health records and internet-connected medical devices under the multiyear agreement. Google and HCA engineers will work to develop algorithms to help improve operating efficiency, monitor patients and guide doctors’ decisions, according to the companies. (Evans, 5/26)

Axios: A Reality Check On Amazon's Rumored Pharmacy Stores 
Amazon is contemplating opening physical pharmacy stores, including within its Whole Foods locations, Business Insider reports. Amazon still isn't disrupting the prescription drug industry. Amazon is maybe, possibly considering a way to capture a marginally bigger piece of the extremely small slice it has. (Herman, 5/27)

The Washington Post: Recent College Grad Wins A Million Dollars For Getting Vaccinated In Ohio
It was a million-dollar idea: Give every Ohio resident who gets a coronavirus vaccine a chance to win a seven-figure check. That audacious scheme to boost the state’s inoculation rate became reality Wednesday evening, when the first winners of the “Vax-a-Million” drawings were announced on live TV. Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has won national acclaim — and drawn local blowback — since unveiling the plan, which will award $1 million to five vaccinated adults and a full-ride scholarship to Ohio public colleges to five vaccinated teenagers. (Thebault, 5/27)

Axios: New York Will Raffle Off Scholarships To Kids Who Get Vaccinated 
New York will raffle off 50 four-year scholarships to any public college or university in the state for people between 12–17 years old who receive a coronavirus vaccine from tomorrow until July 7, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday. It's part of the state's initiative to vaccinate young people after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine in 12- to 15-year-olds. (Knutson, 5/26)

AP: Colorado Children Hospital Declares Mental Health Emergency
A children’s hospital in Colorado has declared “a pediatric mental health state of emergency” after an unprecedented number of children 8 and older have reported needing immediate treatment, mostly for suicidal thoughts and attempts. Children’s Hospital Colorado CEO Jena Hausmann said the facility is overrun with “kids attempting suicide and suffering from other forms of major mental health illness.” Hausmann issued a call to action on Tuesday to Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, state lawmakers and agencies to prioritize mental health services for children, release more funding for suicide prevention, recruit more providers and reduce bureaucracy in enabling children to access services, The Gazette reported. (5/27)

The Hill: North Dakota Republicans Ask Health Officials To Stop Contacting Residents About Vaccines
Two Republican North Dakota state senators have requested that health officials stop calling residents and offering COVID-19 vaccine information. The Bismarck Tribune reports that state Sens. Jessica Bell and Nicole Poolman sent a Tuesday letter to State Health Officer Nizar Wehbi over concerns about the role of the government in “personal health choices” "In order for the Department to initiate these calls, medical records must be accessed without the immediate consent from the citizens of North Dakota," they wrote in their letter. (Choi, 5/26)

AP: Maine Not Planning On A State Vaccine Passport System
Maine officials are not planning to develop a statewide vaccine passport system for COVID-19 shot recipients. Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said such a system would be a challenge because of questions such as how it would work across state lines and how the state would protect residents’ privacy. She said Wednesday the state isn’t looking to create one. The state supports private businesses that want to request coronavirus vaccine verification, Lambrew said. She said businesses should make sure any verification systems they use are in line with state laws. (5/27)

The Washington Post: Montgomery County Schools Add Mental Health As Excused Absence
Montgomery County leaders are taking steps to add mental health to the list of valid reasons to be absent from school, saying that the move is especially important after the inordinate toll of the pandemic. The change would begin in the fall, when students in Montgomery County are expected to return to full-day in-person classes five days a week. A majority of students in the state’s largest school system have been learning virtually during the past 14 months. “Student mental health has been a challenge this year, through the pandemic, and we believe it is a wise decision,” Patricia O’Neill, a school board member, said as she introduced the change at a meeting Tuesday. (St. George, 5/27)

AP: Colorado Bill Would Give Free Contraceptives To Immigrants
A Colorado bill would provide free contraceptives and reproductive care to people living in the U.S. illegally. The legislation, heard by the House Health and Insurance committee Wednesday, aims to create a reproductive health care program within the state health department to provide contraceptives, management of birth control products or devices and counseling to people who do not qualify for Medicaid because of their citizenship or immigration status. Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo, one of the bill’s sponsors, cited medical studies that show access to contraception leads to declines in maternal and infant mortality and higher graduation rates among young women. (Nieberg, 5/27)

Georgia Health News: Facing ‘Worst Ever’ Demand For Nurses, Some Hospitals Offering Unprecedented Bonuses
One sign of the severity of Georgia’s nurse shortage can be seen in the bonuses offered to experienced RNs to join a hospital workforce. Some health systems in the state are paying bonuses of more than $10,000 to attract nurses. And Piedmont Healthcare, which is rapidly becoming Georgia’s biggest health system, said it has offered bonuses of up to $30,000, a figure that has startled local health industry officials. (Miller, 5/27)

The Hill: DC Closing Walk-Up COVID-19 Vaccine Sites
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said the city will close walk-up vaccination sites by the end of June. Bowser issued a statement on Wednesday saying vaccinations at Arena Stage will halt on June 27, RISE Demonstration Center will close June 30, UDC will close June 24 and the Walter E. Washington Convention Center will close June 20. (Oshin, 5/26)

AP: Indiana Attorney General Attacks IU's COVID-19 Vaccine Order
The state attorney general is attacking Indiana University’s decision to require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations from all students and employees as illegal under a new state law banning the state or local governments from issuing or requiring vaccine passports. That advisory opinion issued late Wednesday afternoon, however, contradicts a top Republican legislative leader who said he didn’t believe the law adopted last month applied to public universities or K-12 schools. The opinion from Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office, which is not binding, maintains that Indiana’s public universities are created by state law and that court rulings have determined them to be “arms of the state.” The opinion said the new law applies to universities since the legislature didn’t exempt them. (Davies, 5/27)

AP: EU Seeks Big Penalties In Suit Over AstraZeneca Deliveries
The European Union took on vaccine producer AstraZeneca in a Brussels court on Wednesday and accused the drugmaker of acting in bad faith by providing shots to other nations when it had promised them for fast delivery to the EU’s 27 member countries. During an emergency hearing, the EU asked for the shipment of missing doses to the region and accused AstraZeneca of postponing deliveries so the Anglo-Swedish company could service others, and Britain in particular. AstraZeneca lawyers denied any wrongdoing and said the pharmaceutical firm has always done its best to fulfill delivery commitments. (Petrequin, 5/26)

Reuters: India Scraps Local Trials For COVID Shots To Fast-Track Imports As It Battles Second Wave
India on Thursday scrapped local trials for “well-established” foreign coronavirus vaccines to fast-track imports as it battles a devastating second wave of the pandemic that has killed tens of thousands of people. India recorded its highest COVID-19 death toll since the pandemic began last year in May, accounting for just over a third of the overall total. India has been inoculating its people with the AstraZeneca vaccine produced locally at the Serum Institute, Covaxin made by local firm Bharat Biotech, and has begun rolling out Russia's Sputnik V. (Arora and Ravikumar, 5/27)

Reuters: UK Health Minister To Face Parliament After COVID Lies Claim
British health minister Matt Hancock will face a grilling from lawmakers on Thursday after the prime minister's former chief aide accused him of lying and said he should have been sacked for repeated failings over the COVID-19 pandemic. Dominic Cummings, who was Prime Minister Boris Johnson's right hand man until late last year, delivered a withering attack on his former boss and Hancock during seven hours of testimony before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, saying their ineptitude led to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. (5/27)

CNBC: Russia Covid Vaccines Won't Be Compulsory Putin Says Amid Skepticism
Russia will not make Covid vaccines compulsory for its citizens, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, adding that people should see the necessity of immunization on their own. Some officials in Russia had proposed making vaccination mandatory, but Putin said Wednesday that the controversial measure would be “counterproductive.” (Ellyatt, 5/27)