First Edition: June 9, 2021

KHN: Unused Johnson & Johnson Covid Doses Are Piling Up As FDA Waits To See If Shelf Life Can Be Extended 
The Biden administration is encouraging states to hold on to hundreds of thousands of soon-to-expire covid vaccine doses from Johnson & Johnson, given the possibility that additional data will show the shots are viable beyond their expiration date at month’s end. Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told state officials during a White House call Tuesday that they could store expired doses until new data shows whether the vaccines are safe to use, according to multiple state officials. (Pradhan and Jewett, 6/8)

KHN: Women Now Drink As Much As Men — And Are Prone To Sickness Sooner
Victoria Cooper thought her drinking habits in college were just like everyone else’s. Shots at parties. Beers while bowling. Sure, she got more refills than some and missed classes while nursing hangovers, but she couldn’t have a problem, she thought. “Because of what my picture of alcoholism was — old men who brown-bagged it in a parking lot — I thought I was fine,” said Cooper, now sober and living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Pattani, 6/9)

KHN: Zooming Into The Statehouse: Nursing Home Residents Use New Digital Skills To Push For Changes
Patty Bausch isn’t a Medicaid expert, lawyer or medical professional. But she still thinks Connecticut legislators need her input when they consider bills affecting people like her — the roughly 18,000 residents who live in the state’s nursing homes. With help and encouragement from Connecticut’s Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, Bausch signed up and testified remotely before a legislative hearing this year. Nursing home residents who have been using digital technology to reach out to family and friends — after the covid pandemic led officials to end visitation last year — could also use it to connect with elected officials once the legislature moved to remote hearings. Speaking into an iPad provided by the ombudsman’s office, Bausch testified without ever leaving her room at the Newtown Rehabilitation & Health Care Center, where she has lived since having a stroke three years ago. (Jaffe, 6/9)

KHN: An Anti-Vaccine Film Targeted To Black Americans Spreads False Information
When a filmmaker asked medical historian Naomi Rogers to appear in a documentary, the Yale professor didn’t blink. She had done these “talking head” interviews many times before. She assumed her comments would end up in a straightforward documentary that addressed some of the most pressing concerns of the pandemic, such as the legacy of racism in medicine and how that plays into current mistrust in some communities of color. The subject of vaccines was also mentioned, but the focus wasn’t clear to Rogers. (Stone, 6/9)

Politico: Bipartisan Infrastructure Talks Implode, But Congress Still Has A Way Out 
Attention is shifting to the surface transportation bill as negotiations on a larger bipartisan infrastructure plan collapse, with the White House increasingly pointing to the House bill as evidence of forward progress as Congress runs headlong into a busy summer. President Joe Biden ended months of bipartisan negotiations with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and other GOP senators Tuesday afternoon, after long weeks of discussions that seemed to yield little progress. Negotiations will continue, but likely with another group of senators called the G20, a bipartisan group of mostly centrist members. (Snyder, 6/8)

The New York Times: Biden Ends Infrastructure Talks With Republicans, Falling Short Of A Deal
President Biden on Tuesday ended a weekslong effort to reach a deal with Senate Republicans on an expansive infrastructure plan, cutting off negotiations that had failed to persuade them to embrace his bid to pour $1 trillion into the nation’s aging public works system and safety-net programs. It was a major setback to Mr. Biden’s effort to attract Republican support for his top domestic priority, which had always faced long odds over the size, scope and financing of the package. Most Republicans have made it clear they are willing to spend only a fraction of what Democrats want on a much narrower initiative, and balked at any tax increases to pay for it. (Cochrane, 6/8)

The Wall Street Journal: President Biden Ends Infrastructure Talks With Senate GOP Group
President Biden called off an effort to reach an infrastructure compromise with several Senate Republicans after progress stalled, shifting his focus to a separate set of negotiations with a group of Republicans and Democrats in an effort to salvage a bipartisan deal on the issue. At the same time, Senate Democrats signaled they were preparing to move at least part of an infrastructure package forward through a process relying on only Democratic support. (Duehren, Siddiqui and Peterson, 6/9)

Roll Call: Biden Would Slash Pentagon Money For Pandemic Prevention 
President Joe Biden has proposed cutting by nearly half the Pentagon’s budget for the leading U.S. government program for preventing, detecting and responding to global disease outbreaks, a move that even the White House’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill oppose as the nation continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. The so-called Biological Threat Reduction Program finds and fights emerging global diseases that can threaten U.S. troops and, ultimately, the world’s population. In fact, the Pentagon program funded a lab in Thailand that detected in January 2020 the first case of novel coronavirus outside China. (Donnelly, 6/8)

Modern Healthcare: Biden Administration Pushes Domestic Pharmaceutical Production
The Biden administration aims to boost U.S.-based production of pharmaceuticals and their ingredients, among other initiatives looking to shore up the supply chain, according to a new report. HHS, the Defense Department and other agencies should increase their funding related to producing active pharmaceutical ingredients in critical drugs, the White House recommended in its review of supply chain disruptions caused or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. HHS should also track production by facility and where API is sourced to improve transparency. (Kacik, 6/8)

CBS News: Republicans On House Panel Ask CDC To Determine If COVID-19 Was In U.S. Earlier Than Reported
Republicans on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce are asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate early possible COVID-19 cases and blood work in the U.S. to determine whether the virus was present in the country earlier than current estimates. Specifically, committee Republicans sent a letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky asking the CDC to use the most accurate tests available to test more blood samples from 2019 and investigate early unexplained deaths to determine if the virus was in the country earlier than December 13, 2019. The request is part of committee Republicans' investigation into the origins of COVID-19. (Watson and Gazis, 6/8)

Bloomberg: U.S. Gets Crucial EU Support For New Study Into Covid’s Origins
The U.S. and the European Union are set to back a renewed push into investigating the origins of Covid-19 after conflicting assessments about where the outbreak started, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. In a draft statement the countries hope to adopt at a summit later this month, they “call for progress on a transparent, evidence-based, and expert-led WHO-convened phase 2 study on the origins of COVID-19, that is free from interference.” (Nardelli and Wingrove, 6/8)

Stat: Two-Thirds Of Congress Cashed A Pharma Campaign Check In 2020
Seventy-two senators and 302 members of the House of Representatives cashed a check from the pharmaceutical industry ahead of the 2020 election — representing more than two-thirds of Congress, according to a new STAT analysis of records for the full election cycle. Pfizer’s political action committee alone contributed to 228 lawmakers. Amgen’s PAC donated to 218, meaning that each company helped to fund the campaigns of nearly half the lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Overall, the sector donated $14 million. (Facher, 6/9)

Stat: Pharma Funded Over 2,400 State Lawmaker Campaigns In 2020
State lawmakers in Oregon have tried to lower high drug prices from nearly every angle: They’ve sought to cap how much people can pay for insulin, install a panel that could determine how much state agencies should pay for medicines, and even import drugs in bulk from Canada. Nearly every proposal has failed. One reason, at least according to the effort’s supporters: Two-thirds of the state legislature accepted at least one campaign check from the drug industry during the 2020 election cycle. The trade group PhRMA, alone, wrote checks to 43 of the legislature’s 90 lawmakers. (Facher, 6/9)

CNN: CDC Issues New Advice For More Than 120 Countries 
As more people get vaccinated and the spread of Covid-19 becomes more controlled, public health officials are issuing new travel advice for more than 120 countries. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its international travel guidance on Monday to give specific advice for both vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers. The update includes moving 33 countries, including Iceland, Israel and Singapore, into the lowest risk category. (Prior, 6/9)

Bloomberg: US State Dept Eases Travel Warning For Canada, Mexico, France, Germany
The U.S. State Department loosened its travel warnings for dozens of nations including France, Canada and Germany, in a move that could ease airline restrictions for people wanting to go overseas as the coronavirus pandemic wanes in parts of the world. The department changed its travel warnings Tuesday for nearly 60 nations and territories from level 4, or “do not travel,” to level 3, “reconsider travel,” according to the agency’s website. In a statement, the department said it was updating the advisories after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed the methodology for its travel health notices. (Wadhams, 6/8)

NPR: U.S. Lowers The Travel Risk Rating For Japan, Where COVID Still Shadows The Olympics
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State Department have issued new travel advisories lowering the threat of COVID-19 in more than 90 countries and territories, including Japan, which is in the grips of a new wave of infections ahead of the Olympics next month. The CDC lowered Japan from its highest risk category — Level 4 — to a Level 3, on Monday, Reuters first reported. It also moved 61 other countries to the same tier and another 50 were dropped to Level 2 or Level 1. Additionally, the CDC has revised its rating for the United States from Level 4 to Level 3. (Romo, 6/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Millions Of J&J Covid-19 Vaccines Are At Risk Of Expiring In June 
Hospitals, state health departments and the federal government are racing to decide how to use up millions of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine doses that are set to expire this month. The prospect of so many doses going to waste in the U.S. when developing nations are desperate for shots would add pressure on the Biden administration to share stockpiled vaccines. But there are few practical solutions to administering them quickly in the U.S. or distributing them in time to foreign countries, according to those involved in the vaccination drive. (Hopkins and Wernau, 6/8)

NBC News: Many Johnson & Johnson Covid Vaccine Doses May Be Close To Expiring
State officials are aware that people in other countries are eager to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, said Dr. Marcus Plescia, medical director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Plescia described a growing fear among his members that Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses, which are coveted in the developing world, could go to waste if no national effort emerges. (Strickler, 6/8)

The Hill: White House: 'Small Fraction' Of COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Will Be Unused
White House officials on Tuesday said they were not concerned about the potential for states to have unused Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses go to waste, adding that the federal government is working on strategies to extend the vaccine's shelf life. "Our first goal and our first opportunity is that every dose that’s been ordered by a governor in a state gets used," White House COVID-19 adviser Andy Slavitt told reporters. (Weixel, 6/8)

ABC News: Oklahoma May Throw Out Thousands Of COVID-19 Vaccines As Demand Drops 
Oklahoma may be forced to throw out tens of thousands of vaccines set to expire in coming weeks, according to the state health department. "We have pulled expired vaccine from active inventory and are in the process of following CDC guidance on proper disposal," Keith Reed, deputy commissioner of the Oklahoma State Department of Health, told ABC News. In addition to a few thousand vaccines that have already gone to waste, there are approximately 80,000 Johnson & Johnson doses set to expire by the end of June, though that number may be adjusted downward after the state evaluates its inventory, according to Reed. (Schumaker, 6/8)

The Washington Post: Biden’s Global Vaccine Strategy Draws Scrutiny Ahead Of G-7 Pandemic Talks
President Biden is set to take the global stage this week with a coronavirus vaccine-sharing strategy that has been panned by congressional Democrats and some health advocates as too timid, drawn flak from European allies as too bold and led to frustration within his administration. It has also prompted a flurry of White House efforts to answer critics, with new announcements to bolster the plan expected ahead of the president’s appearance at the Group of Seven summit in Britain this weekend. (Diamond and Rauhala, 6/8)

AP: US Increasingly Unlikely To Meet Biden's July 4 Vax Goal
For months, President Joe Biden has laid out goal after goal for taming the coronavirus pandemic and then exceeded his own benchmarks. Now, though, the U.S. is unlikely to meet his target to have 70% of Americans at least partially vaccinated by July 4. The White House has launched a month-long blitz to combat vaccine hesitancy and a lack of urgency to get shots, particularly in the South and Midwest, but it is increasingly resigned to missing the president’s vaccination target. The administration insists that even if the goal isn’t reached, it will have little effect on the overall U.S. recovery, which is already ahead of where Biden said it would be months ago. (Miller and Willingham, 6/9)

USA Today: Seven-Day Average Of New Cases Drop As Experts Warn Of COVID Surge
COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in New England have been steadily dropping as more than 60% of residents in all six states have received at least one dose of the vaccine. But the Deep South states of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, in comparison, are the least vaccinated at around 35%, and new cases relative to the population are generally running higher there than in most of New England. Nationally, about 50% of Americans have received at least one shot. In a series of tweets last weekend, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island, contrasted the relatively low vaccination rates in Springfield, Massachusetts, one of the region’s largest, poorest and most racially diverse cities, with the near-complete vaccination of Newton, an affluent, largely white Boston suburb. (Aspegren and Vargas, 6/9)

CNN: America Reports Lowest Average Of Daily Covid-19 Infections And Deaths Since March 2020. But Experts Warn Millions Are Still Vulnerable 
The US is making significant strides in curbing the coronavirus pandemic just in time for the summer, with reported infections reaching a new low over the last year. The country averaged less than 14,400 daily reported infections and 427 deaths over the past seven days, according to Johns Hopkins University data. It's the lowest the US has seen since late March 2020, just weeks after the pandemic was first declared. The good news comes as about 42% of Americans are fully vaccinated, while nearly 52% have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Elamroussi, 6/9)

PBS NewsHour: This Chart Shows How COVID Cases Have Plummeted As More People Get Vaccinated
Less than six months ago, the coronavirus crisis was at its most deadly point. Now, with more than half the country at least partially vaccinated, Americans are seeing what life looks like at the other side of the curve. New daily COVID-19 infections have declined dramatically in the United States, recently hitting their lowest numbers since March of 2020. (Isaac-Thomas, 6/8)

The Washington Post: Delta Variant Accounts For 6 Percent Of New U.S. Coronavirus Infections 
A highly transmissible coronavirus variant first identified in India accounts for 6 percent of new infections in the United States, the Biden administration said Tuesday. Yet vaccines appear to be highly effective against this version of the virus that has quickly spread into Great Britain and elsewhere. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious-disease expert, revealed the extent of the variant’s push into the United States, but said it appears to be slowed by vaccines. (Bernstein, 6/8)

Fox News: Maine Says 8 Vaccinated Residents Died 'With COVID-19'
The Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that eight residents who were fully vaccinated against coronavirus have died with COVID-19, including some who were inoculated while receiving end-of-life care. A coronavirus infection acquired 14 days post-final vaccination dose is considered a "breakthrough case." As of June 4, the state had reported 387 such cases. Breakthrough cases are expected, the CDC has previously said, and there may be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized or die from the virus. (Hein, 6/8)

Roll Call: Young Adults Shun COVID-19 Vaccine As White House Warns Of Risks
Young adults in Generation Z are refusing the COVID-19 shot at a higher rate than other age groups, a development that many public health experts and White House officials worry could prolong the virus’s spread and lead to dangerous new mutations. “For young people who may think this doesn’t affect you, listen up, please. This virus, even a mild case, can be with you for months. It will impact on your social life,” President Joe Biden said at the White House on June 2. (Cohen, 6/8)

Roll Call: Gen. Z Needs To Get Vaccinated, And This College Student Has TikToks To Make It Happen
About 26 percent of Gen Z adults said they didn’t plan on getting the coronavirus vaccine, according to a Morning Consult poll in March. But Jordan Tralins, a sophomore at Cornell University, has been working to produce TikToks and Instagram slideshows to help combat vaccine hesitancy among her generation. Tralins and classmate Olivia Pawlowski founded the COVID Campus Coalition, which started at Cornell but has since expanded to students at over 20 universities. The group has accounts on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram to share information about vaccines and fight disinformation that continues to crop up online. (McKinless and Cohen, 6/8)

Modern Healthcare: Teen COVID Hospitalization Spike Spurs Mass Vaccination Effort
Michigan's COVID-19 hospitalization rate surged by 311% among ages under 18-years-old from February through April, forcing providers to perform procedures rarely used on children with respiratory infections. Dr. Matthew Denenberg, an emergency pediatric physician, and his colleagues at the Children's Hospital of Michigan pumped the hearts of multiple kids infected with COVID-19 through an ECMO Machine over the past few months. His hospital is one of three in the state licensed to perform the procedure on children, rarely is it employed, as it is a last resort to provide circulation to the body. (Gellman, 6/8)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Vaccine Site Opens At L.A.'s Union Station
A COVID-19 vaccination site opened Tuesday at downtown Los Angeles’ Union Station as the effort to get shots into more residents’ arms ramped up ahead of the state’s planned reopening next week. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti highlighted the convenience of the site at a news conference, noting that the transportation hub is widely used by commuters. Before the pandemic, roughly 110,000 people traveled through the station every day, he said. (Seidman, 6/8)

The Washington Post: Houston Methodist Workers Suspended For Not Getting Vaccinated 
A Houston-based hospital system suspended more than 170 health-care workers who did not comply with the organization’s vaccine mandate, the system’s CEO said Tuesday, a day after employees protested the requirement outside a medical center. While 24,947 of Houston Methodist’s employees were fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus by Monday’s deadline, 178 employees did not get fully vaccinated and were suspended without pay for two weeks, Houston Methodist CEO Marc Boom wrote in an internal message that the system shared with The Washington Post. (Villegas and Diamond, 6/8)

CIDRAP: Ghosts In The Machine: Malicious Bots Spread COVID Untruths
Malicious bots, or automated software that simulates human activity on social media platforms, are the primary drivers of COVID-19 misinformation, spreading myths and seeding public health distrust exponentially faster than human users could, suggests a study published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine. Led by University of California at San Diego (UCSD) researchers, a team analyzed a sample of roughly 300,000 posts on heavily bot-influenced public Facebook groups to measure how quickly the posts' links were shared. (Van Beusekom, 6/8)

The New York Times: Wisconsin Pharmacist Who Tampered With Vaccine Gets 3-Year Sentence 
A hospital pharmacist who pleaded guilty to trying to spoil more than 500 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in prison, federal prosecutors in Wisconsin announced. The pharmacist, Steven R. Brandenburg, 46, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay nearly $84,000 in restitution to the Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wis., where he worked an overnight shift. (Paybarah, 6/8)

USA Today: Pfizer COVID Vaccine: Next Phase Of Trials In Young Children To Begin
Pfizer released details Tuesday about the progress of its COVID-19 vaccination trials in children, showing that they have completed early testing and are moving forward with lower-dose trials in younger kids. Children are less likely than adults to have a serious case of COVID-19, so drug companies are trying to minimize vaccine side effects while maximizing benefits. For now, Pfizer, which collaborates with German biotech BioNTech, is testing its vaccine at lower doses in grade schoolers than adolescents and still lower doses in younger children. (Weintraub, 6/8)

Fox News: Pfizer Lowers COVID-19 Vaccine Doses For Younger Kids In Clinical Trial
Pfizer said it has selected lower dosages of its COVID-19 vaccine for Phase 2/3 portions of its clinical trial involving kids younger than 11 than the volume given to shot recipients ages 12 and older. For children ages 5-11 the vaccine will be given at a 10 microgram (ug) dose level, while those younger than 5 down to 6 months will receive a 3 ug dose level. The shots will continue to be given in a two-dose regimen. Currently, the FDA has granted emergency use authorization to Pfizer for its COVID-19 two-dose vaccine in people ages 12 and older. Everyone 12 and over receives two doses of 30 ug each given three weeks apart. (Hein, 6/8)

CIDRAP: Single Dose Of Pfizer COVID Vaccine 51% Protective, Real-World Data Show
A single, 30-microgram dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was 51% effective for any SARS-CoV-2 infection and 54% for symptomatic infections, according to a study yesterday in JAMA Network Open. The research cohort consisted of 503,875 Israelis 16 years and older who received a single dose from Dec 19, 2020, to Jan 15, 2021. A little more than half (52.4%) were women, the mean age was 59.7 years, and 69.8% had follow-up data for days 13 to 24 post-vaccination in addition to days 1 to 12. (6/8)

The Boston Globe: Why Does The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Work Against Variants? A New Study Suggests An Answer
New research suggests that Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine provides protection against worrisome virus variants — but perhaps not for the reasons researchers originally thought. The findings, published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, come from a 25-person study at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, which looked at immune responses to variants first discovered in Brazil, South Africa, Southern California, and the United Kingdom. Twenty people in the study received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, five received a placebo, and their blood samples were analyzed 57 and 71 days days after their shot. (Gardizy, 6/9)

New York Post: These Treatments Can Help COVID-19-Related Hair Loss, Doctors Say
There’s a big fallout from the pandemic.Hair loss brought on by the COVID-induced stress and anxiety of the past 18 months is plaguing women, but they’re finding help with a range of innovative — though often costly — treatments. "About 30 percent of my patients were e-mailing about hair loss," said Michele Green, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill. "It was frightening. Some had sheets of hair falling out." (Lewak and Fleming, 6/8)

AP: Library Of Congress Gets Health Workers' Audio COVID Diaries
The Library of Congress has acquired a digital archive of the real-time impressions of more than 200 frontline health care workers documenting the country’s descent into the coronavirus pandemic. Calvin Lambert, a fetal medicine fellow in a Bronx hospital, recalls how a Black pregnant woman who came in for a checkup “became irate and became scared” even when he attempted to give her a COVID-19 test. She thought the nasal swab itself would give her the virus. (6/8)

Stat: Biogen, FDA At Odds Over Timing Of Confirmatory Trial Of Alzheimer’s Drug
Biogen and the Food and Drug Administration are at odds over the timing of a confirmatory trial for the company’s newly approved drug for Alzheimer’s disease, an issue of critical importance in determining whether the medicine is delivering benefits to patients. Hours after the approval of Aduhelm on Monday, Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos said that the company could take up to nine years to satisfy the FDA’s post-approval requirement that it conduct an entirely new clinical trial to confirm the benefit of the drug for patients with Alzheimer’s. Those remarks, made during an interview with CNBC, were not received well inside the agency because they suggested Biogen felt no urgency to complete the study in a timely manner, an FDA official said. (Feuerstein and Herper, 6/8)

Stat: Member Of FDA’s Expert Panel Resigns Over Alzheimer’s Therapy Approval
Following the Food and Drug Administration’s polarizing authorization of the Alzheimer’s therapy Aduhelm on Monday, a member of an agency advisory committee that recommended against the drug’s approval has resigned. Neurologist Joel Perlmutter of Washington University in St. Louis, a member of the FDA’s expert panel for nervous system therapies, told STAT in an email that he had quit the committee on Monday “due to this ruling by the FDA without further discussion with our advisory committee.” (Joseph, 6/8)

Fox News: Who Should Take New Alzheimer's Drug? Expert Weighs In
After the Food and Drug Administration granted approval to the first Alzheimer’s drug in nearly two decades, Biogen's Aduhelm (aducanumab), doctors are left triaging patient calls in a bid to find the appropriate patient with a mild, early course of disease. Dr. Douglas Scharre, a neurologist and director of the division of Cognitive Neurology at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, and clinical investigator on Biogen’s studies, explains the antibody treatment works by clearing toxic amyloid proteins from brain tissue, though patients with late stage Alzheimer’s disease are unlikely to benefit. However the FDA issued a broad indication for approval. (Rivas, 6/8)

Stat: Regeneron Shareholders Urged To Boot Board Member Over Exec Pay Practices
Two prominent shareholder advisory firms are urging Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) shareholders to remove a director who is on the compensation committee, citing concerns over “problematic” pay practices and “excessive” awards given to the top two executives. In separate investor alerts, the advisory firms argue the Regeneron board has showered chief executive officer Leonard Schleifer and president and chief scientific officer George Yancopoulos with upfront performance stock units worth $130 million over five years, rather than annual grants. This approach may lock in executives, but the firms say it also robs the board of flexibility if job performance changes during that time. (Silverman, 6/8)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth Group Names New Chief Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Officer
UnitedHealth Group announced on Tuesday that Joy Fitzgerald will serve as the healthcare giant's new Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer. Fitzgerald joins the Minnetonka, Minn.-based company from Eli Lilly, where she most recently served as Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer. Fitzgerald also served as chief diversity officer for Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based, aerospace company, Rockwell Collins, where she held other leadership roles focused on learning and organizational development. (Tepper, 6/8)

CIDRAP: FDA Approves 2nd Smallpox Treatment, Tembexa
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tembexa (brincidofovir) to treat smallpox. This is the second approved smallpox drug; the first, TPOXX (tecovirimat), was approved in 2018.The World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated in 1980, but since then many nations have expressed concerns that the variola virus, which causes smallpox, could be used as a bioweapon. (6/8)

GenomeWeb: Genomic Differences In Prostate Cancer Found Among African-Americans, European-Americans
Prostate cancer is common among men, with nearly 175,000 new cases each year in the U.S. But African-American men are more likely than European-American men to develop prostate cancer, and when they do, they have a higher mortality rate. Previous studies have suggested there might be genomic differences in the tumors found among African-American and European-American men, so an Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai-led team conducted a retrospective analysis of tumors from more than a thousand men to examine differences in gene expression or affected biological pathways between the groups. As they reported in the journal Communications Biology this week, the researchers uncovered distinct genomic differences that could influence how prostate cancer should be managed clinically and that could, in part, explain disease disparities. (6/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: EPA Agrees To Disclose Data On Products Containing Asbestos, Reversing Trump Protocol
The Biden administration, in response to a suit by California, other states and environmental advocates, has agreed to collect and disclose information from companies whose products contain the cancer-causing mineral asbestos. Asbestos is found in items ranging from brake linings to clothing fabrics. Since 2016, federal law has required the Environmental Protection Agency to obtain information from large-scale importers and producers of products containing potentially hazardous chemicals, including asbestos. The agency then is supposed to evaluate the risks and adopt rules that, based on its findings, could prohibit U.S. manufacture and distribution of the chemical and products that contain it. (Egelko, 6/8)

CNN: People With Diabetes Who Sleep Badly Are At Greater Risk Of Dying Prematurely, Study Suggests 
People with diabetes who had trouble falling or staying asleep were 87% more likely to die of any cause over the next nine years than people without diabetes or sleep problems, a new study finds. The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of Sleep Research, analyzed data from nearly half a million middle-aged participants in the UK Biobank Study, which houses in-depth genetic and health information on UK residents. (LaMotte, 6/8)

CNN: The Coming Flu Season May Be A Doozy. Here's Why 
The coming flu season may be a doozy. Even as coronavirus was devastating populations around the world, killing 3.7 million people globally, doctors and public health officials noticed something else was missing: There was almost no flu. One child died from flu this year in the US. In 2019-2020, there were 199 flu-related deaths in children and 144 the season before that. Flu cases, usually counted in the tens of millions, only accounted for a few thousand this year in the US. "Flu hasn't been anywhere, with the exception of some reasonable activity in western Africa," said Richard Webby, an influenza specialist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. (Fox, 6/8)

The Washington Post: How To Protect Yourself From The Sun For A 2nd Covid Summer 
The millions of Americans who are too young or medically fragile to receive coronavirus vaccines, and those who are vaccinated but want to play it safe, still need open, outdoor spaces for getting together — especially in public venues such as restaurants, event sites, resorts, beaches and parks. Meanwhile, most Americans are acutely aware that they are supposed to avoid direct sunlight to protect themselves from skin cancer. The two health directives converge under porches, awnings, umbrellas and canopies, where there’s precious little space to accommodate all the sun-averse visitors. (Cleaver, 6/8)

CNN: These Innovative Designs Are Tackling Taboo Health Issues For Women 
A non-hormonal birth control capsule that women can insert just before sex. A rape kit that gives victims more agency and streamlines the evidence collection process. An overhauled design for a 150-year-old tool used in postpartum vaginal tearing. These designs are just some of the finalists announced this week in the 2021 Index Award, and their creators hope to make the future of medicine and sexual health more equitable for all genders. (Palumbo, 6/8)

Bloomberg: NFL Pledges $1 Million To Fund Cannabis Research For Pain Relief
The NFL says it plans to fund research into alternative pain medications to opioids, including potential studies on whether cannabis can effectively treat pain without having a negative effect on elite athletes. The league is offering $1 million in grants for as many as five research proposals, Jeff Miller, executive vice president overseeing player health and safety, said on a media call Tuesday. (Kary, 6/8)

AP: California Worker Board To Again Reconsider Mask Standards
California’s workplace regulators are set to again reconsider controversial masking rules designed to protect employees against the coronavirus. A “special meeting” of the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board was hastily scheduled for Wednesday after State Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón sent a letter to the panel reiterating that the state plans to do away with virtually all masking and social distancing requirements for vaccinated people starting Tuesday. (Thompson, 6/9)

Modern Healthcare: New Louisiana Law Bans Insurer Practice Known As White Bagging
Louisiana hospitals are cheering a new state law that bans health insurers' controversial practice of white bagging, or bypassing hospital pharmacies for certain drugs. Across the country, health insurers are increasingly setting policies that funnel services away from hospitals in favor of less expensive settings. In this case, they're shipping doses of expensive physician-administered drugs, commonly cancer infusions, directly to hospitals instead of allowing hospitals to buy them using discounts and retrieve them from their in-house pharmacies. Insurers have defended the practice by arguing that getting drugs from their own network of specialty pharmacies helps keep healthcare more affordable. (Bannow, 6/8)

Fox News: 'Philly Naked Bike Ride' Participants Required To Wear Only One Item — A Face Mask
Naked bikers are set to hit the Philadelphia streets in a couple of months for an event that won't require clothing except for one specific item – a face mask. The annual Philly Naked Bike Ride is officially scheduled for Aug. 28, organizers say. The free-spirited ride – which encourages nakedness and has been labeled as a "bare as you dare" event – will require masks based on the city's earlier coronavirus restrictions. This year's event is being called: "The Mask Edition," according to promotions posted on social media. (Aaro, 6/8)

The Boston Globe: Cooling Centers Were Open But Few Came. Are They The Best Way To Deal With Scorchers?
It was a blistering hot day, the third in a late spring heat wave. But some of the community cooling centers the city offers its residents were all but empty. A community cooling center in the North End had no takers around noon Monday, as the thermometer hovered around 93 degrees. In Roxbury, another center had just two patrons enjoying its air-conditioned rooms. As the number of 90-degree days has steadily climbed in the area, the sparse use of the city-funded cooling centers illustrated the challenges for cities trying to help people withstand the heat — a serious health threat, particularly for the elderly. (Lusignan and Caldera, 6/8)

Houston Chronicle: West Nile Virus Confirmed In Harris County Mosquito Sample
The first West Nile Virus mosquito sample of the year has been discovered in Harris County, health officials said Tuesday. Harris County Public Health’s mosquito and vector control division planned to treat the affected area in northwest Harris County where the sample was identified and collected, according to the agency. While mosquitoes are around all year, their peak activity occurs from June through October. Only a “handful” of the 56 species of mosquitoes found in Harris County transmit diseases like Saint Louis Encephalitis, Chikungunya, Dengue and Zika, according to health officials. (Serrano, 6/8)

Bloomberg: Colorado Legislature Passes Health Care Plan Cutting Costs 15%
The Colorado legislature passed health reform legislation that requires private insurers to offer a state-regulated plan reducing costs by 15%, the Colorado Sun reported Tuesday. The legislature also approved a measure establishing a fee for single-use products, such as plastic and paper grocery bags, and banning Styrofoam in restaurants, the Sun reported. Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, is expected to sign both bills. Democrats hold majorities in the Colorado House and Senate. (Del Giudice, 6/8)

Bloomberg: Colorado's Governor Backs Employers' Plan To Tackle Health Costs
Public employers in Colorado are teaming up with national companies to jointly purchase medical care through a new buying group that could become a blueprint for employers in other states seeking more bang for their health-care bucks. The local employers will join with the national Purchaser Business Group on Health, a coalition of some of the country’s largest companies including Walmart Inc. and Boeing Co. PBGH will help identify high-quality medical providers in Colorado. PBGH members with employees in the state can opt in to the contracts that the Colorado Purchasing Alliance negotiates. (Tozzi, 6/8)