Stat: CDC Tones Down Its Opioid Prescribing Guidelines
Federal health officials on Thursday abandoned their influential recommendations that opioid prescribers should aim for certain dose thresholds when treating chronic pain. The changes came as part of a proposed update to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s controversial 2016 guidelines on opioid prescribing. The recommendations are an attempt from health officials to strike a balance between limiting the harms that can come from long-term opioid use; allowing for physicians to come up with individualized plans to treat their patients; and encouraging reductions in dosages when it can be done safely and with patient buy-in. The newer guidelines still say that “opioids should not be considered first-line or routine therapy for subacute or chronic pain” and note that other treatments are often better for acute pain as well. Doctors should prioritize non-opioid medications and interventions like exercise and physical therapy, according to the recommendations. (Joseph, 2/10)

The New York Times: C.D.C. Proposes New Guidelines For Treating Pain, Including Opioid Use 
Though still in draft form, the 12 recommendations, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are the first comprehensive revisions of the agency’s opioid prescribing guidelines since 2016. They walk a fine line between embracing the need for doctors to prescribe opioids to alleviate some cases of severe pain while guarding against exposing patients to the well-documented perils of opioids. Dr. Samer Narouze, president of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, an association of clinicians, praised the tone, level of detail and focus of the project. “It’s a total change in the culture from the 2016 guidelines,” he said, characterizing the earlier edition as ordering doctors to “just cut down on opioids — period.” (Hoffman, 2/10)

USA Today: CDC's Opioid Prescribing Guide Differs For New, Existing Pain Sufferers
The 229-page document advises doctors to limit new opioid prescriptions and discuss alternative therapies with patients. But the new guidance largely avoids figures on dosage and length of prescription and warns against abruptly or rapidly discontinuing pain pills for some chronic pain patients. "We've built in flexibility so that there's not a one-size-fits-all approach," said Christopher Jones, acting director of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (Alltucker, 2/10)

AP: CDC Proposes Softer Guidance On Opioid Prescriptions 
One expert expressed initial wariness about a proposed revision. The 2016 guidance succeeded in helping to reduce inappropriate and dangerous prescribing, said Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman of Georgetown University Medical Center. Its critics have included pain patients, but also painkiller manufacturers and groups they fund, she said. “There was nothing wrong with the original guidelines,” said Fugh-Berman, a paid expert witness for plaintiffs in cases targeting pharmaceutical marketing practices. (Stobbe, 2/10)

In other news about the opioid crisis —

Stat: Fight Over Opioid Prescribing Heads To Supreme Court
Doctors have wide latitude to prescribe drugs, including potentially dangerous ones, but even they face limits. The question is, what threshold do physicians have to cross — and what sort of intent do they need to have — for their prescribing to be considered a crime? It’s an issue headed to the Supreme Court next month, in a case concerning two physicians who were convicted of unlawfully dispensing opioid painkillers. The case is already raising alarms among advocates for pain patients and some health policy experts, who fear that a ruling could enable aggressive prosecutions of prescribers. They warn that such a decision could discourage doctors from providing opioids even when they’re warranted, at a time when some pain patients are already losing access to medication or seeing their doses unsafely slashed. Advocates are asking the court to make clear that criminal punishments should be reserved for prescribers who knowingly write inappropriate prescriptions. (Joseph, 2/11)

Bloomberg: Purdue’s Sacklers Weigh Adding $1 Billion More To Opioid Settlement
Members of the billionaire Sackler family that own Purdue Pharma LP are weighing whether to add $1 billion to the OxyContin-maker’s faltering opioid settlement bid in an effort to win over holdouts, according to people familiar with the offer. The move would bring the family’s total contribution to $5.325 billion to get a handful of state attorneys general to drop their opposition to Purdue’s bankruptcy plan, the people said. In return, the states would abandon appeals of the Sacklers’ demands to be freed from liability in current and future opioid lawsuits, the people added. (Feeley, Hill and Nayak, 2/10)

Philadelphia Inquirer: A Timeline Of Philadelphia's Five-Year Effort To Open A Supervised Injection Site
In 2017, Philadelphia was on track to see a record-breaking overdose death toll. Calls were growing to open a supervised injection site, where people can use drugs under medical supervision and be revived if they overdose. By the end of the year, 1,217 people had died of an overdose, and city officials made the decision to sanction a site but not pay for it. Five years later, the city still has no site, and the deaths go on. Still, advocates see renewed hope in the fact that the Justice Department under President Joe Biden signaled this week it is reconsidering the Trump administration’s long-held opposition to such efforts. Here’s a timeline of key moments in the process... (Whelan and Roebuck, 2/10)

NBC News: Covid Stillbirths: The Coronavirus Can Severely Damage The Placenta In Pregnant Women
Research published Thursday paints a startling picture of the destructive toll Covid-19 can take on pregnant women and their growing fetuses. The virus can attack and destroy the placenta, a vascular organ that serves as a fetus’s lifeline, leading to asphyxiation and stillbirth, according to the study in the journal Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. (Sullivan, 2/10)

USA Today: Pregnant With COVID: How SARS-CoV-2 Can Cause Stillbirth, Study Finds
Although other viral infections have also been linked to stillbirths, a new study suggests the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 may have a completely different way of impacting a developing fetus. A 44-member international research team studied 64 stillbirth cases and four early neonatal deaths from 12 countries to determine how COVID-19 caused perinatal deaths. All the expecting mothers were unvaccinated. Based on their findings, they concluded the COVID-19 infection destroyed the placenta, depriving the fetus of oxygen, according to the report published Thursday in Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. Researchers determined the virus reaches the placenta and causes it to fail by passing through the mother’s bloodstream, a process known as viremia. (Rodriguez, 2/10)

AP: Coronavirus Can Destroy The Placenta And Lead To Stillbirths
Lead author Dr. David Schwartz, an Atlanta pathologist, said other infections can infiltrate the placenta and cause stillbirth, typically by infecting and damaging the fetus. A recent example is Zika virus. He and his colleagues wanted to see if that was the case with stillbirths in women with COVID-19. But what they found was almost the opposite: it was the placenta that was infected and extensively destroyed. “Many of these cases had over 90% of the placenta destroyed — very scary,” said Schwartz. (Tanner, 2/10)

The Hill: COVID Can Cause Deadly Harm To Unborn Babies In Unvaccinated Pregnant Mothers: Study
Researchers conducted 30 autopsies of the 68 perinatal deaths and found no abnormalities except for intrauterine hypoxia and asphyxia. [Dr.] Schwartz told Changing America that these babies essentially suffocated due to lack of oxygen being delivered to the placenta. (Ali, 2/10)

Daily Yonder: Rate Of New Covid Infections Falls 40% In Rural Counties 
The rate of new Covid-19 infections in rural America plunged last week, indicating that rural counties have passed the peak of the Omicron surge, a Daily Yonder analysis shows. Meanwhile, the rural death rate from Covid-19 climbed for the third consecutive week. The number of new infections in rural America fell by more than 40%, from 640,000 new cases two weeks ago to 378,000 last week. That’s the biggest single-week drop in cases (both as a percentage and in raw numbers) since the start of the pandemic. But even with the decline, new infections were more numerous last week in rural counties than they were at the previous peak of the pandemic in January 2021. (Marema, 2/11)

USA Today: Delta Variant Infected Twice As Many Per Capita In Rural Areas, Study Says
Despite the wide expanses of rural America, the delta variant spread widely and quickly in those areas last summer. The reason? Low vaccination rates. In fact, rural counties registered 2.4 more infections per 100,000 residents than urban areas from July 1 to Aug. 31 of last year, according to a new study by the University of Cincinnati and Augusta University that was published Thursday in JAMA Network Open. The study cited CDC data indicating 82% of rural America had a vaccination rate below 30%, with 369 of 449 areas designated by the researchers under that threshold. (Ortiz, Miller and Tebor, 2/10)

In other news on the spread of the coronavirus —

NBC News: Map: Covid-19 Deaths Have More Than Doubled In Five States
Omicron took a month and a half to match the death rate that the delta wave took nearly three months to reach. The omicron variant, which has spread disease to tens of millions in the U.S. since late December, is now fueling a wave of Covid-related deaths. Average deaths have plateaued at close to 2,600 a day, the highest level since February 2021, according to NBC News’ tally. (Murphy, 2/10)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Hospitals Stretched To The Brink By COVID Surge See Relief As Cases Drop
The twin crises of COVID-induced staffing shortages and stressed capacity at Maine hospitals appear to be easing slightly as the number of COVID infections and hospitalizations have decreased. The number of people hospitalized for COVID has declined nearly 30 percent since setting a record high of 436 on Jan. 13, according to Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention data. Plus, preliminary data are also showing that the level of coronavirus being detected in wastewater is declining, Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah said this week. (Russell, 2/11)

AP: New NC Advice Seeks To Keep More Virus-Exposed Kids In Class 
North Carolina health officials on Thursday eased guidance for K-12 schools that had directed students and staff to often stay home for five days if they were in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19. The updated recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services, which take effect Feb. 21, state that children and school workers shouldn’t be required to stay home following a virus exposure unless they have coronavirus symptoms or test positive. (Robertson, 2/10)

CIDRAP: Previous COVID Infection May Confer 56% Protection Against Reinfection
A study in Qatar estimates that previous COVID-19 infection imparts 56% protection against future symptomatic infection caused by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, down from about 90% for other SARS-CoV-2 strains. The study, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), was led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar in Doha. (2/10)

Axios: Unlocking The Mystery Of The "Never COVID" Cohort 
Some people don't get COVID despite being exposed to the virus — a mystery researchers are trying to unravel. Understanding the small cohort of "never COVID" people could lead to new vaccine targets or other protections as the world enters the third year of the pandemic. Various possibilities for how these people are protected are being tested: immune defenses stemming from other infections, human genetics, viral load or environmental factors. And then there's simple luck. (O'Reilly, 2/10)

CIDRAP: NCAA Athletics Not Linked To Increased COVID-19, Data Suggest 
A cross-sectional study of more than half a million National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 athletes and 3.5 million nonathletes suggests that participation in collegiate athletics was not tied to higher COVID-19 test positivity in the 2020-21 academic year. The research was published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 2/10)

North Carolina Health News: What Is The Future Of COVID And Incarceration? 
From the Alpha variant to Delta to Omicron, the COVID-19 virus is changing, but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Incarcerated people and their families wonder what the future of COVID means for them. Incarcerated people have been acutely impacted by the highs and lows of the pandemic. Not only must they cope with the fear of getting ill and dying, or suffering from long-term COVID symptoms, but the pandemic has meant periodically losing much of the few freedoms they still have, such as outdoor recreation time and family calls and visits. (Thompson, 2/10)

And on covid testing —

Miami Herald: Florida Raps Contractors For Not Reporting 230,000 COVID Tests
The Florida Department of Health on Monday reprimanded two companies for failing to report more than 230,000 COVID-19 tests taken in December and January. The missing tests could mean that the number of positive COVID-19 cases in Florida was even higher than reported during the state’s omicron wave — the most widespread outbreak to date — which peaked at over 65,000 average daily cases on Jan. 11, according to federal health data. The state has received all of the missing test results and state employees are currently reviewing the data, Department of Health spokesperson Jeremy Redfern said in an email to the Herald/Times. (Hodgson and Wilson, 2/10)

The Washington Post: D.C. Public Schools Required Weekly Covid Tests For Pre-K Students. How Has It Gone? 
The prekindergarten testing program is unique in the metro area and expands on the school system’s “test-to-return” initiative after winter break, which required all staff and students to test negative for the coronavirus before returning to school. With the weekly pre-K initiative, school leaders say parents are becoming more comfortable with the testing and hope it is a way to keep more students in school. (Asbury, 2/9)

KHN: What Are Taxpayers Spending For Those ‘Free’ Covid Tests? The Government Won’t Say.
The four free covid-19 rapid tests President Joe Biden promised in December for every American household have begun arriving in earnest in mailboxes and on doorsteps. A surge of covid infections spurred wide demand for over-the-counter antigen tests during the holidays: Clinics were overwhelmed with people seeking tests and the few off-the-shelf brands were nearly impossible to find at pharmacies or even online via Amazon. Prices for some test kits cracked the hundred-dollar mark. And the government vowed that its purchase could provide the tests faster and cheaper so people, by simply swabbing at home, could quell the spread of covid. (Spolar, 2/11)

The Washington Post: The Best Covid Tests With Apps 
New start-ups and existing testing companies alike are hoping that tech elements will set them apart from traditional at-home tests, and their products run the gamut from quick and easy app-based antigen tests you can order on Amazon to $474 molecular-testing setups you plug into your wall. I tried out four popular at-home tests: an On/Go antigen test from Intrivo, a BD Veritor antigen test from Becton, Dickinson and Co. and molecular tests from Cue Health and Detect, paying close attention to their accuracy, price, speed, privacy and ease of use. (Hunger, 2/10)

The Washington Post: Biden Says Lifting Covid Mask Mandates ‘Probably Premature’ As Blue States Loosen Rules 
President Biden said Thursday that easing indoor masking requirements was “probably premature,” as an increasing number of states announce plans to roll back such restrictions amid a sharp decline in covid-linked hospitalizations. But Biden refrained from criticizing the governors of those states, saying it was tough to judge if they were moving too quickly. “It’s hard to say whether they are wrong,” he told Lester Holt on NBC “Nightly News. “They set a time limit and I assume it has something to do with whether the omicron variant continues to dive,” Biden added. (Jeong, 2/10)

NBC News: White House Plans For Pandemic’s Next Stage Amid Internal Debate
The Biden administration’s effort over the past month to develop a new Covid-19 strategy has sparked an internal debate about how far to go in lifting mitigation measures like masks and how to know when the country is entering that new phase of the pandemic. Administration officials began a “listening tour” in early January to inform the new strategy and have been soliciting input from outside medical experts and state and local public health officials as well as consulting with governors, administration officials said. (Lee, Przybyla, Pettypiece and Strickler, 2/11)

More on mask mandates —

AP: Nevada, Casinos Rescind Mask Mandates Effective Immediately
Nevada and its casinos stopped requiring people to wear masks in public on Thursday, joining most other U.S. states lifting restrictions that were imposed to limit the spread of coronavirus. Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak announced that the state no longer required face coverings in most places, “effective immediately. ”But to avoid having students rip off their masks in class, he said rules for schools remained in place until the end of the day. (Sonner and Ritter, 2/10)

The Boston Globe: Boston To Maintain Mask Requirement In Schools, Loosen Vaccine Mandate For Educators
Mayor Michelle Wu announced an agreement with Boston teachers Thursday that will ease the vaccine mandate on educators, but said masks will still be required in school after Feb. 28, as the uncertain course of the pandemic continues to dominate her early tenure. Wu said Boston’s school mask mandate will remain in place past the expiration of the statewide requirement at month’s end, announced by Governor Charlie Baker on Wednesday. She urged caution, given that many children remain unvaccinated, even as the region begins to emerge from the Omicron surge. (Platoff and Tziperman Lotan, 2/10)

AP: LA County's Indoor Mask Rule Likely To Remain Through March 
While the winter coronavirus wave in California is receding fast, it could be a while before Los Angeles County lifts its indoor mask and vaccine mandates, the county’s top health official said Thursday while urging football fans to take precautions when gathering for the Super Bowl. Most California counties plan to follow state guidelines and end their indoor masking requirements for vaccinated people next week. But the state’s most populous county is still seeing high transmission of the omicron variant even as the test positivity rate, case numbers and hospitalizations drop, said Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County’s health director. (Weber, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Should You Go Maskless Even If Mask Requirements Have Lifted? 
What should I consider when deciding whether to go maskless? There are a few main things that Robert Murphy, professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said he would consider before deciding to leave a mask at home. (Firozi, 2/10)

The New York Times: Nearly 3,000 N.Y.C. Workers Have A Day To Get Vaccinated Or Be Fired 
Hundreds of municipal workers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge this week, chanting in unison for New York City to end its vaccine mandate, and carrying signs that said “Fire Fauci” and “Unvaccinated Lives Matter.” Their pleas were rejected by Mayor Eric Adams, who has reaffirmed the city’s looming ultimatum: If city workers do not get vaccinated, they are the ones who will be fired. (Fitzsimmons, 2/10)

Bloomberg: New York’s Unvaccinated City Workers Face Firing On Deadline Day
About 4,000 unvaccinated New York City employees, including police officers, teachers and firefighters, face termination Friday. Jobs are at risk for about 3,000 workers who took unpaid leave instead of getting vaccinated when the city’s mandate took effect in October, as well as about 1,000 recent hires who haven’t submitted documentation of their second shots. About 95% of the 370,000 city workers have received at least one dose. (Diaz, 2/11)

In other news about vaccine mandates —

AP: Twin Cities Lift Restaurant, Bar Vaccine-Or-Test Mandates 
The mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul have rescinded vaccine-or-test mandates for restaurants, bars and entertainment venues as COVID-19 cases decline rapidly. The Star Tribune reported Thursday that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter have lifted the mandates effective immediately. (2/10)

USA Today: US-Canada Border Protest Over COVID Vaccine Mandate Heightens Worries
The Biden administration, mindful that it may soon face a similar problem, is urging the government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to use its federal powers to end the border blockade by truck drivers opposed to Canada's vaccine mandate and coronavirus mitigation measures. The White House said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg encouraged their Canadian counterparts to help resolve the standoff. Truckers calling themselves the Freedom Convoy are opposing a Canadian requirement that drivers entering the country be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or face testing and possible quarantine. (Ortiz, Miller and Tebor, 2/10)

AP: Bill Would Let Unvaccinated WVa Workers Get Unemployment 
West Virginia lawmakers have advanced a proposal that would allow people who leave their jobs because they are denied a religious or medical exemption to the COVID-19 vaccination to receive unemployment benefits. Republican Sen. Mark Maynard, a sponsor of Senate Bill 576, said Thursday that the legislation was designed with health care workers in mind. (Willingham, 2/10)

Des Moines Register: Iowa's New Anti-Vaccine Mandate Bill Clears Its First Legislative Test In Hours-Long Hearing
Opponents of vaccination mandates crowded into a Capitol meeting room Thursday for several hours to support a bill that would widely ban vaccination and mask mandates at businesses, governmental entities and schools. ... The hearing — which extended significantly longer than most legislative subcommittee meetings — was the first test for a far-reaching bill that would specify that businesses, governments and schools couldn't fire workers based on their medical treatment status, including vaccinations. (Richardson, 2/10)

The Boston Globe: How Neo-Nazi And Antivaccine Protesters Collided At The Brigham
For nearly two years, Brigham and Women’s Hospital — like most across the country — has felt like a war zone of sorts, as waves of COVID patients have filled its ICUs and demanded heroic efforts from its workers. Now, just as the Omicron rush is fading away, the hospital has become the target of two unrelated protests that have drawn national attention and reverberated through a staff already pushed close to the breaking point. On Jan. 22, antivaccine protesters denounced what they thought was a decision by the hospital to deny an unvaccinated man a new heart. Members of the group swore and yelled at a nurse on her way to pick up food outside the hospital, said Trish Powers, a nurse at the Brigham. (Bartlett, 2/10)

Bloomberg: U.S. Agrees To Pay Lilly $720 Million For New Covid Treatment
The U.S. struck a $720 million deal with Eli Lilly & Co. for supplies of an experimental Covid drug that appears to fight the omicron variant that’s sweeping the country. Under the agreement, Lilly will provide the Department of Health and Human Services with 600,000 doses of bebtelovimab, a monoclonal antibody under U.S. regulatory review for treatment of mild-to-moderate Covid in certain high-risk patients. (Griffin, 2/10)

AP: US Buys 600K Doses Of New COVID Antibody Awaiting Clearance 
Addressing diminished treatment options in the omicron wave, the Biden administration has purchased enough of a yet-to-be approved antibody drug to treat 600,000 COVID-19 patients, officials said Thursday. The new monoclonal antibody from pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly will be shipped out to states free of charge if the Food and Drug Administration approves the company’s request for emergency use authorization, said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. “We are going to try to be there to meet the demand,” he added. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 2/10)

In related news about monoclonal antibodies —

Stat: Conflicting Reports Raise Questions About Covid Monoclonals And BA.2
A pair of conflicting reports released this week raised questions about whether the Covid-19 monoclonal antibody sotrovimab — the one such treatment that has continued to work against the Omicron variant — maintains its power against a sister form of the virus, BA.2.A study posted to a preprint server Wednesday (meaning it has not been peer-reviewed) indicated that sotrovimab failed to neutralize BA.2 in lab experiments. “This new finding shows that no presently approved or authorized monoclonal antibody therapy could adequately cover” BA.2, the researchers wrote. (Joseph, 2/10)

In other news about covid treatments —

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Evusheld, Scarce COVID Prevention Drug For The Immunocompromised, Is Sitting On Shelves In Louisiana
Every six months, Ashley Fisher gets an infusion of medication that wipes out her B-cells, the immune system’s equivalent to a weapons producer. In a typical immune system, B-cells build antibodies that fight off viruses. For Fisher, who has multiple sclerosis, B-cells play a key role in slowly degrading her brain and spinal cord. Killing some of them off has stopped the damage, and she's lived symptom-free for four years. (Woodruff, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Former Trump Adviser Falsely Claims States Are Rationing Scarce Covid Treatments Based Largely On Race 
When Minnesota and Utah health officials started using race as a factor to determine who would get scarce covid-19 treatments, they were hailed for their efforts to bridge the pandemic’s deadly racial divide. Now those officials are center stage of the nation’s latest battle over race, identity and equity, after they rolled back their policies under pressure from conservatives and a group led by Stephen Miller, a top adviser to former president Donald Trump. (Rizzo, 2/10)

Reuters: Novavax Says COVID-19 Shot 80% Effective In Adolescent Study 
Novavax Inc said on Thursday its two-dose vaccine was 80% effective against COVID-19 in a late-stage trial testing the shot in teens aged 12 to 17 years. The trial involved 2,247 adolescents and took place between May and September last year when the Delta variant was the dominant strain in the United States. The vaccine was 82% effective against the variant. (2/10)

AP: Novavax Says Protein Vaccine Works For Kids As Young As 12 
Novavax announced Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine proved safe and effective in a study of 12- to 17-year-olds. Novavax makes a protein-based vaccine -- a different type than the most widely used shots -- that’s a late arrival to the COVID-19 arsenal. Its shots have been cleared for use in adults by regulators in Britain, Europe and elsewhere and by the World Health Organization, and are under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2/10)

In updates on the Moderna vaccine —

Fox News: Kansas Woman's Allergic Reaction To Moderna Coronavirus Vaccine Killed Her, Autopsy Says
A Kansas woman's death last March has been attributed to an allergic reaction to the Moderna coronavirus vaccine, an autopsy has confirmed, according to reports. Jeanie Evans, 68, struggled to breathe and speak after receiving the shot in Ozawkie, Kansas, even after she was given an EpiPen, a device meant to treat allergic reactions, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. She later died at a hospital. Her death was reported as "anaphylaxis due to COVID-19 vaccination." (Stimson, 2/11)

In updates on the vaccine rollout —

Axios: COVID Vaccine Uptake Stalls, But Health Care Workers Push To Vaccinate Holdouts 
Vaccine uptake is fading, but doctors and health care workers are trying to reach the tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans — one conversation at a time. Persuading the remaining unvaccinated takes a lot more time and effort, and health care workers who have found success are not writing off holdouts as anti-vaxxers. "You do need to meet people and individualize your approach," said Odilichi Ezenwanne, a primary care physician at the Aaron E. Henry Community Health Services Center in Tunica, Mississippi, where just 50% of the county is fully vaccinated as of Feb. 9. "You have to understand their own reasons for restraint or hesitancy ... that's when they really open up to you." (Herman, 2/11)

The Texas Tribune: Houston Scientists Get Nobel Prize Nod For Patent-Free COVID-19 Vaccine 
Two years ago, when a pair of Houston scientists first began crafting a cheap, easy-to-make COVID-19 vaccine, they had a tough time finding support for it at home in the U.S., a country that rewards expensive, flashy new tech. They could have used help with their goal of combating the virus both locally and abroad, where it was morphing into more dangerous variants headed for U.S. shores. But the team at the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine, led by Drs. Maria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez, worked on their patent-free vaccine with donated money in relative obscurity, failing to garner much outside interest. (Harper, 2/10)

Axios: Pharmacies View COVID As Customer Acquisition 
Tens of millions of people have flocked to pharmacies over the past year to get COVID vaccines and tests, and pharmacy chains are salivating at the thought of retaining some of those people as long-term customers. "We have seen a lot more traffic in the stores, and that's manifesting itself in more prescriptions and increased basket sizes in some instances," CVS Health CFO Shawn Guertin told Wall Street yesterday. (Herman, 2/10)

AP: Biden Puts Focus On Drug Prices In Fight Against Inflation 
Unable to tame inflation that has worsened sharply under his watch, President Joe Biden stressed Thursday that his administration’s policies would cut prescription drug prices and make life more affordable for families. His pitch, which he delivered at a community college in Culpeper, Virginia, came on the heels of a dire inflation report released earlier in the day. Consumer prices jumped 7.5% over the year ending in January, as the sources of inflation have broadened on a monthly basis with increases in the costs of rent, electricity, clothes and household furnishings. The pandemic disrupted supply chains and government aid boosted consumer demand, causing prices for gasoline, food and other goods such as autos to rise earlier this year. (Megerian and Boak, 2/10)

The Hill: Biden Calls On Senate To Pass His Agenda To Lower Drug Prices
President Biden on Thursday called on the Senate to pass his currently-stalled Build Back Better legislation, touting that it would lower prescription drug prices, a popular issue ahead of the midterm elections.Biden traveled to the Virginia district of vulnerable Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, saying that drug prices are “outrageously expensive” and calling for action. “In my Build Back Better legislation that with Abigail's leadership passed the House of Representatives, we can do that,” he said. “Now we just have to get it through the United States Senate, and we're close.” (Sullivan, 2/10)

In related news about curbing drug prices —

Politico: Dems Face A Sobering Possibility: Build Back ... Never 
Build Back Never? The thought has crossed Democrats’ minds. President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion social and climate spending plan is dead as written, rejected by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). The Senate is moving onto a host of other issues that will take up the rest of the winter and possibly some of the spring. And some Democrats concede there’s a small but distinct possibility they could have to shelve the whole endeavor indefinitely. (Everett, 2/10)

In other updates on the Biden administration —

Stat: With Lander Gone, Here’s Who Could Be Biden’s Next Science Adviser
Eric Lander’s resignation as White House science adviser this week has only magnified the federal government’s void in scientific leadership, further calling into question the Biden administration’s ability to move forward on a number of signature research proposals. Lander’s departure as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy amid a workplace abuse scandal leaves vacancies at three key scientific agencies: OSTP, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. (Facher, 2/10)

Stat: Senate Pushes Toward A Vote On Robert Califf, Biden’s Pick For FDA 
The Biden administration and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are charging ahead with a high-stakes vote on Robert Califf, Biden’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration. On Thursday, Schumer took the first procedural step toward holding a Senate vote on Califf’s nomination, setting up an initial vote early next week that will be a crucial litmus test for the confirmation. The decision to call the vote is a bold move, since Califf’s confirmation could come down to a single vote. Roughly a dozen Democratic senators were still undecided on Califf’s candidacy just last week, and Republicans have largely declined to say how they will vote on him. At least five Democrats have said they outright oppose him. (Cohrs, 2/10)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: FDA Takes Center Stage 
The FDA is still lacking a Senate-confirmed leader, but the agency is at the center of several major policy battles. Lawmakers this year must renew the bill that authorizes drug companies to pay “user fees,” which enable the agency to hire additional reviewers to speed the approval of drugs. The FDA is also increasingly involved in the abortion debate and the effort to treat the millions of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease. Meanwhile, states led by Democrats are starting to relax some covid restrictions, even as officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention complain it’s too soon. (2/10)

The Hill: Texas Abortions Dropped 60 Percent After Heartbeat Law Took Effect
Abortions in Texas dropped nearly 60 percent in the first month the most restrictive abortion law in the nation was in effect, according to state data. The number of abortions performed in the state fell from 5,404 in August to just ​​2,197 in September. The Texas heartbeat law, S.B. 8, bans all abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, typically around six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant.  (Weixel, 2/10)

The 19th: Abortion Ban In Texas Still Causing Surges At Clinics In Nearby States
Clinics in states surrounding Texas are still struggling to absorb displaced patients months after the state’s six-week abortion ban went into effect. In Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Louisiana and southern Nevada, clinics have all continued to see a dramatic surge in patients, representatives told The 19th, with some treating more than twice the number of people they saw before the Texas law known as Senate Bill 8 took effect in September. (Luthra, 2/11)

In abortion news from Virginia, Oklahoma, Florida, and Kentucky —

AP: Virginia Senate Democrats Defeat 20-Week Abortion Ban 
A Democrat-controlled Virginia Senate committee defeated a bill Thursday that would have prohibited abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in most circumstances. The measure from Republican Sen. Amanda Chase failed on a party-line vote of 6-9. While a similar bill is alive in the GOP-controlled House, it has not been docketed for a hearing that legislative procedure would require take place by Friday. (2/10)

The Daily Beast: Oklahoma Republicans Want To Track Women Considering Abortions
Oklahoma Republicans have introduced a bill to the state legislature to create a government-run database that tracks women considering abortions. Senate Bill 1167, known as EMMA—Every Mother Matters Act—would create a call center for pregnant women who want “pre-abortion” resources. The hotline, however, would only provide information about “support services, other than abortion,” like adoption, housing, and child care options. (Venarchik, 2/10)

WFSU: A Democratic Lawmaker Wants Abortion Law Exemptions For Rape, Incest And Human Trafficking 
A Florida lawmaker and childhood sexual abuse survivor is pushing back on a measure that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks. She says without exemptions for rape, incest and human trafficking survivors, the measure puts people who have suffered a serious trauma under the added pressure of a difficult deadline. Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, has spent much of her adult life fighting against sexual abuse and working to protect survivors. She says the abortion measure moving through the Legislature is harmful. (McCarthy, 2/10)

The Courier Journal: Kentucky Republican Files Sweeping Bill To Further Restrict Abortion
A Republican lawmaker has filed a far-reaching bill that would impose more layers of regulation on abortion in Kentucky, including new restrictions on medication used to terminate an early pregnancy. It also bans shipment of such medication by mail or other carrier, which is allowed in many states under a recent federal rule change lifting a requirement for an in-person medical visit. (Yetter, 2/10)

And from New Hampshire —

WMUR: NH Bill Would Allow Men To Sue, Prevent Women Seeking Abortion
A highly controversial abortion bill was being debated at the State House in Concord on Wednesday. House Bill 1181 would allow a man claiming to be the father of an unborn child to seek an injunction to force a woman to maintain her pregnancy, potentially against her wishes. If the mother denies the man's paternity, the bill would require a DNA test. (2/9)

The Nashua Telegraph: Emotional Testimony On Bill To Repeal State’s New Abortion Law 
An effort to repeal the state’s new 24-week fetal protection law came to an emotional head at a legislative hearing Thursday with personal testimony given by women on both sides of the issue of abortion and from the medical community that it will likely lead to a loss of those providing care in the Granite State if allowed to stand. Public information on the sign-in for HB 1673 found 1,510 people in support of the bill and 364 opposed. (Tracy, 2/11)

New Hampshire Bulletin: ‘An Impossible Decision’: NH Mom Speaks Out On Fatal Fetal Diagnoses, State Abortion Ban
Michelle Cilley Foisy plans to tell New Hampshire House lawmakers Thursday about the death of her daughter Kayla, who would have turned 16 in December. When the story becomes almost impossible to tell, Foisy reminds herself she’s telling it for women who today don’t have the options she had when they learn late in pregnancy their baby will not survive outside the womb. That news came at 21 weeks for Foisy and her husband, Ryan.  (Timmins, 2/10)

And President Biden says he's narrowed his choices for Supreme Court—

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Says He Is Vetting About Four People For Supreme Court Vacancy 
President Biden said he is vetting about four candidates for his coming Supreme Court nomination to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. “I’ve taken about four people and done the deep dive on them,” Mr. Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt in an interview, excerpts of which were released by the network on Thursday. He said his administration was conducting background checks to “see if there’s anything in the background that would make them not qualified.” (Parti, 2/10)

Modern Healthcare: Sutter Health Argues It Doesn't Have Market Power, Can't Violate Antitrust Laws
Sutter Health on Thursday attempted to shake off federal antitrust allegations by arguing that the 24-hospital system doesn't have market power in the Northern California region it serves. Sutter Health's attorney Jeffrey LeVee, a Jones Day partner who gave Sutter's opening statement as the trial kicked off, claimed that the $13 billion organization faces "vigorous competition," particularly from a larger California health system, Kaiser Permanente. (Bannow, 2/10)

AP: 3 Million Plaintiffs Seek $1.2B From California Health Firm
A lawsuit over high health care bills filed on behalf of more than 3 million employers and people seeks as much as $1.2 billion from a large Northern California health system in an antitrust class-action trial getting underway Thursday. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege in court documents that Sutter Health abused its market power and “caused enormous adverse economic impacts” by discouraging patients from using lower-cost insurance and lower-cost hospitals. (Thompson, 2/10)

In other health care industry news —

WUSF Public Media: Nurses Union Accuses HCA Of Unnecessary Hospital Admissions To Drive Profits 
A report from the nation’s largest nurses union accuses HCA Healthcare of over admitting emergency room patients into its hospitals to increase profits. The report from the Service Employees International Union analyzed national Medicare data and found that hospitals run by HCA had an emergency department admission rate in 2019 that was 5% higher than the national average. In Florida, HCA’s emergency room admission rate in 2019 was 41%, compared to 38% for all other hospitals. “This possibly illegal, unethical patient care practice pads HCA’s pockets by costing taxpayers and consumers billions in reimbursement for unnecessary procedures and services, while also exposing patients to unnecessary risk,” the report says. (Bruner, 2/10)

Dallas Morning News: North Texas Medical Labs, Doctors Charged In Health Care Fraud Scheme, Billing Over $300 Million
Three North Texas laboratory companies are charged with participating in a bribery scheme where doctors were offered kickbacks to order millions of dollars worth of unnecessary tests. The scheme resulted in over $300 million being billed to federal health care programs, like Medicare, according to a federal indictment. Two doctors and eight others are accused of health care fraud in the indictment after several federal offices, including the FBI Dallas field office, investigated the case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas announced Thursday. (Jones, 2/10)

Los Angeles Times: Health Spa Owner Pleads Guilty To $20-Million Fraud Scheme
The former owner of a group of health spas and clinics in the San Fernando Valley pleaded guilty Tuesday to her role in a $20-million healthcare fraud scheme that involved Botox injections and laser hair removal, according to federal investigators. Patients at the health spas and clinics were asked to hand over their insurance information, even though the staff and owner knew the cosmetic procedures would not be covered by the patients’ insurance providers. (Solis, 2/9)

Chicago Tribune: $6.75M Malpractice Settlement Eyed Against Cook County Hospital 
Cook County commissioners are set this week to finalize a $6.75 million settlement to a former patient of Stroger Hospital who alleges in a lawsuit that she was left paralyzed because doctors failed to treat a spinal condition. The pending medical malpractice settlement sailed through the Cook County Board’s Finance Committee Wednesday in a 17-0 vote and now heads to a final floor vote on Thursday. The plaintiff, Zertasha Williams, alleges she has now chronic pain and incontinence and must use a wheelchair because of negligence from the Stroger staff, according to a copy of the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court. (Yin, 2/9)

Also —

Houston Chronicle: Over 6,000 Memorial Hermann Patients Could Be Affected By Security Incident
More than 6,000 Memorial Hermann patients could be affected by a security incident involving one of the health system’s vendors, Advent Health Partners, according to the health system. Advent Health Partners said in a statement it “detected suspicious activity on employee email accounts involving data provided to Advent Health Partners” in September 2021, and the company started an investigation into the issue. “While the investigation is ongoing, on December 2, 2021, Advent Health Partners determined that certain files containing information of individuals were potentially accessed by an unauthorized third party,” Advent Health Partners’ statement read. “Advent Health Partners started providing notice of this incident on January 6, 2022.” (Brennan, 2/9)

The CT Mirror: Yale New Haven Health To Acquire Three Hospitals In Central CT
Yale New Haven Health is looking to add three hospitals to its network, the latest in an ongoing spate of consolidation in the state’s acute care sector. The New Haven-based health system, the state’s largest by revenue, said Thursday it had signed an agreement with Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings to acquire its three Connecticut-based hospitals: Waterbury Hospital, Manchester Memorial Hospital and Rockville General Hospital. The deal would add more than 700 beds to the roughly 2,700 YNHH currently maintains. (Phillips and Golvala, 2/10)

Modern Healthcare: Sentara Healthcare To Invest $125 Million To Attract, Retain Workers
Sentara Healthcare on Thursday said it would spend $110 million on raises and $15 million more on benefits for workers this year. The Norfolk, Virginia-based health system will give eligible employees a 5% wage increase starting March 17 and will offer merit raises in May, the company said in a news release. The combined raises will affect more than 96% of the 29,000-person workforce. (Christ, 2/10)

Modern Healthcare: Intermountain Study Shows Need For Sepsis Discharge Guidelines
Patients with sepsis who are discharged from emergency departments appear not to have adverse outcomes, but doctors overseeing their care could benefit from uniform guidelines for those decisions, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open on Thursday. Researchers led by Dr. Ithan Peltan of the University of Utah School of Medicine and Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare reviewed the characteristics of people with sepsis discharged from emergency departments, which hasn't been vigorously researched before. The team reviewed electronic health records data from four Intermountain Healthcare hospitals in Utah along with state and federal death records. (Gillespie, 2/10)

CNBC: FDA Committee Votes Against Eli Lilly Cancer Treatment Over Concerns Trials Conducted Only In China
A Food and Drug Administration committee on Thursday recommended against full approval of a lung cancer treatment developed by Innovent Biologics and Eli Lilly over concerns the clinical trial was conducted solely in China in participants that weren’t as diverse as the U.S. population. The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee, in a 14 to 1 vote, said the companies should conduct additional clinical trials that reflect U.S. patients before they receive final approval. The monoclonal antibody treatment, sintilimab, treats adults with non-small cell lung cancer in combination with chemotherapy. (Kimball, 2/10)

Stat: FDA Sends Message To Companies Partnered With Chinese Drugmakers
Message delivered — with a punch to the face. Earlier this week, Richard Pazdur, the Food and Drug Administration’s top cancer drug regulator, told STAT that he intended to use an upcoming advisory meeting to make clear to U.S. drug companies that data from cancer clinical trials conducted entirely in China would not be sufficient for approval here. On Thursday, Pazdur, director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, made good on that pledge, as he and his lieutenants shredded the study results for sintilimab, an anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor for the treatment of lung cancer that Lilly and its Chinese partner Innovent were trying to bring to the U.S. (Feuerstein, 2/10)

And in news about Alzheimer's treatments —

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Rejects Short Sellers’ Request To Halt Trials Of Alzheimer’s Drug
The Food and Drug Administration has denied a petition by short sellers to halt clinical trials of an experimental Alzheimer’s drug being developed by Cassava Sciences Inc. The two short sellers alleged in filings with the FDA and the Securities and Exchange Commission that Cassava’s published research contained images of experiments that appear to have been manipulated using software such as Photoshop. Cassava denied the allegations, and said it was cooperating with government investigations. (Walker and Michaels, 2/10)

Stat: Biogen Pushes Back On Medicare’s Limits On Alzheimer’s Drug Coverage
Biogen is calling Medicare’s bluff. The federal health insurance program for people 65 and older proposed to drastically limit how often it would pay for the embattled biotech’s controversial Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, a blow to Biogen’s hopes for wide uptake among Medicare patients. Medicare said it needed more information about the drug’s efficacy and safety and said it would only pay for the drug for patients enrolled in clinical trials. Now, Biogen has a new proposal: The company will get Medicare the extra data it wants, but not through the slow, traditional trials Medicare is proposing. Instead, it will focus on speedier real-world evidence about the drug. Biogen can’t get that wider dataset, the company says, if the drug is only available for such a limited patient population. (Florko, 2/10)

In other pharmaceutical news —

CNN: Famotidine: Study Of Popular Heartburn Drug Shows Mixed Results Against Covid-19 
At one point at the beginning of the pandemic, there was hope that a popular and inexpensive over-the-counter heartburn drug might hold promise for treating Covid-19, but a newly published study shows mixed results. In the clinical trial, people with mild to moderate Covid-19 who took very high doses of famotidine, the active ingredient in Pepcid, had some improvement in their symptoms more quickly than those who took a placebo, a pill that does nothing. But the trial, believed to be the first of its kind, was small, and the effect was far from dramatic. Among the 55 study participants, those who were assigned to take famotidine had an estimated 50% reduction in symptoms at 8.2 days, and those who were assigned a placebo saw that reduction in 11.4 days. (Cohen, 2/10)

Modern Healthcare: Banner Aetna Partners With Type 2 Diabetes Reversal Company
Banner|Aetna, a joint health insurance venture owned by Banner Health and Aetna, is entering a partnership with Virta Health, a company that offers personalized treatment for those with type 2 diabetes. The treatment, which combines specialized nutrition plans and virtual care, will be available to Banner|Aetna's eligible members of fully insured and administrative services only groups, the company said Wednesday. As a physician, Dr. Robert Groves, chief medical officer at Banner|Aetna, said he was very skeptical at first that Virta could fix what is seen as a chronic and progressive disease. (Devereaux, 2/9)

Stat: Pharma's Global Productivity Rises, With China Accounting For Larger Share
Even as the pandemic continues to take a toll on the world economy, the pharmaceutical industry appears to have emerged well-positioned to churn out needed medicines, with China is capturing a larger share, according to a new report. The analysis also found a record number of clinical studies under way, burgeoning product pipelines, and increased R&D investments by the world’s largest drug makers. For instance, 84 novel new medicines were initially launched globally in 2021, a record amount and also double the number from five years ago. The total number of medicines actively being developed in human trials globally exceeds 6,000, up 67% from 2016. There are also more than 800 next-generation therapies in the R&D pipeline, up from 600 at the end of 2019. (Silverman, 2/10)

Axios: Partners Group Buys Skin Treatment Company Forefront Dermatology 
Partners Group is acquiring OMERS Private Equity's majority stake in Forefront Dermatology, one of the country’s largest players in the business of skin treatment. The seller, alongside physicians and executives, sits poised to put more skin in the game via a new minority investment, the firms tell Axios. After a year in which zero dermatology platform deals got done, the sector is seeing activity pick up, with Forefront marking the second such transaction this month alone in a specialty that remains highly fragmented. (Pringle, 2/10)

Bloomberg: Blacks, South Asians Face Higher Dementia Risk, U.K. Study Finds
Black and South Asian people face a higher risk of developing dementia than White people, a new U.K. study showed, highlighting the need to address inequalities in the health system and focus on prevention in diverse communities. The risk also doubles for people living in poor neighborhoods compared with those in affluent areas, with at least one in 10 cases of dementia linked to poverty, according to a study published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe. Similarly, for every 10 cases, at least one was associated with ethnicity. (Gitau, 2/11)

On transgender health care —

Salt Lake Tribune: BYU Cancels Care For Transgender Clients Receiving Voice Therapy At Its Speech Clinic
She’s been receiving voice therapy at Brigham Young University for more than a year. But as of this week, the private religious school is refusing to serve her. And it’s because she’s transgender. The client came into the campus speech clinic on Monday for her regular appointment, she said, and was informed that it would be her last. The staff told her that the administration at the school, which is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has decided to end all gender-affirming speech therapies because providing them doesn’t align with the faith’s policies. Transgender clients often use those services to help match the tone and pitch of their voice to their gender identity. (Tanner, 2/10)

Salt Lake Tribune: LGBTQ Students Say Hopes Dashed After Feds Drop BYU Investigation
It’s not the result that LGBTQ students had hoped for. After months of investigation, the U.S. Department of Education has dismissed a complaint filed against Brigham Young University over how the private religious school treats its queer students. In a letter this week, investigators said the school is rightfully exempt from federal laws prohibiting gender-based discrimination. The university will be allowed to continue disciplining those who violate its rules banning same-sex relationships. (Tanner, 2/10)

In other public health news —

KHN: Don’t Nurse That Moscow Mule — It Could Be A Health Hazard 
The popular cocktail known as the Moscow mule supposedly gets some of its flavor from the frosty copper mug it’s served in — the shiny metal oxidizes slightly and enhances the drink’s aroma and effervescence. Flavor, however, is not the only thing the copper cup imparts. A study published in the January/February issue of the Journal of Environmental Health found that copper leaches into the drink made of ginger beer, lime juice, and vodka. In a little under half an hour, the copper levels rise higher than the safety standard set for drinking water. (Robbins, 2/11)

KHN: Exits By Black And Hispanic Teachers Pose A New Threat To Covid-Era Education 
Lynette Henley needed one more year to receive her full pension after 40 years as a teacher, but she couldn’t convince herself it was worth the risk. So Henley, 65, who has diabetes and congestive heart failure, retired last June as a math and history teacher at Hogan Middle School, in Vallejo, California, which serves mostly Black and Hispanic children. “You’re in a classroom with 16 to 20 kids and a lot of my students weren’t vaccinated,” said Henley. “I just didn’t feel safe. It wasn’t worth it to possibly die to teach.” (de Marco, 2/11)

AP: French Discoverer Of HIV Virus Luc Montagnier Dies At 89 
French researcher Luc Montagnier, who won a Nobel Prize in 2008 for discovering the HIV virus and more recently spread false claims about the coronavirus, has died at age 89, local government officials in France said. Montagnier died Tuesday at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a western suburb of the capital, the area’s city hall said. No other details have been released. (2/10)

Fresh Take Florida: A Senate Panel Leaves Florida Doctors Shielded From Medical Malpractice Suits
Florida’s Senate has effectively abandoned bipartisan efforts to overturn what critics have derided as the state’s “free kill” law, which generally prevents families from filing medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors or hospitals when the victims are adults. Consumers said the decision in the Republican-controlled Legislature improperly shields negligent doctors. It represents a victory for doctors and hospitals in Florida – and the state Chamber of Commerce – who said the current limits in the law keep their malpractice insurance premiums affordable. Similar efforts to overturn the law failed in the Legislature last year, too. (Hernandez De La Cruz, 2/10)

Miami Herald: State Complaint V. Miami FL Plastic Surgeon Dr. Randy Miller
The care of a patient with a bleeding nose was the subject of a Florida Department of Health administrative complaint filed last week against Miami Dr. Randy Miller. An administrative complaint starts the process toward potential discipline by the state Board of Medicine. Miller’s online Department of Health profile says he’s been licensed in Florida since May 9, 2000 with no previous discipline issues. The American Board of Plastic Surgery and American Board of Otolaryngology (head and neck surgery) both say he’s board certified in those specifications. (Neal, 2/10)

In other news from across the U.S. —

AP: Bill Seeks To Limit Out-Of-Pocket Spending On Insulin
A bill aimed at addressing the rising cost of prescription drugs, including limiting out-of-pocket spending on insulin for those trying to control their diabetes, was approved Thursday by the Massachusetts Senate on a 39-1 vote. Twenty-one other states already cap co-payments for insurance. The bill would eliminate deductibles and coinsurance and permanently cap co-pays at $25 for a 30-day supply of insulin. (LeBlanc, 2/10)

The CT Mirror: Prescription Drug Cap Among Lamont's Planned Health Care Reforms
Gov. Ned Lamont unveiled a package of health care proposals Thursday aimed at increasing accessibility, promoting primary care and curbing the cost of medication. The governor revived a measure that was unsuccessful last year — capping the annual cost of prescription drugs at the rate of inflation, plus 2%. Lamont’s proposal last year would have fined drug manufacturers that exceeded that amount. The bill died after it received substantial pushback from drug makers in Connecticut, including Pfizer, whose COVID-19 vaccination has gone into hundreds of thousands of residents’ arms. (Carlesso, 2/10)

AP: Health Advocates Fighting Plan To Cut Indiana's Vaping Tax 
Anti-smoking advocates are arguing against a proposal that would reduce Indiana’s new tax on electronic cigarettes before it even takes effect. The proposal approved by the Republican-dominated state Senate last month would cut the 25% tax charged to wholesalers for closed-system cartridges such as Juul devices to 15%. The Legislature approved the higher rate last year for Indiana’s first tax on vaping devices to start July 2022. (2/10)

The Courier-Journal: Kentucky Bill Banning Transgender Girls From Girls Teams Advances
Fischer Wells is, in her mom’s words, not the greatest field hockey player. Her team at Westport Middle School loses more games than it wins, her mom, Jenifer Alonzo, told the Senate Education Committee Thursday. Her limited athletic career shows no evidence of a biological advantage, her dad, Brian, added. Her strengths lay more in being a good teammate, Brian continued. When Westport’s team struggled to field a team, Fischer’s presence allowed the team to have enough players to play. But under proposed legislation in Kentucky, she wouldn’t be allowed to play with her teammates. Because Fischer, 12, is transgender, Senate Bill 83 would mean she couldn’t play on a “girls” team. (Field hockey isn't offered as a boys' sport.) (Krauth, 2/10)

Oklahoman: Oklahoma Report: Cannabis Program Exploding But Enforcement Lagging
As Gov. Kevin Stitt and state lawmakers look to beef up enforcement of Oklahoma's medical marijuana industry, a legislative watchdog office says the state's cannabis program is the "most accessible" in the nation. Oklahoma has more growers and dispensaries than any other state while also having the greatest percentage of licensed medical marijuana patients, according to a Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency report released Thursday. But the report found the state's ability to regulate medical cannabis has not kept pace with rapid growth in the industry. (Forman, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Global Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout: Half The World Is Now Fully Vaccinated 
About a year after wealthier nations began rolling out coronavirus vaccines, more than half the world’s population has been fully vaccinated — a logistical feat without precedent in human history. But the global rollout remains uneven, with poor countries reporting much lower vaccination rates than rich countries. Public health experts have been warning that vaccine inequity is helping prolong the pandemic, as the focus of those seeking to speed up global vaccine coverage begins to shift from resolving a shortfall of supply to distributing doses and persuading people to get them. (Timsit, 2/10)

In other global covid news —

Politico: U.S.-Brokered J&J Vaccine Deal For Refugees In Thailand Is Delayed 
The Covid vaccine doses the Biden administration and COVAX promised Thailand for refugees living in the country have yet to be delivered, according to three people with direct knowledge of the situation. In November, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. government had helped broker a deal to send millions of Johnson & Johnson doses to Thailand. The shots would be dispensed through COVAX’s humanitarian buffer, which specifically facilitates immunizations for people experiencing humanitarian emergencies because of conflict or who live in areas inaccessible to governments. (Banco, 2/10)

Reuters: Australians Told To Get COVID Boosters To Be Considered Fully Vaccinated
Australian residents will need to receive booster shots to be considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19, although authorities said foreign travellers will continue to need only two shots to enter the country. Australia's national cabinet late on Thursday endorsed the revised guidance from the country's vaccination advisory group to classify "up-to-date" inoculations as including boosters. (2/10)

Reuters: Macron Refused Russian COVID Test In Putin Trip Over DNA Theft Fears - Sources
French President Emmanuel Macron refused a Kremlin request that he take a Russian COVID-19 test when he arrived to see President Vladimir Putin this week, to prevent Russia getting hold of Macron's DNA, two sources in Macron's entourage told Reuters. As a result, the visiting French head of state was kept at a distance from the Russian leader during lengthy talks on the Ukraine crisis in Moscow. (Rose, 2/11)

NPR: Prince Charles Has Tested Positive For COVID A Second Time
Prince Charles tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning, Clarence House announced on Twitter. It said the 73-year-old is self-isolating but did not elaborate on his condition. "HRH is deeply disappointed not to be able to attend today's events in Winchester and will look to reschedule his visit as soon as possible," the palace added. Prince Charles was due in the Hampshire city to unveil a statue of 13th-century Jewish businesswoman Licoricia of Winchester, according to the BBC. The moneylender and single parent helped fund the construction of Westminster Abbey and bankroll three English kings, and was murdered in 1277. (Treisman, 2/10)

NPR: The Hamsters Of Hong Kong Offer A Cautionary COVID Tale
Hamsters can infect people with the coronavirus, which then goes on to spread among the human population — that's the assertion in a new study about the events of mid-January, when Hong Kong announced that at least three cases of COVID-19 were linked to hamsters in a pet store. The discovery was documented in a preprint study for The Lancet uploaded on Jan. 28 but not peer-reviewed or published yet. The study adds to previous research showing transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, from minks to humans on farms in Denmark. (Schreiber, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Giving Workers More Time To Grieve In An Era Of Loss
When Jess Mah’s boyfriend died by suicide last April, she logged on to Slack and told her team about the loss—and that she would be taking two days off. “How ridiculous,” she says now. The 31-year-old, then the chief executive of accounting software firm inDinero Inc., quickly found herself enveloped in grief. She couldn’t sleep. Her brain felt like it had shut down, she says. Faced with project roadblocks and squabbles between colleagues, she couldn’t summon patience or empathy—or really, the energy to care all that much. (Feintzeig, 2/7)

The New York Times: Crying: The Power Of A Good Cry 
We Americans have rarely known what to do with shows of emotion. Something about the “show.” It can feel like a tell — of insincerity, of opportunism. Of politics. For some time, we’ve existed in a cynical zone in which any public tears bespeak performance. The weeping families and classmates of massacred schoolchildren are ridiculed because some of them support legislation that would change gun laws. Those mourners found themselves slapped with a new designation: crisis actors. Can public tears ever be pure? Could any leader now risk more than a cracked voice? A woman rarely gets away with even the crack. There was that one time somebody at a campaign stop asked Hillary Clinton about how she manages it all, and the tears came, along with a debate that boiled down to whether she was scheming to appear feminine and what took her so long. (Morris, 2/8)

The New York Times: Ten Years Ago, Psychologists Proposed That A Wide Range Of People Would Suffer Anxiety And Grief Over Climate. Skepticism About That Idea Is Gone
It would hit Alina Black in the snack aisle at Trader Joe’s, a wave of guilt and shame that made her skin crawl. Something as simple as nuts. They came wrapped in plastic, often in layers of it, that she imagined leaving her house and traveling to a landfill, where it would remain through her lifetime and the lifetime of her children. She longed, really longed, to make less of a mark on the earth. But she had also had a baby in diapers, and a full-time job, and a 5-year-old who wanted snacks. At the age of 37, these conflicting forces were slowly closing on her, like a set of jaws. (Barry, 2/6)

The New York Times: I’m Addicted to My Phone. How Can I Cut Back?
Q: I have my phone with me at all times and check it hundreds of times a day. Are there any proven ways to treat screen addiction? Our work, social lives and entertainment have become inextricably tied to our devices, and the pandemic has made matters worse. One Pew Research Center survey conducted in April, for instance, found that among the 81 percent of adults in the United States who used video calls to connect with others since the beginning of the pandemic, 40 percent said they felt “worn out or fatigued” from those calls, and 33 percent said they’ve tried to scale back the amount of time they spent on the internet or on their smartphones. (Sneed, 2/8)

The Washington Post: Wrongly Accused Of Genital Cutting, A Muslim Mom Won’t Accept ‘Case Closed’
On the afternoon of July 28, the Homeland Security Investigations tip line received a call about a sensitive matter on an island off the coast of Washington state: “the suspected female genital mutilation of an infant by her Turkish mother.” A babysitter on San Juan Island had seen what she considered an “abnormality” while changing the girl’s diaper, according to law enforcement reports. The sitter enlisted a friend to also inspect the child’s vagina, without the parents’ knowledge or consent. That friend then called the tip line, allegedly telling authorities she was acting on the sitter’s behalf. (Allam, 2/6)

Also —

NPR: Check Out Our Illustration Of SARS-CoV-2's Family Tree. It's Full Of Surprises
Just as with human families, scientists can generate family trees for viruses, showing how each member (or variant) is related to the others. Children are connected to parents by branches, and cousins are connected through their grandparents. For viruses, these family trees give biologists insights into how a virus has evolved over time and what changes to expect in the future. During the pandemic, the family tree of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, has produced more surprises than anyone expected. It turns out the SARS-CoV-2 family had two black sheep that it kept hidden from the world. When those relatives appeared, seemingly out of the blue this autumn, they not only shocked the world, but they also made evolutionary biologists question their understanding of the pandemic's future. (Doucleff, 2/9)

Los Angeles Times: In Rural California, The Unvaccinated And Ill Overwhelm Hospital Staff
The COVID-19 patients slumped in chairs in a hallway outside the emergency room of the Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville. There were no gurneys for them, no beds and no rooms. Doctors and nurses dashed back and forth from the ER to treat them, dodging one another and medical equipment being wheeled about. “This is not ideal for us,” said emergency room Dr. Leroy Pascal. “But we’re having to see patients wherever we can.” (Vives, 2/6)

NPR: Anti-Vaccine Group Uses Telehealth To Profit From Unproven COVID-19 Treatments
Just before Christmas, a right-wing journalist named Ben Bergquam became seriously ill with COVID-19. "My Christmas gift was losing my [sense of] taste and smell and having a 105 degree fever, and just feeling like garbage," Bergquam said in a Facebook video that he shot as he lay in a California hospital. "It's scary. When you can't breathe, it's not a fun place to be," he said. Bergquam told his audience he wasn't vaccinated, despite having had childhood asthma, a potentially dangerous underlying condition. Instead, he held up a bottle of the drug ivermectin. Almost all doctors do not recommend taking ivermectin for COVID, but many individuals on the political right believe that it works. (Brumfiel, 2/9)

The Washington Post: How Rapid Covid Testing Became A Dating Ritual 
Asking someone to stick something up their nose isn’t usually polite first-, second- or even third-date behavior. But when Jamie Gloyne’s date called an hour before they planned to meet up for an art exhibit in downtown San Francisco, saying she had a headache, he swooped in with a nose swab. Gloyne had several covid-19 rapid tests on hand, so he took one to her apartment. As soon as his date’s drops hit the test strip, two pink lines appeared. She was positive. (Bonos, 2/8)

The Washington Post: Mexico City’s Decision To Distribute Ivermectin Marked A New Low For Pandemic Mismanagement 
For anyone paying even a little bit of attention, it’s clear that Mexico has done a poor job dealing with the pandemic. In June 2020, Hugo López-Gatell, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s coronavirus czar, said a potential toll of 60,000 deaths would be a “very catastrophic scenario.” So far, more than 300,000 Mexicans have died, and some estimates paint a much more dire picture. But recent reports that Mexico City’s government conducted an ethically questionable “quasi-experimental study” in public health involving ivermectin have highlighted the ruling party’s negligence and recklessness. (Leon Krauze, 2/9)

Stat: To Fight The Next Pandemic, Look To Collaboration And Fail-Fast Approaches
If you are one of the more than 4 billion people around the world who has received a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, you’ve experienced firsthand the power of collaboration in health care. Just a few weeks after it became apparent that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, was spreading globally, workers from all parts of the health care ecosystem began collaborating. For example, in January 2020 the Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group formed a consortium to bring together experts from academia, biotech companies, and development and manufacturing organizations to begin developing the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was authorized for use in the U.K. eleven months later. (Birgit Girshick, 2/11)

Modern Healthcare: Of All The Lessons The Pandemic Has Taught Us, Let’s Never Forget The Importance Of Community 
It’s hard to believe that at the beginning of 2020, our healthcare system, our country and our world operated in an environment without COVID-19. Just two short years later, I have the honor of serving as chairman of the American Hospital Association, taking over in a much different environment than the pre-pandemic era. (Wright Lassiter III, 2/8)

The Washington Post: Kamila Valieva’s Quad, Controversy And The Tragedy Of Women’s Figure Skating 
This week, 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva became the first woman to complete a quad jump — with four rotations — in an Olympics. Not so long ago, quads in the senior women’s competition felt like a pipe dream. Now, multiple other female skaters will be attempting quads in next week’s individual event, including Valieva’s 17-year-old compatriots Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova. Valieva’s feat was soon shadowed by reports in Russian media alleging that she had tested positive for a banned heart medication. But the quad revolution raises a broader concern about elite women’s skating: Although the sport can provide moments of athletic triumph, the system that produces them is a tragedy. (Mili Mitra, 2/10)

USA Today: President Biden Should Withdraw FDA Nominee Because Of Opioid Record
Since OxyContin was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1995, more than 500,000 Americans have died from overdoses related to opioids and synthetic opioids. Nearly three decades later, more than 101,000 Americans – over 1,500 West Virginians and nearly 2,500 Hoosiers – died between June 2020 and June 2021. It’s clear that not much has changed in the way the FDA approves and manages these highly addictive, destructive drugs killing Americans at an astonishing rate. (Sens. Joe Manchin and Mike Braun, 2/11)

Stat: To Prevent Overdose Deaths, Focus On Demand Reduction In The U.S. 
Americans’ use of illicit drugs is fueling twin public health crises on both sides of the border between the U.S. and Mexico. In the U.S., more than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses in the last 12 months, a 30% increase from the year before and the highest number on record. In Mexico, the murder rate remains alarmingly high, with more than 33,000 people killed in 2021, many of them related to the drug trade. A proposed approach to dealing with these connected crises provides a welcome shift in tone, but in many ways seems to be an old-wine-in-new-bottles approach. (Jim Crotty, 2/11)

The New York Times: Biden’s Hidden Health Care Triumph
A Republican member of Congress said something epically stupid the other day. No, I’m not talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene’s warning about Nancy Pelosi’s “gazpacho police.” If you ask me, Greene was performing a public service; we all need some good laughs, especially given the demise of the borscht belt. I’m talking, instead, about Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who tweeted out a novel argument against universal health care: “Over 70% of Americans who died with Covid, died on Medicare, and some people want #MedicareForAll?” (Paul Krugman, 2/10)

The CT Mirror: The Power Of Human Connection
For a long time, healthcare has been focused on reacting to symptoms. When people notice something feeling different, or are having trouble that isn’t going away, they — correctly — see their doctor. They may come away with a prescription for medication or referral for a procedure. But how much of our physical and mental health is affected by how we live? How can we change the way we approach healthcare so that we can avoid problems that require medical treatment? How we treat our bodies and how our bodies treat us is all connected, but what has become clearer is how our ability to live a healthy life is influenced by what we call Social Drivers of Health (SDoH). (Dr. Michael Jefferson, 2/9)

The CT Mirror: My Short Shelf Life And The Connecticut General Assembly
My medical records declare that I am a cancer survivor – twice over no less. I got through treatment for breast cancer and malignant melanoma feeling confident and grateful. But in March 2021, I was diagnosed with late-stage Fallopian tube cancer. It is very rare. It is also the most lethal type of gynecologic cancer. With my diagnosis has come a resolve to put in place a plan for living what I now think of as my ‘short shelf life.’ I am using what time I have left to do the things I’ve always wanted to do—and one of them is to advocate for medical aid in dying, aka MAID. I simply want the right to have a say in the timing and manner of my death when I reach the point where my disease or the pain and suffering it causes robs me of the quality of life that is essential to me. (Lynda Shannon Bluestein, 2/10)

The Baltimore Sun: With Cancer, I’ll Take All The Luck I Can Get 
I am not a superstitious person. I believe in science and cold hard facts. But how could I not take it as a sign of good luck when a pressed four-leaf clear clover fell out of an old dictionary I found at a used book store? I thought about the significance of that four-leaf clover as I packed my to-go bag for an upcoming appointment at The Hillman Cancer Center’s Radiology Department. This will be scan No. 14. (Debby Tepper Glick, 2/10)