First Edition: Dec. 14, 2021

KHN: With Overdose Deaths Surging, Advocates On The Ground Push For Over-The-Counter Naloxone
Louise Vincent figures her group, the North Carolina Survivors Union, saves at least 1,690 lives a year. The harm-reduction and syringe service program distributes the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone to people who use drugs. Research suggests this approach is effective, since people who use drugs are most likely to witness an overdose and administer naloxone. (Pattani, 12/14)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: She Fights Health Insurers For Fun — And Wins
Health insurance is like some medieval horror, law professor Jackie Fox says. But, funny thing: She also says insurance fights are easy. For her. She’s been helping people win them for 30 years. For Fox, it started when an insurance provider wanted to cancel lifesaving cancer surgery for her mom. Fox, then a young associate at a big firm, called the company right away and said, “I am out the door to sue you over this.” (Weissmann, 12/14)

CBS News: Surge In Americans Skipping Medical Care Due To Cost, Gallup Says
Nearly a third of Americans — triple the share since March— say they've skipped medical care for a health problem in the previous three months due to concerns about the cost, according to a new study from Gallup and West Health. High medical costs are even impacting higher-income Americans, with 1 in 5 households earning more than $120,000 annually saying they also have bypassed care, the research shows. That's an almost seven-fold increase for higher-income families since March. (Picchi, 12/14)

The Hill: Nearly One-Third Of Americans Skipped Care In Past Three Months Due To Cost: Poll
Twenty percent of those from households that earn more than $120,000 also reported they postponed health care due to financial reasons — an increase from 3 percent in March. Tim Lash, president of the West Health Policy Center, told The Hill that the data showing those earning “significantly higher” than the median income struggling “tells you that we have a real problem.” “It tells me that we're at a breaking point and that it's not just … those that are desperate are not just low-income individuals but even those that are more affluent,” he said. “And we’re gonna have to find a way out of that.” (Coleman, 12/14)

Modern Healthcare: Many More People Avoiding Care Due To Cost This Year, Survey Shows
Low-income families and people of color have been disproportionately burdened by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting unyielding health equity issues. High healthcare costs hit those who can least afford it the hardest. About 2 in 5 Medicaid beneficiaries and those without insurance have seen their health conditions—typically chronic—worsen over the past year after forgoing care. (Kacik, 12/14)

AP: Justices Won't Block Vaccine Mandate For NY Health Workers 
The Supreme Court refused Monday to halt a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for health care workers in New York that does not offer an exemption for religious reasons. The court acted on emergency appeals filed by doctors, nurses and other medical workers who say they are being forced to choose between their jobs and religious beliefs. As is typical in such appeals, the court did not explain its order, although it has similarly refused to get in the way of vaccine mandates elsewhere. (12/13)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Won’t Stop Vaccine Mandate For New York Health Care Workers
As it has done in past mandate cases, the court rejected a request from doctors, nurses and other medical workers who said they were being forced to choose between their livelihoods and their faith. They said they should receive a religious exemption because the state’s rule allows one for those who decline the vaccine for medical reasons. As is often the case in requests for emergency relief, the justices in the majority did not give a reason for declining the request to stop the order, which went into effect in November. Last month, the court also denied a similar request from health care workers in Maine. (Barnes, 12/13)

Los Angeles Times: California Orders Statewide Mask Requirement Starting Wednesday Amid Rising Coronavirus Cases
Faced with rising coronavirus cases and growing concerns about the Omicron variant, California is ordering a statewide mask mandate for indoor public spaces to go into effect on Wednesday. The move comes as coronavirus case rates in California have risen by almost 50% in the last 2½ weeks, and COVID-19 hospitalizations are up by nearly 15%. County health officials across the state say they suspect they may be seeing the start of a winter jump in coronavirus cases. (Lin II, 12/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: California To Reimpose Statewide Indoor Mask Mandate As Omicron Arrives
For many parts of the Bay Area — which lifted indoor mask mandates in certain settings recently after reaching high vaccination rates and low case rates — the state’s announcement will mean a return to indoor masking in offices, gyms and other places where vaccinated people had been able to go maskless. ... In addition to the tightening mask rules, California will require people attending mega-events of 1,000 people or more that don’t require vaccination to show proof of a negative test taken within one day for an antigen test, and within two days for a PCR test. The previous window was 72 hours. (Ho, 12/13)

AP: Philadelphia To Require Vaccine Proof For Indoor Dining 
Philadelphia will require proof of COVID-19 vaccination to dine indoors at bars, restaurants, indoor sporting events and other food-related establishments starting Jan. 3, city and public health officials announced Monday. Public Health Director Cheryl Bettigole said Philadelphia has seen infection rates double in the last few weeks and hospitalizations increase by about 50%. (12/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Some Hospitals Drop Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates To Ease Labor Shortages
Some of the largest U.S. hospital systems have dropped Covid-19 vaccine mandates for staff after a federal judge temporarily halted a Biden administration mandate that healthcare workers get the shots. Hospital operators including HCA Healthcare Inc. and Tenet Healthcare Corp. as well as nonprofits AdventHealth and the Cleveland Clinic are dropping the mandates. (Whelan and Evans, 12/13)

The Hill: Minnesota Hospitals Warn They Are 'Overwhelmed' In Full-Page Ad
Minnesota hospital leaders are warning in a full-page newspaper ad that they are “overwhelmed” amid a COVID-19 surge and are urging the public to take action. “Our emergency departments are overfilled, and we have patients in every bed in our hospitals,” write the leaders of nine hospital systems in the state, including the Mayo Clinic and North Memorial Health. ... “Now, an ominous question looms: will you be able to get care from your local community hospital without delay? Today, that's uncertain,” they write in the ad, which is running in major newspapers across the state. (Sullivan, 12/13)

The Boston Globe: Brigham And Women’s Nurses Accuse Hospital Of Defying State Order To Delay Certain Surgeries
Nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital are accusing hospital leaders of flouting state rules to cancel certain surgeries and are asking Massachusetts officials to investigate. The Massachusetts Nurses Association, a union that represents 3,500 Brigham nurses, told the Department of Public Health in a letter on Monday that the hospital’s operating rooms remain as busy as ever, despite a state order to curtail scheduled surgeries to make space for other patients who urgently need care. The union wrote that nonessential surgeries such as tummy tucks were continuing unabated as patients who need urgent surgery for broken bones and brain injuries were sometimes waiting for operating rooms. (Dayal McCluskey, 12/13)

CBS News: First Members Of Military Are Discharged For Refusing COVID Vaccine 
The Air Force has discharged 27 service members for refusing to receive a COVID vaccine, marking the first service members to be involuntarily discharged for balking the rule. A spokesperson for the Air Force said the 27 active duty members discharged received counseling about the vaccines, and when they still refused, commanders made the decision to discharge them for refusing to comply with the Pentagon's vaccine rule, a lawful order. All 27 have been in the Air Force for less than six years and may have had additional reasons for their discharge but refusal to get a COVID vaccine was one of the reasons for the discharge. (Watson, 12/13)

The New York Times: More Than 50 Million Total Coronavirus Cases Have Been Found In The U.S.
The total number of known coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 50 million on Monday, according to a New York Times database. Fifty million can be a difficult number to grasp. It is more than the combined populations of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio. More than the entire population of Spain. Nearly 18 times the number of dollars an American college graduate can expect to earn in a lifetime. (Astor, 12/14)

The Hill: Pelosi, Schumer, McCarthy To Hold Moment Of Silence For 800K American COVID-19 Deaths
Congressional leaders plan to hold a moment of silence outside the Capitol on Tuesday to honor the more than 800,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will attend the moment of silence on the East Front Steps of the Capitol building, according to a statement from Pelosi’s office late Monday. (Schnell, 12/13)

AP: One Year Of Vaccines: Many Lives Saved, Many Needlessly Lost
One year ago, the biggest vaccination drive in American history began with a flush of excitement in an otherwise gloomy December. Trucks loaded with freezer-packed vials of a COVID-19 vaccine that had proved wildly successful in clinical trials fanned out across the land, bringing shots that many hoped would spell the end of the crisis. That hasn’t happened. A year later, too many Americans remain unvaccinated and too many are dying. The nation’s COVID-19 death toll stands at around 800,000 as the anniversary of the U.S. vaccine rollout arrives. A year ago it stood at 300,000. An untold number of lives, perhaps tens of thousands, have been saved by vaccination. But what might have been a time to celebrate a scientific achievement is fraught with discord and mourning. (Johnson, 12/13)

Axios: Colorado Governor Says COVID "Medical Emergency" Is Over 
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) said in an interview the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines spell "the end of the medical emergency" as it relates to the virus, and he will not implement a statewide mask mandate in response to the Omicron variant. Polis told Colorado Public Radio he prefers pushing vaccinations versus mask mandates, and that the latter should be left to localities. He added that public health officials "don’t get to tell people what to wear." (Reyes, 12/13)

CNN: Omicron Is Spreading Fast. That's Alarming Even If It's Mild 
The Omicron variant of coronavirus is spreading quickly in several countries where it has been discovered. Even if it causes only mild disease -- and that's far from certain -- that could still mean many people end up in the hospital and dying. It's killed at least one person in the UK and put 10 into the hospital -- most of them vaccinated, according to government authorities. "It is spreading faster than the Delta variant in South Africa where Delta circulation was low, but also appears to spread more quickly than the Delta variant in other countries where the incidence of Delta is high, such as in the United Kingdom," the World Health Organization said in a technical briefing last week. (Fox, 12/14)

The Washington Post: Omicron Study Concludes Variant More Resistant To Vaccines, Causes Less Severe Covid 
Omicron appears to cause less severe illness than earlier variants of the coronavirus but is more resistant to the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine widely used in South Africa, according to the first major private study since omicron was first detected last month. The study by Discovery Health, South Africa’s largest health insurer, of 211,000 positive coronavirus cases showed that risk of hospital admissions among adults who contracted covid-19 was 29 percent lower than in the initial pandemic wave that emerged in March 2020. (Wroughton, 12/14)

Bloomberg: Omicron Vaccine Efficacy: Pfizer Shots Stop 70% Of Hospitalizations
A two-shot course of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccination may offer 70% protection against being hospitalized with the Covid-19 omicron variant, South Africa’s largest medical-insurance provider Discovery Ltd. said. The protection is maintained across age groups and in the face of a range of chronic illnesses, Ryan Noach, the chief executive officer of Discovery Health Ltd., said at a briefing Tuesday. Pfizer is 33% effective against infection by the omicron variant, he said. (Kew, 12/14)

Bloomberg: South Africa’s Omicron Severity May Be Masked By Prior 72% Covid Infection Rate
A recent seroprevalence survey in Gauteng, the South African province where the omicron variant was first identified, showed that 72% of the population had a previous infection with the coronavirus, said Shabir Madhi, a vaccinologist at the University of the Witwatersrand. That compares with about 20% when the beta variant emerged a year ago, said Madhi, who led trials of both AstraZeneca Plc’s and Novavax Inc.’s shots in South Africa. “The evolution of the omicron variant is coming at a very different stage of the pandemic,” Madhi said in an interview with the Global Health Crisis Coordination Center. “That is important to keep at the back of our minds when we see what is unfolding in South Africa and what we might see in other settings, which might have a very different epidemiology.” (Sguazzin, 12/14)

Fox News: FDA Faces Legal Challenge Over COVID-19 Approval Data, Report Says
A nonprofit group will get its day in court Tuesday when it argues that the Food and Drug Administration should release all documents tied to the approval of the Pfizer/BioNtech's COVID-19 vaccine, which the plaintiffs claim could take decades to produce, a report said. Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency sued the FDA under a Freedom of Information Act and seeks more than 400,000 additional pages about the approval process, Reuters reported. The FDA has offered to release 12,000 pages by the end of January, and "a minimum" of 500 pages a month going forward, which the group said could mean that it may be 2097 before all documents are made public, the report said. (DeMarche, 12/14)

The Gainesville Sun: University Of Florida Investigating Attempts To Destroy COVID Research
The University of Florida is investigating possible violations of its research integrity policy following a 274-page faculty committee report that included claims of pressure to destroy and barriers to publish COVID-19 data. It is the latest development of the university's academic freedom saga, which began in late October when it became public that multiple professors were restricted from participating in lawsuits against the state. The issue has developed into a nationwide debate over academics, freedom of speech, politics, prestige and money that has reached as far as UF's accreditor and U.S. Congress. (Ivanov, 12/13)

NBC News: Doctors Expected MIS-C Cases To Surge After The Delta Wave. They Didn't.
Rates of a rare inflammatory condition tied to Covid-19 in children appear to have dropped in some parts of the country — an unexpected development for many doctors who had been bracing for a rise in cases following the late summer delta wave. "We held our breath for that four to eight weeks after the surge, saying, 'OK, get ready, here comes MIS-C,'" said Dr. Buddy Creech, a pediatric infectious disease expert at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. "It just never materialized." (Edwards, 12/13)

CIDRAP: 10% Of Chinese COVID Patients May Have Had Incubations Of 14+ Days
A modeling study of COVID-19 patients in China in 2020 published late last week in BMC Public Health estimates that 10% had incubation periods longer than 14 days. The incubation period is the time between infection and symptom onset or diagnosis. A team led by researchers at Fudan University in Shanghai determined that, of 11,425 patients who tested positive from COVID-19 from January to August 2020, 268 (10.2%) had incubation periods longer than 14 days. (12/13)

The New York Times: Merck’s Covid Pill Might Pose Risks For Pregnant Women
A new Covid-19 pill from Merck has raised hopes that it could transform the landscape of treatment options for Americans at high risk of severe disease at a time when the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is driving a surge of cases in highly vaccinated European countries. But two weeks after a Food and Drug Administration expert committee narrowly voted to recommend authorizing the drug, known as molnupiravir, the F.D.A. is still weighing Merck’s application. Among the biggest questions facing regulators is whether the drug, in the course of wreaking havoc on the virus’s genes, also has the potential to cause mutations in human DNA. Scientists are especially worried about pregnant women, they said, because the drug could affect a fetus’s dividing cells, theoretically causing birth defects. (Mueller, 12/13)

York Daily Record: PA Man With COVID Dies After Taking Ivermectin, Court Allowed Drug
Keith Smith, whose wife had gone to court to have his COVID-19 infection treated with ivermectin, died Sunday evening, a week after he received his first dose of the controversial drug. He was 52. Smith was in a hospital in Pennsylvania for nearly three weeks and had been in the hospital’s intensive care unit in a medically induced coma on a ventilator since Nov. 21. He had been diagnosed with the virus on Nov. 10. His wife of 24 years, Darla, had gone to court to compel the hospital, UPMC Memorial, to treat her husband with ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug that has not been approved for treatment of COVID-19. (Argento, 12/13)

AP: NFL Requiring Coaches, Team Staff To Get COVID-19 Boosters
The NFL is requiring coaches, front-office staff and team personnel to receive a COVID-19 booster by Dec. 27. In a memo sent to teams on Monday and obtained by The Associated Press, the league said: “Given the increased prevalence of the virus in our communities, our experts have recommended that we implement the CDC’s recommendation.” The league’s requirement extends to all Tier 1 and Tier 2 individuals who have previously received the vaccine. (Maaddi, 12/14)

The New York Times: Manchin Casts Doubt On Quick Vote On Biden’s Social Policy Bill 
Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, the most prominent Democratic holdout on President Biden’s $2.2 trillion social safety net, climate and tax bill, cast fresh doubt on Monday on his party’s plans to speed the measure through the Senate before Christmas, saying he still had grave concerns about how it would affect the economy. Mr. Manchin outlined his skepticism before speaking by telephone about the bill with Mr. Biden, a discussion that aides to both later characterized as positive. After the call, Mr. Manchin, who represents West Virginia, did not rule out the possibility of supporting the measure this month. (Cochrane, 12/13)

Politico: Manchin Keeps Dems Guessing On Their Megabill
Joe Manchin remains at the negotiating table, despite deep concerns about President Joe Biden’s climate and social spending bill. After speaking with Biden on Monday afternoon, Manchin said he was still "engaged" in discussions. And as he left the Capitol, the key Democratic senator made clear he wasn't ready to commit to voting for or against a bill that is still coming together behind closed doors. (Everett and Levine, 12/13)

Stat: Hospitals Notched A Win In A Major Democratic Bill. Can They Nab Another?
Hospitals and their lobbyists in Washington just wriggled their way out of a major, looming cut to Medicaid payments to facilities in a handful of states. Now, they’ll have to try to pull out a second victory — deflecting an even bigger cut to Medicaid payments targeted at hospitals in even fewer states. The messy politics that underpinned the first fight are similar. Both sets of cuts target red states that haven’t yet expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act, since those states will get the expansion paid for in President Biden’s major domestic spending legislation. (Cohrs, 12/14)

Modern Healthcare: Senate Removes DSH Cuts From Build Back Better Act After Hospital Pushback
After fierce pushback from hospitals, the Senate's version of President Joe Biden's $1.7 trillion social spending package excludes the House's cuts to Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments. The House-passed Build Back Better Act would cut Medicaid DSH payments by 12.5% to hospitals operating in the 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the the Affordable Care Act. House Democrats justified these cuts because the bill also would provide subsidized private health insurance from the exchanges to those who would qualify for Medicaid had their home states broadened program eligibility, thereby reducing the need for DSH funding to cover uncompensated care costs. (Hellmann, 12/13)

Modern Healthcare: 5 Ways Biden's Service-Focused Executive Order Will Affect Healthcare
Patients' ability to use telehealth services will increase under the executive order. The administration says this will connect rural residents, those with disabilities and others who want remote options with their doctors, but the order doesn't offer details on how that will happen or what that means for provider reimbursement. A senior administration official said on a press call Monday that the administration wants to continue telehealth practices that have become commonplace during the COVID-19 public health emergency. (Goldman, 12/13)

The Washington Post: Former FDA Commissioners Endorse Califf As Head Of Agency, Citing Urgency Of Addressing Omicron
Six former Food and Drug Administration commissioners on Monday endorsed Robert M. Califf to lead the agency, saying the emergence of the omicron coronavirus variant is another reminder of “just how critical it is to have a confirmed commissioner” right now. Califf, a well-known cardiologist and researcher who served as FDA commissioner during the last year of the Obama administration, was nominated for a second stint last month by President Biden. (McGinley, 12/13)

Stat: New Global Blood Sickle-Cell Drug Improves Hemoglobin Response
Global Blood Therapeutics said Monday that an experimental treatment for sickle cell disease nearly doubled the production of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin compared to its currently approved medicine — a result that is preliminary but could lead to better outcomes for patients with the inherited blood disorder. In a small, pilot study of six patients, the Global Blood drug called GBT-601 improved hemoglobin levels by an average of 2.3 grams per deciliter compared to baseline. The best responses were seen in two patients with hemoglobin increases of 3.1 grams per deciliter. Hemoglobin in the worst-performing patient rose 1.1 grams per deciliter. (Feuerstein, 12/13)

Bloomberg: Bayer Bid To End Roundup Suits Draws US Supreme Court Inquiry
The U.S. Supreme Court signaled interest in Bayer AG’s bid to stop thousands of claims that its top-selling Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, asking the Biden administration for advice on whether to hear the company’s appeal in potentially a multibillion-dollar case. Bayer is challenging a $25 million award to Edwin Hardeman, a California man who says decades of exposure to Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Bayer argues that federal approval of Roundup’s label meant Hardeman’s suit -- and others like it -- couldn’t go forward. (Stohr, 12/13)

Stat: Coalition Of Pharma Regulators Look To Complement On-Site Inspections
Nearly two years after the Covid-19 pandemic prompted remote inspections of pharmaceutical production plants, an international coalition of regulators is recommending the approach be used to complement on-site visits for the foreseeable future. Although remote inspections posed various limitations on medicines regulators in recent months, the strategy also yielded some productive insights, such as the use of digital technology to gather electronic clinical trial data and additional intelligence about manufacturing sites, according to a new “reflection paper” from the International Coalition of Medicine Regulatory Authorities. (Silverman, 12/13)

Fox News: Older Adults With Moderate Alcohol Consumption May Have Decreased Risk Of Heart Disease, Study Suggests
Older adults who drink moderate amounts of alcohol may have a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and a lower risk of mortality from all causes, compared to those who do not drink, according to a study published last month in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. The study looked at more than 18,000 individuals over the age of 70 from the United States and Australia. (McGorry, 12/13)

AP: Vehicle Emission Declines Decreased Deaths, Study Finds
Researchers say that thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars have been saved in the United States by recent reductions in emissions from vehicles. Harvard University researchers who study the environment and public health examined the impact of declines in emissions from vehicles over a decade. They found deaths dropped from 27,700 in 2008 to 19,800 in 2017 and that the economic benefits of the reduction in emissions totaled $270 billion. (Costley, 12/13)

AP: Coroner To Issue Brain Test Results Of NFL Player Who Shot 6
A coroner is set to release test results Tuesday for a degenerative brain disease in the former NFL player suspected of fatally shooting six people in South Carolina before killing himself in April. The family of ex-football pro Phillip Adams agreed shortly after his death to have his brain tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the degenerative disease linked to head trauma and concussions that has been shown to cause a range of symptoms including violent mood swings and memory loss. (12/14)

CBS News: Listeria Recall For Ham And Pepperoni Balloons To 2.3 Million Pounds 
A recall of fully cooked ham and pepperoni products shipped to retail stores nationwide has ballooned to more than 2.3 million pounds that may be contaminated with listeria — 10 times more than first announced. (Gibson, 12/14)

CIDRAP: FDA Unveils Plan To Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week released its Foodborne Outbreak Response Improvement Plan, which is designed to boost the speed, effectiveness, coordination, and communication of events for both the FDA and its investigation partners. (12/13)

AP: Minneapolis Starts Mental Health Responders Pilot Program
Minneapolis began a pilot program on Monday that would send unarmed mental health professionals to residents who call 911 about behavioral or mental-health related crises. The behavioral crisis response teams — which aim to provide counseling, crisis intervention and connection to support services — will be staffed by professionals from Canopy Mental Health & Consulting. The company was awarded a two-year, $6 million contract by the city’s Office of Performance and Innovation in July, the Star Tribune reported. (12/13)

Stat: As A Logic Song Took Off, Helpline Saw More Calls And Fewer Suicides  
During the time that a song whose title is the number of a national suicide prevention helpline topped charts, calls to the helpline increased and suicides decreased, a new study shows. The song, “1-800-273-8255,” depicts a fictitious exchange between someone expressing suicidal thinking and an operator of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline who counsels a person and ultimately changes that person’s mind. Leaders of the Lifeline and researchers who study suicide and media co-authored the study, which was published on Monday in the British Medical Journal. They found that three major events — the song’s release, the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, and the 2018 Grammy Awards — were correlated with increases in calls to the helpline and, overall, a significant reduction in suicides. (Bender, 12/13)

Albuquerque Journal: Fentanyl Use Exploding on Albuquerque Streets
Esperanza Cordova isn’t afraid of the blues. Then again, the 43-year-old isn’t afraid of much. She’s been using heroin since she was 15 and – once fentanyl showed up – overdosed “plenty of times” on a mix of the two. In the past year, she’s seen more than a dozen people overdose and die. Not strangers, people she cared about. Too many to count. (Reisen, 12/11)

Mississippi Clarion Ledger: First Pediatric Flu Death Reported In Miss. In The 2021-2022 Season
The Mississippi State Department of Health reported the state's first pediatric influenza death in 2021-2022 flu season, according to a Monday news release. Since flu deaths became reportable during the 2008-2009 season, 23 pediatric flu deaths have been recorded in Mississippi. (Haselhorst, 12/13)

Cincinnati Enquirer: New Mason City Council Votes to Repeal Abortion Ban
Mason's abortion ban is no longer in place. Mason, the largest city in Warren County, was the second city in Ohio to pass an ordinance criminalizing abortions. The ban passed by a 4-3 vote on Oct. 25. Nearby Lebanon passed a similar ordinance in May. (Glynn, 12/13) 

Bloomberg: U.K.’s ‘Warp Speed’ Booster Rollout Is Already Struggling
Boris Johnson’s strategy for tackling a U.K. surge in omicron infections is already facing setbacks, as medics warn of bottlenecks and staffing shortages in the vaccine booster program. The British prime minister promised to ramp up delivery of boosters to “warp speed” to achieve its target of reaching all adults by the end of December, and late Monday announced that hundreds of new vaccine sites would open across the country, including at soccer stadiums and racecourses. (Biggs and Mayes, 12/13)

The Wall Street Journal: China Reports First Omicron Covid-19 Case In The Mainland 
Chinese authorities in the northern port city of Tianjin said they had detected the mainland’s first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant, putting what China has called its “zero tolerance” Covid-19 strategy to a further test. (Qi, 12/13)

AP: Canadian City Kingston Limits Gatherings To 5 Over Variant
A city in Canada’s most populous province is limiting gatherings to a maximum of five people in response to the spread of the omicron variant and the variant prompted several regions in Ontario to announce new public health measures on Monday. (12/14)

Bloomberg: Vaccine Passports Help Countries Boost Protection, Study Shows
Vaccine passports that restrict access to venues from restaurants to museums can help countries with low vaccination rates combat resistance to shots, a study published on Monday showed. Covid passes, which generally require proof of inoculation, recovery from Covid-19 or a negative test, boosted vaccinations 20 days prior to and 40 days after being introduced in places like France, Israel, Italy and Switzerland which started with below-average inoculation rates, according to research published in The Lancet. (Anghel, 12/14)

The New York Times: Across The World, Covid Anxiety And Depression Take Hold
A recent cartoon in the French daily Le Monde featured a bedraggled man arriving at a doctor’s office for a Covid-19 vaccine. “I am here for the fifth shot because of the third wave,” he says. “Or vice versa.” His bewilderment as France suffers its fifth wave of the pandemic, with cases of the Delta variant rising sharply along with Omicron anxiety, captured a mood of exhaustion and simmering anger across the world two years after the deadly virus began to spread in China. (Cohen, 12/13)

Reuters: Moderna To Produce Millions Of MRNA Vaccines In Australia
U.S. drugmaker Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) will produce millions of mRNA vaccines a year in Australia after agreeing to set up one of its largest manufacturing facilities outside the United States and Europe. The deal, a second such commitment in Asia Pacific by a western mRNA vaccine developer, underscores efforts by governments around the world to build up local production and prepare for future pandemic threats after limited early access to shots led to slow COVID-19 vaccine rollouts. (Jose and MIshra, 12/13)

The Washington Post: São Paulo Says It Has Fully Vaccinated 100 Percent Of Its Adults. Will It Be Enough To Stop Omicron? 
In a world struggling to convince people to take the coronavirus vaccine, the news was striking. São Paulo, the largest city in the Western Hemisphere, announced late last month that it had succeeded where others had failed. One hundred percent of its adult population had been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus — a remarkable rate in an era characterized by an intransigent and growing global anti-vaccine movement that has hobbled vaccination efforts from Europe to the United States. (Sa Pessoa and McCoy, 12/13)