First Edition: July 22, 2022

KHN: Three Things About The Abortion Debate That Many People Get Wrong
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal right to abortion, things are more than a little confused. As lower courts grapple with rapidly changing state laws, patients wonder from day to day if abortion is still legal and, even if legal, whether it is still available in their state. Health professionals in states with abortion bans fear prosecution by state authorities for performing abortions or by federal authorities for not performing them in life- or health-threatening situations. (Rovner, 7/22)

KHN: A Nearly Century-Old Maternity Home For Teens In The South Makes Plans For Expansion
An old, brick house in Charleston’s Wagener Terrace district stands out from its gentrified neighbors in several ways: It’s 14,000 square feet, built to accommodate around 30 people, and was constructed 90 years ago to provide shelter for pregnant girls. It still does just that. Pregnant teenagers with few options, often escaping dangerous living situations, come here to stay, give birth at a nearby hospital, and then return to the home to learn how to raise an infant. In recent years, these girls have been as young as 12. They are often victims of sexual abuse. (Sausser, 7/22)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Drug Price Bill Is A Go In The Senate
President Joe Biden is the latest top Washington official to test positive for covid-19, following Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. But work continues, particularly on a Senate bill that could, for the first time, allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and cap seniors’ out-of-pocket medication costs. Meanwhile, both supporters and opponents of abortion rights are struggling to find their footing in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturn of the federal right to abortion in Roe v. Wade. (7/21)

The Washington Post: Biden’s Bout With Covid Tests His Return-To-Normal Strategy
If Biden emerges quickly from his bout with covid-19, it will be a high-profile demonstration of his broader vow: A return to normalcy is possible thanks to vaccines and treatments, despite surging cases and the ongoing pandemic. But if the president should be sick for an extended period or, worse, fall gravely ill, he’ll join many other Americans who have struggled to remain healthy in a world with scant mask-wearing and social distancing, and fuel further criticism that his virus strategy falls short, especially for the most vulnerable. (Diamond, 7/21)

The New York Times: Why Biden’s Second Booster Wasn’t Enough To Prevent Infection
Each subsequent avatar of the virus has become still better at sidestepping immunity. BA.5, which now accounts for nearly 80 percent of cases in the United States, is the most wily yet. Detailed data collected in Qatar suggests that immunity from previous infection and vaccines is weakest against BA.5 compared with its predecessors. BA.5 is also highly contagious. The nation is recording roughly 130,000 cases per day on average; that number is likely to be a huge underestimate, because most people test at home or do not test at all. (Mandavilli, 7/21)

The New York Times: Covid’s Risks Are Concentrated Among Americans Of Biden’s Age
As of early June, four times as many Americans ages 75 to 84 were dying each week from the virus compared with people two decades younger, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Those death counts are provisional, the C.D.C. cautioned, because they were based on death certificates and did not account for all deaths in those age groups.) (Mueller, 7/21)

AP: White House Tries To Make Biden's COVID A 'Teachable Moment'
For more than a year, President Joe Biden’s ability to avoid the coronavirus seemed to defy the odds. When he finally did test positive, the White House was ready. It set out to turn the diagnosis into a “teachable moment” and dispel any notion of a crisis. ... It was a day that began with Biden’s COVID-19 results and included repeated assurances over the coming hours that the president was hard at work while isolating in the residential areas of the White House with “very mild symptoms” including a runny nose, dry cough and fatigue. Biden, in a blazer and Oxford shirt, recorded a video from the White House balcony telling people: “I’m doing well, getting a lot of work done. And, in the meantime, thanks for your concern. And keep the faith. It’s going to be OK.” (Weissert and Megerian, 7/22)

U.S. News & World Report: Biden And Trump: A Contrast In Coronavirus Patients
While Biden's illness does not carry the dire outlook former President Donald Trump faced when he was infected in October, 2020 – before vaccines or treatments – the sitting president's illness brought up comparisons to Trump's handling of the matter. (Milligan, 7/21)

The Hill: Sens. Carper, Smith, Democratic Congressman Test Positive For COVID-19
Three Democratic lawmakers tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday and Thursday as President Biden announced his own positive test results. Sens. Tina Smith (Minn.) and Tom Carper (Del.) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) announced their diagnoses over Twitter. (Folmar, 7/21)

Newsweek: Democrats Propose Travel Grants For Those Seeking Out-Of-State Abortions
Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill that would provide grants for those who need to travel out of state for an abortion. The Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act is the latest endeavor by Democrats to mitigate the impact of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade. (Rahman, 7/21)

AP: YouTube To Remove Videos Spreading Abortion Falsehoods
YouTube said its crackdown will expunge content promoting unsafe at-home abortions, as well as misinformation about the safety of undergoing the procedure in clinics located in states where it remains legal. (7/21)

AP: GOP AGs Ask Google Not To Limit Anti-Abortion Center Results
A month after some members of Congress urged Google to limit the appearance of anti-abortion pregnancy centers in certain abortion-related search results, 17 Republican attorneys general are warning the company that doing so could invite investigations and possible legal action. (Rankin, 7/21)

AP: AP-NORC Poll: Majority In US Want Legal Abortion Nationally
A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide, according to a new poll that finds over half say they feel at least somewhat “sad” or “angry” about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. (Fingerhut, 7/21)

AP: CVS Seeks Verification On Drugs With Possible Abortion Use
CVS Health is asking pharmacists in some states to verify that a few of the prescriptions they provide will not be used end a pregnancy. A spokesman said Thursday that the drugstore chain recently started doing this for methotrexate and misoprostol, two drugs used in medication abortions but also to treat other conditions. (Murphy, 7/21)

AP: Quick Georgia Abortion Restrictions Send Some Patients Home
Georgia’s abortion law changed so abruptly Wednesday afternoon that some patients who were in an office waiting for abortions were told that what had been legal that morning was no longer legal in the state and sent home. (Amy, 7/22)

AP: Louisiana Abortion Ban Again Blocked By Judge
The preliminary injunction issued by state district judge Donald Johnson in Baton Rouge is the latest development amid a flurry of court challenges to state “trigger” laws that were crafted in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established abortion rights, which it did June 24. (Cline, 7/21)

AP: Appeals Court Won't Fast Track Florida Abortion Lawsuit
The 1st District Court of Appeal decided Thursday that it will consider the case rather than forwarding it immediately to the state’s highest court. The court also rejected a bid from abortion providers to temporarily block the law, meaning that for now the 15-week ban remains in effect in Florida. (Izaguirre and Anderson, 7/21)

AP: N. Carolina AG Won't Seek To Renew 20-Week Abortion Ban
North Carolina’s Democratic attorney general declined Thursday to meet Republican legislative leaders’ demand that he ask a federal court to lift an injunction on a state law banning nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. (Schoenbaum, 7/21)

AP: Kansas Vote Could Allow Ban, But Abortion Foes Mum On Plans
“They intend to ban abortion in all cases,” said Anne Melia, 59, a former Republican who is now a Democrat and an environmental chemist who gave up a consulting job last year to focus on political activism. “Our law here could match something like what happened in Missouri with their trigger law that’s banned all abortion.” (Hanna, 7/21)

The New York Times: House Passes Bill To Ensure Contraception Rights After Dobbs
The measure passed 228 to 195, with eight Republicans joining Democrats in support. It would protect the right to purchase and use contraception without government restriction. The legislation drew only slightly more Republican support than two bills that the House passed last week, which aimed to ensure access to abortion in the post-Roe era; almost all Republicans were united in opposition. It was a far different result than just days earlier, when Democrats forced a vote on legislation to enact federal protections for same-sex marriages and drew the support of 47 Republicans — far more than expected. (Karni, 7/21)

The Hill: Progressives Urge Delivery Companies To Protect Access To Abortion Meds
Several House progressives on Wednesday urged delivery companies FedEx, UPS and DHL to protect the private data of customers amid concerns that lawmakers in anti-abortion states will seek to access information about women who purchase abortion medication. (Dress, 7/21)

CNN: Amazon To Buy One Medical For $3.9 Billion As It Expands Healthcare Footprint
In a statement Thursday announcing the acquisition, Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, said the e-commerce giant thinks "health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention." Lindsay added that Amazon hopes to be one of the companies "that helps dramatically improve the healthcare experience over the next several years." (Thorbecke, 7/21)

Bloomberg: Amazon Gets ‘Whole Foods of Primary Care’ With One Medical Deal
“This puts Amazon much further up the list” of entities trying to assemble vertically integrated health care businesses at a multi-billion-dollar scale, said Lisa Bielamowicz, president of consultancy Gist Healthcare. “If I’m Optum or I’m CVS-Aetna, I’m looking at this and saying, ‘these guys are serious and they’re starting to put their own pieces together in a way that will create a unified product.” (Tozzi and Day, 7/21)

Stat: 5 Burning Questions About Amazon's $3.9 Billion Acquisition Of One Medical
With its acquisition of One Medical, Amazon is setting its sights squarely on shaking up primary care. (Ravindranath, Ross and Herman, 7/21)

The New York Times: First Polio Case In Nearly A Decade Is Detected In New York State
The New York State Department of Health and its Rockland County counterpart confirmed that the infection was transmitted from someone who received the oral polio vaccine, which has not been administered in the United States since 2000. Officials said in a news release that the virus may have originated outside the United States, where the oral vaccine is still administered. (Meko, 7/21)

Politico: White House Announces $140 Million For Monkeypox Research Priorities
The White House announced Thursday a $140 million, 22-target research agenda for monkeypox to better understand and handle rising case counts across the country. The agenda aims to improve data on transmission, testing, vaccines, equitable treatments and environmental factors. (Payne, 7/21)

Newsweek: Monkeypox Vaccine Should Be Given To Gay Community First, Experts Say
Vaccines for the monkeypox virus should be prioritized for men who have sex with men, according to experts. (Thomson, 7/21)

The Hill: House Oversight Chair Calls On HHS To Address ‘Barriers’ To Monkeypox Treatments
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, on Wednesday asked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to address the “barriers” to monkeypox treatment that people have reported dealing with so far. (Choi, 7/21)

AP: Monkeypox Virus Could Become Entrenched As New STD In The US
The spread of monkeypox in the U.S. could represent the dawn of a new sexually transmitted disease, though some health officials say the virus that causes pimple-like bumps might yet be contained before it gets firmly established. Experts don’t agree on the likely path of the disease, with some fearing that it is becoming so widespread that it is on the verge of becoming an entrenched STD — like gonorrhea, herpes and HIV. (Stobbe, 7/22)

CIDRAP: WHO Considers Declaring Monkeypox A Global Public Health Emergency
During opening remarks, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said worldwide cases are mostly still in men who have sex with men (MSM). (Soucheray, 7/21)

The Washington Post: Biden’s Claim That The Drug-Price Bill Will ‘Help Fight Inflation’
With overall inflation raging at 9 percent, the White House is eager to portray any action as an element to bring price inflation down. But how likely is it that the prescription-drug provision in this bill will make a difference? It’s a surprisingly complicated question. Let’s take a look. (Kessler, 7/22)

The 19th: Senate Bill Would Provide Nursing Rooms To Veterans In VA Medical Centers
Only half of the 180 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers across the country currently have a designated area for nursing, or lactating, parents. (Padilla, 7/21)

Politico: Schumer's Legal Weed Bill Is Finally Here
Senate leaders are introducing sweeping legislation Thursday meant to lift federal prohibitions on marijuana more than 50 years after Congress made the drug illegal. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act would decriminalize weed on the federal level and allow states to set their own marijuana laws without fear of punishment from Washington. (Fertig, 7/21)

The Hill: Johnson Signals He Would Vote For Same-Sex Marriage Bill
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a staunch ally of former President Trump and perhaps the most vulnerable GOP senator facing reelection in November, announced Thursday that he would vote for a bill protecting same-sex marriage. (Bolton, 7/21)

Stat: Renowned Cancer Surgeon Monica Bertagnolli To Serve As NCI Director
The Biden administration has selected Monica Bertagnolli, a renowned surgical oncologist, as the next director of the National Cancer Institute, according to two sources familiar with the decision. (Facher, 7/21)

AP: Senators Want More Monitoring Of Mercury In Environment
Senators from Maine and Delaware want to establish a national mercury monitoring program to try to safeguard human health from the neurotoxin. Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Sen. Tom Carper introduced the proposal. Collins said she was motivated to propose it because some lands and water bodies in her state have higher mercury pollution levels than the nation at large. (7/22)

CIDRAP: CDC Reports 17 More Unexplained Hepatitis Cases In Kids
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it has received 17 more reports of unexplained pediatric hepatitis cases that are under investigation, raising the nation's total to 355. The number of states reporting cases remained the same, at 42. (7/21)

AP: Mistrust Lingers In Black Communities Amid 988 Launch
“This is a critical question,” said John Palmieri, a senior medical advisor at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration official. “The suicide rate trends are alarming for Black youth. SAMHSA is committed to working with trusted partners in the Black community to address inequity in access to mental health care services.” (Goldberg, 7/21)

Newsweek: Scientists Warn Against Repeated Re-Use Of Masks For At-Risk Group
Researchers have suggested that people with compromised immune systems should avoid re-using face masks due to germ growth. The finding was made as part of a Japanese study into face mask hygiene. In the study, the researchers surveyed 109 people on their face mask usage and collected bacteria and fungi samples from both the inner and outer sides of their masks. (Browne, 7/20)

Reuters: Oral Vaccine Shows Promise
An experimental COVID-19 vaccine in the form of an oral tablet has shown promising immune responses in a small preliminary trial designed mainly to evaluate its safety, according to drug manufacturer Vaxart Inc (VXRT.O). The South San Francisco, California-based company had earlier said the tablet was well tolerated, with no one dropping out of the study because of adverse effects. On Tuesday, they reported on immune responses in the 35 healthy volunteers who received the tablet. (Lapid, 7/21)

Fortune: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Partly Funded A Study About COVID-19 Booster Shots For The BA.5 Omicron Subvariant. Surprise: Boosters Still Work
Getting a booster can generate enough of an antibody response and protection from severe disease outcomes to hold up against any of the new Omicron subvariants, according to an early release paper published this week in Science. That extends to BA.5, now the most prevalent COVID strain in the U.S. and a driver of COVID-19 reinfections across the country. (Mui, 7/21)

CIDRAP: In COVID-19 Omicron Patients, High Blood Pressure Doubles Risk Of Hospitalization
People who have high blood pressure and Omicron-variant COVID-19 are at more than double the risk for hospitalization—even if they received three mRNA vaccine doses, according to a single-center study published yesterday in Hypertension. (Van Beusekom, 7/21)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 In Third Trimester—But Not Earlier—Linked To Preterm Birth
A new study of more than 5,000 women shows that contracting COVID-19 during the third trimester of pregnancy is linked to a more than double increased risk of preterm birth. The study was published yesterday in PLOS One. (7/21)

CIDRAP: Pfizer Vaccine 83% Effective Against Hospital Omicron Illness In Kids 5 To 11
In 5- to 11-year-old children, two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were 36.8% effective in preventing all SARS-CoV-2 infections, 63.5% against test-confirmed cases, and 82.7% against hospitalization amid the Omicron variant surge in Singapore, finds a real-world study published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). (7/21)

Stat: AI Shows Potential To Reduce Sepsis Deaths In Real-World Studies
Three studies published Thursday found that an AI platform developed by Bayesian Health and Johns Hopkins University reduced deaths from sepsis by 18.2% in real-world use when physicians responded promptly to its alerts, a finding that suggests AI has potential to become an important tool in battling a leading cause of deaths in hospitals. (Muthukumar, 7/21)

Bloomberg: Shrooms, Psilocybin, Psychedelics: Black-Market Business Moves To Mainstream
Magic mushrooms are moving from the margins to the mainstream. In the past two years, at least six ’shroom dispensaries have opened in Vancouver, which recently decriminalized hard drugs and has become a key testing ground for broader policy reform. Similar—albeit more discreet—shops are opening in US cities where mushrooms have been decriminalized, such as Oakland, Calif., and Portland, Ore. (Lhooq, 7/21)

Reuters: Medical Device Maker Hanger To Be Taken Private In $1.25 Billion Deal
Medical devices maker Hanger Inc (HNGR.N) said on Thursday it has agreed to be taken private by healthcare investment firm Patient Square Capital in a deal worth about $1.25 billion, sending its shares up more than 20%. (7/21)

AP: Idaho Governor Taps $1 Million To Combat Illicit Fentanyl
The Republican governor said he’ll likely recommend additional money in his budget that will be considered by lawmakers early next year. But he said urgent action is needed now for the fentanyl problem that law enforcement officials say can spur property crimes as well as crimes against individuals. (Ridler, 7/21)

AP: Incoming Health Officer Backs Postpartum Medicaid Expansion
Mississippi’s incoming state health officer has stated his support for expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage. The policy, which some Republican lawmakers oppose, would give poor mothers in the state access to more Medicaid coverage after they give birth. (7/21)