Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Delayed Childhood Vaccines May Cause A 'Serious Health Threat' After Covid
The Washington Post: Drop In Childhood Vaccinations During Pandemic May Raise Risk Of Other Outbreaks When Schools Reopen, CDC Says
Routine childhood vaccinations dropped dramatically during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, and although they began rebounding last summer as families rescheduled doctors’ visits, many children and adolescents are behind on their shots, according to a federal health report released Thursday. The lag might pose “a serious public health threat” of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses, such as measles and whooping cough, that have the potential to derail school-reopenings, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Sun, 6/10)
CNN: CDC Warns About Spike In RSV Cases Across South
A common cold virus called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is spreading across the South, causing an unusual wave of late spring disease, the US Centers for Disease Control and prevention said Thursday. The CDC issued a Health Advisory Network warning to doctors and other health care providers to be on alert for the virus, which can cause pneumonia, especially in very small children and babies. (Fox, 6/10)
In other public health news —
The New York Times: E.P.A. To Review Rules On Soot Linked To Deaths, Which Trump Declined To Tighten
The Biden administration will reconsider federal limits on fine industrial soot, one of the most common and deadliest forms of air pollution, with an eye toward imposing tough new rules on emissions from power plants, factories and other industrial facilities. The announcement, made Thursday by Michael S. Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, comes after the Trump administration declined last year to tighten pollution limits, despite warnings from federal scientists and others that doing so could save more than 10,000 lives a year, particularly in urban areas. (Davenport, 6/10)
The Washington Post: Dartmouth College Researchers Report Students Are Feeling More Anxious And Depressed Than Ever
College students are feeling more anxious and depressed as they sleep less and spend more time on their phones, researchers said after spending four years monitoring the behaviors of young people. Dartmouth College researchers began tracking 217 students when they entered the school as freshmen in 2017 in the hopes of understanding how they behave. They’ve seen students’ stress levels rise and fall, usually in tandem with midterm and final exams. But since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety have soared — and have showed no signs of coming down, said Andrew Campbell, a researcher and computer science professor. (Lumpkin, 6/10)
The Washington Post: Bo Schembechler’s Son Says Ex-Michigan Doctor Abused Him
Matt Schembechler was 10 years old when he tried repeatedly to tell his father, legendary University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, that he had been molested by the team’s doctor. Bo Schembechler replied: “I don’t want to hear this.” Then, the coach’s son says, Schembechler punched his fourth-grade son in the chest. (Hensley-Clancy, 6/10)
In updates on the opioid trial in West Virginia —
Charleston Gazette-Mail: Expert: Pain Pills, Not Just Heroin, Fentanyl, Play Major Role In WV Opioid Crisis
Prescription painkillers played a major role in fatal overdoses in Huntington and Cabell County over a two-decade period, an epidemiologist said Thursday at the federal opioid trial in Charleston. The testimony came after the local governments turned the presentment of their case to look at the role prescription pain pills have in the ongoing opioid crisis. The governments hope it will show the connection between prescription pain pills and heroin and other illicit opioids. Huntington and Cabell County accuse the “Big Three” drug wholesalers — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — of fueling the opioid epidemic by sending excessive shipments of opioids into the area for eight years, before a reduction in the number of pills shipped made users turn to illicit drugs. (Hessler, 6/10)
