First Edition: April 16, 2021

KHN: Pandemic Highlights Need For Urgent Care Clinics For Women
Last spring, only weeks into the pandemic, Christina Garcia was spending her days struggling to help her two young sons adjust to online schooling when she got such a heavy, painful period she could barely stand. After a few days, her vision began to blur and she found herself too weak to open a jar. Garcia’s regular OB/GYN — like most medical offices at the time — was closed, and she was terrified by the prospect of spending hours waiting in an emergency room shoulder to shoulder with people who might have covid. (Scheier, 4/16)

KHN: Ask KHN-PolitiFact: I’ve Recovered From Covid. Why Do I Still Have To Mask Up? 
More than 120 million Americans have joined arguably the most sought-after club on Earth: those immunized against the coronavirus. Fully vaccinated people were given the green light in March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to gather with other fully vaccinated people or with low-risk unvaccinated people from one other household without a mask and, earlier this month, to travel without quarantining afterward. (As reports of state and local case surges mount, the CDC is increasingly urging caution.) But what about all the people — a number impossible to count, though estimated to be in the millions — who now possess some degree of immunity because they recovered from covid-19? (Heredia Rodriguez, 4/16)

KHN: Mysterious Ailment, Mysterious Relief: Vaccines Help Some Covid Long Haulers 
An estimated 10% to 30% of people who get covid-19 suffer from lingering symptoms of the disease, or what’s known as “long covid.” Judy Dodd, who lives in New York City, is one of them. She spent nearly a year plagued by headaches, shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and problems with her sense of smell, among other symptoms. (Stone, 4/16)

AP: US Opens More Distance In Worldwide Race Against Coronavirus
The United States opened more distance between itself and much of the rest of the world Thursday, nearing the 200 millionth vaccine administered in a race to protect the population against COVID-19, even as other countries, rich and poor, struggle with stubbornly high infection rates and deaths. Nearly half of American adults have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, and about 30% of adults in the U.S. have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the picture is still relentlessly grim in parts of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia as variants of the virus fuel an increase in new cases and the worldwide death toll closes in on 3 million. (Bynum, 4/15)

CNBC: Pfizer CEO Says Third Covid Vaccine Dose Likely Needed Within 12 Months
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will “likely” need a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated. His comments were made public Thursday but were taped April 1. Bourla said it’s possible people will need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus annually. “A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role,” he told CNBC’s Bertha Coombs during an event with CVS Health. (Lovelace Jr., 4/15)

The Washington Post: Annual Vaccine Booster Shots May Be Needed, Potentially Stretching Supply 
President Biden’s chief science officer for the pandemic response, David Kessler, told a House subcommittee hearing Thursday that the United States should plan for booster shots in the future. In remarks from an event earlier this month, but that were also released Thursday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that a “likely scenario” included the need for a third vaccine dose six to 12 months after inoculation, after which “there will be an annual revaccination.” (Cunningham, 4/16)

CBS News: Biden Administration Working To Ensure U.S. Will Have Booster COVID-19 Shots If They Become Necessary 
The Biden administration is "in discussions" to ensure that it can obtain booster COVID-19 shots if they become necessary, a top official told lawmakers on Thursday. The announcement comes as drugmakers are touting their progress in developing the additional shots, which are designed to increase the body's immune response months after the initial doses are administered.  "We are in discussions right now, making sure that we can secure those vaccines for a boost or variants. We are in that process right now," Dr. David Kessler, chief science officer for the administration's COVID-19 response, told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. (Tin, 4/15)

CBS News: Study Shows Vaccines Carry Much Lower Risk Of Blood Clots Than COVID-19 
A study by researchers at Oxford University in England suggests the risks of experiencing dangerous, rare blood clots in the brain are far higher in those who catch the coronavirus than in those who get either the AstraZeneca vaccine, or the vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna in the U.S. Another finding of the research, which was disputed by Pfizer and called "confusing" by the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., was that the number of people who experience clots after getting the vaccines made by the American companies appears very similar to the number who get the rare condition after a shot of the AstraZeneca drug, which was developed in conjunction with Oxford's vaccine institute. (Reals and Berriman, 4/16)

CIDRAP: Study: COVID Much More Likely Than Vaccines To Cause Blood Clots
COVID-19—the actual disease—poses 8 to 10 times the threat of blood clots in the brain than do coronavirus vaccines, a large, non–peer-reviewed study led by University of Oxford researchers finds. The study, published today on the preprint server OSF, involved an electronic health records network of 81 million patients at 59 healthcare systems, mainly in the United States. (Van Beusekom, 4/15 )

Fox News: Seventh Clot Case Involving Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Revealed
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) committee learned Wednesday of a seventh woman who developed a rare and severe type of blood clot after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, and an additional incident involving a man which occurred during a clinical trial but could not be linked to the jab at the time. The seventh case brought to the committee's attention did not occur in the brain, as the other six did, sparking further questions about what evidence the committee needs to consider. The other incident that occurred during the clinical trial involved a 25-year-old male. Up until this point, the six cases, out of the more than 7.2 million shots administered, had all been identified in women and occurred within one to three weeks of vaccination. (Hein, 4/15)

The Hill: Fauci Believes Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Will Get Back On Track 'Quickly'
Top U.S. infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci on Thursday said he is hopeful that the distribution and administration of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine will get “back on track” soon. Fauci's remarks come just one day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) postponed making a recommendation about the continued use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following a pause in the vaccine's use due to rare cases of blood clots. (Jenkins, 4/15)

The Hill: Johnson & Johnson Delay Prompts Criticism Of CDC Panel 
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel is coming under increased criticism for continuing a pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is keeping doses on the shelf while the pandemic rages. Many experts backed the initial pause, announced on Tuesday, when it appeared that it would only last for a few days and would give time to alert health care providers to treatment guidelines around extremely rare cases of blood clots in people receiving the J&J vaccine. (Sullivan, 4/15)

The New York Times: On Capitol Hill, Top Health Officials Urge Americans To Get Shots 
Three top federal health officials appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday and implored Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, but said little about the investigation into whether the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may be linked to a small number of cases of rare blood clots, or when that vaccine might be put back into use. “Hopefully we’ll get a decision quite soon, as to whether or not we can get back on track with this very effective vaccine,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s top medical adviser for the coronavirus, told a House panel. (Stolberg, 4/16)

ABC News: Fauci Clashes With GOP Lawmaker Over When COVID Restrictions Should Be Eased 
Dr. Anthony Fauci, pressed by a Republican lawmaker Thursday over when Americans will "get their liberties back," gave his clearest explanation yet as to when COVID-19 restrictions could be safely lifted, saying the U.S. must get its infection rate under 10,000 new cases a day. When asked by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, at a congressional hearing to give an answer about when Americans can return to their pre-pandemic lives, Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, explained that the nation has a lot of work to do before it reaches that point. ... At one point, Fauci told Jordan, "I think you're making this a personal thing, and it isn't." "It's not a personal thing," Jordan responded. "No, you are!" Fauci said sharply. "That is exactly what you're doing." Later, Fauci added, "We're not talking about liberties. We're talking about a pandemic that has killed 562,000 Americans." (Vann, 4/15)

The Boston Globe: ‘You’re Ranting Again’: Dr. Fauci And Representative Jordan Spar Over COVID-19 Measures
The nation’s top infectious disease expert and Representative Jim Jordan engaged in a heated exchange during a congressional hearing on Thursday over when Americans will be able to stop engaging in public health measures that help prevent the spread of COVID-19, with Dr. Anthony Fauci at one point telling Jordan: “You’re ranting again.” During a House subcommittee hearing on the end of the COVID-19 pandemic that involved testimony from a number of public health officials, the Ohio Republican repeatedly pressed Fauci on what metric COVID-19 infections in the United States would have to reach before Americans can stop wearing masks and social distancing. Jordan repeatedly referred to the loosening of pandemic-related restrictions and recommendations as Americans being able to “get their freedom back.” (Kaufman, 4/15)

Fox News: Maxine Waters Snaps At Jim Jordan As COVID Hearing With Fauci Erupts Into Shouting Match: ‘Shut Your Mouth’
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus held a hearing Thursday titled, "Reaching the Light at the End of the Tunnel: Ending COVID-19," but it erupted into shouting match when Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, pressed Dr. Anthony Fauci on when that end might become a reality in terms of restrictions being lifted. Jordan got right to the point, noting that Fauci had recently written that it is not yet the time to cease taking precautionary measures such as social distancing, avoiding gatherings, and wearing face masks. (Blitzer, 4/15)

Stat: Health Officials Toss Trump-Era Proposal To Exempt AI Tools From Review
In a searing rebuke, the Biden administration is formally withdrawing a last-minute proposal by the Trump administration to exempt a wide swath of medical devices and artificial intelligence tools from regulatory review. Officials with Biden’s Health and Human Services Department and the federal Food and Drug Administration posted a document on the federal register indicating that they will not proceed with the proposed exemptions. The document sharply criticizes a lack of transparency by Trump officials and cites errors and badly flawed logic in proposing to relax scrutiny of some devices whose malfunctioning could result in serious harm or even death. (Ross, 4/15)

The Washington Post: Biden Administration Poised To Change Trump Restrictions On Fetal Tissue Research 
The Biden administration is preparing to announce Friday that it will alter Trump-era restrictions on federal funding of research that uses fetal tissue, according to the nation’s top health official, potentially allowing a resumption of thwarted scientific studies into covid-19 treatments, HIV and other diseases. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told Capitol Hill lawmakers Thursday that the National Institutes of Health would make an announcement about what he characterized as a fetal tissue ban. (Goldstein, 4/15)

AP: AP Sources: Tool Behind Crackdown On Opioids Could Expire
The Biden administration has been slow-walking its work on the extension of a legislative order that would keep in place a sweeping tool that’s helped federal agents crack down on drugs chemically similar to fentanyl, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. In recent weeks, the people said, the White House and Justice Department leaders have, on several occasions, canceled meetings with officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration to discuss the plan around so-called fentanyl analogues, which are generally foreign-made drugs with a very close chemical makeup to the dangerous opioid. The people had direct knowledge of the discussions but were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. (Balsamo, 4/15)

AP: The Problem Within: Biden Targets Lead Pipes, Pushes Equity
Given short shrift by public officials for decades, the lead pipes snaking through Chicago and communities of every size from rural Maine to suburban California are in the national spotlight now as President Joe Biden pushes to spend $45 billion to replace every lead water pipe in the country as part of his big infrastructure package. The moon-shot plan could have huge ramifications for this city and others where a swath of Black, Latino and low-income residents have been left effectively drinking from a lead straw decades after scientists established that lead consumption is unsafe at any level. The White House holds out its lead-pipe proposal as a generation-changing opportunity to reduce brain-damaging exposure to lead in 400,000 schools and child care centers and 6 million to 10 million homes. It’s also an effort that the administration says can help create plenty of good-paying union jobs around the country. (Madhani, 4/15)

Stat: FDA Wants More Data On Promising ALS Drug, Frustrating Patients 
People living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in the U.S. will have to wait longer than their counterparts in Europe and Canada for access to a potentially beneficial treatment, even though the medicine is being developed here. Patient advocates have responded by accusing the Food and Drug Administration of ignoring the desperate needs of people with ALS and reneging on commitments to speed the approval of new medicines to treat the fatal, neuro-degenerative disease. (Feuerstein, 4/15)

Roll Call: Becerra Questioned About Abortion, Immigration At HHS Budget Hearing 
Immigration policy and abortion restrictions were among the issues discussed with the newly confirmed Health and Human Services secretary during a House appropriations hearing Thursday on the administration’s fiscal 2022 health care budget. The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking a $131.7 billion overall fiscal 2022 request for HHS, a 23.5 percent increase over the 2021 enacted level. The White House on Friday revealed its budget blueprint, which would seek the largest budget discretionary funding increase for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in nearly two decades. (Raman, 4/15)

Indianapolis Star: Federal Jobs Program Aims To Help People Struggling With Mental Health
Indiana is one of seven states selected to participate in a federal program that aims to help people with mental health issues find jobs and make career advancements. In addition to Indiana, the states of Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisconsin will work with mental health advocacy organizations to develop their own plans. There's no federal funding, but states will get federal assistance to start the programs. Federal officials are working with the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor said. (Huang, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: FCC To Open Next Round Of COVID-19 Telehealth Program Applications
The Federal Communications Commission will begin accepting applications for the second round of its COVID-19 telehealth program on April 29, the agency announced Thursday. The initial application window for the program, under which the FCC will distribute at least $150 million of the $249.95 million allocated by Congress, will close the following week on May 6. The agency will award funding in two phases, so that applicants have the opportunity to provide the agency with supplemental information if they're denied funding during the first phase. (Kim Cohen, 4/15)

Stat: Hints Emerge About A Key Senate Committee’s Plans For Health Care 
A Senate hearing Thursday provided one of the clearest roadmaps to date for how Senate Democrats plan to use their newfound majority to advance new health care policies. The hearing was scheduled to let lawmakers vet both Andrea Palm, Biden’s pick to serve as deputy secretary of the federal health department, and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, his pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but it accomplished little in the way of vetting. The two-and-a-half-hour meeting was cordial and barely touched on hot-button topics like abortion or coronavirus lockdowns. (Florko, 4/15)

The Hill: Cruz No Longer Wearing Mask In Capitol 
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Thursday that he will no longer be wearing a mask at the Capitol since he is fully vaccinated. "At this point I've been vaccinated. Everybody working in the Senate has been vaccinated," Cruz told CNN. "CDC has said in small groups, particularly with people who were vaccinated, don't need to wear masks.” (Lonas, 4/15)

CBS News: Mike Pence Undergoes Surgery To Have Pacemaker Implanted 
Former Vice President Mike Pence underwent surgery on Wednesday to have a pacemaker implanted, his office said on Thursday. "The routine surgery was successful, and he is expected to fully recover and return to normal activity in the coming days," Pence's office said. Pence's office said that in 2016, he disclosed to the Trump team that he had a diagnosis of asymptomatic left bundle branch block, and over the past two weeks, he experienced symptoms such as a slow heart rate. (Linton, 4/15)

CNN: Nearly Half Of US States Reported An Increase In Covid-19 Cases This Week. Here's What Experts Say Can Help Stop Another Surge
At least 21 states have recorded at least a 10% rise in daily average positive cases of Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University data Thursday, demonstrating that the fight against the pandemic is far from over. In Michigan, hospitals are increasingly overwhelmed and reaching full capacities in part due to the influx of new coronavirus cases. State and local officials across the country are attempting to avoid a similar situation and are pushing to increase vaccination levels among adults, which shows continuing signs of improvement. (Caldwell, 4/16)

AP: Virus Is 'Runaway Train' At Michigan Hospital System
Michigan’s largest hospital system is dealing with a “runaway train” as it confronts a crush of COVID-19 patients in suburban Detroit, even turning to outdoor evaluations as people show up for care, a doctor said Thursday. Beaumont Health, which has eight hospitals in southeastern Michigan, said it had more than 800 patients being treated for COVID-19, up from about 500 two weeks ago and just 128 at the end of February. The surge isn’t limited to Beaumont: The number of patients confirmed with COVID-19 was near 4,000 statewide. Four hospitals this week said they were at 100% capacity. (White and Eggert, 4/15)

Detroit Free Press: Beaumont Health Sets Up Triage Units, Tents To Manage COVID-19 Surge
Michigan's third COVID-19 surge is "like a runaway train," Dr. Nick Gilpin, Beaumont Health’s medical director of infection prevention and epidemiology, said Thursday. More than 800 coronavirus patients fill all eight of the hospitals in the state's largest health care system, "taxing our staff and our resources," Gilpin said, yet there's no policy in place this time to restrict in-person dining, sports or schools, where the virus is known to spread.  (Jordan Shamus, 4/15)

CIDRAP: P1 COVID-19 Variant More Transmissible, May Evade Cross-Immunity
The P1 SARS-CoV-2 variant, which was first identified in Brazil, may be more than twice as transmissible as non-P.1 lineages, and it may lower protective immunity from non-P1 variants 21% to 46%, according to a study published yesterday in Science. From November 2020 to January 2021, the researchers conducted genomic sequencing on 184 COVID-19 samples  collected from the city of Manaus in Brazil's Amazonas state, which has experienced two major COVID-19 surges. Phylogenetic analysis showed that P1 and another lineage, P2, were descendants of lineage B1128, and that P1 probably diverged around Nov 15 after a period of faster molecular evolution. This was 3 to 4 weeks before Manaus, home to 2.2 million people, saw a COVID resurgence. (4/15)

Scientific American: Schools Can Open Safely During COVID, The Latest Evidence Shows
Now, more than a year after schools around the country first shut down, many experts agree they can remain open safely if they implement measures such as mask wearing, physical distancing and good ventilation. Studies of school districts in states such as Florida, Utah and Missouri found that in-person instruction did not lead to a noticeable spike in COVID cases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its guidelines to say that three feet of distancing (as opposed to the six feet recommended earlier) is sufficient to limit transmission among elementary school children—and among middle and high school kids when community transmission levels are low—as long as masks are worn. The guidelines also emphasize the importance of universal mask wearing and good ventilation and recommend having “cohorts” of students that spend the day together and maintain distance from other cohorts. (Lewis, 4/15)

Philadelphia Inquirer: As COVID-19 Cases Rise Among Children, Parents Wonder What’s Safe: ‘No Activity Is Risk-Free’
Coronavirus vaccines are becoming more available and businesses are reopening, yet COVID-19 cases among children are on the rise, as people begin to socialize more and highly contagious new strains spread. It’s a confusing combination of good news and bad news that has left parents unsure how to proceed, with summer just around the corner. Children who contract COVID-19 generally experience milder illness and often are asymptomatic. Still, the rise in cases among kids is a reminder of the importance of keeping up with safety protocol and making sure that those who are eligible get vaccinated in order to protect those who are unable to be vaccinated and could spread the virus, doctors said. (Gantz, 4/16)

Politico: Proud Boy Charged With Pepper Spraying Police During Capitol Riot Contracts Covid In Jail 
A member of the Proud Boys charged with pepper spraying a line of police officers at the Capitol is urging a federal appeals court panel to free him from pretrial detention, citing a Covid-19 diagnosis he received while being held in a Washington, D.C., jail. Christopher Worrell is particularly vulnerable to Covid, his lawyer Allen Orenberg said, because he's also in the midst of treating non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and has a compromised immune system. Worrell had previously sought relief from U.S. District Court, citing symptoms that had emerged as a result of his lymphoma, saying that he had been unable to access his cancer medication while in the D.C. lockup. (Cheney, 4/15)

Stat: Merck To Continue Tests Of Covid Pill, But Stop Trial In Hospitalized Patients
Merck said Thursday that it has seen “encouraging” results in a clinical trial of an antiviral pill to treat Covid-19 early in the disease’s course, but the pill failed to help hospitalized patients and must be used very early in the disease. At the same time, the company said it will stop efforts to develop a second medicine for patients who have already been hospitalized with the disease. (Herper, 4/15)

Bloomberg: Merck Setback Limits Study of Covid Pill to Milder Disease
The drugmaker is also scrapping a therapy, MK-7110, that it acquired in a $425 million deal less than five months ago, marking another setback in its hunt to curb the pandemic after shutting down its vaccine program in January. It plans to focus on developing molnupiravir as an outpatient treatment, where there are few medicines available, after it showed signs of helping control the virus. (Griffin and Koons, 4/15)

CIDRAP: Dogs Able To Sniff Out COVID-Positive Urine, Saliva In Pilot Study
Nine dogs were able to sniff out COVID-positive urine and saliva samples in a proof-of-concept study published yesterday in PLOS One, but the researchers note that a lack of sample diversity made it difficult to tell how generalizable the training was. Training was conducted with a scent wheel that had various scents at the end of the spokes. First the dogs were trained to detect a distinctive scent with a universal detection compound. Then they moved onto COVID-positive and -negative urine samples, all treated so the virus was inactivated, and lastly, treated saliva samples. (4/15)

Fox News: NY Health Department Surveyor Potentially Exposes NYC Nursing Home To COVID-19, Source Reveals
A New York Department of Health surveyor auditing a Bronx nursing home last week exposed residents and staff to COVID-19, a source told Fox News. According to an employee at Pelham Parkway Nursing Home, a team of health department surveyors began auditing the facility on April 5. While department guidance "strongly encourages" all visitors be tested before entering a nursing home facility in New York, the source said surveyors declined testing on-site. Four days later, nursing home staff were told one surveyor had tested positive with COVID and was quarantined. (Hasnie, 4/15)

AP: 2 Tigers At Virginia Zoo Test Positive For The Coronavirus
Two tigers at a zoo in Virginia have tested positive for the coronavirus. The Virginian-Pilot reported Wednesday that the Malayan tigers live at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. The zoo said it doesn’t know how its tigers were infected. It’s working with health officials and other experts to find out. The big cats are named Stubbley and Osceola. They started showing mild symptoms such as dry cough and wheezing last week. Testing later confirmed they have COVID. Test results for a third tiger are pending. (4/15)

The Boston Globe: Mass. COVID-19 Death Toll In Nursing Homes Drops By 1,200 As The State Adopts A New Way To Report Long-Term-Care Deaths
Massachusetts nursing homes were ground zero for COVID-19, reporting some of the highest death rates in the country, especially in the early months. But now, more than a year after the pandemic began its ravages, state officials say the death toll was not quite as high as previously reported. They’re revising downward the number of fatalities by more than 1,200, based on a change in the way they report long-term-care deaths on the state’s weekly COVID-19 dashboard. (Weisman and Lazar, 4/15)

CIDRAP: 1 In 5 Americans Say They Won't Get COVID-19 Vaccine 
A poll published yesterday from Monmouth University found that 1 in 5 Americans remain unwilling to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Partisanship continues to be the defining factor determining which Americans are willing to get vaccinated and which are not: 43% of Republicans say they will avoid the vaccine, compared with just 5% of Democrats, and 22% of independents say they want to avoid getting the vaccine altogether. (Soucheray, 4/15)

CBS News: At Least A Dozen Colleges And Universities Are Requiring Students To Get COVID-19 Vaccine 
At a growing number of colleges and universities around the U.S., getting a COVID-19 vaccination is a must for students who plan to return to campus this fall. Since Rutgers University in New Jersey first announced in March that students would have to be immunized, at least a dozen schools have said they will require proof of inoculation for those who want to attend classes in person and participate in other on-campus activities. (Cerullo, 4/15)

The Advocate: Federally Backed Vaccination Site Opens In Baton Rouge As Signs Of Another COVID Surge Linger
The number of Louisiana residents who have completed their COVID-19 vaccine series topped 1 million for the first time Thursday, a reassuring milestone tempered by warnings from public health officials that the deadly virus is showing early signs of a comeback. Hospitals across the state are reporting an uptick in COVID-like illnesses in their emergency rooms, particularly among young people, and the number of tests coming back positive has jumped slightly after weeks of steady declines, said Dr. Joe Kanter, the state health officer. (Paterson, 4/15)

AP: Amid Hesitancy, Louisiana Gets Creative In Vaccine Outreach
Brass bands playing at a 24-hour drive-thru coronavirus vaccine event. Doses delivered to commercial fishermen minutes from the docks. Pop-up immunization clinics at a Buddhist temple, homeless shelters, truck stops and casinos, with shots available at night or on weekends. And now, door-to-door outreach getting underway in neighborhoods where few people have gotten vaccinated. (Deslatte, 4/16)

Albuquerque Journal: NM Battles Lies About The Virus And The Vaccine
The clamor for COVID-19 vaccines in New Mexico doesn’t seem to be abating, with more than 107,000 doses administered in the past seven days. But here and nationally, public health officials are assessing how to get shots in the arms of those who aren’t so eager. U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., said Thursday that ensuring the public has “clear and transparent” information about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines is key to getting more vaccine uptake across the country. “Unfortunately, in too many places, we are struggling to provide trusted evidence-based information, creating a void. Misinformation and disinformation rushes to fill this gap,” said Luján, who chaired a two-hour hearing of his Senate subcommittee on communications, media and broadband. (Heild, 4/15)

Bloomberg: Unused Vaccines Are Piling Up Across U.S. As Some Regions Resist
The data indicate as many as one in three doses are unused in some states. Appointments for shots often go untaken, with few people signing up. Bloomberg analyzed state and U.S. data from Monday, providing a snapshot of vaccine use before Johnson & Johnson shelved millions of shots pending federal health officials’ investigation into rare cases of blood clots. That pause will likely cause the number of unused shots to fluctuate, but will little change the comparisons of states. (Edney and Armstrong, 4/15)

ABC News: Lin-Manuel Miranda Welcomes COVID-19 Vaccine Site To Broadway 
The newest venue on Broadway is a COVID-19 vaccination site for the entertainment community. The facility that serves theater, movie and television workers in Times Square administered its first shots on Monday and opened with plenty of fanfare and star power. Mayor Bill de Blasio was joined by "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, health commissioner Dave Chokshi and Anne del Castillo, the commissioner of the Office of Media and Entertainment, to tour the Broadway COVID-19 vaccine site. (Long, 4/13)

The Washington Post: Montgomery County, Md., Reports Progress In Closing Racial Gaps In Vaccinations
Montgomery County has narrowed the coronavirus vaccination gap among different racial groups, County Executive Marc Elrich said Thursday. In February, about 20 percent of Black and Latino county residents older than 65 had been vaccinated, compared with 30 percent of Asian residents and 40 percent of White residents in that age group. As of early April, about 60 percent of Black and Latino residents over 65 had been vaccinated, compared with 70 percent of Asian residents and 65 percent of White residents in that age group. (Tan, 4/15)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Cashman Center COVID-19 Vaccination Site To Close
Despite giving record numbers of shots early this week, Clark County’s mass COVID-19 vaccination site at Cashman Center will close on May 5, public health officials announced Thursday. Word of the closure came on a day when there were no lines and plentiful open appointments at the site. “Our numbers are down across the board, not only at the large sites but the smaller sites, even the casinos,” the Southern Nevada Health District’s Greg Cassell said at a late morning briefing with reporters. (Hynes, 4/15)

Stat: Some Experts Fear Next-Generation Covid Vaccines May Be Worse
With Covid-19 vaccines, the world hopes to beat back the virus that causes the disease. But some scientists are increasingly concerned that, because of a quirk of our own biology, future iterations of the vaccines might not always be quite as effective as they are today. The concerns stem from a phenomenon that is known as imprinting, sometimes called original antigenic sin, which is believed to affect how we respond to some pathogens. (Branswell, 4/16)

Boston Globe: Thermo Fisher Buys Contract-Research Company PPD For $17.4 Billion
Thermo Fisher Scientific announced Thursday that it will buy PPD, a contract-research company for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, in a deal valued at $17.4 billion, plus the assumption of about $3.5 billion in debt. The acquisition will allow Waltham-based Thermo Scientific, a leader in laboratory equipment and services, to expand its reach in life sciences. PPD, based in North Carolina, provides services to help drug companies run clinical trials. (Gardizy, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Oscar Names New Virtual-First Care Division President
Oscar Health announced a new lead to its medical group on Thursday. The new lead comes as Oscar experiences growth in its virtual-first product, a new benefits structure that other insurers have been working to emulate. Dr. Okiki Louis will assume the role of president of Oscar Medical Group at the end of April, heading the New York-based startup's collection of physician-owned practices, which provide virtual urgent care and digital primary care services to its members. (Tepper, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: CHIME, HLTH To Host Joint Spring Conference Next Year
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and HLTH, the organization behind the HLTH conference that launched in 2018, will co-host an annual joint conference dubbed ViVE, beginning March 2022, the organizations announced Thursday. The inaugural event will take place March 6-9 in Miami Beach, Fla. "They're a great organization," Russel Branzell, president and CEO of CHIME, said of HLTH. "We continue to look for great partnerships." (Kim Cohen, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Private Equity's Estimated Healthcare Spending Halved In First Quarter
Private equity's estimated investment in healthcare in the first quarter of 2021 was half of its total in the final quarter of 2020, when the broader economy was recovering from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Private equity firms' healthcare deals totaled $20.2 billion in the quarter ended March 31, according to data contained in a new report from PitchBook. That's a noteworthy decline from the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2020, when private equity dropped $41 billion on healthcare deals. (Bannow, 4/15)

Stat: A Drug Maker Sues A Medical Journal, Its Editor, And Several Authors For Libel
In an unusual move, Pacira Biosciences (PCRX) has filed a libel lawsuit against a medical journal, its editors, and the authors of several recently published papers, arguing the articles were based on “faulty scientific research” and as a result, its only medicine was portrayed as ineffective. The drug maker alleged the papers published this past February in Anesthesiology reflected a “bias” against its Exparel painkiller and “disparaged” the drug, which is used after surgeries. Consequently, customers have either canceled contracts, declined to purchase the drug, which is not an opioid, or are considering removing it from hospital formularies, according to the lawsuit. (Silverman, 4/15)

The Boston Globe: Cheating Allegations Engulf Dartmouth Medical School
A Dartmouth medical student was halfway through a timed practice test for a high-stakes board exam last month when an e-mail flashed on her phone. She was startled to find a formal message on her medical school’s letterhead. The e-mail accused her — and, she later learned, more than a dozen other students — of cheating by accessing online course materials while taking a test on a different software platform. The school said that it had electronic evidence of misconduct, and that she was invited to make a brief statement defending herself at a tribunal to be held over Zoom in a week. (Krantz, 4/15)

AP: Missouri House Redirects Money Meant For Medicaid Expansion
The GOP-led Missouri House on Thursday passed an alternative plan for spending funding initially meant for Medicaid expansion. House lawmakers voted 143-1 to send the proposal to the Senate, where Republican leaders have also voiced support for defunding Medicaid expansion. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith said the spending plan represents “the prioritization of the people who are most needy in our state.” (Ballentine, 4/15)

AP: High School League Seeks Relief From Masks In Outdoor Sports
The Minnesota State High School League board asked state health officials Thursday to allow spring sports athletes to compete outdoors without wearing masks. The recommendation by the league’s sports medicine advisory committee applies only to actual competition. Athletes would be required to wear masks during breaks such as before and after races and while sitting in the dugout or standing on the sidelines. (4/15)

PBS NewsHour: New Poll Shows Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Anti-Transgender Laws
The rights of transgender Americans has been a growing topic of debate on sports fields, in state capitols and in Congress. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, says more than 30 state legislatures have proposed more than 115 bills that would limit transgender rights, from participation on sports teams to access to medical care. But two-thirds of Americans are against laws that would limit transgender rights, a new PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll found. That opposition includes majorities of every political ideology from liberal to conservative and every age group. (Loffman, 4/16)

AP: Smoking Foes: Make COVID Casino Smoking Ban Permanent In NJ
Health advocates say New Jersey’s temporary coronavirus-related ban on smoking in the Atlantic City casinos should be made permanent, and some state legislators said Thursday they will push to make that happen. But the casinos say permanently banning smoking once the pandemic has ended will drive away customers, leading to job losses and lower tax revenue for the state. They say the gambling halls have invested heavily in air filtration equipment that renders the workspaces safe. (Parry, 4/15)