First Edition: Dec. 7, 2021

KHN: Data Science Proved What Pittsburgh’s Black Leaders Knew: Racial Disparities Compound Covid Risk
The ferocity of the covid-19 pandemic did what Black Pittsburgh — communities that make up a quarter of the city’s population — thought impossible. It shook the norms. Black researchers, medical professionals and allies knew that people of color, even before covid, experienced bias in public health policy. As the deadly virus emerged, data analysts from Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, foundation directors, epidemiologists and others pooled their talents to configure databases from unwieldy state data to chart covid cases. (Spolar, 12/7)

KHN: When The Surges Just Keep Coming: A View From The Covid Vortex 
Dr. Rais Vohra has impeccable timing. He stepped into his role as interim health officer of Fresno County just months before the start of the covid-19 pandemic. Almost immediately, he found himself navigating the treacherous tensions between public health messaging and a skeptical population in a hub of industrial agriculture that is also one of the most politically conservative regions of California. First came the anti-mask protests, amplified by vows from the county sheriff that her deputies would refuse to enforce the state’s mask mandate. Next was the vocal resentment of covid-related business restrictions. Cap that off with roiling distrust of the new covid vaccines and a large migrant farmworker population with long-standing challenges accessing health care. Little surprise, then, that as of Dec. 3, about 55% of Fresno County residents were fully vaccinated, nearly 10 percentage points lower than the statewide average. In some rural pockets of the county, fewer than 40% of residents are fully vaccinated. (Gold, 12/7)

The New York Times: Early Omicron Reports Say Illness May Be Less Severe 
The Covid-19 virus is spreading faster than ever in South Africa, the country’s president said Monday, an indication of how the new Omicron variant is driving the pandemic, but there are early indications that Omicron may cause less serious illness than other forms of the virus. Researchers at a major hospital complex in Pretoria reported that their patients with the coronavirus are much less sick than those they have treated before, and that other hospitals are seeing the same trends. In fact, they said, most of their infected patients were admitted for other reasons and have no Covid symptoms. (Chutel, Perez-Pena and Anthes, 12/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Glaxo Says Its Covid-19 Antibody Drug Works Against Omicron 
GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology Inc. said their Covid-19 antibody treatment retained effectiveness against the Omicron variant in laboratory studies, even as early data suggests that similar treatments work less well against the highly mutated strain. The results provide hope that at least one monoclonal antibody therapy—a form of treatment that has proven useful in blunting severe disease—will remain effective against Omicron, which has been detected in dozens of countries including the U.S. since it was identified by scientists in South Africa two weeks ago. (Roland, 12/7)

Bloomberg: GSK Antibody Treatment Works On Omicron Mutations, Study Shows
GlaxoSmithKline Plc said research shows its Covid-19 antibody treatment is effective against the full combination of mutations in the new omicron variant. Tests done in-vitro against a pseudo-virus that recreates a synthesized version of omicron showed that sotrovimab, Glaxo’s antibody treatment, stands up to all mutations in the spike protein of the omicron variant and not just the key mutations, the drugmaker said in a statement Tuesday. The tests included all 37 mutations identified to-date in the spike protein. (Hipwell, 12/7)

AP: Omicron V. Delta: Battle Of Coronavirus Mutants Is Critical
As the omicron coronavirus variant spreads in southern Africa and pops up in countries all around the world, scientists are anxiously watching a battle play out that could determine the future of the pandemic. Can the latest competitor to the world-dominating delta overthrow it? Some scientists, poring over data from South Africa and the United Kingdom, suggest omicron could emerge the victor. “It’s still early days, but increasingly, data is starting to trickle in, suggesting that omicron is likely to outcompete delta in many, if not all, places,” said Dr. Jacob Lemieux, who monitors variants for a research collaboration led by Harvard Medical School. (Ungar and Meldrum, 12/7)

Bloomberg: Origin Of Omicron: Mutations May Give Clues How Strain Develops, Analysis Shows
Omicron’s unusually large number of mutations on the gene that helps the coronavirus spread may provide clues as to how it developed, according to a computational analysis of the variant. The co-existence of mutations on the so-called S-gene that would normally inhibit the ability of the virus to thrive suggests the changes are instead working to make the variant more effective at spreading, according to a blog post by researchers led by Associate Professor Darren Martin at the University of Cape Town’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine. (Sguazzin, 12/6)

Axios: Axios-Ipsos Poll: Americans Shrug Off Omicron 
Most Americans aren't willing to make big changes in their behavior to minimize the risk from the Omicron variant, like avoiding indoor restaurant dining or cancelling their holiday travel plans, according to a new Axios-Ipsos poll. The poll found support for some broader public responses, including one — travel bans aimed at people from other countries — that was widely supported by people across the political spectrum. But it found that Americans are only willing to do so much on their own. (Nather, 12/7)

The Wall Street Journal: However You Pronounce ‘Omicron,’ You’re Probably Saying It Wrong 
The World Health Organization’s decision this year to use letters of the Greek alphabet to name Covid variants is a source of both honor and consternation for Greeks and Greek-Americans. “We always take a secret pride in Greek being used for scientific purposes—even if it is to describe a variant that creates a new level of panic in all of us,” said Sylvia Papapostolou-Kienzl, a host of a Sunday morning Greek-language radio program in New York. That was true for earlier variants such as Alpha or Delta, which didn’t trip up most non-Greek speakers. Omicron, though, showed that such prominence can come at a cost: a mangled parlance that amplifies academic rifts over ancient and modern pronunciations. (Andriotis and Sugden, 12/6)

The New York Times: N.Y.C. To Mandate Vaccines For Employees At Private Businesses 
The mandate, almost certain to face legal challenges and to pose difficulties for the employers tasked with enforcing it, will apply to about 184,000 businesses. It is set to take effect on Dec. 27, just days before Mayor Bill de Blasio leaves office. Mr. de Blasio described his action as a “pre-emptive strike” designed to stall another wave of virus cases amid rising concerns about the Omicron variant. (Fitzsimmons, 12/6)

The New York Times: Will Eric Adams Keep N.Y.C.’s Newest Vaccine Mandate? 
The mayor-elect, who is on vacation in Ghana, intends to “evaluate this mandate and other Covid strategies when he is in office and make determinations based on science, efficacy and the advice of health professionals,” Eric Adams’s spokesman, Evan Thies, said. So even as Mr. de Blasio won ample publicity in advance of his likely run for governor, it remained far from clear what would happen to this private-sector mandate — or Mr. de Blasio’s pandemic policies in general — once he leaves office. (Rubinstein, 12/6)

Axios: Gov. Hochul Will Order Some NY Hospitals To Halt Elective Surgeries 
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Monday that some state hospitals will be ordered to halt certain elective surgeries in an effort to combat a recent COVID-19 surge, Hochul said at a press conference. New York has struggled with hospital capacity throughout the pandemic and postponed nonessential procedures before. Hochul said the program to end elective surgeries will be "targeted" and affect around 30 facilities, which are expected to be announced late Monday. (Garfinkel, 12/6)

AP: Biden Touts Savings On Insulin And Other Drugs For Americans 
President Joe Biden pledged Monday that his social agenda legislation would deliver tangible savings on prescription drugs for all Americans. Relief that consumers have clamored for is now in sight, he asserted. But first the bill has to pass Congress, where plenty of obstacles remain in its path. Biden tried to shift the focus to pocketbook provisions overlooked in the political machinations over his $2 trillion legislation, which deals with issues from climate to family life and taxes. Even before concerns over rising inflation, polls consistently showed support from Americans across the political spectrum for government action to lower drug costs. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/6)

The Hill: Biden Points To Drug Prices In Call For Senate Social Spending Vote 
Biden called prescription drugs "outrageously expensive in this country," saying, "It doesn't need to be that way." "To really solve this problem, we need the Senate to follow the House of Representatives' lead and pass my Build Back Better bill," he said. Lowering drug prices is one of the most popular parts of Biden's sweeping climate and social spending measure, and Democrats are looking to tout the changes and hammer Republicans for opposing them. (Sullivan, 12/6)

Axios: Drug Pricing Coalition Documents Reveal Data-Blocking Against Employers 
American businesses spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on prescription drugs, and the bills keep getting bigger. But some of the companies promising to help rein in those costs prevent employers from looking under the hood. Documents provided to Axios reveal a new layer of secrecy within the maze of American drug pricing — one in which firms that manage drug coverage for hundreds of employers, representing millions of workers, obscure the details of their work and make it difficult to figure out whether they're actually providing a good deal. (Herman, 12/6)

Axios: Vulnerable Democrats Urge Congress To Act Before Medicare Cuts Kick In 
Vulnerable Democrats are urging President Biden and congressional leaders to act quickly to prevent the Medicare cuts that will take effect on the first day of the new year. Congress has little time to act before the Medicare reimbursement cuts kick in on Jan. 1, 2022, and there’s currently no vehicle on the table to push the legislation through. (Mucha, 12/6)

Dallas Morning News: Medicare Open Enrollment Deadline Is Tuesday
Open enrollment for next year’s Medicare coverage started last month and continues through Dec. 7. Nationwide, over 3,800 plans are available, the highest number ever, the Kaiser Family Foundation says. Anyone signing up for Medicare gets to choose either “original Medicare” or a Medicare Advantage plan. Original Medicare consists of Part A (hospital services) and Part B (medical services), so many people on Original Medicare buy a prescription drug plan and a supplemental policy to help cover expenses. Medicare Advantage plans (sometimes referred to as Part C) are more of a one-stop-shop option, often covering vision, hearing and/or dental care, and they also include prescription drug coverage. (Schnurman, 12/6)

Stat: Targeting Prices For Accelerated Approval Drugs May Have Limited Impact On Overall Drug Spending 
As U.S. regulators approve more medicines under a so-called accelerated approval pathway, Medicare and Medicaid continue to spend more on treatments that come to market through an accelerated approval pathway, even though the clinical benefits remain unproven, according to two new analyses. Accelerated approval refers to early endorsements of medicines that treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need based on a surrogate marker that is “reasonably likely” to predict clinical benefits. From 1992 through 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued more than 250 accelerated approvals, mostly cancer treatments. (Silverman, 12/6)

The New York Times: Instagram Parental Controls Are Set Arrive In March 
Instagram will introduce its first parental controls in March as it faces pressure to do more to shield its young users from harmful content and keep them from overusing the product. Adam Mosseri, the head of the app inside Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said in a blog post that parents would be able to see how long their teenage children have spent using Instagram and limit the amount of time they spend on the app. Teenagers will also be able to tell their parents if they have reported someone for a violation of Instagram’s policies. “This is the first version of these tools; we’ll continue to add more options over time,” he said in the post. (McCabe, 12/7)

NPR: Instagram Unveils New Teen Safety Tools Ahead Of Senate Hearing
Instagram is rolling out a new set of safety features aimed at its youngest users and their parents, a day before the photo-sharing app's head testifies to Congress about the platform's potential risks to kids and teens. They include tools to help users manage how much time they spend on the app, limits on both unwanted interactions with adults and exposure to sensitive content, and optional parental oversight of children's accounts. (Bond, 12/7)

The Washington Post: Gen Z Most Stressed During Covid Pandemic, Citing Toll On Mental Health 
Gen Z is feeling the stresses of the pandemic more than any other age group, according to a new U.S. survey released on Monday. Higher proportions of young Americans between the ages of 13 and 24 say the pandemic has made their education, career goals and social lives more difficult, compared with millennials and Gen X. (Jeong, 12/7)

NBC News: AstraZeneca Covid Vaccine Co-Creator Warns Next Pandemic Could Be Worse
One of the scientists behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine on Monday warned that the next pandemic could be even more deadly than the current one. Professor Sarah Gilbert, an Oxford University academic who won acclaim for her role in developing a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine in less than a year, warned against complacency in tackling future threats. "This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods," she said in a lecture at Oxford University due to be broadcast by the BBC on Monday night. "The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both." (Smith, 12/6)

The Washington Post: U.S. Coronavirus Cases Approach 50 Million 
The total number of reported coronavirus cases in the United States marched toward 50 million early Tuesday, as New York City imposed a vaccine mandate for all private employers, federal health authorities warned against travel to several European countries and more nations tightened restrictions on the unvaccinated. The omicron variant of the virus, which is possibly more contagious than the widespread delta variant, had been found in 19 U.S. states as of Monday — just five days after the first known case in the country emerged in California. That number reflected the potentially heightened transmissibility of the newest variant and an improved system for detecting it. (Jeong, Suliman, Bernstein, Sellers and Villegas, 12/7)

Reuters: Mixing Pfizer, AstraZ COVID-19 Shots With Moderna Gives Better Immune Response -UK Study
A major British study into mixing COVID-19 vaccines has found that people had a better immune response when they received a first dose of AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech shots followed by Moderna nine weeks later, according to the results on Monday. "We found a really good immune response across the board..., in fact, higher than the threshold set by Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine two doses," Matthew Snape, the Oxford professor behind the trial dubbed Com-COV2, told Reuters. (Aripaka and Marks, 12/7)

CIDRAP: Study: COVID Vaccine-Related Myocarditis Mild, Resolves Quickly
Today in Circulation, researchers report that most cases of rare yet potentially serious episodes of myocarditis related to COVID-19 vaccinations in teens and young adults were mild, and the case-patients recovered quickly. Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, often follows bacterial or viral infections. In June 2021, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a link between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and increased incidents of myocarditis, especially in boys and men 12 to 29. (12/6)

Indianapolis Star: More Than 50,000 School Children Have Tested Positive for COVID-19 This Semester
Reported cases of COVID-19 cases among Indiana's K-12 students jumped back up this week, after taking a dip around the Thanksgiving holiday. There were 4,321 new cases reported among students this week, the highest number of newly-reported cases since mid-September. Cases among students had dropped consistently for nearly two months until they began to tick back up at the start of last month. In addition to student cases, 265 new cases were reported among teachers and another 442 among other staff members. (Herron, 12/6)

The Advocate: Louisiana Lawmakers Ask Gov. John Bel Edwards To Reject Rule Adding COVID Vaccine To School Shot List
Louisiana lawmakers voted Monday to reject Gov. John Bel Edwards' proposal to require students get vaccinated against COVID-19 before entering school, though the Democratic governor has said he intends to override legislative rejection and move forward with adding the vaccine to the state immunization schedule. Following an hours-long oversight hearing chock-full of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, the Louisiana House Committee on Health & Welfare voted 13-2 to oppose the rule, with a string of mostly Republican lawmakers labeling it a form of government overreach that infringes on parental choice, despite Louisiana's exceptionally broad opt-out provisions. (Paterson, 12/6)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Miami, UC Mandate Results: What Happens to Unvaccinated Students, Employees?
The deadline for students and workers at two of the Cincinnati region's biggest universities to get their COVID-19 vaccinations has passed. Compliance rates at Miami University and the University of Cincinnati vary between main and regional campuses as well as among students, faculty and staff. At Miami, compliance rates among students were higher than employees, with Miami staff holding the institution's highest unvaccinated rate of 7.68%, according to data provided by the university. (Mitchell, 12/7)

Dallas Morning News: Caris Life Sciences Employees Sue Company After Religious Exemptions Denied For Vaccine Mandate
Employees of an Irving-based cancer research firm sued it for its vaccination protocol, which they say is unlawful. In a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas last Tuesday, four Caris Life Sciences employees said that they had been targeted for termination if they refused to get vaccinated by Dec. 1, which they say represents “discriminatory employment practices.” (Walters, 12/6)

USA Today: Court Orders Hospital To Allow Ivermectin Treatment In COVID-19 Case
A court order issued late Friday allowed a Pennsylvania man on a ventilator in a medically induced coma from COVID-19 to be treated with the controversial drug ivermectin. Keith Smith's wife, Darla, filed a lawsuit in York County Court last week asking a judge to compel the hospital to treat her husband with ivermectin, seeking an emergency injunction to force UPMC Memorial to administer the drug. Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic that is not part of the medical center’s COVID-19 protocols and is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of the virus. (Tebor and Fernando, 12/7)

CNBC: WHO Strongly Advises Against Convalescent Plasma For Treating Covid Patients
The World Health Organization on Monday issued a strong recommendation against administering convalescent plasma to treat Covid-19 patients, citing research that shows no improvement in patients who received the treatment. In convalescent plasma therapy, blood plasma is donated by someone who has recovered from the virus and transferred into a patient battling the virus with the hope the donor’s antibodies help fight the infection. However, the WHO’s guideline development group found that “there was no clear benefit for critical outcomes such as mortality and mechanical ventilation for patients with non-severe, severe or critical illness, and significant resource requirements in terms of cost and time for administration.” (Kimball, 12/6)

The Boston Globe: Coronavirus Levels In Boston-Area Waste Water Have Risen Dramatically In Recent Days
Coronavirus readings in Boston-area wastewater have seen a dramatic rise in recent days, reaching levels not seen since the height of the January surge. The increase in the wastewater levels continues a trend that began around mid-November, but the tests found that the seven-day averages of virus traces in the wastewater have risen particularly fast over the last week or so. Levels of coronavirus in wastewater coming from the northern and southern samples of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s territory have both risen substantially, returning to levels last seen in mid-January. (Little Endara, 12/6)

Bloomberg: First-Ever Covid-Killing Steel Can Inactivate 99.8% Of The Virus
Researchers in Hong Kong said they have developed the world’s first stainless steel that kills the Covid-19 virus within hours, adding to the arsenal of products being created globally to curb the pathogen that triggered the worst pandemic of the past century. The newly-developed alloy can inactivate 99.75% of the SARS-CoV-2 virus within three hours and 99.99% within six hours, according to a study published Nov. 25 by a team of researchers at the University of Hong Kong. (Hong, 12/7)

Modern Healthcare: Wisconsin Hospitals Sued More Patients, Garnished More Wages In Recent Years
Wisconsin hospitals filed 37% more medical debt lawsuits in 2018 than in 2001, and the targets were disproportionately Black patients and those living in rural areas, a new Health Affairs study found. Wisconsin hospitals sued patients at a rate of 1.53 per 1,000 residents in 2018, a year they filed about 8,900 lawsuits, according to the findings released Monday. That's up from 1.12 per 1,000 residents in 2001, when they filed just under 5,900 lawsuits. The share of cases that resulted in wage garnishment jumped 27% during that time. Just over half of cases filed in 2018 culminated in wage garnishment. (Bannow, 12/6)

The Washington Post: Nurses Are Leaving Staff Jobs During Covid And Tripling Salaries To Travel
Wanderlust, and the money to fund it, made Alex Stow’s decision easy. After working a couple of years in an intensive care unit, he signed up to be a travel nurse, tripling his pay to about $95 an hour by agreeing to help short-staffed hospitals around the country for 13 weeks at a time. “Travel” proved a bit of a misnomer. His current assignment is in Traverse City, Mich., only a few hours from his old full-time job in Lansing — close enough that he still works per-diem shifts at his previous hospital. Now Stow, 25, is buying a truck and a camper and preparing to hit the road. He’ll work where he wants and take time off to see the country between nursing assignments. (Bernstein, 12/6)

Modern Healthcare: University Of Maryland Medical System To Spend $5.1M To Recruit Staff
The University of Maryland Medical System on Monday said it launched a $5.1 million recruitment effort to attract nurses and other bedside staff as the pandemic continues to put pressure on medical staffing. The campaign, called UMMS Community College Tuition Assistance Incentive Program, began in December and is targeted at recent graduate from two-year state schools, the system said in a news release. "In the spirit of community, we have enhanced our partnerships with community colleges whose health professions programs are an excellent workforce resource. including schools across Maryland and with Delaware Technical Community College," Lisa Rowen, a registered nurse and UMMS senior vice president and chief nurse executive, said in a news release. (Christ, 12/6)

The New York Times: Women Earn $2 Million Less Than Men In Their Careers As Doctors 
Female doctors make less than their male counterparts starting from their very first days on the job, according to a large new study. Over the course of a 40-year-career, researchers estimated, this pay gap adds up to at least $2 million. The survey of more than 80,000 physicians, published on Monday in the medical journal Health Affairs, is the largest analysis to date on physician salaries and the first to estimate the cumulative impact of pay gaps in medicine. (Ghorayshi, 12/6)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas Clinic Genecis Cuts Care To Transgender Kids, Halts Hormone Treatments For New Patients
A pioneering care program in Dallas for transgender youth is cutting off hormone and other medical treatments for new patients, a move that goes against the standards of care for eligible adolescents set out by transgender health experts. Genecis — which stands for Gender Education and Care, Interdisciplinary Support — was a highly-acclaimed 7-year-old program created by Children’s Health and UT Southwestern Medical Center to provide transgender and gender-diverse youth with health care, including mental health counseling and hormone therapy. (Wolf and McGaughy, 12/6)

AP: Former Pharma Executive Charged With Embezzling Millions
A former executive and owner of a pharmaceutical company embezzled millions of dollars from his company to use for personal expenses, the U.S. attorney’s charged in a criminal complaint released Monday. John Klein allegedly took about $3.9 million from a customer in 2016 and deposited it into an account he controlled, then used the money to pay for personal expenses including credit card payments, property taxes and his child’s private school tuition, all while allowing the company to represent in its financial statements that the money hadn’t been collected. ... Klein’s company wasn’t identified in the complaint, but his online bio and other court filings list him as the CEO of Cambridge Therapeutic Technologies, a company that was headquartered in Teaneck and engaged in the packaging and distribution of pharmaceuticals. (12/6)

AP: Kansas To Get $27.6M From Firm Investigated Over Drug Costs
Kansas will receive nearly $27.6 million from a legal settlement with the company that manages prescription costs for its Medicaid program, after an investigation into whether the company had overcharged the state, Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Monday. The settlement with St. Louis-based Centene Corp. comes after a nearly two-year investigation by Schmidt’s office and a Jackson, Mississippi-area law firm it hired to review Centene’s practices. States throughout the country have been investigating companies known as pharmacy benefit managers, and Mississippi and Ohio in June settled lawsuits against Centene for a total of nearly $144 million. (Hanna, 12/6)

AP: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Faces Cross-Examination 
The fraud trial of fallen Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is set to resume Tuesday with continued cross-examination of Holmes and possible expert psychological testimony. Holmes, 37, has pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding investors and patients by failing to deliver on her promise to revolutionize health care with a technology that was supposed to be able to detect a wide range of diseases and other problems by testing just a few drops of blood. She is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud, which carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. (12/7)

The Hill: Study: Test Detects Signs Of Dementia At Least Six Months Earlier Than Standard Method
A study released Monday concluded that a self-administered test detected signs of potential dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, at least six months ahead of the standard testing method, suggesting the exam may help doctors diagnose patients sooner. The self-administered gerocognitive examination (SAGE) test picked up on signs of cognitive impairment months earlier among patients than the often used mini-mental state examination (MMSE), according to the research published in the journal “Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy.” (Coleman, 12/6)

NPR: Adult Portable Bed Rails Have Been Recalled After 2 People Died
Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission are recalling nearly half a million adult portable bed rails after the reports of two deaths, one in 2011 and another in 2015. The voluntary recall issued Monday involves four different models of the company's Bed Assist Handle and Bed Assist Rail adult portable bed rails, totaling more than 496,000 units. According to the recall notice posted by CSPC, the two deaths occurred in February 2011 and February 2015. One of the cases involved a 93-year-old woman from California and another involved a 92-year-old man who was living at an assisted living facility in Canada. (Franklin, 12/6)

NPR: Alexander & Hornung Recalls Ham And Pepperoni Products Over Listeria Concerns
A subsidiary of Perdue Premium Meat Company is asking customers to avoid eating certain batches of its fully cooked pork products because of possible listeria contamination. Michigan-based Alexander & Hornung is recalling 234,391 pounds of fully cooked ham and pepperoni products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced on Sunday. "FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers' refrigerators or freezers," it said, urging people to throw the items away or return them to their place of purchase. (Treisman, 12/6)

The Washington Post: Pregnant People More Likely To Die By Homicide Than Any Other Cause 
At the Safe Sisters Circle, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., founder and executive director Alana C. Brown said she has worked with “countless” survivors of intimate partner violence who were abused while pregnant. While providing legal services to survivors in the city’s predominantly Black Ward 7 and 8, Brown said she’s witnessed that sometimes the abuse isn’t only physical; she’s seen survivors miscarry from the stress of emotional abuse. Earlier this year, Brown published an article with the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence detailing the specific ways that medical racism, a long legacy of discrimination and reproductive coercion have resulted in Black women facing some of the highest rates of domestic violence and sexual abuse. (Nowell, 12/6)

The Hill: Study Casts Doubt On Idea That Marijuana Improves Sleep
Scientists say using marijuana could harm sleeping habits, according to a new study published Monday. The study, published in the journal BMJ, showed that adults who used marijuana at least 20 times in the last month were 64 percent more likely to sleep less than six hours per night and 76 percent more likely to sleep over nine hours per night. (Beals, 12/6)

AP: New Study Outlines High Costs Of Extreme Heat In Phoenix 
Extreme heat is expensive. That’s the conclusion of a study presented Monday by The Nature Conservancy, which commissioned a look at the costs of rising temperatures in Phoenix. Working with infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, the nonprofit environmental organization known for its nature preserves and efforts to protect biodiversity this time turned its attention to the country’s hottest large metropolitan area. “As Phoenix continues to urbanize and its population expands, the benefits of adapting to extreme heat may only increase, as will the consequences of inaction,” the report said. “To implement the ambitious solution scenarios and realize the associated benefits, both the public and private sector will need to play an active role.” (Snow, 12/7)

ABC News: Wisconsin Law To Curb Rape Kit Backlog With Standardized Collection, Tracking System 
For years, thousands of sexual assault kits sat on the shelves in Wisconsin crime labs, leaving victims and investigators desperately waiting for crucial data, according to state officials. But new legislation that went into effect Monday aims to clear up this backlog and provide victims with more information about their investigations. (Pereira, 12/6)

CNN: Hawaii Health Officials Order Navy To Clean Up Contaminated Drinking Water After Families Are Forced To Move Out Of Their Homes 
The Hawaii Department of Health is ordering the Navy to take immediate action to address contaminated drinking water at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, an issue that has forced more than 700 people from their homes and left parents fearing the water they bathed their children in made them sick. The Navy previously said it shut down its Red Hill well on November 28 and that families living on base reported symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and skin-related concerns. (Chen, Simonson and Burnside, 12/7)

Axios: U.S. Announces $400M For Global COVID Vaccine Distribution 
The U.S. will invest an additional $400 million toward COVID-19 vaccination distribution efforts, such as bolstering cold chain infrastructure and supporting delivery, USAID administrator Samantha Power announced Monday. While the problem of COVID-19 vaccine supply across the world is starting to ease in some places, the logistics of getting the vaccine in arms has emerged as a major bottleneck. (Reed, 12/6)

The Washington Post: CDC Issues ‘Very High’ Risk Warning For Travel To France And Portugal
Federal health authorities issued a warning Monday against travel to several European countries as well as Jordan and Tanzania amid growing fears of the omicron variant, telling people to make sure they are fully vaccinated if they must visit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said to avoid travel to France, Portugal, Cyprus, Andorra and Liechtenstein, grouping all in a Level 4 category that represents a “very high” level of the coronavirus. Countries and territories in this group have an infection incidence rate of more than 500 new cases per 100,000 people over the past 28 days (or, in places with fewer than 100,000 residents, more than 500 cases cumulatively over the past 28 days). (Knowles, 12/6)

Reuters: Nearly 70 ICU Medics At Spanish Hospital COVID-19 Positive After Christmas Party 
Nearly 70 nurses and doctors working in the intensive care unit at a Spanish hospital have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a Christmas party, health authorities said on Monday. Sixty-eight medics at the University Regional Hospital in Malaga had been diagnosed with the coronavirus, the Andalusian regional government said. ... Those who contracted COVID-19 all had antigen tests or the third booster vaccinations before attending the party, health authorities said. (12/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Citing Omicron, South Korea Tells Unvaccinated Teens To Get Covid-19 Shots Or Face Restrictions
The Omicron variant has prompted South Korea to accelerate efforts to vaccinate schoolchildren, and penalize those who don’t comply, sparking debates over the safety of Covid-19 shots and education access. In recent days, South Korean officials have given a February deadline for individuals between the ages of 12 and 17 to get vaccinated. If they don’t, the students risk being denied entry to restaurants, libraries and after-school academies that are central to many students’ education. (Yoon, 12/6)

Bloomberg: S. Africa Research Council Can’t Access Vaccine Data
The South African Medical Research Council said it cannot access the country’s Covid-19 vaccination data and it is working to amend a data-sharing agreement with the Department of Health. The inability to access the data may impinge on the organization’s ability to determine the impact of the omicron variant on mortality, it said in a statement on Monday. The council produces a weekly report on national excess deaths, a measure of mortality above the historical average that is seen as a more accurate measure of the impact of Covid-19 than official data. (Sguazzin, 12/6)

Bloomberg: Roche’s Roactemra Wins EU Regulator’s Backing For Severe Covid
The European Medicines Agency’s drug advisory board backed the use of Roche Holding AG’s Roactemra for adults who are severely ill with Covid-19, providing doctors with another tool as the latest wave of the pandemic spreads. The medicine, sold as an arthritis treatment under the name Actemra, has already been in broad use in many countries to treat Covid. The EU recommendation is for patients who are taking steroids and need oxygen or are on ventilators. (Kresge, 12/6)

Bloomberg: Malaria Makes Comeback Amid Pandemic Disruption, WHO Says
The coronavirus pandemic has derailed the global campaign against malaria, increasing deaths from the mosquito-borne disease for the first time in three years. The number of malaria cases and deaths in 2020 were at least 40% higher than the Word Health Organization’s targets, according to the agency, which said its 2030 goals are now at risk. “While African countries rallied to the challenge and averted the worst predictions of fallout from Covid-19, the pandemic’s knock-on effect still translates to thousands of lives lost to malaria,” Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement. “African governments and their partners need to intensify their efforts so that we do not lose even more ground to this preventable disease.” (Kew, 12/6)