First Edition: Dec. 9, 2021

KHN: Some Montana Nonprofit Hospitals Fall Short Of Peers In Required Charitable Giving
Montana’s richest nonprofit hospitals receive millions of dollars in tax exemptions each year to operate as charities, but some fall short of other medical facilities in what they give back to their communities to get those breaks. Overall, Montana’s nearly 50 nonprofit hospitals directed, on average, roughly 8% of their total annual expenses toward community benefits, such as covering the treatment costs of people who can’t afford care. That’s according to a KHN analysis of the hospitals’ IRS filings ending in 2019, which provide a snapshot of hospitals’ financial picture from before the pandemic. The national average as of 2018 was 10%, according to the American Hospital Association. (Houghton, 12/9)

KHN: Health Experts Worry CDC’s Covid Vaccination Rates Appear Inflated 
For nearly a month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s online vaccine tracker has shown that virtually everyone 65 and older in the United States — 99.9% — has received at least one covid vaccine dose. That would be remarkable — if true. But health experts and state officials say it’s certainly not. They note that the CDC as of Dec. 5 has recorded more seniors at least partly vaccinated — 55.4 million — than there are people in that age group — 54.1 million, according to the latest census data from 2019. The CDC’s vaccination rate for residents 65 and older is also significantly higher than the 89% vaccination rate found in a poll conducted in November by KFF. (Galewitz, 12/9)

KHN: Never Mind Toys, It’s Time To Ask Santa For Crutches And Catheters
America’s hospitals, strained by nearly two years of fighting the covid-19 pandemic, are now scrounging for basic medical supplies. In another consequence of the global supply chain crisis, hospitals managing holiday covid surges and all their other patients are running short of many necessities of care: crutches, syringes, needles, tubing, gloves, catheters, drapes for surgery, suction canisters for medical waste and even urine cups. After the difficulties that health care workers faced in securing personal protective equipment in 2020, supply chain managers and other experts say shortages and delays of other common supplies escalated this year. (Pradhan, 12/9)

The Washington Post: Omicron May Require Fourth Vaccine Dose, Pfizer Says
The new omicron variant could increase the likelihood that people will need a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose earlier than expected, executives at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Wednesday. Boosters are likely to help control the variant, according to the company, which said early lab experiments suggest the standard two-dose regimen still provides some protection against severe illness from the variant. Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chief executive, had projected that a fourth dose might be needed 12 months after a third shot. But he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the timeline might need to be moved up. One of the company’s top scientists recently said a fourth shot — possibly one targeting omicron — is likely to be necessary. (Jeong and Suliman, 12/9)

Bloomberg: Pfizer-BioNTech Covid Vaccine Booster Dose Neutralizes Omicron Variant
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said initial lab studies show a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine may be needed to neutralize the omicron variant, results that will accelerate booster-shot drives around the world and may lead to use of new strain-specific vaccines. Company researchers observed a 25-fold reduction in neutralizing antibodies that fight the variant, compared with the original strain of the virus, in people who got just two shots. However, boosting with an additional shot of the vaccine restored protection to a level similar to the initial two-dose regimen, the vaccine partners said in a statement. (Kresge, Langreth and Griffin, 12/8)

USA Today: COVID-19: Pfizer Says 3rd Dose Of Its Vaccine Protects Against Omicron
A third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine appears to be as effective against omicron as two doses were against the original variant, according to preliminary data from BioNTech. The same study showed that two doses may prevent severe disease, but aren'tnearly as effective against omicron as they were against earlier variants. "The first line of defense with two doses of vaccination might be compromised (by omicron), and three doses of vaccination are required to restore protection," Özlem Türeci, BioNTech's chief medical officer, said at a Wednesday news conference. (Weintraub, 12/8)

Bloomberg: Pfizer To Know Covid Shot’s Efficacy Against Omicron Before Year-End
Pfizer Inc. will have data telling how well its vaccine prevents infections with the omicron variant before the end of the year, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said. The company is looking to data on the vaccine’s performance from health providers and other sources to give a clearer picture of effectiveness, Bourla said Wednesday in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power With David Westin.” “What I really think will be the final verdict will be the real-world data,” he  said. “We are expecting to see those toward the end of the year.” (Griffin, 12/8)

Bloomberg: Pfizer Booster for More Teens Moves Closer to FDA Clearance
Food and Drug Administration authorization of Pfizer Inc.  booster vaccines for more teens took a step forward when the agency said further study by an advisory committee wasn’t necessary. Third doses for those age 16 and 17 do “not raise questions that would benefit from additional discussion by the members of the committee,” the FDA said in an email. The development on Wednesday signals the FDA has no particular safety concerns for the age bracket. (Rutherford, 12/8)

Stat: Pfizer’s Vaccine Chief On Omicron, Boosters, And Preparing For The Unknown
Pfizer and partner BioNTech announced Wednesday that new data show that antibodies generated by their Covid vaccine appear less effective against the Omicron variant than other variants, but that a third booster dose likely provides sufficient antibody protection. Those data are very preliminary. But STAT took the opportunity to catch up with Pfizer’s head of vaccine research, Kathrin Jansen, who has been one of the main architects of the development program that has helped make the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine the most widely used of the Covid shots. Jansen emphasized that Pfizer is developing an Omicron-specific vaccine, but that she does not know exactly what strategy the world should or will take over the coming months. Instead, she is focused on being prepared for anything. (Herper, 12/8)

NBC News: Pfizer Boosters Dominate The U.S. See A State-By-State Breakdown
The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine booster, which the companies say offers better protection against the new variant than an initial one or two-dose series,  accounts for about 55 percent of all booster shots in the U.S., according to an NBC News analysis of vaccine data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Several states have exceeded the national average. In Hawaii, 70 percent of boosters were from Pfizer, and Pfizer shots accounted for about 60 percent of boosters in states such as Utah, Missouri and Indiana. Just under 25 percent of people in the U.S. have received a booster, the CDC says. (Ramos, 12/8)

The Hill: Pediatric COVID Vaccination Has Slowed Across The US: Analysis
The rate of COVID-19 vaccinations among children ages 5 to 11 has slowed considerably nationwide, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The analysis shows that a little more than a month since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) signed off on pediatric COVID-19 vaccines, the rate of increase has leveled off. The drop-off began before Thanksgiving, and has continued since. (Weixel, 12/8)

Idaho Statesman: Time Of Day You Get COVID Vaccine May Affect Antibody Levels
Each cell in your body can tell what time of day it is and adjust its behaviors accordingly, such as producing hormones at night that make you sleepy and telling your brain you’re hungry around noon. Decades of research have demonstrated your immune system follows your body’s 24-hour internal clock, formally called your circadian rhythm, in ways that could affect how you respond to medications, exposure to viruses and vaccinations. (Camero, 12/8)

AP: New COVID-19 Antibody Drug OK'd To Protect Most Vulnerable
Federal health officials on Wednesday authorized a new COVID-19 antibody drug for people with serious health problems or allergies who can’t get adequate protection from vaccination. Antibody drugs have been a standard treatment for treating COVID-19 infections for over a year. But the AstraZeneca antibody drug cleared by the Food and Drug Administration is different. It’s the first intended for long-term prevention against COVID-19 infection, rather than a short-term treatment. (Perrone, 12/8)

The Wall Street Journal: AstraZeneca Covid-19 Antibody Authorized By FDA As Novel Tool To Prevent Symptomatic Disease 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a preventive antibody combination from AstraZeneca AZN 0.68% PLC that has shown strong efficacy in reducing risk of symptomatic Covid-19, offering a first-of-its-kind alternative for a minority of people for whom vaccines are considered less effective. The antibody cocktail, called Evusheld, is aimed primarily for use in a minority of adolescents and adults age 12 and older with moderate to severely compromised immune systems. That may be because they have cancer or another illness or take medications or undergo treatments such as chemotherapy that inhibit an immune response to Covid-19 vaccines, the FDA said in a statement. (Strasburg and Walker, 12/8)

USA Today: Delta Drives Surge In US Cases Before Omicron Gains Foothold
Even before the omicron variant establishes a firm foothold in the U.S., coronavirus infections and hospitalizations are soaring again, including in highly vaccinated regions like New England. The combination of the late fall's colder weather, holiday gatherings, increased travel and pandemic fatigue has likely played a major role in the surge, as has the failure to vaccinate a larger portion of the population. More than 35% of eligible Americans, including 28% of adults, still aren't fully vaccinated. New cases in the U.S. climbed from an average of nearly 95,000 a day on Nov. 22 to almost 119,000 a day this week, and hospitalizations are up 25% from a month ago. The increases are almost entirely from the delta variant, though omicron has been confirmed in at least 21 states and is sure to spread even more. (Ortiz, Santucci and Yancey-Bragg, 12/8)

AP: The AP Interview: CDC Chief Says Omicron Mostly Mild So Far 
More than 40 people in the U.S. have been found to be infected with the omicron variant so far, and more than three-quarters of them had been vaccinated, the chief of the CDC said Wednesday. But she said nearly all of them were only mildly ill. In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the data is very limited and the agency is working on a more detailed analysis of what the new mutant form of the coronavirus might hold for the U.S. (Stobbe, 12/9)

AP: WHO: Omicron Could Spread Faster But It's Still Not Certain
The World Health Organization says early evidence suggests the omicron variant may be spreading faster than the highly transmissible delta variant but brings with it less severe coronavirus disease -– though it’s too early to make firm conclusions. The comments come among swirling concerns about the new variant that first emerged in southern Africa last month, prompting some countries to shut their borders and rattling stock markets fearful of the long-term impact of a possible new variant of the virus that has already infected at least 267 million people and killed more than 5.2 million. (12/8)

The Washington Post: Early Studies Suggest Omicron Is Formidable — But Not Unstoppable
The need to understand omicron’s true threat is so urgent that data is leapfrogging the usual channels. Papers are being shared even before they are made available on preprint servers, with research findings posted on laboratories’ websites or on Twitter. The laboratory experiments offer an early glimpse of how omicron behaves. But such research has limitations. Scientists are exposing the virus, or in some cases a “pseudovirus” that has the superficial features of the virus, to blood samples from people with different levels of vaccination and antibodies. That does not predict, necessarily, how the virus will spread in the general population. (Johnson and Achenbach, 12/8)

The Atlantic: Omicron’s Rapid Case Growth Is A Warning
A lot is still unknown around Omicron, but a worrying trend has become clear: This variant sure is spreading fast. In South Africa, the U.K., and Denmark—countries with the best variant surveillance and high immunity against COVID—Omicron cases are growing exponentially. The variant has outcompeted the already highly transmissible Delta in South Africa and may soon do the same elsewhere. According to preliminary estimates, every person with Omicron is infecting 3–3.5 others, which is roughly on par with how fast the coronavirus spread when it first went global in early 2020. (Zhang, 12/8)

USA Today: New COVID Cases Spike In The US Despite Vaccination 200M Milestone
Those who refuse to take COVID-19 vaccines are creating a deadly domino effect, a Michigan doctor warned during a Wednesday news conference. They are getting sick, spreading the virus to loved ones and the community, filling hospital beds, and using up scarce medical resources, said Dr. Marschall Runge, CEO of Michigan Medicine and dean of the University of Michigan Medical School. "The bottom line is COVID-19 is not only life-threatening for those who have COVID-19. The surge of COVID-19 is putting others at risk by keeping us from delivering lifesaving care," he said, for everything from heart attacks to cancer to strokes. (Tebor, 12/9)

Brown Institute for Media Innovation/MuckRock: Why COVID Death Counts In America May Be Higher Than Officials Say
The new data, which provide cause of death information down to the county level for 2020 and January through October of this year, have more detail, more recently, on deaths during the pandemic than ever before. Information included – such as where someone died, what other causes of death were on the death certificate or whether a body was autopsied – can point to communities where COVID-19 deaths have been undercounted. Public health experts say the true death toll of the pandemic in the U.S. is upwards of 20% higher than the official tally. That’s based on research showing that deaths attributed to COVID-19 do not account for all of the increased deaths in 2020 and 2021 when compared to prior years. Researchers call the number of deaths above a typical year “excess deaths.” (Bergin, Ladyzhets, Chatterjee and Kravitz, 12/9)

Detroit Free Press: COVID-19's Domino Effect Kills People With Other Health Problems, Too
Those who refuse to take COVID-19 vaccines are creating a deadly domino effect, said Dr. Marschall Runge, CEO of Michigan Medicine and dean of the University of Michigan Medical School. They are getting sick, spreading the virus to loved ones and the community, filling hospital beds and using up scarce medical resources, Runge said during a Wednesday news conference. (Shamus, 12/8)

The New York Times: The Coronavirus Attacks Fat Tissue, Scientists Find 
From the start of the pandemic, the coronavirus seemed to target people carrying extra pounds. Patients who were overweight or obese were more likely to develop severe Covid-19 and more likely to die. Though these patients often have health conditions like diabetes that compound their risk, scientists have become increasingly convinced that their vulnerability has something to do with obesity itself. Now researchers have found that the coronavirus infects both fat cells and certain immune cells within body fat, prompting a damaging defensive response in the body. (Rabin, 12/8)

CIDRAP: High-Flow Oxygen Cuts Ventilator Use, Speeds COVID Recovery 
The use of high-flow oxygen through a nasal cannula significantly reduced the need for invasive mechanical ventilation and sped time to recovery among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, compared with conventional oxygen therapy, according to a multicenter randomized clinical trial published yesterday in JAMA. Researchers in Colombia and Brazil studied the outcomes of 220 patients with severe COVID-19 randomly assigned to either high-flow oxygen or conventional oxygen therapy in emergency and intensive care units in three Colombian hospitals from August 2020 to January 2021. Patients were followed until Feb 10, 2021. (Van Beusekom, 12/8)

The New York Times: As Covid Deaths Rise, Lingering Grief Gets A New Name 
Ms. Garza Tulip, 41, had endured so many losses — two miscarriages, and the virus taking her mother, uncle and great-aunt. It also debilitated her father. “I think the one thing I miss the most is feeling anything,” she said recently of life after the series of tragedies. She had thought the lack of emotion meant she was not grieving, unaware that numbness can be a symptom of grief. When a therapist diagnosed her with prolonged grief disorder, or P.G.D., a newly recognized condition, Ms. Garza Tulip, who lives in New Jersey, was relieved that what she suffered had a name. Recently added to the upcoming revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or D.S.M., it’s a syndrome in which people feel stuck in an endless cycle of mourning that can last for years or even decades, severely impairing their daily life, relationships and job performance. (MacKeen, 12/8)

Newsweek: PA Health System Runs Out Of Beds Due To COVID Surge, Patients Wait 10 To 20 Hours In ER
Geisinger, one of Pennsylvania's largest health systems has run out of beds due to the COVID surge, causing patients to wait 10 to 20 hours in the emergency department, officials said Wednesday. Officials said doctors and nurses are having to perform "waiting room medicine" on waiting patients. (Davis, 12/8)

AP: Wisconsin Requests Federal Help For Staff-Strapped Hospitals
Wisconsin’s top health official said Wednesday that 270 health care facilities have requested staffing help and the state has asked for medical reserve teams from the federal government to provide relief for long term care facilities facing worker shortages. The state reported three additional positive COVID-19 cases from the new omicron variant on Wednesday, after the first case was recorded on Saturday. The vast majority of cases, more than 99%, continue to be from the delta variant, said the state’s chief medical officer Dr. Ryan Westergaard. (Bauer, 12/8)

Billings Gazette: 40% Of Positions Open At Montana State Hospital, Staff Blame Administration
For months, workers at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs have raised the alarm about short staffing, inadequate training and an unqualified administration driving employees from the hospital, an exodus that they say puts patient care in jeopardy. (Larson, 12/8)

Politico: Senate Issues Rebuke Of Biden's Workplace Vaccine Mandate
The Senate issued a high-profile rebuke of President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate on large businesses Wednesday night, in a largely symbolic vote to get rid of a key component of the administration's Covid-19 response. Democrats Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) joined all the Republicans present in the 52-48 vote after critics assailed the mandate as an example of federal overreach and dismissed its option of weekly testing for workers who refuse to get shots as an insufficient accommodation. (Ollstein, 12/8)

Fox News: NYC Correction Officers Sue Over De Blasio’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate, Work Conditions
The union representing New York City correction officers, the department known as the city’s "boldest," took a stand Wednesday against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s "draconian" vaccine mandate and subsequent dangerous work conditions by filing a lawsuit against the city demanding that the jab policy be halted. Benny Boscio Jr., the head of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, told the New York Post that hundreds of correction officers were sent home last week and placed on unpaid leave for not rolling up their sleeves for the jab. The problem is compounded because 1,4000 other officers have resigned or retired since 2019, the report said. (DeMarche, 12/9)

Crain's Detroit Business: Michigan Medicine Cancels Surgeries In Midst Of COVID Surge
As of Wednesday, Michigan Medicine has canceled at least 40 surgeries this week as it deals with the latest surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations. The Ann Arbor health system is pulling staff and resources from its surgical teams to aid in the treatment of the 93 COVID-19 inpatients and rising levels of patients in its emergency rooms, administrators told reporters on a media call Wednesday. The administrators held the call as a means to beg the public to get vaccinated. (Walsh, 12/8)

Stat: City Of Hope To Buy Cancer Treatment Centers Of America For $390 Million
City of Hope, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit hospital system, said Wednesday that it will purchase Cancer Treatment Centers of America for $390 million. The deal, a study in contrasts, brings together a hospital system that is famous for research — City of Hope was instrumental in the development of synthetic insulin and the basic technologies behind many cancer drugs — with one better known for marketing that critics have described as overly aggressive and for controversies involving how it selects patients and their insurance. (Herper and Chen, 12/8)

The New York Times: Allergan Settles With N.Y. For $200 Million In Sprawling Opioid Case 
A large pharmaceutical manufacturer has agreed to pay $200 million in a settlement reached just before closing arguments began in a monthslong opioid trial in New York, the state’s attorney general announced on Wednesday. The settlement with Allergan, a company that has made opioids but whose most well-known product is Botox, is the latest agreement in a trial jointly argued by New York State and two counties that began in June. The case was the first of its kind brought against the entire opioid supply chain, from pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the pills to the distributors and pharmacy chains that filled the prescriptions. (Nir, 12/8)

Modern Healthcare: Memorial Sloan Kettering Paid $1.4 Million In Severance To Three Former Execs In 2020
Memorial Sloan Kettering paid $1.4 million in severance in 2020 to three top former executives, including its longtime chief information officer, the cancer center disclosed in its latest tax form. Some of the money went to Dr. Jose Baselga, MSK's former chief medical officer, who resigned in 2018 after failing to disclose industry ties in his research. The largest payment went to Patricia Skarulis, MSK's longtime chief information officer, who the tax form says left in 2019. Avice Meehan, the system's former chief communication officer, also got a payout. (Bannow, 12/8)

AP: Nobels For Medicine, Economics Given In California Ceremony 
The 2021 Nobel Prize laureates for medicine and economics received their awards in Southern California on Wednesday during a scaled-down ceremony adapted for pandemic times. Swedish Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter was on hand in Irvine, south of Los Angeles, to award the Nobel for physiology or medicine to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian and the prize for economic sciences to David Card, Joshua D. Angrist and Guido W. Imbens. Julius, a professor of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, and Patapoutian, a molecular biologist at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, were honored for independently discovering key mechanisms of how humans sense heat, cold and other stimuli. (12/9)

The Wall Street Journal: The Elizabeth Holmes Trial: The Defense Rests Its Case 
Elizabeth Holmes’s lawyers rested their case Wednesday in her criminal-fraud trial, after the founder of blood-testing startup Theranos Inc. gave testimony over seven days in which she acknowledged regrets but also placed blame on her former deputy and boyfriend. She asserted she never defrauded anyone. Among the final questions from her attorney on Wednesday, Ms. Holmes was asked whether she ever tried to mislead investors. “Never,” she said. (Somerville and Randazzo, 12/8)

AP: What Elizabeth Holmes Had To Say At Her Trial: 5 Takeaways
Once-lionized entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes wrapped up seven days of testimony in her criminal fraud trial Wednesday, having largely used the time to defend her actions as CEO of the startup Theranos. The company she founded had soared on the promise of innovative blood-testing technology only to crash in a sordid display of failure and alleged deceit. Holmes alternately took responsibility for her missteps as CEO and cast herself as the abused victim of her former lover and business partner Sunny Balwani. She also repeatedly said she couldn’t recall her actions at key points even when confronted with internal documents including her own emails. (Liedtke, 12/9)

ABC News: Head Of Instagram Grilled By Senate Panel Over Impact On Young Users 
Lawmakers on Wednesday grilled Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, in a wide-ranging hearing on the potential harms of social media use for young people. The senators pledged that the age of "self-regulation" for Big Tech is over and bipartisan legislation to protect kids online is imminent. Mosseri claimed a lot of the issues raised by the lawmakers are not unique to Instagram but are an "industry-wide challenge" that requires "industry-wide solutions and industry-wide standards." (Thorbecke, 12/8)

The Washington Post: ‘Baby Steps’ Won’t Fix Instagram, Lawmakers Say In First Hearing With Social Network Head
Lawmakers were unimpressed with the proposals that Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, made Wednesday to address revelations about the social network’s potentially detrimental effects on children and teens during his first congressional testimony. With political pressure from both parties mounting against the photo-sharing company, Mosseri came armed for the hearing with a series of proposals to respond to criticism. He called for a new industry body to create standards for age verification, age-appropriate experience and online parental controls. The body would receive input from civil society and parents, and some of tech companies’ legal protections could be contingent on compliance with the board sets, he said. (Zakrzewski, Lima and Oremus, 12/8)

USA Today: More Young Children Are Killing Themselves: The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Making The Problem Worse
Many people have long been aware that teenagers can be subject to suicidal thoughts and attempts, but such thinking is increasingly affecting young children. Child suicides grew by 15% a year between 2012 and 2017, according to a July study published on JAMA Network Open. At emergency rooms in 38 children's hospitals across the nation, the number of suicide and self-injury cases in the first three quarters of 2021 was 47% higher among 5- to 8-year-olds and 182% higher among 9- to 12-year-olds than they were for the same period in 2016, according to statistics compiled by the Children's Hospital Association. (Keveney, 12/8)

NPR: How Lockdown Drills Might Harm Students' Mental Health, According To An Expert
Community members and national onlookers are still reeling from last week's deadly shooting at a high school in Oxford, Mich., for which one student and his parents are facing charges. The tragedy is highlighting an ongoing debate about school shooter drills and the best way to prepare students for the worst, while considering their mental well-being. Oxford High School's most recent safety drill was in early October, according to its website. The school is one of many across the country that uses the ALICE Training Program, a controversial method that goes beyond traditional lockdowns and whose name stands for "Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate." (Treisman, 12/8)

The Wall Street Journal: California May Pay Expenses For Women Seeking Abortions From Other States
California political leaders are looking for ways to provide financial and logistical support to women who come to the state seeking abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned or severely curtailed, including possibly paying for gas, lodging, and child care, as well as compensating providers for services rendered to low-income patients. The proposals are some of the 45 recommendations put forth in a report by a group of abortion providers and advocates with input and support from leaders of the overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature. It comes as the state prepares for a possible influx of people from areas that could pass abortion restrictions if the Supreme Court limits or ends the constitutional right to abortion. (Mai-Duc, 12/8)

CNN: Abortion Rights Advocates Call For California To Become A True 'Reproductive Freedom State' If Roe V. Wade Is Overturned 
A coalition of more than 40 organizations, including abortion rights advocacy groups, issued a report on Wednesday with 45 recommendations to "protect, strengthen and expand abortion services" in California. The report comes as the US Supreme Court weighs new laws in Texas and Mississippi that are much more restrictive than 1973's Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide and says states can't ban abortion unless a fetus is viable or can survive outside the womb. (Almasy, 12/9)

USA Today: 26 States Plan to Ban Abortion in Some Form if the Supreme Court OKs Mississippi's Ban. Here's Who Is Most at Risk.
While wealthier pregnant people will continue to have access to abortion regardless of what the Supreme Court decides in the spring, those who are low-income and nonwhite are expected to be most affected. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week on the constitutionality of Mississippi’s ban on abortions past 15 weeks in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case. Twenty-six states are poised to ban abortion in some form if the Supreme Court OKs the ban or decides to overturn Roe v. Wade altogether, dealing a blow to 50 years of legal precedent guaranteeing the right to an abortion, according to Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research and policy organization. (Hassanein, 12/8)

AP: Ohio House OKs Bill On Babies Born Alive After Abortion
Ohio doctors who fail to give medical care in the extremely rare circumstance when a baby is born alive following an abortion attempt would face criminal penalties under legislation that cleared the Republican-run Ohio House Wednesday. The bill also would require physicians to report cases of babies born alive after abortions or attempted abortions, and bar abortion clinics from working with doctors who teach at state-funded hospitals and medical schools. (Smyth, 12/8)

AP: Federal Report: Iowa Violates Rights Of Disabled People 
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday issued a strong condemnation of the way Iowa treats people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, telling the state it must find ways to care for people in community settings and not in institutions. In a letter and a 33-page report sent to state officials, Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said that after a yearlong investigation they have concluded there is reasonable cause to believe Iowa violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide services that integrate people with intellectual disabilities into their communities. (Pitt, 12/9)

Milkwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Needs More Therapists But State Backlog Stalls Licensing
Jessie Richardson graduated in December 2020 with a master's degree and a job offer in hand. There was just one last step to officially start her career as a therapist, a profession in serious need of more bodies as a growing number of Americans need help with their mental health. In January, she turned in the paperwork to receive her training license for the job. (Heim, 12/8)

Stat: In Minneapolis, Heavy Policing Is Tied To Higher Rates Of Preterm Births
The longstanding toll of police violence on Black communities came into sharp relief last year with the murder of George Floyd. Now, a research team from Minneapolis, a city traumatized by the police killings of Floyd and other unarmed Black men, has published a study showing that the impact of even routine policing extends deeply and pervasively into communities, and may adversely affect the health of pregnant women and their babies. (McFarling, 12/8)

CIDRAP: Rhode Island Confirms Its First Jamestown Canyon Virus Case In 8 Years
Rhode Island has confirmed its first case of Jamestown Canyon virus infection since 2013, according to a Dec 6 news release. The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) said a person from Kent County in his or her 50s tested positive for the mosquito-borne disease. Symptoms first developed in September and led to hospitalization. (12/8)

Dallas Morning News: Rabid Skunk Found In Fort Worth Neighborhood; Residents Urged To Not Approach Unfamiliar Animals
A skunk “acting strange” in a far north Fort Worth neighborhood tested positive for rabies, the city’s Animal Care and Control said in a press release. A resident reported the skunk last Friday in a residential area near Golden Triangle Boulevard and Harmon Road between Interstate 35E and U.S. 287. The city’s Animal Care and Control officers picked up the skunk, which tested positive for rabies, the city said this week. (Bahari, 12/8)

Politico: Boris Johnson Deploys England’s Coronavirus ‘Plan B’ To Curb Omicron Spread 
Boris Johnson announced a raft of new coronavirus restrictions Wednesday in the face of the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant. Under the new restrictions, proof of vaccinations or a negative COVID-19 test will be required to enter nightclubs and large venues from next week, while face masks will be mandatory in most indoor settings. People in England will also be asked to work from home "if you can" from next week. (McDonald and Casalicchio, 12/8)

Bloomberg: South Africa Research Council Gets Right To Access Vaccine Data 
The South African Medical Research Council won the right to access the country’s Covid-19 vaccination data, ending a standoff with the Department of Health. The council compiles a weekly excess deaths report and says access to the data would allow it to show the role of vaccines in reducing mortality. “If we are able to put the data together, we can get a picture of how well the vaccines work - which is particularly important in the context of a new variant,” said Debbie Bradshaw, a chief specialist scientist at the council, said in a statement on Wednesday. (Sguazzin, 12/8)

AP: New Zealand's Plan To End Smoking: A Lifetime Ban For Youth
New Zealand’s government believes it has come up with a unique plan to end tobacco smoking — a lifetime ban for those aged 14 or younger. Under a new law the government announced Thursday and plans to pass next year, the minimum age to buy cigarettes would keep rising year after year. That means, in theory at least, 65 years after the law takes effect, shoppers could still buy cigarettes — but only if they could prove they were at least 80 years old. (Perry, 12/9)

The Washington Post: China Clamps Down On Vasectomies In Bid To Boost Birth Rate 
Zhao Zihuan, a first-time mother in the Chinese city of Jinan, had two miscarriages before giving birth to a son last year. The seven-hour labor ended in an emergency Caesarean section. Exhausted by child care, the 32-year-old and her husband decided one kid was enough — so in April they began to inquire about a vasectomy. Yet they were turned down by two hospitals. One doctor told Zhao’s husband that the surgery was no longer allowed under the country’s new family-planning rules. (Chen, Li and Kuo, 12/9)