First Edition: December 1, 2021

KHN: Watch: No Extra Resources For Children Orphaned By Covid
The number of U.S. deaths from covid-19 has surpassed 778,000. Left behind are tens of thousands of children — some orphaned — after their parents or a grandparent who cared for them died. In this report, co-produced with PBS NewsHour, KHN correspondent Sarah Varney looks at the risks these grieving children face to their well-being, both in the short and long term. No concerted government effort exists to help the estimated 140,000 children who have lost a parent — or even to identify them. (Sarah Varney and Jason Kane, 12/1)

KHN: For Older Adults, Smelling The Roses May Be More Difficult
The reports from covid-19 patients are disconcerting. Only a few hours before, they were enjoying a cup of pungent coffee or the fragrance of flowers in a garden. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, those smells disappeared. Young and old alike are affected — more than 80% to 90% of those diagnosed with the virus, according to some estimates. While most people recover in a few months, 16% take half a year or longer to do so, research has found. According to new estimates, up to 1.6 million Americans have chronic smell problems due to covid. (Judith Graham, 12/1)

KHN: Omicron And Other Coronavirus Variants: What You Need To Know
Americans, already weary of a pandemic nearly two years long, were dealt a new blow during the long Thanksgiving weekend: the announcement that a new coronavirus variant had emerged. The omicron variant, officially known as B.1.1.529, surfaced in November in several southern African nations. It set off alarm bells worldwide when public health officials in South Africa saw it beginning to outcompete the previous reigning variant, delta. This suggested that omicron could eventually spread widely. Indeed, omicron has since been reported on multiple continents, likely due to international travel by people unknowingly infected. (Louis Jacobson, 11/30)

Reuters: Courts Block Two Biden Administration COVID Vaccine Mandates
The Biden administration was blocked on Tuesday from enforcing two mandates requiring millions of American workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a key part of its strategy for controlling the spread of the coronavirus. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Monroe, Louisiana, temporarily blocked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from enforcing its vaccine mandate for healthcare workers until the court can resolve legal challenges. Doughty's ruling applied nationwide, except in 10 states where the CMS was already prevented from enforcing the rule due to a prior order from a federal judge in St. Louis. (Hals, 11/30)

The New York Times: Federal Judge Blocks Vaccine Mandate For Health Workers
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday to halt the start of President Biden’s national vaccine mandate for health care workers, which had been set to begin next week. The injunction effectively expanded a separate order issued on Monday by a federal court in Missouri. The earlier one had applied only to 10 states that joined in a lawsuit against the president’s decision to require all health workers in hospitals and nursing homes to receive at least their first shot by Dec. 6 and to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. (Paybarah, 11/30)

AP: Vaccine Mandate For Federal Contractors Blocked In 3 States
Kentucky’s attorney general won a preliminary court order Tuesday to block President Joe Biden’s coronavirus vaccination mandate for federal government contractors and subcontractors. The preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove stops the mandate from taking effect in Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. (11/30)

The Washington Post: FDA Advisers Narrowly Recommend Authorization Of First Antiviral Pill To Treat Covid-19
Expert advisers to the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday recommended authorization of the first coronavirus pill to prevent high-risk people from developing severe illness in a divided vote that reflects the complicated mix of benefits and risks of a new and easy mode of treatment. The drug, molnupiravir, was developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics as a five-day regimen to be taken at home within five days of the onset of coronavirus symptoms. The FDA is not bound by the 13 to 10 vote but typically follows its external advisers’ recommendations. The drug could have an immediate impact on the pandemic if authorized — just as the ominous new omicron variant has emerged, jolting the world with the prospect of a longer and more complicated pandemic. (Johnson and Shepherd, 11/30)

AP: US Panel Backs First-Of-A-Kind COVID-19 Pill From Merck
“I see this as an incredibly difficult decision with many more questions than answers,” said panel chair Dr. Lindsey Baden of Harvard Medical School, who voted in favor of the drug. He said FDA would have to carefully tailor the drug’s use for patients who stand to benefit most. The recommendation came after hours of debate about the drug’s modest benefits and potential safety issues. Most experts backing the treatment stressed that it should not be used by anyone who is pregnant and called on FDA to recommend extra precautions before the drug is prescribed, such as pregnancy tests for women of child-bearing age. (Perrone, 12/1)

Reuters: Merck Says Its COVID-19 Drug Should Be Effective Against Any Variant
Merck & Co Inc's experimental COVID-19 drug molnupiravir should have similar activity against any new coronavirus variant, a company executive said on Tuesday. The drug, developed along with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, shows antiviral properties against coronavirus variants such as the Delta variant, Daria Hazuda, vice president of Merck's infectious diseases and vaccines division, said. (11/30)

The New York Times: Regeneron Antibody Treatment May Not Be As Effective Against New Omicron Covid Variant
Regeneron said on Tuesday that its Covid-19 antibody treatment might be less effective against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, an indication that the popular and widely beneficial monoclonal antibody drugs may need to be updated in case the new variant spreads aggressively. The company said that previous laboratory analyses and computer modeling of certain mutations in the Omicron variant suggest that they may weaken the effect of the treatment. But studies using the variant’s full sequences have not been completed, it said. (Mueller, 11/30)

AP: Massachusetts Deploying COVID-19 Antibody Treatment Units
Massachusetts is deploying three mobile units to administer monoclonal antibody treatment to high-risk individuals who have been exposed to or have COVID-19, Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday. The clinics have the capacity to treat up to 500 patients per week with therapies that have can help reduce the severity of the disease and keep COVID-19-positive individuals from being hospitalized. (11/30)

Reuters: Pfizer Seeks U.S. Authorization Of COVID-19 Booster Shots For 16, 17 Year Olds
Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said on Tuesday the company has submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeking the authorization for its COVID-19 booster doses for use in 16- and 17-year olds. Last week, U.S. regulators expanded the eligibility for a booster dose of Pfizer and partner BioNTech's vaccine to all adults 18 and over, to be given at least six months after the second shot. (11/30)

Politico: Testing Labs Brace For First U.S. Cases Of Omicron
Public health officials said Tuesday they expect to uncover the first U.S. cases of the Covid-19 Omicron variant within days and are making contingencies to activate a testing network that fell short tracking earlier strains of the virus. Public health labs are prioritizing sequencing of positive samples that exhibit what is known as an “s-gene dropout” — a telltale characteristic Omicron shares with other variants but not the Delta strain. (Lim, 11/30)

The Washington Post: The U.S. Is Better Prepared To Fight Omicron Variant, CDC Director Says
In the face of mounting concerns and lingering questions over the effects of the new omicron variant, health officials reassured the public Tuesday, arguing that the United States is overall better prepared to fight and contain the mutation than it was with previous variants. “To be crystal clear — we have far more tools to fight the variant than we had at this time last year,” Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a White House coronavirus briefing. (Villegas, Suliman and Pletsch, 11/30)

AP: US Tracking Of Virus Variants Has Improved After Slow Start
Viruses mutate constantly. To find and track new versions of the coronavirus, scientists analyze the genetic makeup of a portion of samples that test positive. They’re looking at the chemical letters of the virus’s genetic code to find new worrisome mutants, such as omicron, and to follow the spread of known variants, such as delta. It’s a global effort, but until recently the U.S. was contributing very little. With uncoordinated and scattershot testing, the U.S. was sequencing fewer than 1% of positive specimens earlier this year. Now, it is running those tests on 5% to 10% of samples. That’s more in line with what other nations have sequenced and shared with global disease trackers over the course of the pandemic. (Johnson, 11/30)

The New York Times: Omicron Was Present In Europe Days Before Flights Were Halted
Two people who tested positive for the coronavirus in the Netherlands more than a week ago were infected with the Omicron variant, Dutch health officials reported on Tuesday. The timing is significant because it suggests that the variant was already present in the country for at least a week before the arrival of two flights from South Africa on Friday, and before the World Health Organization labeled Omicron a “variant of concern,” the step that prompted countries around the world to ban flights from southern Africa, where researchers first identified the variant. (Engelbrecht, 11/30)

Stat: Doctors Hope Omicron Causes Milder Covid, But It’s Too Early To Say
Physicians around the world have suggested the Omicron variant may cause milder illness than other forms of the coronavirus. But actually understanding Omicron’s severity is an open question, experts caution — one that requires more patient data and more time to answer. The South African physician Angelique Coetzee told the BBC this weekend, for example, that the cases she and colleagues were seeing weren’t serious. “We haven’t admitted anyone,” she said. In Israel, one doctor told Haaretz that, “if it continues this way, this might be a relatively mild illness compared to the Delta variant.” (Joseph, 11/30)

Fox News: University Of Oxford On Omicron: No Proof COVID-19 Vaccines Won't Prevent Against Severe Disease
The University of Oxford said Tuesday there was no evidence that current COVID-19 vaccines would not continue to protect against severe disease from the omicron variant. "Despite the appearance of new variants over the past year, vaccines have continued to provide very high levels of protection against severe disease and there is no evidence so far that omicron is any different," a University of Oxford spokesperson told Fox News in an email. "However, we have the necessary tools and processes in place for rapid development of an updated COVID-19 vaccine if it should be necessary." The spokesperson also said current data about the omicron variant is limited due to its recent discovery. (Musto, 11/30)

NBC News: These Early Signs Made Omicron Different From Previous Covid Variants, Experts Say
When Jeremy Kamil got his first look at B.1.1.529, the coronavirus variant that would soon be named omicron, it didn’t take long to see the differences. More than 30 mutations made the variant's spike proteins, which cover the outside of the virus and are the main targets of vaccines and the body’s immune responses, different from those of the virus that first emerged in late 2019. (Chow, 11/30)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Has No Plans For An Omicron Lockdown
No significant new coronavirus-related restrictions are planned in Los Angeles County following the emergence of the Omicron variant, a top health official said Tuesday. “At this moment, we have really, I think, sensible precautions in place,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told the county Board of Supervisors. L.A. County’s existing COVID-19 rules are already among the strictest in the state. They include a blanket mandate for residents to wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of whether they’ve been vaccinated. (Money and Lin II, 11/30)

AP: Arkansas Sees Its Biggest COVID-19 Case Jump Since September
Arkansas reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday in its biggest one-day jump in coronavirus cases since September. The state reported 1,044 new coronavirus cases, bringing its total since the pandemic began to 528,838. The state’s active cases increased by 335 to 5,699. The state’s COVID-19 deaths increased by 12 to 8,667, and hospitalizations increased by 19 to 409. Dr. Jose Romero, the state’s health secretary, said part of the increase may have come from people waiting until after Thanksgiving to get tested. (11/30)

AP: Vermont Reports Record COVID-19 Hospitalizations 
Vermont on Tuesday reported its highest number of hospitalizations from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. A total of 84 people were hospitalized, with 22 in intensive care, according to the Vermont Department of Health. Unvaccinated people made up 71% of the hospitalizations and 81% of critical care stays over the last seven days, according to state data. During his weekly virus briefing Tuesday, Gov. Phil Scott urged Vermonters to get vaccinated and get their boosters. (11/30)

AP: Indiana Medical Groups Plead For More To Get COVID-19 Shots
Indiana’s top medical groups pleaded Tuesday for more people to get COVID-19 vaccine shots as the state is in the midst of a new surge of infections and hospitalizations. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb is set to renew the statewide public health emergency for another month as the current one expires Wednesday and legislative leaders have pushed back until January taking action on a contentious proposal that included steps toward ending that order. (Davies, 11/30)

Bloomberg: Amazon Accused Of Underreporting COVID Cases Contracted At Work
Amazon.com Inc. provided “misleading or grossly incomplete” data about the number of COVID-19 infections potentially spread in its U.S. facilities, according to a labor group that is calling on the federal government to investigate the company. Of the almost 20,000 employees the company said contracted the coronavirus last year, Amazon maintains that only 27 potentially caught it at work, according to the group known as the Strategic Organizing Center, which reviewed Amazon’s annual workplace illness and injury disclosures to the Department of Labor. Federal authorities last year required companies to report work-related COVID-19 cases. (Soper, 11/30)

CBS News: Most Big Employers Say They Are Requiring COVID-19 Vaccinations For Workers
Most large U.S. employers say they now require, or plan to mandate, that their workers get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a new survey of more than 500 companies by corporate advisory firm Willis Towers Watson. The survey comes as the Biden administration's new rule about workplace vaccinations remains in limbo. Under the regulation, companies with 100 or more employees must require workers to get vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for the disease. (Picchi, 11/30)

AP: Whitmer Seeks $300 Million For COVID-19 Testing At Schools
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration said Tuesday it wants lawmakers to quickly allocate $300 million in federal pandemic rescue funding to support COVID-19 testing at schools amid a fourth surge of infections in Michigan. The money was included in the relief law approved by Congress and President Joe Biden in March. It is set to expire next summer and is part of a $2.5 billion supplemental spending request that state budget director Christopher Harkins sent to the Republican chairmen of legislative appropriations committees on Nov. 19. (Eggert, 12/1)

The New York Times: The State Department’s Vaccine Envoy Is Leaving After Less Than A Year
The State Department’s coronavirus vaccine envoy is leaving her post after less than a year, at a time when the new Omicron variant is showing the peril of failing to protect large areas of the world from the virus. The envoy, Gayle E. Smith, took a leave of absence from her job as chief executive for the ONE Campaign, an advocacy organization that seeks to eradicate poverty and preventable disease, to join the Biden administration in April. It was not clear on Tuesday why she was leaving the envoy post now, and she did not respond to a request for comment. People close to her said she stayed longer than the six months she had initially committed to the government position. (Jakes, 11/30)

AP: Celebrity Surgeon Dr. Oz Running For Senate In Pennsylvania
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon best known as the host of TV’s Dr. Oz Show after rocketing to fame on Oprah Winfrey’s show, announced Tuesday that he is running for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat as a Republican. Oz, 61, will bring his unrivaled name recognition and wealth to a wide-open race that is expected to among the nation’s most competitive and could determine control of the Senate in next year’s election. (Levy, 12/1)

AP: States: Sackler Family Members Abusing Bankruptcy Process
A federal judge should reject a sweeping settlement to thousands of lawsuits against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, a group of states said at a hearing Tuesday, arguing that the protections it extends to members of the Sackler family who own the firm are improper. States have credible claims that family members took more than $10 billion from the company, steered it toward bankruptcy, and then used a settlement crafted in bankruptcy court to gain legal protections for themselves, Washington state Solicitor General Noah Purcell told U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon. (Mulvihill, 11/30)

Modern Healthcare: Pharmacists Ask CMS To Require COVID-19 Pill Dispensing Fee
Medicare Part D plans should be required to pay pharmacists for counseling patients and dispensing oral antiviral medications that treat COVID-19, organizations representing druggists say. Several promising COVID-19 treatments have emerged in recent weeks, led by a Merck drug that a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended be approved for emergency use on Tuesday. But while the Health and Human Services Department authorized pharmacists to administer covered COVID-19 therapeutics in September, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hasn't mandated that health plans pay pharmacists for giving out the medicines. (Goldman, 11/30)

The Washington Post: Nursing Unions Around The World File U.N. Complaint Over Vaccine Patent Waivers
On Monday, nurses unions from around the world filed a complaint with the United Nations, accusing some wealthy nations of violating human rights by blocking waivers that they say are critical to equitably expanding vaccine access and keeping health workers safe. The move comes as the World Trade Organization postponed what was to be its biggest meeting in four years — an in-person forum to debate calls to waive intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines, which the United States in theory has endorsed — after news of the omicron variant spread Friday. (Westfall, 11/30)

CBS News: Teens Have Easier Access To Drugs As Illegal Trade Booms On Social Media
Last winter, Megan Macintosh found her 18-year-old son Chase unconscious after she says he experimented with pills. He died just over a month later, likely from a pill laced with fentanyl from an unknown source. Macintosh turned to his social media for answers. Looking through her son's Snapchat, she said she saw bags of pills and mushrooms. "I felt really helpless like there's really nothing I can do when I saw how prevalent it was, how many people were in his feed," she said. (Hanson, 11/30)

AP: NYC OKs Safe Sites For Drug Use, Aiming To Curb Overdoses
The first officially authorized safe havens for people to use heroin and other narcotics have been cleared to open in New York City in hopes of curbing deadly overdoses, officials said Tuesday. The privately run “overdose prevention centers” provide a monitored place for drug users to partake. Also known as supervised injection sites or safer consumption spaces, they exist in Canada, Australia and Europe and have been discussed for years in New York and some other U.S. cities and states. A few unofficial facilities have operated for some time. (Peltz, 11/30)

The Wall Street Journal: First Supervised Injection Sites For Drug Users Open In New York City
Advocates say the sites prevent overdose deaths and provide an access point to other services that can help prevent harm to users, such as housing, medical care and treatment. Critics say there is no evidence the sites significantly reduce illegal drug use or dependency. Previous efforts to open such sites in other states have faced federal legal challenges. If the New York City sites remain unchallenged by the Biden administration, legal experts say it would pave the way for similar sites. (Wernau, 11/30)

AP: Abortion Debate Epicenter: Mississippi Clinic Stays Open
As the U.S. Supreme Court hears a Mississippi case that could topple abortion rights nationwide, the state’s only abortion clinic is busier than ever: Volunteers continue to escort patients into the bright pink building while protesters outside beseech women not to end their pregnancies. In recent years, Jackson Women’s Health Organization saw patients two or three days a week. It recently doubled its hours to treat women from Texas, where a law took effect in early September banning most abortions at about six weeks, and from Louisiana, where clinics are filling with Texas patients. (Wagster Pettus, 12/1)

The New York Times: LeBron James Enters N.B.A. Health And Safety Protocols
Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James has entered the N.B.A.’s coronavirus health and safety protocols, the team announced Tuesday. James missed the team’s game Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings. It is unclear when he will be able to play again, and it is also unclear whether James has tested positive for the coronavirus or has come into close contact with someone who tested positive. (Ganguli, 11/30)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Infection Linked To Myocarditis In College Athletes
A small but significant percentage of college athletes with COVID-19 develop myocarditis, a potentially dangerous inflammation of the heart muscle, according to a study presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Myocarditis typically follows bacterial or viral infections. In college athletes, previous damage and scarring to the heart muscle caused by myocarditis has been linked to up to 20% of sudden athlete deaths. (11/30)

AP: New Lead Testing Method Could Reveal Higher Levels In Water
After the Flint water crisis, Michigan passed the country’s most aggressive lead measures, including more stringent testing of water. When using methods similar to what is currently required by the Environmental Protection Agency, testing of 170 systems in Michigan with lead lines resulted in 11 samples that exceeded the federal lead level requiring corrective action. When using another method like the one the EPA is reviewing and could soon mandate nationally, the figure doubled to 22. With an even more thorough testing method Michigan adopted, it climbed to 31. Other states are likely to see more elevated lead results as well under new testing; lead pipes still deliver water to millions of homes and businesses, a relic of the country’s outdated infrastructure. (Phillis, 11/30)

CIDRAP: Weak Immune Systems Tied To More COVID-19 Breakthrough Infections
While COVID-19 breakthrough infections—cases after vaccination—are rare, fully vaccinated people with compromised immune systems have them three times more often than those with strong immune systems and have more severe illnesses, according to a real-world US study involving nearly 1.3 million people. In the retrospective study, published today in the Journal of Medical Economics, a team led by researchers from Pfizer analyzed the health records of 1,277,747 people aged 16 or older who had received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from Dec 10, 2020, to Jul 8, 2021. The latter part of the study period included the emergence of the Delta (B1617.2) variant in the United States. (Van Beusekom, 11/30)

CIDRAP: Study Ties Long-Haul COVID-19 With Chronic Fatigue, Breathing Problems
Many COVID-19 survivors experience impaired circulation, abnormal breathing patterns, and chronic fatigue syndrome an average of 9 months after diagnosis, finds a small, single-center study yesterday in JACC: Heart Failure. In the first study to link long-haul COVID-19 with chronic fatigue syndrome, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai used cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and symptom reports to find the causes of shortness of breath in 23 women and 18 men with long-haul COVID. (11/30)

Fox News: FDA Approves 'Glowing Tumor' Drug To Help Surgeons Identify Ovarian Cancer Cells
Cytalux (pafolacianince), a drug that binds to ovarian cancer tissue and glows when exposed to fluorescent light, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help surgeons detect ovarian tumors during surgical procedures in patients. A Purdue University spokesperson told Fox News that Philip Low, Purdue University's Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery, invented the drug. Low described in a press release that when a surgeon turns on the near-infrared light during the surgery, "those lesions light up like stars against a night sky." (McGorry, 11/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Some Hospitals Charge Up To 10 Times More For Medical Scans Than Others, Study Finds
Some hospitals charge up to 10 times as much as others for standard medical scans, according to the latest analysis of previously secret market rates. Median prices for taking images of the brain, legs, abdomen and chest differed across hospitals by thousands of dollars in some cases, a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins and Michigan State universities reported Tuesday in the journal Radiology. Their analysis compared median commercial prices among hospitals that complied with new federal rules this year to make rates public. (Evans, 11/30)

The Wall Street Journal: 23andMe Earmarks Cash From SPAC Deal For Drug Development
23andMe plans to deploy the cash from its SPAC deal largely to fund ongoing investments into drug discovery, Chief Financial Officer Steve Schoch said. After years of selling at-home tests, the company created a therapeutics division six years ago, aiming to use its massive database of genetic information to identify new treatments. The database had information from about 11.9 million consumers as of Sept. 30. By querying its database, 23andMe can find causal links between genetic variations and diseases and use that information to develop new treatments, Mr. Schoch said. Among its findings so far: evidence of genetic variants that bolster the immune system and decrease the risk of cancer. (Broughton, 11/30)

Modern Healthcare: Health Systems Reconfigure Workforce Amid Shortages
Hospital labor costs continue to rise as nurses seek higher pay, requiring providers to reconfigure their workforce. Total labor expenses rose 12.6% from October 2020 to October 2021, and 14.8% from October 2019 to October 2021, according to Kaufman Hall's analysis of around 900 hospitals. Full-time equivalents per adjusted bed decreased 4.5% year over year while labor expense per adjusted discharge increased 16.3%, suggesting higher salaries prompted by nationwide labor shortages are driving up labor expenses rather than increased staffing levels, the report concluded. (Kacik, 11/30)

Modern Healthcare: HCA To Build More Hospitals In Florida
HCA Healthcare continues to expand its Florida footprint with the addition of three acute-care hospitals. The new facilities will include a 90-bed hospital in Gainesville, a 60-bed hospital near the Villages and a 100-bed hospital in Fort Myers, the Nashville, Tennessee-based company's Florida division announced on Tuesday. Construction is expected to begin next year. (Devereaux, 11/30)

AP: Head Of North Carolina Health Department Stepping Down
Dr. Mandy Cohen, the head of North Carolina’s health department and face of regular updates on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state for two years, is stepping down from her post, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday. “Mandy Cohen has shown extraordinary leadership during her tenure and she has worked every day during this pandemic to help keep North Carolinians healthy and safe,” Cooper said in a news release. (Foreman Jr., 11/30)

The 19th News: Dallas Children’s Hospital Disbands Gender-Affirming Care Program
The closing of a prominent gender-affirming care program for children in Dallas has dismayed parents across Texas who say that options for their children’s care are few and far between — and they don’t know what comes next for kids who need similar care. The program, run by Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, will no longer provide care like hormone treatment and puberty blockers to new patients after dismantling its program dedicated to that care and removing all reference to the program from its website this month. (Rummler, 11/30)

AP: Lamont: No Plans For New Mandates As COVID Cases Rise
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday he does not plan to mandate booster shots for certain workers or reissue statewide indoor mask mandates in stores and restaurants. That’s despite new COVID-19 infection numbers that are the highest in nearly a year and news of the omicron variant being identified in different parts of the world. The Democrat, however, said he does expect that masking requirements in schools will remain in place for now. (11/30)

AP: Oregon Governor Calls For Special Session To Protect Renters
With winter coming and federal funds drying up, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Tuesday she’ll call a special session of the Legislature Dec. 13 to approve state funding for rental assistance and extend eviction protections issued because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is clear that a state solution is needed to address the urgent and immediate needs of Oregon renters,” Brown said. (Selsky, 12/1)

Bloomberg: Israel Should Weigh Mandatory Vaccination, Health Official Says
Israel’s coronavirus czar said the country should begin considering mandatory vaccination now that the new omicron variant has emerged. “Mandatory vaccination needs to be considered, whether through legislation or otherwise, especially given the fact that not only is the pandemic here, but I fear it will get worse,” Salman Zarka said on 103FM radio. He said he changed his mind following the appearance of the new variant, which has been identified in several Israelis. (Ackerman, 12/1)

Reuters: EU Could Approve Shot Against New Coronavirus Variant In 3-4 Months
The EU drug regulator said on Tuesday it could approve vaccines adapted to target the Omicron variant of the coronavirus within three to four months if needed, but that existing shots would continue to provide protection. Speaking to the European Parliament, European Medicines Agency (EMA) executive director Emer Cooke said it was not known if drugmakers would need to tweak their vaccines to protect against Omicron, but the EMA was preparing for that possibility. (Burger and Aripaka, 11/30)

AP: Brazil And Japan Report First Cases Of The Omicron Variant
Brazil and Japan joined the rapidly widening circle of countries to report cases of the omicron variant Tuesday, while new findings indicate the mutant coronavirus was already in Europe close to a week before South Africa sounded the alarm. The Netherlands’ RIVM health institute disclosed that patient samples dating from Nov. 19 and 23 were found to contain the variant. It was on Nov. 24 that South African authorities reported the existence of the highly mutated virus to the World Health Organization. That indicates omicron had a bigger head start in the Netherlands than previously believed. (Casert and Johnson, 12/1)

AP: Mexico To Reverse Course, Give COVID-19 Booster Shots
Mexican officials have reversed their previous position against giving coronavirus booster shots and said Tuesday they are studying a plan to administer third doses to people over 60. The announcement came as Mexico nears 450,000 deaths from COVID-19. The country has fully vaccinated only about 50% of its 126 million people. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said plans for the boosters are still being drawn up, but added, “It won’t be long, we have the vaccines.” (11/30)

The New York Times: South African Company Nears License To Sell J. & J. Covid Shot Across Africa
The South African drug maker Aspen Pharmacare announced on Tuesday that it was finalizing the first agreement to control production of a Covid-19 vaccine in Africa. The deal, with Johnson & Johnson, would allow Aspen to bottle and market the Johnson & Johnson vaccine across Africa under the brand name Aspenovax. Aspen would then have the right to determine to whom the vaccine will be sold, in what quantities and at what price. (Nolen, 11/30)