First Edition: Feb. 11, 2022

KHN: What Are Taxpayers Spending For Those ‘Free’ Covid Tests? The Government Won’t Say.
The four free covid-19 rapid tests President Joe Biden promised in December for every American household have begun arriving in earnest in mailboxes and on doorsteps. A surge of covid infections spurred wide demand for over-the-counter antigen tests during the holidays: Clinics were overwhelmed with people seeking tests and the few off-the-shelf brands were nearly impossible to find at pharmacies or even online via Amazon. Prices for some test kits cracked the hundred-dollar mark. And the government vowed that its purchase could provide the tests faster and cheaper so people, by simply swabbing at home, could quell the spread of covid. (Spolar, 2/11)

KHN: Exits By Black And Hispanic Teachers Pose A New Threat To Covid-Era Education 
Lynette Henley needed one more year to receive her full pension after 40 years as a teacher, but she couldn’t convince herself it was worth the risk. So Henley, 65, who has diabetes and congestive heart failure, retired last June as a math and history teacher at Hogan Middle School, in Vallejo, California, which serves mostly Black and Hispanic children. “You’re in a classroom with 16 to 20 kids and a lot of my students weren’t vaccinated,” said Henley. “I just didn’t feel safe. It wasn’t worth it to possibly die to teach.” (de Marco, 2/11)

KHN: Don’t Nurse That Moscow Mule — It Could Be A Health Hazard 
The popular cocktail known as the Moscow mule supposedly gets some of its flavor from the frosty copper mug it’s served in — the shiny metal oxidizes slightly and enhances the drink’s aroma and effervescence. Flavor, however, is not the only thing the copper cup imparts. A study published in the January/February issue of the Journal of Environmental Health found that copper leaches into the drink made of ginger beer, lime juice, and vodka. In a little under half an hour, the copper levels rise higher than the safety standard set for drinking water. (Robbins, 2/11)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: FDA Takes Center Stage 
The FDA is still lacking a Senate-confirmed leader, but the agency is at the center of several major policy battles. Lawmakers this year must renew the bill that authorizes drug companies to pay “user fees,” which enable the agency to hire additional reviewers to speed the approval of drugs. The FDA is also increasingly involved in the abortion debate and the effort to treat the millions of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease. Meanwhile, states led by Democrats are starting to relax some covid restrictions, even as officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention complain it’s too soon. (2/10)

Stat: CDC Tones Down Its Opioid Prescribing Guidelines
Federal health officials on Thursday abandoned their influential recommendations that opioid prescribers should aim for certain dose thresholds when treating chronic pain. The changes came as part of a proposed update to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s controversial 2016 guidelines on opioid prescribing. The recommendations are an attempt from health officials to strike a balance between limiting the harms that can come from long-term opioid use; allowing for physicians to come up with individualized plans to treat their patients; and encouraging reductions in dosages when it can be done safely and with patient buy-in. The newer guidelines still say that “opioids should not be considered first-line or routine therapy for subacute or chronic pain” and note that other treatments are often better for acute pain as well. Doctors should prioritize non-opioid medications and interventions like exercise and physical therapy, according to the recommendations. (Joseph, 2/10)

AP: CDC Proposes Softer Guidance On Opioid Prescriptions 
One expert expressed initial wariness about a proposed revision. The 2016 guidance succeeded in helping to reduce inappropriate and dangerous prescribing, said Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman of Georgetown University Medical Center. Its critics have included pain patients, but also painkiller manufacturers and groups they fund, she said. “There was nothing wrong with the original guidelines,” said Fugh-Berman, a paid expert witness for plaintiffs in cases targeting pharmaceutical marketing practices. (Stobbe, 2/10)

USA Today: CDC's Opioid Prescribing Guide Differs For New, Existing Pain Sufferers
The 229-page document advises doctors to limit new opioid prescriptions and discuss alternative therapies with patients. But the new guidance largely avoids figures on dosage and length of prescription and warns against abruptly or rapidly discontinuing pain pills for some chronic pain patients. "We've built in flexibility so that there's not a one-size-fits-all approach," said Christopher Jones, acting director of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (Alltucker, 2/10)

Stat: Fight Over Opioid Prescribing Heads To Supreme Court
Doctors have wide latitude to prescribe drugs, including potentially dangerous ones, but even they face limits. The question is, what threshold do physicians have to cross — and what sort of intent do they need to have — for their prescribing to be considered a crime? It’s an issue headed to the Supreme Court next month, in a case concerning two physicians who were convicted of unlawfully dispensing opioid painkillers. The case is already raising alarms among advocates for pain patients and some health policy experts, who fear that a ruling could enable aggressive prosecutions of prescribers. They warn that such a decision could discourage doctors from providing opioids even when they’re warranted, at a time when some pain patients are already losing access to medication or seeing their doses unsafely slashed. Advocates are asking the court to make clear that criminal punishments should be reserved for prescribers who knowingly write inappropriate prescriptions. (Joseph, 2/11)

AP: Biden Puts Focus On Drug Prices In Fight Against Inflation 
Unable to tame inflation that has worsened sharply under his watch, President Joe Biden stressed Thursday that his administration’s policies would cut prescription drug prices and make life more affordable for families. His pitch, which he delivered at a community college in Culpeper, Virginia, came on the heels of a dire inflation report released earlier in the day. Consumer prices jumped 7.5% over the year ending in January, as the sources of inflation have broadened on a monthly basis with increases in the costs of rent, electricity, clothes and household furnishings. The pandemic disrupted supply chains and government aid boosted consumer demand, causing prices for gasoline, food and other goods such as autos to rise earlier this year. (Megerian and Boak, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Says He Is Vetting About Four People For Supreme Court Vacancy 
President Biden said he is vetting about four candidates for his coming Supreme Court nomination to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. “I’ve taken about four people and done the deep dive on them,” Mr. Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt in an interview, excerpts of which were released by the network on Thursday. He said his administration was conducting background checks to “see if there’s anything in the background that would make them not qualified.” (Parti, 2/10)

NBC News: Covid Stillbirths: The Coronavirus Can Severely Damage The Placenta In Pregnant Women
Research published Thursday paints a startling picture of the destructive toll Covid-19 can take on pregnant women and their growing fetuses. The virus can attack and destroy the placenta, a vascular organ that serves as a fetus’s lifeline, leading to asphyxiation and stillbirth, according to the study in the journal Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. (Sullivan, 2/10)

AP: Coronavirus Can Destroy The Placenta And Lead To Stillbirths
Lead author Dr. David Schwartz, an Atlanta pathologist, said other infections can infiltrate the placenta and cause stillbirth, typically by infecting and damaging the fetus. A recent example is Zika virus. He and his colleagues wanted to see if that was the case with stillbirths in women with COVID-19. But what they found was almost the opposite: it was the placenta that was infected and extensively destroyed. “Many of these cases had over 90% of the placenta destroyed — very scary,” said Schwartz. (Tanner, 2/10)

USA Today: Pregnant With COVID: How SARS-CoV-2 Can Cause Stillbirth, Study Finds
Although other viral infections have also been linked to stillbirths, a new study suggests the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 may have a completely different way of impacting a developing fetus. A 44-member international research team studied 64 stillbirth cases and four early neonatal deaths from 12 countries to determine how COVID-19 caused perinatal deaths. All the expecting mothers were unvaccinated. Based on their findings, they concluded the COVID-19 infection destroyed the placenta, depriving the fetus of oxygen, according to the report published Thursday in Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. Researchers determined the virus reaches the placenta and causes it to fail by passing through the mother’s bloodstream, a process known as viremia. (Rodriguez, 2/10)

Reuters: Novavax Says COVID-19 Shot 80% Effective In Adolescent Study 
Novavax Inc said on Thursday its two-dose vaccine was 80% effective against COVID-19 in a late-stage trial testing the shot in teens aged 12 to 17 years. The trial involved 2,247 adolescents and took place between May and September last year when the Delta variant was the dominant strain in the United States. The vaccine was 82% effective against the variant. (2/10)

AP: Novavax Says Protein Vaccine Works For Kids As Young As 12 
Novavax announced Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine proved safe and effective in a study of 12- to 17-year-olds. Novavax makes a protein-based vaccine -- a different type than the most widely used shots -- that’s a late arrival to the COVID-19 arsenal. Its shots have been cleared for use in adults by regulators in Britain, Europe and elsewhere and by the World Health Organization, and are under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2/10)

AP: Nevada, Casinos Rescind Mask Mandates Effective Immediately
Nevada and its casinos stopped requiring people to wear masks in public on Thursday, joining most other U.S. states lifting restrictions that were imposed to limit the spread of coronavirus. Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak announced that the state no longer required face coverings in most places, “effective immediately. ”But to avoid having students rip off their masks in class, he said rules for schools remained in place until the end of the day. (Sonner and Ritter, 2/10)

AP: Twin Cities Lift Restaurant, Bar Vaccine-Or-Test Mandates 
The mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul have rescinded vaccine-or-test mandates for restaurants, bars and entertainment venues as COVID-19 cases decline rapidly. The Star Tribune reported Thursday that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter have lifted the mandates effective immediately. (2/10)

AP: LA County's Indoor Mask Rule Likely To Remain Through March 
While the winter coronavirus wave in California is receding fast, it could be a while before Los Angeles County lifts its indoor mask and vaccine mandates, the county’s top health official said Thursday while urging football fans to take precautions when gathering for the Super Bowl. Most California counties plan to follow state guidelines and end their indoor masking requirements for vaccinated people next week. But the state’s most populous county is still seeing high transmission of the omicron variant even as the test positivity rate, case numbers and hospitalizations drop, said Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County’s health director. (Weber, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Should You Go Maskless Even If Mask Requirements Have Lifted? 
What should I consider when deciding whether to go maskless? There are a few main things that Robert Murphy, professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said he would consider before deciding to leave a mask at home. (Firozi, 2/10)

The New York Times: Nearly 3,000 N.Y.C. Workers Have A Day To Get Vaccinated Or Be Fired 
Hundreds of municipal workers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge this week, chanting in unison for New York City to end its vaccine mandate, and carrying signs that said “Fire Fauci” and “Unvaccinated Lives Matter.” Their pleas were rejected by Mayor Eric Adams, who has reaffirmed the city’s looming ultimatum: If city workers do not get vaccinated, they are the ones who will be fired. (Fitzsimmons, 2/10)

Bloomberg: New York’s Unvaccinated City Workers Face Firing On Deadline Day
About 4,000 unvaccinated New York City employees, including police officers, teachers and firefighters, face termination Friday. Jobs are at risk for about 3,000 workers who took unpaid leave instead of getting vaccinated when the city’s mandate took effect in October, as well as about 1,000 recent hires who haven’t submitted documentation of their second shots. About 95% of the 370,000 city workers have received at least one dose. (Diaz, 2/11)

NBC News: Map: Covid-19 Deaths Have More Than Doubled In Five States
Omicron took a month and a half to match the death rate that the delta wave took nearly three months to reach. The omicron variant, which has spread disease to tens of millions in the U.S. since late December, is now fueling a wave of Covid-related deaths. Average deaths have plateaued at close to 2,600 a day, the highest level since February 2021, according to NBC News’ tally. (Murphy, 2/10)

USA Today: Delta Variant Infected Twice As Many Per Capita In Rural Areas, Study Says
Despite the wide expanses of rural America, the delta variant spread widely and quickly in those areas last summer. The reason? Low vaccination rates. In fact, rural counties registered 2.4 more infections per 100,000 residents than urban areas from July 1 to Aug. 31 of last year, according to a new study by the University of Cincinnati and Augusta University that was published Thursday in JAMA Network Open. The study cited CDC data indicating 82% of rural America had a vaccination rate below 30%, with 369 of 449 areas designated by the researchers under that threshold. (Ortiz, Miller and Tebor, 2/10)

CIDRAP: Previous COVID Infection May Confer 56% Protection Against Reinfection
A study in Qatar estimates that previous COVID-19 infection imparts 56% protection against future symptomatic infection caused by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, down from about 90% for other SARS-CoV-2 strains. The study, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), was led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar in Doha. (2/10)

CIDRAP: NCAA Athletics Not Linked To Increased COVID-19, Data Suggest 
A cross-sectional study of more than half a million National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 athletes and 3.5 million nonathletes suggests that participation in collegiate athletics was not tied to higher COVID-19 test positivity in the 2020-21 academic year. The research was published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 2/10)

Bloomberg: U.S. Agrees To Pay Lilly $720 Million For New Covid Treatment
The U.S. struck a $720 million deal with Eli Lilly & Co. for supplies of an experimental Covid drug that appears to fight the omicron variant that’s sweeping the country. Under the agreement, Lilly will provide the Department of Health and Human Services with 600,000 doses of bebtelovimab, a monoclonal antibody under U.S. regulatory review for treatment of mild-to-moderate Covid in certain high-risk patients. (Griffin, 2/10)

The Hill: Biden Administration Purchases 600k Doses Of New COVID-19 Antibody Drug 
The Biden administration on Thursday said it purchased 600,000 treatments worth of a new COVID-19 antibody drug that officials said works against the omicron variant. The drug from Eli Lilly has not yet been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. But the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said if the authorization occurs, the treatment will be made available to states immediately, free of charge. (Weixel, 2/10)

The Washington Post: Former Trump Adviser Falsely Claims States Are Rationing Scarce Covid Treatments Based Largely On Race 
When Minnesota and Utah health officials started using race as a factor to determine who would get scarce covid-19 treatments, they were hailed for their efforts to bridge the pandemic’s deadly racial divide. Now those officials are center stage of the nation’s latest battle over race, identity and equity, after they rolled back their policies under pressure from conservatives and a group led by Stephen Miller, a top adviser to former president Donald Trump. (Rizzo, 2/10)

Modern Healthcare: Sutter Health Argues It Doesn't Have Market Power, Can't Violate Antitrust Laws
Sutter Health on Thursday attempted to shake off federal antitrust allegations by arguing that the 24-hospital system doesn't have market power in the Northern California region it serves. Sutter Health's attorney Jeffrey LeVee, a Jones Day partner who gave Sutter's opening statement as the trial kicked off, claimed that the $13 billion organization faces "vigorous competition," particularly from a larger California health system, Kaiser Permanente. (Bannow, 2/10)

Stat: FDA Sends Message To Companies Partnered With Chinese Drugmakers
Message delivered — with a punch to the face. Earlier this week, Richard Pazdur, the Food and Drug Administration’s top cancer drug regulator, told STAT that he intended to use an upcoming advisory meeting to make clear to U.S. drug companies that data from cancer clinical trials conducted entirely in China would not be sufficient for approval here. On Thursday, Pazdur, director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, made good on that pledge, as he and his lieutenants shredded the study results for sintilimab, an anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor for the treatment of lung cancer that Lilly and its Chinese partner Innovent were trying to bring to the U.S. (Feuerstein, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Rejects Short Sellers’ Request To Halt Trials Of Alzheimer’s Drug
The Food and Drug Administration has denied a petition by short sellers to halt clinical trials of an experimental Alzheimer’s drug being developed by Cassava Sciences Inc. The two short sellers alleged in filings with the FDA and the Securities and Exchange Commission that Cassava’s published research contained images of experiments that appear to have been manipulated using software such as Photoshop. Cassava denied the allegations, and said it was cooperating with government investigations. (Walker and Michaels, 2/10)

Stat: Biogen Pushes Back On Medicare’s Limits On Alzheimer’s Drug Coverage
Biogen is calling Medicare’s bluff. The federal health insurance program for people 65 and older proposed to drastically limit how often it would pay for the embattled biotech’s controversial Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, a blow to Biogen’s hopes for wide uptake among Medicare patients. Medicare said it needed more information about the drug’s efficacy and safety and said it would only pay for the drug for patients enrolled in clinical trials. Now, Biogen has a new proposal: The company will get Medicare the extra data it wants, but not through the slow, traditional trials Medicare is proposing. Instead, it will focus on speedier real-world evidence about the drug. Biogen can’t get that wider dataset, the company says, if the drug is only available for such a limited patient population. (Florko, 2/10)

The Hill: Texas Abortions Dropped 60 Percent After Heartbeat Law Took Effect
Abortions in Texas dropped nearly 60 percent in the first month the most restrictive abortion law in the nation was in effect, according to state data. The number of abortions performed in the state fell from 5,404 in August to just ​​2,197 in September. The Texas heartbeat law, S.B. 8, bans all abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, typically around six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant.  (Weixel, 2/10)

AP: Bill Seeks To Limit Out-Of-Pocket Spending On Insulin
A bill aimed at addressing the rising cost of prescription drugs, including limiting out-of-pocket spending on insulin for those trying to control their diabetes, was approved Thursday by the Massachusetts Senate on a 39-1 vote. Twenty-one other states already cap co-payments for insurance. The bill would eliminate deductibles and coinsurance and permanently cap co-pays at $25 for a 30-day supply of insulin. (LeBlanc, 2/10)

AP: Health Advocates Fighting Plan To Cut Indiana's Vaping Tax 
Anti-smoking advocates are arguing against a proposal that would reduce Indiana’s new tax on electronic cigarettes before it even takes effect. The proposal approved by the Republican-dominated state Senate last month would cut the 25% tax charged to wholesalers for closed-system cartridges such as Juul devices to 15%. The Legislature approved the higher rate last year for Indiana’s first tax on vaping devices to start July 2022. (2/10)

The Washington Post: Global Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout: Half The World Is Now Fully Vaccinated 
About a year after wealthier nations began rolling out coronavirus vaccines, more than half the world’s population has been fully vaccinated — a logistical feat without precedent in human history. But the global rollout remains uneven, with poor countries reporting much lower vaccination rates than rich countries. Public health experts have been warning that vaccine inequity is helping prolong the pandemic, as the focus of those seeking to speed up global vaccine coverage begins to shift from resolving a shortfall of supply to distributing doses and persuading people to get them. (Timsit, 2/10)

Politico: U.S.-Brokered J&J Vaccine Deal For Refugees In Thailand Is Delayed 
The Covid vaccine doses the Biden administration and COVAX promised Thailand for refugees living in the country have yet to be delivered, according to three people with direct knowledge of the situation. In November, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. government had helped broker a deal to send millions of Johnson & Johnson doses to Thailand. The shots would be dispensed through COVAX’s humanitarian buffer, which specifically facilitates immunizations for people experiencing humanitarian emergencies because of conflict or who live in areas inaccessible to governments. (Banco, 2/10)

NPR: Prince Charles Has Tested Positive For COVID A Second Time
Prince Charles tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning, Clarence House announced on Twitter. It said the 73-year-old is self-isolating but did not elaborate on his condition. "HRH is deeply disappointed not to be able to attend today's events in Winchester and will look to reschedule his visit as soon as possible," the palace added. Prince Charles was due in the Hampshire city to unveil a statue of 13th-century Jewish businesswoman Licoricia of Winchester, according to the BBC. The moneylender and single parent helped fund the construction of Westminster Abbey and bankroll three English kings, and was murdered in 1277. (Treisman, 2/10)

Reuters: Macron Refused Russian COVID Test In Putin Trip Over DNA Theft Fears - Sources
French President Emmanuel Macron refused a Kremlin request that he take a Russian COVID-19 test when he arrived to see President Vladimir Putin this week, to prevent Russia getting hold of Macron's DNA, two sources in Macron's entourage told Reuters. As a result, the visiting French head of state was kept at a distance from the Russian leader during lengthy talks on the Ukraine crisis in Moscow. (Rose, 2/11)

Reuters: Australians Told To Get COVID Boosters To Be Considered Fully Vaccinated
Australian residents will need to receive booster shots to be considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19, although authorities said foreign travellers will continue to need only two shots to enter the country. Australia's national cabinet late on Thursday endorsed the revised guidance from the country's vaccination advisory group to classify "up-to-date" inoculations as including boosters. (2/10)