First Edition: Feb. 16, 2022

KHN: Inside The Tactical Tug Of War Over The Controversial Alzheimer’s Drug 
The drug industry, patient advocates, and congressional Republicans have all attacked federal officials’ decision to decline routine Medicare coverage for a controversial Alzheimer’s drug. They’ve gone as far as to accuse them of tacit racism, ageism, and discrimination against the disabled — and hinted at a lawsuit — over the decision to pay only for patients taking the drug in a clinical trial. The drug, Aduhelm, with a listed price tag of $28,500 a year, has had few takers in the medical world. Brain doctors are leery of administering the intravenous drug because it appears dangerous and largely ineffective. Many of the nation’s most prestigious hospitals — such as the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Massachusetts General in Boston — have declined to offer it to patients. (Allen, 2/16)

KHN: What Does It Say About Your Neighborhood If The Supermarket Isn’t So Super?
Though I grew up in Roxbury, “the heart of Black culture in Boston,” I now live in Los Angeles, where I typically shop for groceries at Whole Foods Market or Trader Joe’s. Their produce is fresh, green, abundant. Organic options beckon as you walk in the door. So it gnawed at me, a Black woman, when I recently walked into a supermarket in a lower-income L.A. neighborhood and was greeted instead by an array of processed, high-sugar, high-sodium foods — often offered with a nice discount: Coca-Cola products, five 2-liter bottles for $5; sugary cereals, two for $4; boxed brownie and cake mixes, four for $5. The pandemic had underlined long-standing health disparities of Black and brown communities. (Giles, 2/16)

KHN: Demand For Service Dogs Unleashes A ‘Wild West’ Market 
Jenni Mahnaz admits she’s not much of a dog person. She’s mildly allergic and the only pet she had as a child was a hermit crab. But once she learned that specially trained dogs could help her daughters with their medical needs, she was willing to do anything to make it happen. Her oldest daughter, Suraiya, 6, was diagnosed with autism and sensory processing challenges. Soon after, 4-year-old Phoenix was diagnosed with epilepsy. “Our family is very likely to end up with two service dogs,” Mahnaz said. “I think we’re probably looking at $10,000 per dog.” (Hawryluk, 2/16)

Stat: Senate Narrowly Confirms Robert Califf To Lead The FDA 
The vote puts an end to one of the most protracted and controversial confirmation processes in the FDA’s 115-year history. No candidate for the agency’s top job has so narrowly squeaked through the confirmation process. The only candidate that came close was Scott Gottlieb, who led the agency during the Trump administration and was confirmed 57-42. Ultimately, four Democrats voted against Califf’s nomination: Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.). So too did Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) (Florko, 2/15)

NPR: Dr. Robert Califf Confirmed To Again Head The FDA
Dr. Robert Califf will once again head the Food and Drug Administration, narrowly securing his position as the head of the consumer safety agency. The Senate confirmed Califf on Tuesday despite some concerns over his close ties to the pharmaceutical industry and GOP opposition to his stance on access to birth control. The Senate voted to confirm Califf on a 50-46 vote, split largely along party lines. Six Republicans — Sens. Roy Blunt, Richard Burr, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney and Patrick Toomey — voted alongside Democrats to confirm the Duke University cardiologist. (Wise, 2/15)

Politico: Califf Confirmed: The 6 Challenges That Await The New FDA Commissioner 
With a permanent political leader in place after a 13-month holding pattern, the agency will be more empowered to move forward with sensitive policies and accelerate its regulatory agenda. Returning to the FDA early in President Joe Biden’s tenure gives Califf greater ability to place his stamp on the agency than the last time he led it during the final months of the Obama administration. Scott Gottlieb, former President Donald Trump’s first FDA commissioner, played an outsized role communicating with lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the agency’s priorities. (Gardner, Foley, Lim and Ollstein, 2/15)

Stat: 6 Approval Decisions That Will Make Or Break Califf’s First Year At The FDA
The next year at the Food and Drug Administration is going to make Robert Califf’s marathon confirmation process look easy. The longtime Duke cardiologist, who was narrowly confirmed by the Senate Tuesday, inherits an agency that is smack dab in the middle of deliberations over a slew of controversial applications for everything from pediatric Covid-19 vaccines to ALS drugs. Califf likely won’t weigh in on the minutiae of those decisions — it’s extremely rare for the FDA commissioner to do so — but these decisions will have huge consequences for his tenure at the FDA. He will have to explain the decisions to the public, and he will take the blame for any misstep the agency makes. (Florko, 2/16)

ABC News: Breakthrough Treatment Makes Woman 3rd Person To Be Cured Of HIV
"This case is special for several reasons: First, our participant was a U.S. woman living with HIV of mixed race, who needed a stem cell transplant for treatment of her leukemia. And she would find a more difficult time finding both a genetic match and one with the HIV-resistant mutation to both cure her cancer and potentially her HIV. This is a natural, but rare mutation," said Dr. Yvonne Bryson, an infectious disease physician at UCLA who led the study. (Morrison and Salzman, 2/15)

The New York Times: A Woman Is Cured Of H.I.V. Using A Novel Treatment 
Cord blood is more widely available than the adult stem cells used in the bone marrow transplants that cured the previous two patients, and it does not need to be matched as closely to the recipient. Most donors in registries are of Caucasian origin, so allowing for only a partial match has the potential to cure dozens of Americans who have both H.I.V. and cancer each year, scientists said. The woman, who also had leukemia, received cord blood to treat her cancer. It came from a partially matched donor, instead of the typical practice of finding a bone marrow donor of similar race and ethnicity to the patient’s. She also received blood from a close relative to give her body temporary immune defenses while the transplant took. (Mandavilli, 2/15)

The Washington Post: A Middle-Aged Woman Is The Third Patient To Be Potentially Cured Of HIV, Scientists Report 
A middle-aged, mixed-race woman is the third patient to be potentially cured of HIV, with the virus in long-term remission four years after she received a transplant of stem cells harvested from an infant’s umbilical cord blood, scientists said Tuesday. The new case, reported at the annual meeting of the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infection, is the first time the transplant approach has been successfully reported in a mixed-race woman, an advance that reinforces the exciting concept that an HIV cure may be possible in a wider array of people by using cord blood. (Johnson, 2/15)

CBS News: Biden Administration Wants $30 Billion More In Federal Funding For COVID-19 Response 
The issue of additional aid has been the subject of discussions across Washington in recent weeks, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the administration is seeking more money to address future needs. "While we continue to have sufficient funds to respond to the current Omicron surge, in the coming weeks, our goal has always been to ensure that we are well-prepared to stay ahead of the virus," Psaki said at a White House briefing on Tuesday. (O'Keefe, 2/15)

AP: AP Sources: White House Seeks Another $30B For COVID Battle 
The Biden administration is telling Congress that it needs an additional $30 billion to press ahead with the fight against COVID-19, officials said. Two people familiar with the administration’s plan confirmed key details on Tuesday: $17.9 billion for vaccines and treatments, $4.9 billion for testing, $3 billion to cover coronavirus care for uninsured people, and $3.7 billion to prepare for future variants. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss deliberations between the administration and lawmakers over the supplemental funding. (Miller and Alonso-Zaldivar, 2/16)

Reuters: U.S. Says It Could Spend $22 Mln A Month Testing Unvaccinated Federal Employees 
The U.S. government said it faces "significant harm" if an a appeals court fails to reverse an injunction barring enforcement of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for government workers, and that testing unvaccinated employees could cost up to $22 million a month. White House Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Jason Miller disclosed in an declaration cited late on Monday by the Justice Department that the government would be hurt on several fronts if it cannot enforce the vaccine requirements. (Shepardson, 2/15)

CNBC: Babies Are Protected From Hospitalization For Covid If Their Moms Get Vaccinated, Study Suggests
Dr. Dana Meaney-Delman, head of the CDC’s infant outcomes branch, said the study suggests antibodies transferred from the mother to her developing fetus protect the newborn against Covid. “Unfortunately, vaccination of infants younger than 6 months old is not currently on the horizon, highlighting why vaccination during pregnancy is so important for these young infants,” Meaney-Delman told reporters during a conference call on Tuesday. (Kimball, 2/15)

NPR: When Moms Get Vaccinated During Pregnancy, Babies Get Protection Too, Study Shows
Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 during pregnancy may also help protect babies after they're born, according to new research published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Babies whose mothers received two shots of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines during pregnancy had a 61% lower risk of being hospitalized with COVID in their first six months of life, the study found. "The bottom line is that maternal vaccination is a really important way to help protect these young infants," said Dr. Dana Meaney-Delman, chief of the CDC's Infant Outcome Monitoring, Research and Prevention branch. She notes that is particularly important because there's no vaccine authorized for babies under 6 months old. (Godoy, 2/15)

NBC News: CDC Masks: The CDC Is Expected To Update Mask Guidance As Early As Next Week
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to loosen its indoor masking guidelines to states soon, according to several people familiar with the matter. The agency’s update could come as early as next week. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, is expected to discuss masking guidance Wednesday at a White House Covid-19 Response Team briefing. Nothing has been finalized yet, but the CDC is considering a new benchmark for whether masks are needed, basing it on the level of severe disease and hospitalizations in a given community, two people familiar with the situation said. (Lovelace Jr. and Przybyla, 2/15)

The Washington Post: Disney World, Disneyland To Drop Mask Mandate For Vaccinated Guests 
Disney World and Disneyland will drop their mask requirement for vaccinated guests, starting Thursday. Since July 2021, Disney’s Florida and California theme parks have required masks in indoor spaces for guests 2 years old and older, regardless of vaccination status. Disney does not require proof of vaccination to enter its parks. (Finnegan, 2/15)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Mask, Vaccine Mandates To Remain Through Mardi Gras After Supreme Court Decision
Mardi Gras 2022 will stay masked and vaxxed in New Orleans, following a decision from the Louisiana Supreme Court. Justices last week declined to hear an emergency request from the more than 100 plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed two weeks ago, which was aimed at striking down Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s COVID restrictions in time for Carnival’s high days. The sole justice to dissent was Will Crain. Instead, a litany of rules on gatherings in public places will remain in force throughout Carnival season. For now, people attending most indoor events are required to wear masks. They must also show proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test if they hope to drink at a bar, dine at a restaurant or party at a nightclub, among other places. (Sledge, 2/15)

AP: Virginia Governor Seeks March 1 End To School Mask Mandates 
School mask mandates in Virginia will end on March 1 if the General Assembly adopts amendments made by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to just-passed legislation on the issue. The legislature passed a bill Monday giving parents and students the ability to opt out of mandates imposed by local school boards. But the legislation would not have taken effect until July 1. (2/15)

Houston Chronicle: Ted Cruz, Chip Roy Threaten Government Shutdown Over Biden Vaccine Mandates
Texas Republicans are again threatening a government shutdown over President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates as the Senate works to pass a short-term funding bill by the end of the week. Sen. Ted Cruz is among a group of four Senate Republicans who have signed a letter led by Rep. Chip Roy of Austin refusing to support any bills funding the federal government that include money for the enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandates at “any level of government.” (Wermund, 2/15)

The Boston Globe: Appeals Court Grants Injunction Against Wu’s Workforce Vaccination Mandate
An appeals court judge Tuesday granted an injunction blocking Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for workers from three municipal unions until the two sides hash out a solution at the bargaining table, state labor authorities decide the matter, or there is a court resolution to the case. The decision from Justice Sabita Singh represented a blow to Wu’s vaccination mandate, a policy that has dominated her early tenure in City Hall’s fifth-floor corner office, and the latest turn in a COVID-19 fight that has pitted the city’s new and progressive mayor against a bloc of decidedly old-school Boston power: a trio of public safety unions. (McDonald, 2/15)

Los Angeles Times: Judge Dismisses Firefighter Group's Lawsuit Over L.A. Vaccine Policy
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group of Los Angeles firefighters over a city requirement that employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. Judge Michael P. Linfield wrote that “courts have consistently held that government has the power to require vaccinations to protect the public’s health and safety.” He cited several cases, including a 1905 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that compulsory vaccinations are allowed under the Constitution. The city last year made COVID-19 vaccination a requirement of employment, while also granting exemptions for employees based on medical conditions or religious beliefs. (Smith, 2/15)

The Washington Post: About 3 In 4 D.C. Residents Support Vaccine Rules Bowser Just Rescinded, Poll Finds
About three-quarters of D.C. residents support the city’s vaccine requirement to enter certain businesses, a policy that Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) ended Tuesday. The citywide Washington Post poll finds 74 percent of residents support D.C.’s requirement to show proof of vaccination before going inside restaurants, gyms, concert venues and sports arenas. Most D.C. residents also say Bowser’s restrictions on residents and businesses have been “about right.” (Moyer, Guskin and Brice-Saddler, 2/15)

AP: House Committee OKs Ban On Businesses Requiring Vaccinations 
A panel of Idaho lawmakers has advanced a bill that would make it a crime for Idaho businesses to require employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The federal government and companies employing health care workers would be exempt under the bill from Rep. Charlie Shepherd. But all other businesses would be barred from firing, segregating or otherwise treating unvaccinated workers differently than vaccinated employees. (Boone, 2/15)

Stateline: States Craft Their COVID Exit Strategies
As omicron fades and scientists consider when to declare COVID-19 endemic—and, therefore, here to stay—in the United States, governors in 10 states last week leapfrogged federal recommendations and dropped mask mandates. One by one, governors and health officials in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Rhode Island broke ranks and announced an end date for masking requirements in indoor public spaces such as grocery stores and restaurants and, in some cases, schools. They were joined this week by District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat. (Vestal, 2/15)

AP: Companies Revert To More Normal Operations As COVID Wanes
For the first time in two years for many people, the American workplace is transforming into something that resembles pre-pandemic days. Tyson Foods said Tuesday it was ending mask requirements for its vaccinated workers in some facilities. Walmart and Amazon — the nation’s No. 1 and 2 largest private employers respectively — will no longer require fully vaccinated workers to don masks in stores or warehouses unless required under local or state laws. Tech companies like Microsoft and Facebook that had allowed employees to work fully remote are now setting mandatory dates to return to the office after a series of fits and starts. (D'Innocenzio, 2/16)

The Washington Post: U.S. ‘Excess Deaths’ During Pandemic Surpassed 1 Million, With Covid Killing Most But Other Diseases Adding To The Toll, CDC Says
The United States has recorded more than 1 million “excess deaths” since the start of the pandemic, government mortality statistics show, a toll that exceeds the officially documented lethality of the coronavirus and captures the broad consequences of the health crisis that has entered its third year. The excess-deaths figure surpassed the milestone last week, reaching 1,023,916, according to Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. The center updates its estimate weekly. (Achenbach, 2/15)

Bay Area News Group: CDC: Omicron Drove Up Kids' COVID-19 Hospitalization Rates
Bay Area pediatricians knew omicron was like nothing they’d seen before for their youngest patients, and a new study released Tuesday confirms their alarm: The highly contagious variant sent kids to U.S. hospitals at rates four times higher than delta, and rates were higher still for those under age 5, who are too young for COVID-19 vaccination. Although kids have been least vulnerable to the virus, the rise in severe illness among them as cases surged this winter alarmed health officials who have pleaded with parents to get their children vaccinated. “We all went into pediatrics to make kids better, so seeing them suffer in the hospital and outside, it’s hard,” said Jenna Holmen, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, which was forced to double occupancy in some rooms during the height of the omicron surge. (Woolfolk and DeRuy, 2/15)

AP: Idaho Lifts 'Crisis Standards' Designation For Hospitals
Idaho has lifted the “crisis standards of care” designation for hospitals in the southwestern portion of the state, with public health officials saying coronavirus-related staffing and blood shortages have improved somewhat, though hospitals remain stressed. The crisis standards of care designation — which allows hospitals to triage health care as needed when they don’t have the capacity to deal with patient influxes — was put in place for 18 counties in the southern half of the state about three weeks ago, as the omicron variant of the coronavirus surged statewide. (Boone, 2/16)

The Washington Post: CDC Lowers Cruise Travel Warning From ‘Very High’ To ‘High’ 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says taking a cruise now presents a lower risk than it did at the end of 2021 — at least in some cases. On Tuesday, the public health agency lowered its travel health notice for cruises from Level 4 to Level 3, which indicates covid-19 levels on ships are “high” rather than “very high.” The agency had been warning all travelers to avoid cruise travel regardless of vaccination status since Dec. 30, after the omicron surge sent cases on ships soaring. (Sampson, 2/15)

CNBC: Moderna CEO: Reasonable To Think Covid Pandemic May Be In Final Stages
Moderna’s CEO Stephane Bancel said it’s “reasonable” to assume that we may be approaching the final stages of the pandemic. “I think that is a reasonable scenario,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” when asked about views that the Covid-19 pandemic may now be in its final stages. “There’s an 80% chance that as omicron evolves or SarsCov-2 virus evolves, we are going to see less and less virulent viruses,” he said Wednesday. He also said there’s another “20% scenario where we see a next mutation, which is more virulent than omicron.” (Bala, 2/16)

Fox News: Severe, Critical COVID-19 Cases More Likely In Vitamin D-Deficient People: Study
People who have a vitamin D deficiency are more likely to have a severe or fatal case of COVID-19, researchers said. In a retrospective study published in the journal PLOS ONE, scientists from Galilee Medical Center and Bar Ilan University in Israel examined the records of more than 1,176 patients admitted between April 7, 2020, and Feb. 4, 2021, to the Nahariya-based Galilee Medical Center with positive PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests for SAR-CoV-2. Those records were searched for vitamin D levels measured two weeks to two years prior to infection. (Musto, 2/15)

CIDRAP: Higher Estrogen In Older Women May Lower The Risk Of COVID-19 Death
Older women's estrogen levels may be linked to their chances of dying from COVID-19, with higher levels of the hormone seemingly protective against severe infection, according to an observational study yesterday in BMJ Open. The study included 14,685 postmenopausal Swedish women from 50 to 80 years old who had COVID-19. Researchers divided them into three groups: (1) women with previously diagnosed breast cancer and receiving endocrine therapy (decreased estrogen levels), (2) women receiving hormone replacement therapy (increased estrogen), and (3) a control group of women not receiving either therapy. (2/15)

CIDRAP: Many COVID-19 Patients Left With Bills After Cost-Sharing Waivers Expired
A large proportion of US COVID-19 patients were left with thousands of dollars of hospital bills after many health insurers stopped issuing cost-sharing waivers in early 2021, finds a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open.A team led by University of Michigan at Ann Arbor researchers mined the IQVIA PharMetrics Plus for Academics database for COVID-19 hospital claims for patients covered by Medicare Advantage or private insurance from Mar 1, 2020, to Mar 30, 2021. (2/15)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Gives $55M To Community Health Centers For Virtual Care Access
The Health Resources and Services Administration has distributed $54.6 million to 29 community health centers as part of its efforts to increase access to telehealth, remote patient monitoring and other digital tools among underserved populations, the Health and Human Services Department announced Tuesday. "Virtual care has been a game-changer for patients, especially during the pandemic," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a news release. "This funding will help health centers leverage the latest technology and innovations to expand access to quality primary care for underserved communities." (Devereaux, 2/15)

AP: Altria Says Judge Has Dismissed Lawsuit Over Juul Investment
Tobacco giant Altria said Tuesday that an administrative law judge has dismissed a federal lawsuit alleging the company’s partnership with e-cigarette maker Juul Labs amounted to an anticompetitive agreement that hurt consumers. The preliminary decision by the agency judge is subject to review by the Federal Trade Commission and will likely be appealed. The judge’s ruling was not immediately available at the time of Altria’s announcement. The company, whose brands include Marlboro cigarettes and Copenhagen smokeless tobacco, said it is expected to be posted online later this month. (Perrone, 2/16)

Stat: FDA Reviewing Mirati's Lung Cancer Drug — But Taking Longer To Do It
Mirati Therapeutics said Tuesday that U.S. regulators accepted an application for its KRAS-blocking lung cancer drug, but the review time will be longer than hoped. The Food and Drug Administration granted a standard review to the Mirati drug called adagrasib, which sets the approval decision date on Dec. 14 — four months later than the company had requested. A Mirati spokesperson said the FDA did not offer the company an explanation for why adagrasib won’t be reviewed under a shortened priority review schedule. (Feuerstein, 2/15)

USA Today: Pig Heart Transplant Patient Enjoys Super Bowl 5 Weeks After Surgery
A marvel of modern science, David Bennett continues to defy odds, surviving more than a month after his pig heart transplant. On Sunday, Bennett sat up in bed and meekly sang “America the Beautiful” as Jhené Aiko belted out her rendition prior to Super Bowl LVI. Bennett, who received a genetically modified pig heart during a transplant on Jan. 7, is recovering at the University of Maryland Medical Center. “The heart is doing great. We have several cardiologists trying to find any fault in it but they have not been able to do it,” said lead surgeon Dr. Muhammad M. Mohiuddin, Professor of Surgery and Director of the Cardiac Xenotransplantation Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “The heart is contracting vigorously as it should. It has shown no signs of rejection.” (Walters, 2/15)

AP: GOP-Controlled Arizona Senate Passes 15-Week Abortion Ban
Republicans who control the Arizona Senate voted Tuesday to outlaw abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, moving to put a new ban in place ahead of a highly anticipated U.S. Supreme Court decision that could bring seismic changes to abortion availability in the United States. The vote came over objections from minority Democrats who said the measure was unconstitutional under the landmark Roe v Wade and other Supreme Court decisions the high court could overturn. They also said any ban would disproportionally impact poor and minority women who won’t be able to travel to Democratic states without strict abortion laws. (Christie, 2/16)

AP: Abortion Ban After 15 Weeks Passed By West Virginia House
The Republican-dominated West Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill Tuesday that would ban abortion after 15 weeks, a piece of legislation almost identical to the Mississippi law currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court’s ruling in the Mississippi abortion case could lead to the overturning of its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, an outcome many conservative lawmakers in West Virginia indicated they are more than in favor of. (Willingham, 2/15)

AP: Arkansas Senate Rejects Push For Texas-Styled Abortion Ban
Arkansas’ majority-Republican Senate rejected a push Tuesday for an abortion ban modeled after Texas’ restrictive law, with abortion opponents divided about emulating their neighbor’s approach as they await a key ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate rejected resolutions that would have allowed lawmakers to take up legislation banning abortion except to save the life of a mother in a medical emergency. Like Texas’ ban, the measure would be enforced by private citizens filing lawsuits. (DeMillo, 2/16)

AP: SD Senate Rejects Medicaid Expansion, Leaving It To Election
A proposal to expand Medicaid health coverage eligibility was defeated in the South Dakota Senate Tuesday, leaving the decision to voters in the November election. Republican Sen. Wayne Steinhauer had brought a proposal to the Legislature to make Medicaid, a federal-state health insurance program for low-income people, available to people who live below 133% of the federal poverty level. That is currently about $17,000 annually for an individual or $35,000 for a family of four. (2/15)

AP: NC GOP: Medicaid Expansion Vote Possible Later This Year
An up-or-down vote on broad Medicaid expansion in North Carolina could occur before the November elections, key Republican legislators said on Tuesday. A joint House-Senate panel created in the current budget law and tasked with studying health care access and possible expansion holds its first meeting on Friday. The committee could submit proposed legislation to the full General Assembly before this year’s session ends, the budget law says. (2/15)

Mississippi Clarion Ledger: West Nile Virus: Mississippi Health Department Reports 2nd Case
A second case of West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne illness, was reported in a Hinds County resident on Tuesday. West Nile virus season typically occurs July through October. However, mosquitoes can carry the virus anytime of the year. The Mississippi State Department of Health reported the state's first 2022 case Jan. 28. The virus can cause flu-like symptoms in people who are bitten by infected mosquitoes. It can progress to be more serious, leading to meningitis or encephalitis. Since 2015, five people in Mississippi have died of the virus. (Haselhorst, 2/15)

AP: Wolf Official Pressed Over Fate Of 3 Elderly In Philadelphia
The head of Pennsylvania’s Department of Aging refused to tell lawmakers Tuesday whether three older adults are alive or dead, after department employees raised an alarm over how a Philadelphia agency handled the three cases of abuse or neglect. The Associated Press reported in September that those cases prompted Secretary of Aging Robert Torres to order improvements at the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, a nonprofit with a state contract to field and respond to calls about elder abuse and neglect in the city. (Levy, 2/16)

NPR: Homeless Youth And Children Are Wildly Undercounted, Advocates Say
Dominique Marshall moved a lot in her youth. She called many different places "home" over short periods of time when she was 17. She learned at a young age that the public school staff and liaisons she grew up around weren't adequately trained to recognize homeless students. "I wasn't identified at the school I was at and because of that I didn't qualify for many services until I went to a shelter," Marshall, 23, says. "Even then, the liaison in Philadelphia didn't really have a conversation about what was going on." (Beiner, 2/15)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Plantar Fasciitis, Achilles Tendinitis, Foot Pain Symptoms Rising During COVID-19 Pandemic
Foot pain has been on the rise during the pandemic, as people working from home kicked off their supportive shoes in favor of flimsy slippers and flip-flops, while others, including Hudson, used the time to become more active, which put new strain on their feet. “In March 2020 I said … ‘Oh, my goodness, everyone is going to have plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinitis,” recalled Laura Virtue-Delayo, the president of the Pennsylvania Podiatric Medical Association. Her prediction panned out: Podiatrists, orthopedic surgeons and physical therapists say they’re seeing more cases of plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinitis — two common foot-pain conditions — than ever before. (Gantz, 2/15)

Bloomberg: U.S. Vaccines Sent Overseas Turned Away Amid Logistics Trouble
The Biden administration says some foreign countries haven’t been able to accept their full allocation of vaccine donations from the U.S., as they increasingly grapple with logistical barriers and vaccine hesitancy. “There have been moments, yes, where countries are not able to receive the doses that we’re able to provide,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing Tuesday. She didn’t identify the countries. The U.S. has donated and shipped 437 million doses abroad so far, more than any other nation, and pledged a total of at least 1.2 billion. President Joe Biden held a virtual summit in September to muster a more coordinated global response, though advocates say that’s still lacking. (Wingrove, 2/15)

Reuters: Exclusive: Short AstraZeneca Shelf Life Complicates COVID Vaccine Rollout To World's Poorest 
The relatively short shelf life of AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine is complicating the rollout to the world's poorest nations, according to officials and internal World Health Organization documents reviewed by Reuters. It is the latest headache to plague the COVAX vaccine-sharing project, co-led by the WHO and aimed at getting shots to the world's neediest people. (Guarascio and Rigby, 2/16)

AP: WHO Europe Warns Of COVID Rise In East, Like Russia, Ukraine
The head of the World Health Organization’s Europe office said Tuesday that health officials are turning their attention to growing rates of COVID-19 infection in Eastern Europe, where six countries — including Russia and Ukraine — have seen a doubling in case counts over the last two weeks. (2/15)

Reuters: Omicron Surge Was More Deadly In Japan After Booster Delay, Critics Say
A Japanese government delay in rolling out COVID-19 booster shots left it more vulnerable than other rich countries when the Omicron variant brought a surge of deaths, say experts, local governments and a former vaccine czar. The issue could mean political trouble for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as nearly 30% of the population is aged 65 or older, and so at greater risk from the coronavirus without the protection of the booster. (Swift and Lies, 2/16)

The Hill: Canada To Ease Restrictions For Vaccinated Travelers 
Canada will be easing restrictions for fully vaccinated travelers beginning next month as the peak in new cases fueled by the COVID-19 omicron variant is believed to have passed. Beginning on Feb. 28, fully vaccinated travelers arriving into Canada will be allowed to use a rapid antigen test instead of a molecular test. Vaccinated travelers will also now be randomly selected for testing upon arrival and will not be required to quarantine while they wait for their results. (Choi, 2/15)