First Edition: Jan. 13, 2021

KHN: Feeling Left Out: Private Practice Doctors, Patients Wonder When It’s Their Turn For Vaccine 
Dr. Andrew Carroll — a family doctor in Chandler, Arizona — wants to help his patients get immunized against covid, so he paid more than $4,000 to buy an ultra-low-temperature freezer from eBay needed to store the Pfizer vaccine. But he’s not sure he’ll get a chance to use it, given health officials have so far not said when private doctor’s offices will get vaccine. “I’m really angry,” said Carroll. (Appleby, 1/13)

KHN: Are You Old Enough To Get Vaccinated? In Tennessee, They’re Using The Honor System 
In December, all states began vaccinating only health care workers and residents and staffers of nursing homes in the “phase 1A” priority group. But, since the new year began, some states have also started giving shots to — or booking appointments for — other categories of seniors and essential workers. As states widen eligibility requirements for who can get a covid-19 vaccine, health officials are often taking people’s word that they qualify, thereby prioritizing efficiency over strict adherence to distribution plans. (Farmer, 1/13)

KHN: Hospitals’ Rocky Rollout Of Covid Vaccine Sparks Questions Of Fairness 
Last week, after finishing inoculations of some front-line hospital staff, Jupiter Medical Center was left with 40 doses of precious covid vaccine. So, officials offered shots to the South Florida hospital’s board of directors and their spouses over age 65.But that decision sparked outrage among workers left unvaccinated, including those at one of the hospital’s urgent care clinics, or who believe the hospital was currying favor with wealthy insiders before getting all its staffers protected, according to a hospital employee who spoke on the condition of not being named. (Galewitz, 1/13)

AP: US Will Require All Arriving Passengers To Get COVID-19 Test
Anyone flying to the U.S. will soon need to show proof of a negative test for COVID-19, health officials announced Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requirement expands on a similar one announced late last month for passengers coming from the United Kingdom. The new order takes effect in two weeks. (Stobbe and Koenig, 1/12)

The New York Times: Covid-19: U.S. To Require Negative Virus Tests From International Air Travelers 
The new policy requires all air passengers, regardless of vaccination status, to get a test for current infection within the three days before their flight to the United States departs, and to provide written documentation of their test results or proof of having recovered from Covid-19. Proof of immunization will not be sufficient, because the vaccines have only been shown to prevent serious illness, said Jason McDonald, a spokesman for the C.D.C. Vaccinated people may still become infected, in theory, and transmit the virus on a flight. (1/13)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. To Require Covid-19 Tests For All International Visitors 
Travelers arriving on international flights to the U.S. will need to get tested within three days of flying, and airlines will be required to deny boarding to anyone without documentation of a negative test, the CDC said. The order exempts airline crew, along with military personnel and passengers under 2 years old. (Hackman and Restuccia, 1/12)

Reuters: U.S. To Require Negative COVID-19 Tests For Arriving International Air Passengers 
All travelers aged 2 and older must comply except passengers who are only transiting through the United States. The CDC will also consider waivers of testing requirements for airlines flying to countries with little or no testing capacity, including some places in the Caribbean. The order dramatically broadens a requirement imposed on Dec. 28 for travelers arriving from the UK as a more transmissible variant of the virus circulated there. (Shepardson, 1/12)

The New York Times: Supreme Court Revives Abortion-Pill Restriction 
The contested measure requires women to appear in person to pick up the mifepristone and to sign a form, even when they had already consulted with their doctors remotely. The women can then take the drug when and where they choose. There is no requirement that women pick up misoprostol in person, and it is available at retail and mail-order pharmacies. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other groups, all represented by the A.C.L.U., sued to suspend the requirement that women make a trip to obtain the first drug in light of the pandemic. There was no good reason, the groups said, to require a visit when the drug could be delivered or mailed. (Liptak, 1/12)

The Hill: Supreme Court Rules Trump Administration Can Enforce Rule Requiring Abortion Pills Be Obtained In Person 
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration could enforce a rule requiring that abortion pills be obtained in person at approved health care facilities and not through the mail or delivery — even during a pandemic. Lower courts had previously sided with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which sued the Trump administration last year, arguing the longstanding Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule endangered the health of individuals seeking mifepristone, a medication abortion pill, during the pandemic. (Hellmann, 1/12)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Restores Requirements For Medication Abortions, Siding With Trump Administration 
The court’s conservative majority did not explain its reasoning, as is common in emergency applications. ... Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote separately to say he went along with the decision to dissolve the lower court’s stay out of respect for government experts. My view is that courts owe significant deference to the politically accountable entities with the ‘background, competence, and expertise to assess public health,’ ” Roberts wrote, referring to an opinion he wrote upholding state limits on attendance at church worship services. (Barnes, 1/12)

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Joins With Trump On Restricting Abortion Pills
The justices, by a 6-3 vote, set aside a Maryland judge’s nationwide order that waived the in-person pickup rule on the grounds that it was medically unnecessary and posed a health risk for women during the pandemic. All six conservatives voted in the majority, and the three liberals in dissent. ... The incoming Biden administration could seek to change the rule, but that could be a lengthy process.(Savage, 1/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Restores Mandate That Women Pick Up Abortion Drugs In Person
Dissenting, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the policy “imposes an unnecessary, unjustifiable, irrational, and undue burden on women seeking an abortion.” Justice Sotomayor’s dissent, joined by Justice Elena Kagan, argued that the Trump administration’s position made no sense. (Bravin, 1/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Chinese Covid-19 Vaccine Far Less Effective Than Initially Touted In Brazil 
Brazil’s Butantan Institute, a São Paulo-based public institute that is the first to complete late-stage trials of the CoronaVac vaccine, had said last week that it was shown to be 78% effective and offer total protection against severe cases of the disease. But after rising pressure from Brazilian scientists, some of whom accused the trial’s organizers of misleading the public, Butantan said Tuesday those rates only included volunteers who suffered mild to severe cases of Covid-19. When data from all volunteers was considered—including those who contracted “very mild” cases of Covid-19 and required no medical assistance—the total efficacy rate fell to 50.4%, Butantan said. (Pearson, Magalhaes and Deng, 1/12)

CNN: Chinese Covid-19 Vaccine Far Less Effective Than Initially Claimed In Brazil, Sparking Concerns
Despite the worse than anticipated results, Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the US based Council on Foreign Relations, said the Sinovac vaccine would still be "usable" by helping to relieve pressures on healthcare systems while reducing potential deaths, given its higher efficacy for moderate and severe cases that would require medical treatment. (Gan and Arias, 1/13)

BBC News: Sinovac: Brazil Results Show Chinese Vaccine 50.4% Effective 
Last week researchers at the Butantan Institute, which has been conducting the trials in Brazil, announced that the vaccine had a 78% efficacy against "mild-to-severe" Covid-19 cases. But on Tuesday they revealed that calculations for this figure did not include data from a group of "very mild infections" among those who received the vaccine that did not require clinical assistance. With the inclusion of this data, the efficacy rate is now 50.4%, said researchers. (1/12)

The Washington Post: Biden Team Sees Risks In Trump Decision To Widen Vaccine Pool 
Advisers to President-elect Joe Biden are balking at a decision by the Trump administration to dramatically increase the number of people eligible for the coronavirus vaccine, believing the changes could overwhelm states and create unrealistic expectations for millions of Americans waiting for shots. At issue are changes to the vaccine rollout announced Tuesday by the Trump administration. Officials instructed states to begin vaccinating tens of millions of people with a high-risk medical condition putting them at increased risk of dying from the coronavirus, along with all adults 65 and older. Including both those groups immediately adds another 100 million people potential seeking shots, bringing the total to about 184 million and intensifying demand on already stressed sign-up systems. (Sun and Stanley-Becker, 1/12)

Politico: Trump’s Abrupt Shift On Covid Shots May Sow More Chaos
CDC Director Robert Redfield downplayed the impact of the new policy, saying the advisory board’s guidance never guaranteed that everyone in those groups would be immunized before moving on to lower-priority groups. And the federal health official said the administration’s intention is not to skip over essential workers. ... But flooding the system with more vaccine alone won’t work without setting up more vaccination sites and providing more material support, experts say. “In order for us to efficiently move doses into arms, a strong understanding of how many doses to expect this week, next week, and the following weeks is needed,” Claire Hannan, the executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, wrote in an email. (Ollstein and Roubein, 1/12)

Stat: U.S. Plan To Expand Covid-19 Vaccine Access Likely Sets Up New Debacles
As health authorities across the country struggle to get Covid-19 vaccination programs up and running, outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar threw a new wrench into the works on Tuesday, telling states to expand priority access to tens of millions of additional people immediately. But it will be several months before there is enough vaccine available to meet that kind of demand. (Branswell, 1/12)

STAT: CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines Prioritize People With Type 2 Diabetes Over Type 1. Why?
The CDC’s interpretation of risk differs from the decision made by U.K. health officials to include both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in its list of conditions that pose higher risk after Covid-19 infection. The CDC responded with a statement that reiterates the guidelines and current evidence used to write them. “This list is a living document that will be periodically updated by CDC, and it could rapidly change as the science evolves,” Kristen Nordlund of CDC’s public affairs office wrote Monday. States are free to create their own priority lists, and in Tennessee, for example, people with both types of diabetes are classified together as at higher risk than the general population. (Cooney, 1/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Officials Scramble To Provide Booking Systems For Covid-19 Vaccines 
After a week of unsuccessful attempts to book an appointment for a Covid-19 vaccine, Katie Solovey’s parents turned to her for help. The 34-year-old’s parents spend their winters in Siesta Key, Fla., part of Sarasota County, which is using Eventbrite Inc.’s ticketing platform to schedule vaccine appointments. The platform is familiar to Ms. Solovey, but not to some older people including her parents, who are in their 70s, she said. Her father was also using a first-generation iPad on a shaky wireless connection, making it hard to enter all the information required before the system timed him out. (Deighton and Alcantara, 1/12)

NPR: 3rd Member Of Congress Tests Positive For Coronavirus, Blames Capitol Attack Lockdown
On Tuesday, Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., announced he has tested positive for the coronavirus after sheltering in place with other lawmakers who refused to wear masks. "I am at least the third Member from that room paying the price," Schneider said, noting positive coronavirus tests from Jayapal and Rep. Bonnie Coleman, D-N.J. Schneider shared a video of the scene, saying, "Several Republican lawmakers in the room adamantly refused to wear a mask, as demonstrated in video from Punchbowl News, even when politely asked by their colleagues." (Chappell, 1/12)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna To Stop Contributions To Some Lawmakers Following Capitol Riots
Cigna is the latest insurer to stop contributions to some federal lawmakers following the riot at the Capitol last week. Cigna said in an email that its political action committee will "discontinue support of any elected official who encouraged or supported violence, or otherwise hindered a peaceful transition of power." Cigna's announcement is on the heels of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which vowed to stop political contributions to lawmakers who voted to object electoral college results from the presidential election following a riot at the Capitol. Other insurers and healthcare organizations are either reviewing their policies for political contributions or pausing them entirely. (Castellucci, 1/12)

Stat: Scott Atlas, Controversial Former Trump Adviser, Deletes Twitter Account
Scott Atlas, the radiologist who served for much of 2020 as President Trump’s most controversial coronavirus adviser, deleted his Twitter account this week, he confirmed to STAT, apparently in response to the social media site’s removal of many accounts following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. “In my view, Twitter has become a destructive place that mainly inflames extreme thinking and disseminates distortions, rather than elucidating factual information and respectful, civilized discussion,” Atlas said in an email. (Herper and Facher, 1/12)

Modern Healthcare: New Rule Makes It Harder For HHS To Penalize Guidance Violations
HHS officials bolstered President Donald Trump's deregulation agenda on Tuesday, signing off on a rule that makes it more difficult for regulators to go after individuals and organizations for not following standards laid out in guidance documents. The rule effectively bans the department from penalizing individuals and organizations for noncompliance with a standard or practice if HHS only announced it in a guidance document. It also lays out a substantial process HHS must follow to carry out civil enforcement actions for potential violations. HHS said the rule is necessary to ensure fairness. (Brady, 1/12)

Politico: FDA Fights For Independence In Trump Administration's Final Days 
The Department of Health and Human Services is rushing to enact major policy changes at the Food and Drug Administration without the agency’s input — the latest example of Trump political appointees exerting control over scientific decisions. FDA was blindsided Monday when HHS Secretary Alex Azar approved rules designed to reduce scrutiny of drugs and medical devices before they reach market, four senior FDA officials and a person familiar with discussions said. Now the agency is trying to stop HHS from jamming through an industry-backed plan to effectively strip FDA oversight of genetically modified animals. (Owermohle and Cancryn, 1/12)

The Hill: Incoming CDC Director Vows To Tell The Truth, Restore Trust 
The incoming director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vowed in a New York Times op-ed published Monday to tell the public the truth, “even when the news is bleak.” Rochelle Walensky, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the embattled agency, acknowledged the CDC will have to work “very hard to restore public trust.” (Hellmann, 1/12)

CNN: US Coronavirus: The US Has Suffered Its Worst Day Ever For Covid-19 Deaths 
The US reported its highest daily number of Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday with more than 4,320 fatalities attributed to the virus. It marked the second time -- both this month and since the pandemic's start -- that the US reported more than 4,000 Covid-19 deaths in a single day. Over the past week, the US has averaged more than 3,300 deaths every day, a jump of more than 217% from mid-November. (Maxouris, 1/13)

The Hill: Maryland Residents Test Positive For UK Strain Of Coronavirus 
Two Maryland residents have tested positive for the United Kingdom variant of the coronavirus, becoming the first confirmed cases in the state, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Tuesday. According to Hogan, one of the individuals had recently returned from traveling abroad, while the other is that person's spouse. Both are in isolation, and health authorities are conducting contact tracing, Hogan said. (Weixel, 1/12)

Las Vegas Review Journal: Las Vegas Hospital Issues Disaster Declaration Because Of COVID Wave Of Patients
With COVID-19 patients pushing hospitals across Southern Nevada to near capacity, one Las Vegas hospital issued a disaster declaration over the weekend. St. Rose Dominican Hospital, San Martin campus, issued the declaration Saturday, when a surge in patients increased occupancy in its intensive care unit to 137 percent, according to an email obtained by the Review-Journal that was sent by the administration to hospital physicians. The 147-bed hospital had a general occupancy of 121 percent as it treated 73 patients with COVID-19. “As we experience a sustained increase in critically ill COVID-19 patients, key resources are in limited supply: hospital beds, ICU and health care staff,” hospital spokesman Gordon Absher said in response to questions about the declaration. (Hynes, 1/12)

The Hill: WHO Official Warns Global Herd Immunity From COVID-19 Won't Happen Until 2022
An official with the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that herd immunity from COVID-19 vaccines will not happen this year and physical distancing and mask wearing will need to continue into 2022. WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the quick development of vaccines is a testament to scientists around the world, but cautioned that scaling the production on a global basis takes time. (Weixel, 1/12)

Fox News: US Cancer Deaths Hit ‘Single-Year Record Drop,’ American Cancer Society Says
Cancer death rates in the United States hit a record 2.4% decrease in 2018, marking a record for the second year in a row and contributing to a 31% drop since 1990, the American Cancer Society announced Tuesday. The organization tied the progress -- which translates to about 3.2 million fewer deaths -- to less smoking and continuing advances in lung cancer treatment, comprising nearly 50% of the total drop in deaths from 2014 to 2018. The overall cancer mortality rate among men and women in 2018 was 149 cases per 100,000 people. (Rivas, 1/12)

The Hill: US Cancer Death Rate Fell Record Amount From 2017 To 2018 
The death rate from cancer in the United States fell by a record 2.4 percent between 2017 and 2018, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society. The drop marks the second year in a row with a record decline in the cancer death rate, following a 2.2 percent drop from 2016 to 2017. An improvement in lung cancer treatment helped drive the latest decline, the report said. (Sullivan, 1/12)

AP: Another Record Decline Reported In US Cancer Death Rate
Researchers on Tuesday reported another record one-year decline in the U.S. cancer death rate, a drop they attribute to success against lung cancer. The overall cancer death rate has been falling since 1991. From 2017 to 2018, it fell 2.4%, according to an American Cancer Society report, topping the record 2.2% drop reported the year before. (Stobbe, 1/12)

The Washington Post: Foot Pain And Broken Toes Resulting From Pandemic Life 
The coronavirus hasn’t been satisfied with unleashing a serious, contagious disease that has altered everyday life around the planet. In its overachieving way, it is also responsible for increases in anxiety and depression, teeth-grinding, anger, sleeplessness, migraines and another physical ailment being noted by orthopedists and podiatrists: “There’s a pandemic of broken toes,” said John Keeling, an orthopedic surgeon in Chevy Chase, Md. He estimates the number of broken toes seen at his office has tripled or quadrupled. (Chang, 1/12)

Stat: Verve Selects Its First CRISPR Base Editing Treatment For Human Trials
Verve Therapeutics said Tuesday its one-time treatment that uses the “base editing” form of CRISPR to remove a cholesterol-associated gene in monkeys has demonstrated durable and significant reductions in LDL “bad” cholesterol for six months. Based on these new data, Verve intends to advance the treatment, called VERVE-101, into clinical development for people born with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HeFH, a genetic heart disease that causes lifelong, high LDL levels. (Feuerstein, 1/12)

AP: Key Moments In Flint, Michigan’s Lead-Tainted Water Crisis
The Flint water crisis began in 2014 when the city began taking water from the Flint River without treating it properly, contaminating it with lead. Here’s a look at some key moments since then. (1/12)

The Washington Post: Chicago School System Locks Out Some Teachers, Withholds Pay For Not Returning To In-Person Instruction 
Chicago opened public school classrooms this week for the first time since the spring, but 18 percent of teachers and staffers required to return Monday did not do so, according to the school district, which is starting disciplinary procedures against some employees. On Monday night, Chicago Public Schools notified 145 employees that they were considered absent without leave and that their pay would be docked beginning Tuesday. Some teachers who spent Monday teaching virtually instead of returning for in-person instruction were also locked out of their Google Classroom accounts in the evening, according to a district email that many teachers received. (Reiss, 1/12)

The Washington Post: Fairfax County Sheriff's Office Deputy Dies Of Covid-19, Officials Say 
A veteran Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office deputy has died of covid-19 amid an outbreak of the coronavirus at the county jail that has sickened more than 30 guards and inmates in recent days, authorities said. The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office declined to say whether the death of Frederick “Butch” Cameron, 51, was directly related to the current wave of cases at the jail, but a spokeswoman described his death as in the “line of duty.” Sheriff’s deputies guard the jail and the courthouse in Fairfax County. (Jouvenal, 1/12)

The New York Times: 150-Foot Vessel Sculpture At Hudson Yards Closes After 3rd Suicide 
The Vessel, the spiraling staircase at Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s Far West Side, was closed to visitors on Tuesday, a day after a 21-year-old man jumped to his death in the third suicide in less than a year. It was unclear when the 150-foot structure, the vast development’s centerpiece, would reopen to the public. A spokesman for Related Companies, the developer of Hudson Yards, said that the structure was “temporarily closed” and that the firm was consulting with suicide-prevention experts, including psychiatrists, about how to limit the potential for more suicides. (Shanahan and de Freytas-Tamura, 1/12)

The New York Times: Does Double-Masking Help Slow The Spread Of Covid?
Football coaches do it. President-elects do it. Even science-savvy senators do it. As cases of the coronavirus continue to surge on a global scale, some of the nation’s most prominent people have begun to double up on masks — a move that researchers say is increasingly being backed up by data. Double-masking isn’t necessary for everyone. But for people with thin or flimsy face coverings, “if you combine multiple layers, you start achieving pretty high efficiencies” of blocking viruses from exiting and entering the airway, said Linsey Marr, an expert in virus transmission at Virginia Tech and an author on a recent commentary laying out the science behind mask-wearing. (Wu, 1/12)

Reuters: Public Trust Crumbles Amid COVID, Fake News - Survey
Trust in governments, business chiefs and media is crumbling amid a perceived mishandling by leaders of the coronavirus pandemic and a widespread feeling among ordinary citizens that they are being misled, a global survey has found. The Edelman Trust Barometer, which for two decades has polled thousands of people on their trust in core institutions, found 57% of people believe government leaders, business chiefs and journalists are spreading falsehoods or exaggerations. (John, 1/13)

Stat: Health Tech Experts Explain Why Trust Is Crucial For Clinical AI Tools 
It was a slight departure from the usual Consumer Electronics Show panel: Rather than touting the latest health gadgets that attendees have come to expect from the annual Las Vegas tech bonanza, panelists at a session on trust in AI for health care grappled with how to ensure the tools don’t worsen inequality or create new problems for health care providers. (Brodwin, 1/12)

AP: California Lifts Stay-Home Order For Sacramento Region
California lifted a stay-at-home order in the 13-county Sacramento region on Tuesday as hospital conditions improved, a rare turn of good news as the state pushes through what Gov. Gavin Newsom called “its most intense surge” of the coronavirus. The order imposed Dec. 10 banned gatherings outside a household and shuttered or restricted many businesses. With virus cases and hospitalizations more stable now, the region can resume outdoor dining and worship services, reopen hair and nail salons and other businesses, and increase capacity at retailers Gatherings of up to three households are allowed. (Ronayne, 1/12)

AP: Austin Opens COVID-19 Field Hospital In Convention Center
The Austin area opened a field hospital in a convention center Tuesday as cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus continue to soar. The opening came as state health officials reported that Texas had surpassed 14,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients for the first time, as well as 22,000 more newly confirmed cases. For now, the Austin field hospital will have 25 beds and can expand if needed. (1/13)

AP: Cuomo Pitches Rapid Testing To Open Restaurants, Theaters
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday he wants to start opening restaurants, theaters and offices by launching rapid testing sites in New York City and eventually at hundreds of new sites in other city centers throughout the state. An individual could theoretically get tested and in 15 minutes go to a dinner or movie, under the Democratic governor’s plan, which he said could also help get more people onto mass transit. Cuomo said he’ll partner with the real estate community and work with local governments to reduce bureaucratic hurdles. (Willeneuve, 1/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Rapid-Test Sites Planned For New York Office Buildings 
New York is working to open up Covid-19 rapid-testing sites at commercial buildings to help return workers to their offices, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. The expansion of rapid-testing facilities would allow the state to loosen social-distancing measures, including on theaters and restaurants, which have had to limit or close their operations during the pandemic, the governor said. Several of New York’s largest landlords said Tuesday that they are participating in the effort. (Honan and Grant, 1/12)

AP: Hemingway Look-Alikes Urge Mask-Wearing In Florida Keys
Ernest Hemingway look-alikes are being used by the Florida Keys tourism council to encourage visitors and residents to wear masks to protect against COVID-19. The men, a former winner and five regular contestants in Key West’s annual “Papa” Hemingway Look-Alike Contest, appear in a short video that debuted Monday evening on Keys’ social media outlets, urging compliance with coronavirus health protocols. (1/12)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia Supervised Injection Site Plan Rejected By Federal Court
In a setback to advocates who had hoped to open the nation’s first supervised injection site in Philadelphia, a federal appellate court ruled Tuesday that such a facility would violate a law known as the “crack house” statute and open its operators to potential prosecution. In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit lauded the goals behind Safehouse — the nonprofit that, in an attempt to stem the city’s tide of opioid-related deaths, has proposed the site to provide medical supervision to people using drugs. But, Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas wrote for the majority, “Safehouse’s benevolent motive makes no difference.” “Congress has made it a crime to open a property to others to use drugs,” he added. “And that is what Safehouse will do.” (Roebuck and Whelan, 1/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Can You Pay Someone To Stop Using Meth? Proposed California Legislation Would Boost Drug Treatment Option
As overdose deaths soar throughout California, proposed state legislation would legalize a program that encourages people to curb their methamphetamine use with incentives like gift cards and cash. The approach, called contingency management, is a controversial but effective practice. Researchers have found it helps people control their substance use, particularly for methamphetamine. It’s yet another approach that San Francisco officials hope they can use to address the deadly drug epidemic that killed approximately two people a day in the city last year. (Thadani, 1/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Irish Inquiry Finds 9,000 Infants Died In Homes For Unwed Mothers 
More than 9,000 infants died in homes for unmarried mothers in Ireland between the 1920s and the 1990s, many run by Catholic religious orders, a long-awaited inquiry concluded after years of campaigning from survivors and their offspring. In some years during the 1930s and 1940s, the report said, more than 40% of the children in the mother-and-baby homes were dying before their first birthday, high mortality rates often known to the government and local authorities. (Fidler, 1/12)

NBC News: 9,000 Children Died In Irish Mother-And-Baby Homes, Report Finds
The nearly 3,000-page report describes the emotional and even physical abuse some of the 56,000 unmarried mothers — from farmhands to domestic servants — were subjected to in the so-called mother-and-baby homes. "It appears that there was little kindness shown to them and this was particularly the case when they were giving birth," the report said. The homes, many run by nuns and members of the Roman Catholic Church, operated in Ireland for most of the 20th century, with the last home closing as recently as 1998. They received state funding and also acted as adoption agencies — with many of the children adopted to families in the United States. (Talmazan, Suliman and Skinner, 1/12)

NBC News: She Was A 'Guinea Pig' In An Irish Institution. Now She's Hoping For Justice.
Four decades after she left the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork, Ireland, Mari Steed made a horrifying discovery. While there as an infant, she had been part of what she calls a “highly unethical” vaccine trial. Starting at 5 months old, Steed was vaccinated at least three times with an experimental shot to prevent diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and polio, her medical records, which she shared with NBC News, revealed. Steed, now 60, later learned the vaccine was administered without the knowledge of her birth mother, with whom she lived for the first 18 months of her life at Bessborough. (Chuck and Skinner, 1/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Iran, Cuba, Under U.S. Sanctions, Team Up For Covid-19 Vaccine Trials 
Iran and Cuba have begun trials of a joint Covid-19 vaccine, as Tehran fights the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East while pledging not to use vaccines from the U.S. and U.K. The Cuban vaccine, called Soberana 02, is the most advanced of Cuba’s four vaccine candidates and will be developed in cooperation between Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute and Iran’s Pasteur Institute, authorities from both countries said Monday. (Rasmussen and Eqbali, 1/12)

Bloomberg: Drugmakers Push Back on U.K. Plan to Stretch Out Vaccine Doses
Global drugmakers added to doubts raised about Britain’s strategy for giving Covid-19 vaccines to as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. Industry groups representing pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. and Europe on Wednesday joined the top medicines regulators in both markets in questioning any moves to alter the timing or dosage of Covid-19 shots in a bid to stretch supplies. “The biopharmaceutical industry supports adhering to the dosing that has been assessed in clinical trials,” according to their statement. Any changes from approved vaccine dosing and schedules “should follow the science and be based on a transparent deliberation of the available data.” (Paton, 1/13)

Bloomberg: Mexico Posts Largest Daily Increase In Covid-19 Deaths
Mexico reported the highest daily increase in Covid-19 deaths after breaking its own record last week with the government struggling to contain the current outbreak. Deaths reached 1,314 on Tuesday, the single highest increase apart from Oct. 5, when health authorities adjusted their way of calculating fatalities from the novel coronavirus. Mexico, which has the fourth-highest death toll from the virus, now counts 135,682 fatalities and 1,556,028 cases. The nation’s capital has seen a surge in hospitalizations, and Mexico City will remain on the highest Covid alert over the coming days, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said last week. (Orozco, 1/13)

CIDRAP: Group Creates Global Ebola Vaccine Stockpile
Public health officials have a new tool to combat Ebola, which kills about half of the people it infects: a global vaccine stockpile. In a news release today, the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision said the effort will allow countries, with the support of humanitarian organizations, to mitigate future outbreaks quickly. This is the ICG's fourth stockpile, following ones created to combat yellow fever, meningitis, and cholera outbreaks. (McLernon, 1/12)