First Edition: Jan. 27, 2022

KHN: CDC Tells Pharmacies To Give 4th Covid Shots To Immunocompromised Patients
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reached out to pharmacists Wednesday to reinforce the message that people with moderate to severe immune suppression are eligible for fourth covid shots. The conference call came a day after KHN reported that immunocompromised people were being turned away by pharmacy employees unfamiliar with the latest CDC guidelines. (Szabo, 1/26)

KHN: Resistance To A Boston Hospital’s Expansion Centers On Rising Prices
A boisterous political battle over a proposed expansion by the largest and most expensive hospital system in Massachusetts is spotlighting questions about whether similar expansions by big health systems around the country drive up health care costs. Mass General Brigham, which owns 11 hospitals in the state, has proposed a $2.3 billion expansion including a new 482-bed tower at its flagship Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a 78-bed addition to Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. The most controversial element, however, is a plan to build three comprehensive ambulatory care centers, offering physician services, surgery, and diagnostic imaging, in three suburbs west of Boston. (Meyer, 1/27)

KHN: Watch: ER Charged $1,012 For Almost No Care 
“CBS Mornings” host Tony Dokoupil interviewed KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal about January’s Bill of the Month installment, a collaboration with NPR. The Bhatt family of St. Peters, Missouri, was charged $1,012 for an emergency room visit for son Martand. The toddler had burned his hand on a stove days before, and, after it started blistering, his pediatrician recommended a trip to the emergency room at the nearest children’s hospital. A nurse practitioner examined the child and recommended a surgeon also see the wound. But the surgeon didn’t show after more than an hour, and the family left without the dressing on the wound even being changed. (1/27)

KHN: Readers And Tweeters: Give Nurse Practitioners Their Due
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (1/27)

The New York Times: Stephen Breyer To Retire From Supreme Court 
With conservatives now in full control of the court, replacing Justice Breyer with another liberal would not change its ideological balance or affect its rightward trajectory in cases on abortion, gun rights, religion or affirmative action. But the opening provides Mr. Biden a chance to put his stamp on the court — the last justice nominated by a Democrat was Elena Kagan by President Barack Obama nearly a dozen years ago — and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill said they intended to move quickly to begin the confirmation process once Mr. Biden selects a successor for Justice Breyer. (Liptak, 1/26)

The Washington Post: What Does Breyer’s Retirement Mean For Roe V. Wade? 
This summer, the Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision on an abortion case in Mississippi that could reshape abortion laws in America. That means Breyer — a reliably liberal vote — will be a part of that decision. But the court is also just beginning the process of thinking about what it will hear next term. And it just announced it’s going to hear a case asking whether universities can use affirmative action to accept new students — another long-held target of conservatives. That case will probably be heard by a Supreme Court with Breyer’s successor. Affirmative action tends to benefit Black and Hispanic applicants, and Biden has promised to nominate a Black woman to the court — an unusually frank promise by a president. The court is also expected to hear in its next term a major case on climate change. (Phillips, 1/26)

The Washington Post: Justice Stephen Breyer’s Court Legacy 
In nearly three decades on the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen G. Breyer routinely found himself on the losing side of contentious issues but managed to cultivate collegiality as a centrist problem-solver, concerned about the real-world implications of the court’s decisions and protecting its reputation. Often overshadowed by the late liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Breyer will leave a legacy when he retires at the end of the current term as a steadfast supporter of abortion rights, the environment and health-care coverage — and for his questions about the constitutionality of the death penalty. (Marimow, 1/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Breyer’s Departure Has Political Risks, Opportunities For Democrats 
Justice Breyer’s expected announcement, which has been sought by liberal activists, could motivate core Democratic voters after Mr. Biden has suffered from setbacks to his legislative agenda in Congress and public fatigue from the coronavirus pandemic. It could also energize conservative voters if GOP senators are able to cast Mr. Biden’s nominee as too far to the left on hot-button social issues. Within hours of Wednesday’s news, Mr. Trump’s political action committee sent a fundraising email warning that Mr. Biden would “appoint a LIBERAL ACTIVIST” to the court. (Thomas, Collins and Andrews, 1/26)

AP: Breyer: A Pragmatic Approach Searching For A Middle Ground 
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has the air of an absent-minded professor, once joking in court that his wife put directions in his pocket to keep him from getting lost. He concocts outlandish hypothetical questions to try to get answers to difficult questions, often to the frustration of lawyers with limited time to make their arguments. But if Breyer cultivates such an image, it does not mask a razor-sharp intellect, a sunny disposition or a relentlessly pragmatic approach to the law that often finds him searching for a middle ground or grasping for an outcome he can live with on an increasingly conservative court. (Sherman, 1/27)

Politico: Why Not To Expect A Scorched Earth Fight Over Breyer’s Replacement 
The conservative movement has, for decades, prioritized Supreme Court fights over nearly all other forms of political battle. But a survey on Wednesday of some of the top officials and activists in that universe indicates that they aren’t planning a vicious political fight over President Joe Biden’s pick to replace retiring Justice Steven Breyer. At least not yet. (McGraw and Fuchs, 1/26)

Politico: Supreme Court Confirmation Fight To Make History In 50-50 Senate 
Democrats’ razor-thin majority will have to make history to confirm Stephen Breyer’s successor to the Supreme Court. A 50-50 Senate has never done it before. As the White House considers candidates to replace the retiring justice, they’ll need a judge who is guaranteed to garner support from every member of the Democratic caucus. That raises the stakes for the confirmation battle, but also provides some comfort for Democrats: as long as they stay unified, Republicans can’t stop Breyer’s successor from being confirmed. Republicans scrapped the 60-vote threshold on high court nominees in 2017. (Levine and Everett, 1/26)

Politico: Biden's Supreme Court Shortlist 
There are comparatively few Black women in the highest reaches of the federal judiciary, though Biden has been active in bolstering those numbers as part of a broader emphasis on diversifying the courts, both in terms of demographics and professional background. (Niedzwiadek, 1/26)

AP: Moderna Begins Testing Omicron-Matched COVID Shots In Adults 
Moderna has begun testing an omicron-specific COVID-19 booster in healthy adults. The company announced Wednesday that the first participant had received a dose. Earlier this week, competitor Pfizer began a similar study of its own reformulated shots. (1/26)

The New York Times: Moderna Begins A Study Of A Booster Designed To Counter Omicron
Moderna also announced the results of a small laboratory study suggesting that the protection its authorized booster shot provides against Omicron infections is likely to fade over the course of six months. After a single dose of the current booster, the level of Omicron-fighting antibodies rose 20 times higher than their peak before the shot, the company said. After six months, however, these antibody levels had fallen more than sixfold, though they still remained detectable in all of the booster recipients studied. (Anthes, 1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Omicron Deaths In U.S. Exceed Delta’s Peak As Covid-19 Optimism Rises In Europe 
More signs emerged that the Omicron wave is taking a less serious human toll in Europe than earlier phases of the pandemic, while U.S. data showed daily average deaths from the disease exceeding the peak reached during the surge driven by the previously dominant Delta variant. In the U.S., the seven-day average for newly reported Covid-19 deaths reached 2,258 a day on Tuesday, up about 1,000 from daily death counts two months ago, data from Johns Hopkins University show. That is the highest since February 2021 as the country was emerging from the worst of last winter’s wave. (Kamp, Onque and Stancati, 1/26)

Charleston Gazette-Mail: WV Sets Record For COVID-19 Hospitalizations
West Virginia shattered its previous record for COVID-19 hospitalizations on Wednesday as state coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh warned the current surge has “not come close to peaking yet.” According to the Department of Health and Human Resources website’s dashboard, 1,043 people — including 15 children — were hospitalized because of the virus Wednesday. The previous high for hospitalizations was 1,012, set in September during the late summer surge driven by the delta variant. Of those hospitalized, 225 people — including three children — are in intensive care units and 107 are receiving care on ventilators. About 68% of those hospitalized are unvaccinated, according to the dashboard. (Coyne, 1/26)

Los Angeles Times: California Exceeds 8 Million Coronavirus Cases, Adding 2.5 Million Since New Year’s
California has now surpassed 8 million cumulative coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic, the end result of weeks of unprecedented spread fueled by the highly infectious Omicron variant. The milestone, equivalent to roughly 1 out of every 5 residents having been infected at some point, comes amid growing signs that Omicron has finally peaked — but not before tearing through California’s communities. Since New Year’s Day, 2.5 million coronavirus cases have been reported in California. That’s fast approaching the entire statewide caseload reported all of last year: 3.1 million. (Money, Lin II and Alpert Reyes, 1/26)

Los Angeles Times: 15-Month-Old Dies Of COVID-19 In L.A. County
An additional 91 COVID-19 deaths were reported in Los Angeles County on Wednesday, the second-highest daily total of the Omicron surge. One of the deaths was a 15-month-old, the youngest child to die of COVID-19. “This is the youngest resident to die of COVID-19 since the pandemic began and a stark reminder that the virus can cause devastating outcomes among those most vulnerable, including young children not yet eligible for vaccinations,” the county said in a statement. No details about the death were released. (Lin II and Money, 1/26)

AP: Mississippi Has 10th Pediatric Death From COVID-19
The Mississippi Health Department said Wednesday that a child has died of COVID-19. This was the state’s 10th pediatric death from the coronavirus since pandemic started in 2020. The department said it would not release the child’s name or hometown. It said all 10 of the children who died were unvaccinated but didn’t say how many were eligible for vaccination when they got sick. Some died before COVID-19 vaccinations became available for children 5 or older. The department said booster shots are recommended for people older than 12. (1/26)

Stat: Scarcity Of A Covid Drug Sends Patients On A 'Hunger Games Hunt' 
The first thing to know about M. is that for her, there was no pre-Delta surge of optimism. She has multiple sclerosis. Every six months, she gets an infusion to destroy her B-cells-gone-haywire and slow the havoc they’re wreaking on her spinal cord and brain. Those are the same B cells that would normally unleash an army of protective antibodies in response to a vaccine. Without them, her best bet to survive Covid was to avoid it — one long, anxious lockdown, as if nothing had changed since March 2020. Then, right around Christmas, something did change. There was a new glimmer of possibility — a prophylactic treatment called Evusheld, which might give her six months’ worth of the helpful antibodies her own body couldn’t make. The trouble was getting some. (Boodman, 1/27)

CIDRAP: Review: No Role For Convalescent Plasma In Most COVID Hospital Patients 
A prospective meta-analysis of international randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of convalescent plasma for the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients finds no clinical benefit in most cases. (Van Beusekom, 1/26)

AP: Vaccine Mandate To Kick In For First Wave Of Health Workers 
Health care workers in about half the states face a Thursday deadline to get their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine under a Biden administration mandate that will be rolled out across the rest of the country in the coming weeks. While the requirement is welcomed by some, others fear it will worsen already serious staff shortages if employees quit rather than comply. (Lieb and Hollingsworth, 1/26)

AP: Navy Discharges 1st Active-Duty Sailors For Vaccine Refusal 
The Navy said Tuesday that it has discharged 23 active-duty sailors for refusing the coronavirus vaccine, marking the first time it has thrown currently serving sailors out of the military over the mandatory shots. The discharges came as the Navy released new COVID-19 guidance that requires all deployed sailors and air crew to be vaccinated, but relaxes some quarantine practices on ships based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Baldor, 1/26)

AP: Alaska, Texas Governors Sue Over National Guard Vaccine Rule 
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in seeking to block the U.S. Department of Defense from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for National Guard members who are under state command. The Pentagon has required COVID-19 vaccination for all service members, including the National Guard and Reserve. Attorneys for the two governors, in an amended lawsuit dated Tuesday, say that when National Guard members are serving the state, the federal government has no command authority. The lawsuit said the mandate is an unconstitutional overstepping of bounds. (1/27)

AP: Montana Republicans Seek Leniency On Vaccine Mandates 
Montana’s governor and its two Republican members of Congress are asking the Biden administration to grant exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate to federally funded health care facilities where losing unvaccinated staff might jeopardize access to medical care. Gov. Greg Gianforte, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale made the request Wednesday in a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (Hanson, 1/26)

The Boston Globe: Mostly Educators Of Color Could Face Termination Due To Vaccine Mandate, Boston Teachers Union Says
Boston Public Schools, already struggling to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of its students, could lose dozens of educators of color when the city’s new employee vaccine mandate takes effect Monday, according to the Boston Teachers Union. The district’s potential loss of Black and Latino educators in the middle of the school year represents a significant potential unintended consequence of Mayor Michelle Wu’s policy aimed at achieving a fully vaccinated workforce and has raised questions about whether the district should have done more to coax hesitant educators toward vaccination. The loss could disrupt learning for many students and carry long-term implications in the district, where three-quarters of students are Black or Latino but only 42 percent of educators are. Studies show long-term academic benefits for students of color taught by people of their race. (Martin, 1/26)

AP: Oregon School District Loses COVID Funds For Ditching Masks 
A western Oregon school board in a small, rural district that voted to defy state mask-wearing requirements will lose federal COVID-19 relief funds, according to the Oregon Department of Education. Department of Education Director Colt Gill wrote to Alsea School District Superintendent Marc Thielman and board chairman Ron Koetz this week saying federal COVID-19 funding “requires school districts to comply with all state laws and regulations,” The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. (1/26)

The Boston Globe: Boston Police Union Rejects City’s Offer That Would Incentivize Officers To Get Vaccinated
Members of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association strongly rejected a proposed agreement with the city Wednesday that would have established a new benefit providing mental health and wellness days for all vaccinated officers. The agreement aimed to provide more incentives for patrol officers to get vaccinated, but it was turned down with more than 800 members voting against it out of about 900 who cast votes, union officials said. “The membership of the BPPA have spoken overwhelmingly to reject the offer that the city has made to us. It is not enough,” union President Larry Calderone told reporters at the union hall in Dorchester after voting closed. (Stoico, 1/26)

CBS News: Government Medical Advisers Urge ICE To Expand COVID-19 Vaccinations For Immigrant Detainees 
Two medical advisers for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) implored the U.S. government on Wednesday to expand COVID-19 vaccination access and other mitigation measures at immigration detention centers, where infections have surged by over 800% in 2022, according to a whistleblower disclosure obtained by CBS News. (Montoya-Galvez, 1/26)

The Atlantic: You Recovered From Omicron. Now What?
While public-health officials are still urging all Americans to be cautious with so much of the virus around, guidance for people who have already recovered from COVID this winter is sorely lacking. That has left Omicron survivors to deal with a confusing question: What now? I reached out to a handful of epidemiologists, and they all agreed that getting Omicron isn’t a golden ticket to normalcy. However, the immune boost from an Omicron infection can still be paired with other precautions to safely go about many activities. Keeping a few pandemic principles in mind can help make everyday decisions a little less fraught. (Tayag, 1/26)

CIDRAP: COVID Patients At High Risk Of Readmission, Death After Hospital Release
A large UK study yesterday in PLOS Medicine finds that COVID-19 patients released from the hospital were more than twice as likely as the general population to be rehospitalized or die within the next 10 months. They were also at nearly five times the risk for death from any cause. (1/26)

AP: Governor Signs Fast-Tracked $225M For Health Care Workers 
Two months after the omicron variant of the coronavirus slammed hospitals with unvaccinated patients, Gov. Tom Wolf signed fast-tracked legislation Wednesday to help keep burned-out health care workers on board during a staffing crisis. The House unanimously approved the bill earlier Wednesday just before Wolf signed it. It authorizes $225 million, mostly for hospitals to give workers retention and recruitment payments. (1/26)

NPR: Neil Young's Music Removed By Spotify After His Ultimatum Over Joe Rogan Podcast
According to Rolling Stone, Young's letter, which was addressed to his manager and an executive at Warner Music Group, read in part: "I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them ... They can have Rogan or Young. Not both." The letter was quickly removed from Young's website. Spotify's scrubbing of Young from its service was first reported on Wednesday afternoon by The Wall Street Journal. His removal from the streaming platform makes him one of the most popular musical artists not to appear on Spotify, where his songs have garnered hundreds of millions of streams. (Tsioulcas, 1/26)

The Washington Post: YouTube Permanently Bans Dan Bongino For Posting Covid-19 Misinformation
Google-owned YouTube said it had permanently banned prominent conservative media figure Don Bongino from its site after he repeatedly broke its rules on posting coronavirus misinformation. Bongino, who hosts a show on Fox News in addition to talk radio shows and online broadcasts, had been given a strike and a week-long suspension from YouTube earlier in January for saying in one of his videos that masks were useless. He uploaded another video later in the month that also broke the platform’s rules on coronavirus misinformation. When he tried to upload a third video, the company banned him permanently. (De Vynck, 1/26)

Modern Healthcare: HCA To Build Five New Hospitals In Texas
HCA Healthcare will build five full-service hospitals across Texas to meet a growing demand for healthcare services, the for-profit health system announced Wednesday. The new hospitals will be at different locations including the Dallas Fort-Worth, Houston and San Antonio areas, in partnership with Methodist Healthcare Ministries. Two full-service hospitals will reside in the Austin area, in partnership with St. David's Foundation and Georgetown Health Foundation. (Devereaux, 1/26)

AP: Gates Foundation Expands Board Following Bill, Melinda Split 
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced Wednesday it will add four members to its board of trustees, a first for the Seattle-based philanthropic giant whose decision making has been guided by very few hands since its incorporation in 2000. The foundation, one of the world's largest with its $50 billion endowment, said it would search for new trustees in July after its two co-chairs and trustees — Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates -- announced their divorce. (Hadero, 1/26)

Modern Healthcare: Can Wisconsin Health System Win Lawsuit To Prevent Workers From Leaving?
A Wisconsin health system is unlikely to prevail in its unusual attempt to use the legal system to force a group of employees to keep working at its hospital instead of starting their new jobs with a competitor. Seven employees from ThedaCare, a seven-hospital system based in Neenah, Wisconsin, have accepted jobs with Ascension Northeast Wisconsin, a division of St. Louis-based Ascension. ThedaCare argues in its lawsuit against Ascension Northeast Wisconsin filed last week in Outagamie County Circuit Court that Ascension poached the employees, decimating ThedaCare's ability to provide critical care. (Bannow, 1/26)

Modern Healthcare: Feds Investigating Violations Of Mental Health Parity Laws
Thirty group health plans have been put on notice by the federal government for not covering behavioral health services and potentially violating mental health parity laws. A report released Tuesday by the Labor Department doesn't name specific companies but gave examples of violations, including a "large service provider" administering claims for hundreds of self-funded plans excluding therapy to treat autism. Some plans failed to cover medication-assisted treatment, viewed by addiction specialists as the "gold-standard" for treating opioid use disorder. (Hellmann, 1/26)

AP: Michigan AG Seeks To Probe Eli Lilly For High Insulin Prices 
Michigan’s attorney general said Wednesday she sought court approval to investigate Eli Lilly and Co., accusing the drugmaker of charging excessive prices for insulin medications used to treat diabetes. Dana Nessel’s filings, submitted Tuesday, asked an Ingham County judge to authorize a probe under the state consumer protection law, including the use of subpoenas to get records and to interview company officials. Because Eli Lily likely will say the law does not cover drug pricing under state Supreme Court rulings, the petitions requested a judgment saying exceptions to the law do not apply in this case. (Eggert, 1/27)

CIDRAP: Report Details Where Top 100 Brand-Name Rx Drugs Are Made
While a range of consumer goods, from clothing to food, report the country of manufacture on their label, this is not the case for brand-name prescription medications. US drug marketers aren't required to disclose this information—and many don't—leaving patients whose health depends on these drugs in the dark about where their drug was made. (Van Beusekom, 1/26)

Stat: Early Research Suggests Cancer Drug Could Help Target Latent HIV
Antiretroviral therapy, the standard treatment for HIV, can remove any trace of the virus from the blood, but a hidden reservoir of HIV persists in patients who are in treatment. That means patients are never truly cured and need to be on HIV drugs for the rest of their lives. Researchers have yet to discover a way to eliminate the virus in its latent stage, but new, early-stage research suggests a landmark cancer drug — pembrolizumab, also known as Keytruda — may be able to help. In a study published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine, researchers looked at 32 patients that had both cancer and HIV and found that pembrolizumab, which revives the immune system and encourages it to attack tumors, also has the ability to flush HIV out of its hiding spot in immune cells. (Chen, 1/26)

The Washington Post: Gas Stoves In Kitchens Pose A Risk To Public Health And The Planet, Research Finds 
Gas-burning stoves in kitchens across America may pose a greater risk to the planet and public health than previously thought, new research suggests. The appliances release far more of the potent planet-warming gas methane than the Environmental Protection Agency estimates, Stanford University scientists found in a study published Thursday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. The appliances also emit significant amounts of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant that can trigger asthma and other respiratory conditions. (Joselow, 1/27)

The New York Times: Gas Stoves Leak Methane Even When Turned Off, Study Finds 
The small study — based on measurements from cooktops, ovens and broilers in 53 homes in California — estimated that stoves emit between 0.8 and 1.3 percent of the natural gas they consume as unburned methane, a potent greenhouse gas. During the course of a typical year, three-quarters of these emissions occur when the devices are shut off, the study showed, which could suggest leaky fittings and connections with gas service lines. Over a 20-year period, emissions from stoves across the United States could be having the same effect in heating the planet as half a million gas-powered cars, the study estimated. (Zhong, 1/27)

The Hill: FDA Faces Calls To Limit BPA In Plastics That Contact Food 
A coalition of scientists, physicians and environmental groups is calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to restrict the use of the industrial chemical bisphenol A, known commonly as BPA, in plastics that contact food. In a formal petition organized by the Environmental Defense Fund and sent to the agency on Thursday, the scientists and groups argue that the federal government should take immediate steps to curb Americans' exposure to the chemical. (Udasin, 1/27)

Fox News: Researchers Find Possible Link Between Sexual Dysfunction And Urinary Incontinence With Cycling Workouts
When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, fitness folks hopped onto stationary bikes at home while gyms were closed. As virtual bike workouts increased, a recent media report stated how female cyclists participating in spin classes have been experiencing urinary incontinence possibly linked to their cycling routine. Health experts told Fox News that pressure from the bicycle seat on the perineum (the genital area) may contribute to problems with urinary incontinence, sexual arousal, and trigger genital pain and numbness in some female and male cyclists. (McGorry, 1/26)

USA Today: 10 Minutes Of Exercise A Day Could Save Your Life If You're Over 40, Study Suggests
Just 10 minutes of exercise a day could be lifesaving – literally – for people over 40. That's the latest finding in a new peer-reviewed study. The study, published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, took a look at data compiled by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that examined nearly 5,000 participants ages 6 years and older from 2003 to 2006. Researchers then dissected the activity levels of nearly 5,000 participants ages 40 to 85, tracking the death rates through the end of 2015. (Gleeson, 1/26)

NBC News: Study Shows How Metabolism Slows During Weight Loss, Causing Diets To Fail
Many people trying to shed pounds have seen their diets stall after a certain amount of weight loss. A new study shows how the body's metabolism slows as a way to balance the lower amount of calories that are consumed. An analysis of data from 65 dieting white and Black women, ages 21 to 41, revealed that their bodies could adapt to burn, on average, 50 fewer calories a day. Some of the women, who were initially overweight or obese, adapted to the weight loss to use hundreds of fewer calories per day, according to the report published Thursday in Obesity. (Carroll, 1/27)

AP: Medical Marijuana Bill Passes, Heads To Mississippi Governor 
Mississippi lawmakers are sending their governor a bill that would create a medical marijuana program for people with serious medical conditions. If it becomes law, as anticipated, Mississippi would join the majority of states that let people use cannabis for medical reasons. (Pettus, 1/27)

AP: Marijuana Legalization Bill Clears House Panel In Delaware
A Democrat-led House committee voted mostly along party lines Wednesday to release a bill legalizing recreational marijuana use by adults in Delaware. A lone Republican joined Democrats on the Health and Human Development committee in voting to release the bill, which will now likely head to an appropriations committee for consideration. (Chase, 1/26)

AP: South Carolina 'Fetal Heartbeat' Bill Heads To Appeals Court
An appellate court is preparing to hear arguments over a lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s abortion law, as states around the country await U.S. Supreme Court action in another case that could dramatically limit abortion rights overall. On Thursday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments in Planned Parenthood's case against South Carolina's measure. (Kinnard, 1/26)

AP: England Lifts COVID Restrictions As Omicron Threat Recedes 
Most coronavirus restrictions including mandatory face masks were lifted in England on Thursday, after Britain’s government said its vaccine booster rollout successfully reduced serious illness and COVID-19 hospitalizations. From Thursday, face coverings are no longer required by law anywhere in England, and a legal requirement for COVID passes for entry into nightclubs and other large venues has been scrapped. (Hui, 1/27)

Bloomberg: Covid Deaths Among Black Britons Show Lagging Vaccine Program
Black adults and other minorities in the U.K. suffered disproportionately from Covid-19 last year, a new study showed, highlighting inequities in the country’s vaccination program. Lagging vaccination rates among Britons of Black African and Caribbean ethnicity were the main reason that the minorities were two to three times more likely to die from the virus as White people, according to the Office of National Statistics report, which was released Wednesday. (Konotey-Ahulu, 1/26)

Bloomberg: Denmark Declares Covid No Longer Poses Threat To Society
Denmark will end virus restrictions next week and reclassify Covid-19 as a disease that no longer poses a threat to society, even as infections hit a record high. The Nordic country won’t extend the pandemic measures beyond Jan. 31, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday. Denmark’s decision on reclassifying the virus dramatically pushes forward an idea that’s emerged recently in Europe -- that it’s time to start thinking about Covid as endemic rather than a pandemic. However, World Health Organization experts have warned against complacency. (Buttler, 1/26)

CIDRAP: US Donates 400 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses To COVAX 
The White House today confirmed the United States has donated 400 million COVID-19 vaccine doses—toward a goal of 1.1 billion—to low-income countries via COVAX, the global vaccine sharing program. Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 pandemic response coordinator, said the United States has donated more to COVAX than any country in the world, and the latest shipments would head out tomorrow to both Pakistan and Bangladesh. (Soucheray, 1/26)

The Washington Post: Even As U.S. Cases Drop, Global Vaccine Inequity Could Prolong Pandemic, Experts Warn
As coronavirus cases and hospitalizations driven by the omicron variant slowly recede in the United States, public health experts are warning that global vaccine disparities could threaten progress toward ending the pandemic. “Vaccine equity is absolutely critical,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s covid-19 technical chief, said in a Q&A session on Tuesday. “The fact remains that more than 3 billion people haven’t received their first dose yet, so we have a long way to go.” (Cheng and Suliman, 1/26)

AP: 6 Cancer Patients Sue Utility Over Fukushima Radiation 
Six people who were children living in Fukushima at the time of the 2011 nuclear disaster and have since developed thyroid cancer filed a lawsuit Thursday demanding a utility pay compensation for their illnesses, which they say were triggered by massive radiation spewed from the Fukushima nuclear plant. The people, now aged 17-27 and living in and outside of Fukushima, demand the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings pay a total of 616 million yen ($5.4 million) in compensation. (Yamaguchi, 1/27)

USA Today: Pope Francis: Parents Should 'Never Condemn' Their Gay Children
Pope Francis on Wednesday called on parents around the world to not condemn children if they are gay.  Francis made the comments while speaking about the biblical figure Joseph during his weekly general audience. He addressed parents facing difficult situations in the lives of their children, such as kids who are sick, imprisoned or killed in car accidents.  But he also addressed parents "who see that their children have different sexual orientations, how they manage that and accompany their children and not hide behind a condemning attitude.” “Never condemn a child,” he said. (Pitofsky, 1/26)