First Edition: Jan. 6, 2022

KHN: The War On Cancer At 50: The Origin Story Begins With A Socialite Citizen-Lobbyist 
The roots of the National Cancer Act can be traced to a small home in Watertown, Wisconsin. In the early 1900s, a girl named Mary tagged along when her mother went to visit their laundress, Mrs. Belter, who had breast cancer. When they arrived, the woman was in bed, her seven children around her. She was terribly sick. That day, Mary was only around 4 years old, but she remembered it for the rest of her life. (Emanuel, 1/6)

KHN: A New Paradigm Is Needed: Top Experts Question The Value Of Advance Care Planning 
For decades, Americans have been urged to fill out documents specifying their end-of-life wishes before becoming terminally ill — living wills, do-not-resuscitate orders, and other written materials expressing treatment preferences. Now, a group of prominent experts is saying those efforts should stop because they haven’t improved end-of-life care. (Graham, 1/6)

KHN: South Dakota Voters To Decide Medicaid Expansion 
For nearly a decade, the Republican legislature has opted against expansion, citing concerns about the federal debt and worries that Congress would eventually cut federal funding for the program. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, strongly opposes Medicaid expansion, even though the federal government picks up most of the cost. To counter the Medicaid ballot initiative, GOP leaders are promoting a separate measure on the June primary ballot that, if passed, would require 60% voter approval for any new constitutional measures that increase taxes or cost the state $10 million or more. It would apply to the Medicaid initiative in November. (Galewitz, 1/6)

The Wall Street Journal: CDC Recommends First Covid-19 Boosters For 12- To 15-Year-Olds 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Covid-19 boosters for 12- to 15-year-olds, making the doses available to the adolescents for the first time. With the move Wednesday, many doctor’s offices, schools and other vaccination sites will make booster shots from Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE available to 12- to 15-year-olds. (Schwartz, 1/5)

Stat: CDC Recommends Teens 12-17 Should Receive A Covid-19 Booster Shot
The 13-to-1 vote by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also changed the recommendation for 16- and 17-year olds, suggesting that they should get a booster as well. ... The sole member to vote against the recommendation, Helen “Keipp” Talbot, said after the vote that she supports making booster shots available to youths 12 to 15. But Talbot, a vaccine researcher and associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University, said she felt the country would gain more by focusing limited public health resources on trying to get more children in this age group vaccinated than by boosting the children who have already had two doses. “I am just fine with kids getting boosters,” she said. “I just really want the U.S. to move forward with vaccinating all kids so that all kids can get back to a normal life. And I don’t think it’s fair for 12- to 17-year-olds who have been vaccinated to risk myocarditis again for an unknown benefit because their colleagues won’t get vaccinated.”(Branswell, 1/5)

The Washington Post: Record 4,000 Children Hospitalized Amid U.S. Omicron Surge
More than 4,000 children were hospitalized with covid-19 across the nation Wednesday, Washington Post figures show, marking a new high that towers above previous peaks set during the summer when the delta variant was driving up infections. The tally, which includes confirmed as well as suspected pediatric covid-19 patients, reflects a steep rise in infections in that group. Less than two weeks ago, on Christmas Day, fewer than 2,000 children were in hospitals with covid. (Jeong and Hassan, 1/6)

USA Today: CDC Says COVID Boosters Mean People Are 'Up To Date' With The Vaccines
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have changed their recommendations for vaccinated Americans, urging staying "up to date" on one's COVID-19 shots means getting a booster shot. "CDC surveillance data and other studies from around the world have demonstrated the benefit of a booster dose after receiving only a primary series, including decreased risk of infection, severe disease and death," CDC director Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky said at a White House news briefing on Wednesday. (Thornton and Ortiz, 1/6)

The Hill: White House: No Plans To Change Definition Of 'Fully Vaccinated' 
The Biden administration said Wednesday it has no plans to change the definition of "fully vaccinated" against the coronavirus to include getting a booster shot. "Individuals are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if they've received their primary series, that definition is not changing," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said at a press briefing. (Sullivan, 1/5)

Stat: Study Casts Doubts On Rapid Covid Tests' Reliability Right After Infection
A new study raises significant doubts about whether at-home rapid antigen tests can detect the Omicron variant before infected people can transmit the virus to others. The study looks at 30 people from settings including Broadway theaters and offices in New York and San Francisco where some workers were not only being tested daily but were, because of rules at their workplaces, receiving both the antigen tests and a daily test that used the polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, which is believed to be more reliable. On days 0 and 1 following a positive PCR test, all of the antigen tests used produced false-negative results, even though in 28 of the 30 cases, levels of virus detected by the PCR test were high enough to infect other people. In four cases, researchers were able to confirm that infected people transmitted the virus to others during the period before they had a positive result on the rapid antigen test. (Herper, 1/5)

The New York Times: Emerging Data Raise Questions About Antigen Tests And Nasal Swabs 
A small, new real-world study suggests that two widely used at-home antigen tests, the Abbott BinaxNOW and Quidel QuickVue, may fail to detect some Omicron infections even when people are carrying high levels of the coronavirus. The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, focused on 30 people infected with the virus at five workplaces that experienced what were most likely outbreaks of the Omicron variant in December. The people received both saliva-based P.C.R. tests and rapid antigen tests using nasal swabs. (Anthes and Jewett, 1/5)

CNN: US Coronavirus: An 'Awful' Month Of Covid-19 Lies Ahead, Doctor Says, But Preventative Measures Will Still Be Key 
While the highly transmissible Omicron variant continues to drive up Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations -- and the numbers are likely to get worse before they get better -- health experts say it's critical Americans continue safe practices to prevent infections. "I don't buy the idea that we are all going to get Omicron and, therefore, just give up trying. I think that's wrong," Dr. Robert Wachter, chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told CNN's Erin Burnett on Wednesday. It's likely that "the next month is going to be awful," he said. But this does not mean that everyone should assume they will catch the virus, he said, noting the pattern of Omicron infections in the UK and South Africa. (Caldwell, 1/6)

The Atlantic: Boosted? Got Omicron? You Still Might Not Be 'Super' Immune
A bevy of other factors, too, can influence the magnitude of protection that’s tickled out by a breakthrough: age and health status; vaccine brand, dosing, and timing; the genetic makeup of the variant. (Most people have no way of knowing for certain whether they caught Delta, Omicron, or another SARS-CoV-2 flavor.) And while each dose of a particular vaccine offers essentially identical amounts of immunity-titillating stuff, actual infections don’t serve up the same dose to every person they hit. “The amount of heterogeneity in people’s immune responses is just incredible,” Taia Wang, an immunologist at Stanford, told me. Some recently infected people might experience only a modest bump in protection—which might not be enough to meaningfully stave off another infection in the not-so-distant future. (Wu, 1/5)

The Washington Post: What Is Flurona? Coronavirus And Influenza Co-Infections Reported Amid Omicron
New year, new coronavirus term?Many people around the world kicked off 2022 by searching for more information about “flurona,” after Israel reported that two young pregnant women had tested positive for both the coronavirus and the flu. Doctors have long been concerned about the potential impact of a “twindemic” — with influenza cases rising as covid-19 cases threaten to overwhelm hospitals — and called on people to get flu shots and coronavirus vaccinations. (Hassan, 1/5)

ABC News: What To Know About 'Flurona'
In the midst of a new pandemic surge, another seemingly new ailment is now grabbing headlines: flurona. Despite the catchy name, "flurona" is not new. It is a term coined to describe what happens when a person tests positive for the flu and COVID-19 at the same time. (Salzman, 1/6)

Modern Healthcare: Nurses Unions Sue Biden For Withdrawing COVID-19 Worker Protections
Nurses unions are asking the courts to force the Biden administration to issue permanent standards for preventing COVID-19 in workplaces after it announced plans to withdraw parts of an emergency temporary standard for healthcare workers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has "failed" to protect nurses and other workers as the law requires, NNU, New York State Nurses Association, Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals and other unions argued in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. (Hellmann, 1/5)

Modern Healthcare: Mayo Clinic Fires 1% Of Workforce For Failing To Get COVID-19 Vaccines
The Mayo Clinic is terminating about 1% of its 73,000 employees for failing to comply with its COVID-19 vaccination requirement by Monday's deadline. The needs of its patients come first and the Mayo Clinic stands firmly behind the evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines, the Rochester, Minnesota-based health system said in statement. The health system didn't share the exact number of workers it let go. (Bannow, 1/5)

The Washington Post: USPS Seeks Delay Of Biden Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate
The U.S. Postal Service has asked federal labor officials for a temporary waiver from President Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandate, setting up a showdown on pandemic safety measures between the president and one of the government’s largest agencies. In a letter dated Jan. 4 to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Deputy Postmaster General Douglas A. Tulino wrote that requiring workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or present weekly negative tests would hurt the agency’s ability to deliver the mail and strain the nation’s supply chains. (Bogage, 1/5)

NPR: California Extends Its Mask Mandate Until February 15 Due To Omicron Surge
California announced it is extending its statewide indoor mask mandate until at least Feb. 15 due to the rise in COVID-19 cases driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant, according to health department officials. "We are and continue to be concerned about our hospitals," Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told The Associated Press Wednesday. "Some facilities are going to be strapped." State officials reinstated the indoor mask mandate on Dec. 15 last year and it was originally due to expire on Jan. 15. (Franklin, 1/5)

AP: Spike In California Virus Cases Hitting Hospitals, Schools 
California is struggling to staff hospitals and classrooms as an astonishing spike in coronavirus infections sweeps through the state. The fast-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19 is sidelining exposed or infected health care workers even as hospital beds fill with patients and “some facilities are going to be strapped,” Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Wednesday. (Melley and Gecker, 1/6)

Politico: California Intends To Keep Super Bowl In Los Angeles
California officials and the NFL said Wednesday they expect Los Angeles to host the Super Bowl as planned, despite surging coronavirus cases in the area. “The Super Bowl is coming to L.A. I think Californians are excited to see that event occur,” California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told reporters at a briefing, “and the work is to be sure that, as it is moving forward as planned, the mitigation strategies that create safety around that event are in place.” (White, 1/5)

NPR: The Grammys Are Postponed And Sundance Is Moved Online Because Of Omicron Surge
It's official. The 64th annual Grammy Awards are postponed and the Sundance Film Festival has been moved online. A joint statement on Wednesday by the Recording Academy and CBS blamed the Grammy rescheduling on the omicron variant. "The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience, and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority," the statement said. "Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31 simply contains too many risks." (Estrada, 1/5)

The Washington Post: Every U.S. Cruise Ship With Passengers Has Covid Cases On Board 
Coronavirus cases have been reported on every cruise ship sailing with passengers in U.S. waters. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all 92 ships with passengers have met the threshold for investigation by the public health agency. In every case, the CDC has either started an investigation or has investigated and continues to observe the ship. (Sampson, 1/5)

Reuters: Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Cancel Voyages Amid Omicron Spread
Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line on Wednesday canceled sailings amid rising fears of omicron-related coronavirus infections that have dampened the nascent recovery of the pandemic-ravaged cruise industry. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd called off its Spectrum of the Seas cruise for Jan. 6 after nine guests on its Jan. 2 trip were identified as close contacts to a local Hong Kong Covid-19 case. (1/6)

CBS News: Actress Abigail Breslin Slams Instagram User Who Criticized Her For Wearing A Face Mask 
Academy Award-nominated actress Abigail Breslin, known for her role in "Little Miss Sunshine," shut down a social media user who criticized her for wearing a mask. Breslin has publicly stressed the importance of wearing face masks ever since her father died of COVID-19 last year. (Garner, 1/5)

NBC News: YouTuber Ethan Klein Criticizes Joe Rogan For Vaccine Misinformation
Simmering tensions over Covid vaccines are boiling over in online communities.Joe Rogan's fans are responding to criticism of the podcast host's fringe medical stances with fatphobic and antisemitic remarks, which have only intensified after YouTube personality Ethan Klein criticized him for spreading Covid vaccine misinformation. ... When Klein, who helms multiple podcasts under the YouTube channel H3H3 Productions, criticized Rogan’s fringe medical stances on Tuesday, he was met with intense backlash from Rogan’s fans. His channel, which he shares with his wife Hila Klein, has 6.3 million subscribers on YouTube. Its sister channel H3 Podcast has 3 million subscribers. (Sung, 1/5)

The New York Times: Kyrie Irving Returns To Court After Refusing To Be Vaccinated 
Kyrie Irving, the star Nets guard, made his regular-season debut against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night following the team’s surprise reversal of its policy to bar him from practices and road games until he received the coronavirus vaccine. (Deb, 1/5)

CIDRAP: Lack Of High School Education Predicts Vaccine Hesitancy
A lack of a high school education was the most important predictor of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in 3,142 US counties, finds a study yesterday in the American Journal of Infection Control. ... Of all reasons cited for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, a lack of trust in the vaccines (55%) was the most common, followed by worries about side effects (48%) and low trust in the government (46%). Five of the 10 most common reasons given for vaccine hesitancy were related to a lack of knowledge about potential side effects, benefits, effectiveness, and risks of being unvaccinated. (Van Beusekom, 1/5)

NPR: CDC Study Shows No Link Between COVID-19 Vaccine And Pre-Term Births
As many as two-thirds of pregnant women remain unvaccinated — many out of concern that the vaccine is not safe. In September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged those expecting a child to get a vaccine because COVID-19 can cause health complications for both the mother and baby. Now, a new CDC study released on Tuesday of more than 40,000 women has found that the COVID-19 vaccine does not add to the risk of delivering a baby prematurely or delivering a child who is born smaller or less developed than expected, also known as small-for-gestational-age. (Le, 1/5)

AP: Washington State Orders 5.5 Million At-Home Tests For Public 
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday the state has ordered 5.5 million at-home tests to distribute to the public and will improve booster vaccine access and supply about 10 million free protective masks amid a steep increase in COVID-19 cases due to the more contagious omicron variant. “We are seeing more Covid cases now than at any point during the entire pandemic,” Inslee said. “Now is the time to redouble our efforts against this virus.” (La Corte, 1/6)

AP: No Deal, No School: Chicago Cancels Classes For A 2nd Day 
Chicago school leaders canceled classes for a second straight day after failing to reach an agreement Wednesday with the teachers union over remote learning and other COVID-19 safety protocols in the nation’s third-largest school district. The Chicago Teachers Union, which voted to revert to online instruction, told teachers to stay home Wednesday during the latest COVID-19 surge while both sides negotiate, prompting district officials to cancel classes two days after students returned from winter break. (Tareen, 1/6)

Politico: Chicago Mayor: Teachers Union Made Us A ‘Laughingstock’ 
To understand the crisis that shuttered Chicago public schools this week, it helps to know the key ingredient: A Democratic mayor and one of the city’s most powerful labor groups can’t stand each other. An increasingly toxic relationship between the Chicago Teachers Union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been waiting to explode for months — if not years. The Omicron variant turned out to be the spark. (Kapos and Niedzwiadek, 1/5)

Politico: Psaki: Schools Can Open Safely 'Including In Chicago' 
The escalating teachers union dispute in the nation’s third-largest school district has put the Biden administration at odds with a key labor constituency over the safety of in-person learning amid a holiday-inflected Covid spike. “Long story short we want schools to be open, the president wants them to be open, and we’re going to continue to use every resource and work to ensure that’s the case,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday. (Niedzwiadek, 1/5)

CBS News: Meet The Police Dogs Sniffing Out COVID-19 At Massachusetts Schools 
When Huntah and Duke aren't busy playing catch, the two dogs are usually detecting the presence of COVID-19 in their community. In the past year, the 14-month-old Labrador retrievers have worked at 15 different schools in Massachusetts. ... The dogs are trained to sit down in front of an area where a COVID-19 odor is detected. The dog will then alert their handler so that they can mark the area as one to focus on for cleaning. Darling said the dogs are not used in place of COVID-19 testing. (Powell, 1/5)

USA Today: Women Patients At Greater Risk When Male Surgeon Operates, Study Finds
Women who had surgery performed by a male surgeon were more likely to have adverse outcomes than women operated on by female doctors, according to a study published Dec. 8 in peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Surgery. U.S. and Canadian researchers analyzed more than 1.3 million patients in Ontario, Canada, treated by 2,397 surgeons between 2007 and 2019. They found that female patients treated by male surgeons had 15% greater odds of worse outcomes than female patients treated by female surgeons. (Shen, 1/5)

Modern Healthcare: Cardiovascular Risk Calculator Can Lead To Overtreatment Of Black Patients, Study Finds
A risk calculator from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association gives Black patients much worse cardiovascular health predictions than white patients, even when their risk profiles are identical apart from race, according to a study published in the Lancet this month. The Boston University School of Medicine authors who conducted the analysis describe these differences as "biologically implausible" in their report. These findings illustrate another way Black patients tend to be treated differently than white patients. Unlike previous analyses showing Black patients are likely to receive insufficient care, this new study provides an example of this population being at risk for too much medical care. (Gillespie, 1/5)

Modern Healthcare: Castlight Health And Vera Whole Health To Merge
Healthcare navigation company Castlight Health and primary care provider Vera Whole Health are merging with the aim of improving the ways care is accessed, delivered and purchased, the companies announced Wednesday. The combination and transaction—which has an equity value of around $370 million—are expected to be finalized early this year, according to a news release. "Integrating our navigation data and technology with Vera Whole Health's high-quality primary care offering addresses the fundamental need for a coordinated and personalized patient experience," Castlight Health CEO Maeve O'Meara said in a news release. (Devereaux, 1/5)

Axios: IBM Tries To Sell Watson Health Again 
IBM has resurrected its sale process for IBM Watson Health, with hopes of fetching more than $1 billion, people familiar with the situation tell Axios. Big Blue wants out of health care, after spending billions to stake its claim, just as rival Oracle is moving big into the sector via its $28 billion bet for Cerner. IBM spent more than $4 billion to build Watson Health via a series of acquisitions. The business now includes health care data and analytics business Truven Health Analytics, population health company Phytel, and medical imaging business Merge Healthcare. (Pringle, 1/5)

Modern Healthcare: Illinois Hospice Provider JourneyCare Going Public Through $85M Acquisition
Not-for-profit JourneyCare, one of Illinois' largest hospice providers, announced Wednesday it's being purchased by publicly-traded Addus HomeCare for $85 million. JourneyCare, based in Glenview, Illinois, serves about 750 patients per day across a 13-county region in the Chicago metro. The proposed deal, expected to close February 1, is part of Addus' broader merger and acquisition strategy, which included last year's addition of Summit Home Health, also in the Chicago area. (1/5)

Stat: Top Hospitals Aren’t Offering Alzheimer's Drug Aduhelm
Almost no one is prescribing Aduhelm, the controversial new Alzheimer’s treatment that roiled the health care landscape when regulators approved it this summer. Major health care systems like the Cleveland Clinic made it clear almost immediately that they wouldn’t offer the new therapy, citing a lack of convincing evidence that the drug actually helps treat Alzheimer’s disease. Now, STAT has identified another 15 university-affiliated hospitals that aren’t offering the drug, including Johns Hopkins, University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Michigan. (Florko, 1/6)

The Washington Post: For The First Time In Over 30 Years, The EPA Adds To Its List Of Hazardous Air Pollutants
It took over three decades, but the federal government finally expanded its list of chemicals too dangerous for Americans to breathe. By one. The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to add a powerful dry-cleaning solvent, 1-bromopropane, to its list of hazardous air pollutants was long overdue, environmentalists and industry officials say. (Grandoni, 1/5)

The New York Times: Hedgehogs Are A Source Of Drug-Resistant Bacteria, Study Finds 
The tiny, spiny and adorable hedgehog is helping to upend conventional wisdom about the origins of drug-resistant bacterial infections that kill thousands of people each year. In a study published Wednesday in Nature, a group of international scientists found that the bacteria that cause a tough-to-treat infection existed in nature long before modern antibiotics began to be mass produced in the 1940s. The drugs have saved countless lives, but the wide distribution of antibiotics in the decades since then has also spurred an evolutionary arms race with the pathogens they target, leading to the emergence of dreaded superbugs that have evaded our efforts to vanquish them with pharmaceuticals. (Jacobs, 1/5)

Houston Chronicle: Struggling To Pay As Grocery Prices Rise? $307M In Emergency SNAP Benefits Could Help
As the cost of groceries soars, families struggling to put food on the table will get a temporary reprieve after state officials extended an emergency food assistance benefit program through the end of January. Governor Greg Abbott’s office announced this week that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is providing $307 million in funding for emergency food benefits that is expected to help 1.5 million Texan households. (Luck, 1/5)

AP: Phoenix Won't Resume Water Shut-Offs For Overdue Accounts 
Citing rising COVID-19 cases, city officials said Wednesday that Phoenix has decided to postpone a plan to resume water shut-offs next month for past due accounts. The Phoenix Water Services Department had announced Monday on its website that the shut-offs were to begin again for customers who are 31 days past due on their statements. (1/6)

Louisville Courier Journal: Western Kentucky Tornado Recovery Attention Shifts To Mental Health
Todd Hazel is a licensed social worker. He understands trauma. So when tornadoes tore through Warren County, where Hazel oversees student services for one of Kentucky’s largest school systems, he knew they needed to think about mental health immediately. Alongside tweets about where to pick up food and drop off donations, Hazel’s school district shared tip sheets on how to talk to kids about what happened and noted when families could talk to counselors. Soon after, Hazel’s district began offering free counseling to anyone in the area — whether they were affiliated with the district or not. (Krauth, 1/6)

AP: Japan Asks US Forces To Stay On Base As COVID-19 Cases Jump
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Thursday asked that the U.S. military in Japan stay inside its bases to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.Hayashi said he spoke on the phone with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and was promised utmost efforts to ensure people’s health. It was not immediately clear if a base curfew would be issued. Maj. Thomas R. Barger, a U.S. Forces in Japan spokesperson, said he could not comment on the request, but that a team was carefully monitoring cases and trends. (Kageyama, 1/6)

Axios: Hong Kong Bans Flights From U.S. And 7 Other Nations To Curb Omicron 
Hong Kong on Wednesday banned all incoming passenger flights from eight countries, including the United States, to prevent the spread of Omicron, the Washington Post reports. The new restrictions mark the city's strictest COVID-19 restrictions since the pandemic began two years ago as officials seek to maintain a "zero-covid" policy amid the spread of Omicron, per the Post. Under the new restrictions, beginning Jan. 8, all flights from Britain, the U.S., Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Philippines, France and India will be banned for at least two weeks. (Doherty, 1/5)

AP: France Hits Staggering New Case Record, Europe's Highest
France announced a staggering 332,252 daily virus cases Wednesday, smashing a string of recent records, as hospitals prepared drastic measures to brace for patient surges and the government strained to avoid a new lockdown. With Europe’s highest-ever single-day confirmed infection count, France is facing an omicron-driven surge that is dominating the race for April’s presidential election and increasingly disrupting workplaces, schools and public life. (1/5)

The New York Times: Novak Djokovic Is Refused Entry Into Australia Over Vaccine Exemption 
Novak Djokovic, the world’s No. 1-ranked men’s tennis player, traveled all day Wednesday from Dubai to Australia, a journey that was supposed to begin his defense of the Australian Open singles championship. On Thursday, he was told he would need to leave the country, following a 10-hour standoff with government officials at a Melbourne airport, where he was held in a room overnight over the validity of his visa and questions about the evidence supporting a medical exemption from a coronavirus vaccine. (Futterman, 1/5)

AP: Xi'an Hospital Punished For Refusing Entry To Pregnant Woman
Hospital officials in the northern Chinese city of Xi’an have been punished after a pregnant woman miscarried after being refused entry, reportedly for not having current COVID-19 test results. (1/6)

CNBC: Which Countries Are On Track To Meet The WHO Covid Vaccination Target?
The U.S. is among the countries projected to miss the WHO’s Covid vaccination target for 2022, researchers have said, alongside a host of other nations across Europe, Asia and Africa. In October, the WHO set a target for countries to vaccinate 70% of their populations by mid-2022. According to projections made by Our World in Data, last updated on Tuesday, more than 100 countries are not on track to meet that goal. (Taylor, 1/6)