First Edition: June 13, 2022

KHN: Covid Funding Pries Open A Door To Improving Air Quality In Schools 
Many U.S. schools were in dire need of upgrades — burdened by leaking pipes, mold, and antiquated heating systems — long before the covid-19 pandemic drew attention to the importance of indoor ventilation in reducing the spread of infectious disease. The average U.S. school building is 50 years old, and many schools date back more than a century. (Szabo, 6/13)

KHN: Race Is Often Used As Medical Shorthand For How Bodies Work. Some Doctors Want To Change That. 
Several months ago, a lab technologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital mixed the blood components of two people: Alphonso Harried, who needed a kidney, and Pat Holterman-Hommes, who hoped to give him one. The goal was to see whether Harried’s body would instantly see Holterman-Hommes’ organ as a major threat and attack it before surgeons could finish a transplant. To do that, the technologist mixed in fluorescent tags that would glow if Harried’s immune defense forces would latch onto the donor’s cells in preparation for an attack. If, after a few hours, the machine found lots of glowing, it meant the kidney transplant would be doomed. It stayed dark: They were a match. (Bichell and Anthony, 6/13)

KHN: States Fight Student Mental Health Crisis With Days Off 
Linnea Sorensen falls into a funk whenever her girlfriend of four years leaves for her six-month stints with the Marines, and the high school junior has trouble concentrating on her class work. “I’m somebody who struggles with my mental health quite a bit,” said the 17-year-old, who attends school in this suburb of about 77,000 people northwest of Chicago. “When you’re in school and not fully mentally there, it’s like you’re not really grasping anything anyway.” Now Illinois is giving Sorensen and students like her a new option for dealing with mental health lows. The state allows K-12 students in public schools to have five excused absences per school year for mental health reasons, another example of the growing acknowledgment among lawmakers that emotional and physical health are intertwined. (Bruce, 6/13)

KHN: Trauma Surgeons Detail The Horror Of Mass Shootings In The Wake Of Uvalde And Call For Reforms
When Dr. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician in Uvalde, Texas, testified before a U.S. House committee Wednesday about gun violence, he told lawmakers about the horror of seeing the bodies of two of the 19 children killed in the Robb Elementary massacre. They were so pulverized, he said, that they could be identified only by their clothing. In recent years, the medical profession has developed techniques to help save more gunshot victims, such as evacuating patients rapidly. But trauma surgeons interviewed by KHN say that even those improvements can save only a fraction of patients when military-style rifles inflict the injury. Suffering gaping wounds, many victims die at the shooting scene and never make it to a hospital, they said. Those victims who do arrive at trauma centers appear to have more wounds than in years past, according to the surgeons. (Miller and Sausser, 6/10)

KHN: Journalists Delve Into Vaccine Mandates And Surprise Billing 
California Healthline correspondent Rachel Bluth discussed California’s doomed covid-19 vaccine mandates on iHeartPodcasts “The Daily Dive” on June 7. ... KHN contributing writer Michelle Andrews discussed her recent “Bill of the Month” feature about a surprise bill for a colonoscopy on KMOX on June 3. (6/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Three-Dose Pfizer Covid Vaccine Works Safely In Young Children, Review Says 
Three doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE were effective at preventing symptomatic disease in children ages 6 months through 4 years in studies, according to U.S. health regulators. The FDA staff also said, in a review of study data posted online Sunday, that there were no new safety concerns using the vaccine in young children compared with older age groups. The assessment is the latest sign that authorities are moving closer to clearing inoculations for children under 5 years old, the last group ineligible for Covid-19 vaccination. (Loftus, 6/12)

The New York Times: Pfizer Vaccine Effective In Children Under 5, The F.D.A. Says 
Some public health experts are expecting the F.D.A. to authorize both Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines, offering parents a choice between the two. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must also weigh in with its recommendations after the F.D.A. acts. Roughly 18 million children younger than 5 are the only Americans who are not yet eligible for shots. (LaFraniere, 6/12)

The Hill: White House Faces Uphill Challenge Getting Kids Under 5 Vaccinated
The Biden administration faces an uphill battle to convince parents to give COVID-19 shots to children under 5 years old. ... Officials have outlined a plan that includes partnering with the online What to Expect community, as well as a range of national organizations, including a “speaker’s bureau” of pediatricians and family physicians who will be able to answer questions about the shots at community events. Vaccines will be distributed across thousands of different sites, but the administration will focus on front-line providers including pediatricians and primary care doctors, as that is where they expect many families will want to go. (Weixel, 6/12)

ABC News: Key Challenges To Vaccinating Kids Under 5 Against COVID-19 And What We Can Do: Analysis 
As of June 8, more than 254 million doses (40%) of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered and reported by retail pharmacies. Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act), pharmacists are authorized to order and administer childhood vaccines, including authorized COVID-19 vaccines, to children ages 3-18 years until Oct. 1, 2024. ... However, pharmacists do not receive extensive training in vaccinating young children, who are often unwilling to participate in the immunization process. Additionally, most 3-year-old children are vaccinated in the thigh, rather than in the arm, making the vaccination of this age group particularly challenging in a busy pharmacy that may not have the space to ensure privacy during vaccine administration. (Brownstein, Weintraub, Fiscus, Tewarson and Greene, 6/10)

AP: Senate Negotiators Announce A Deal On Guns, Breaking Logjam
Senate bargainers on Sunday announced the framework of a bipartisan response to last month’s mass shootings, a noteworthy but limited breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, the accord was embraced by Biden and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress. (Fram, 6/12)

The New York Times: Gun Deal Is Less Than Democrats Wanted, But More Than They Expected 
The bipartisan gun safety deal announced Sunday is far from what Democrats would have preferred in the aftermath of the racist gun massacre in Buffalo and the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, but it is considerably more than they hoped for initially. ... “We cannot let the congressional perfect be the enemy of the good,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, who said he would have preferred to bar military assault weapons. “Though this agreement falls short in this and other respects, it can and will make our nation safer.” (Hulse, 6/12)

ABC News: Advocates, Survivors Applaud 'New Beginning' With Senate's Gun Deal -- But Want More Done 
Former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, a mass shooting survivor, wrote on Twitter, "Eleven years ago, a bullet changed my life forever. Six of my constituents were killed, several more injured. And Congress has failed to get anything done since. But today, our country takes an important step forward with the announcement of a bipartisan framework on gun safety. This bipartisan agreement on gun safety could be the first time in 30 years that Congress takes major action on gun safety." ... Likewise, gun reform supporter Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter, Jaime, was killed at Parkland, also tweeted measured approval: "While much is not in this, the result is a 30 year breakthrough. This is gun safety legislation that will save lives and reduce the instances of gun violence." (Oppenheim and Bartash, 6/12)

Reuters: Tens Of Thousands Rally Against Gun Violence In Washington, Across U.S. 
Tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on Washington and at hundreds of rallies across the United States on Saturday to demand that lawmakers pass legislation aimed at curbing gun violence following last month's massacre at a Texas elementary school. In the nation's capital, organizers with March for Our Lives (MFOL) estimated that 40,000 people assembled at the National Mall near the Washington Monument under occasional light rain. The gun safety group was founded by student survivors of the 2018 massacre at a Parkland, Florida, high school. (Hesson, 6/12)

The Boston Globe: Two More Massachusetts Men Test Positive For Monkeypox Virus
Two more Massachusetts men have tested positive for the monkeypox virus, nearly a month after the state’s first case of the virus was reported amid an international outbreak, the Department of Public Health said Sunday. The tests came back positive on Saturday. The two men had contact with each other, but not with the initial case, and are isolating, the department said in a statement. The Boston Public Health Commission will lead contact tracing efforts. (Thompson, 6/12)

AP: 3rd Illinois Monkeypox Case Identified In DuPage County 
Public health officials have identified a third case of monkeypox a week after the first two cases appeared in Illinois. WLS-TV reports that a man in DuPage County tested positive for monkeypox after traveling internationally. The adult male was in a country that has reported an outbreak, according to the DuPage County Health Department. (6/11)

CIDRAP: CDC Director: Monkeypox May Be Tricky To Diagnose
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, said clinicians should not rule out a monkeypox diagnosis if a patient presents with a sexually transmitted infection (STI). ... Walensky said some of the 45 confirmed patients in the United States were also diagnosed as having herpes, gonorrhea, or chlamydia at the same time as the monkeypox diagnosis. The CDC also said that, among those 45, at least 75% had traveled internationally before contracting the disease. (Soucheray, 6/10)

Modern Healthcare: Providers Prepare For Monkeypox, Discuss Infection Control Practices
Infectious disease experts and health systems across the country are ensuring facilities are well-equipped and prepared to deal with potential monkeypox cases and prevent further outbreaks. There have been 45 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the U.S. this year and more than 1,300 cases worldwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. government is waiting on the delivery of 300,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine Jynneos, and has ordered another 500,000 doses to be delivered later this year, the Associated Press reported Friday. (Devereaux, 6/10)

The Washington Post: Monkeypox Dilemma: How To Warn Gay Men About Risk Without Fueling Hate
Monkeypox had arrived in Salt Lake County, with two men testing positive after returning from Europe, the epicenter of a global outbreak concentrated in gay and bisexual men. Officials there faced a dilemma. They wanted to warn men who have sex with men that they were at higher risk for exposure to the virus. But they feared unintended consequences: heterosexual people assuming they’re not susceptible, closeted men in a heavily Mormon community avoiding care so they’re not seen as gay, and critics exploiting the infections to sow bigotry. (Nirappil, 6/12)

Stat: ‘Discriminatory And Stigmatizing’: Scientists Push To Rename Monkeypox Viruses
A group of scientists from Africa and elsewhere are urging the scientific community and world health leaders to drop the stigmatizing language used to differentiate monkeypox viruses, and are even advocating renaming the virus itself. In a position paper published online on Friday, the group proposed abandoning the existing names for monkeypox virus clades — West Africa and Congo Basin — and replacing them with numbers, saying the current names are discriminatory. (Branswell, 6/11)

AP: Many Baby Formula Plants Weren't Inspected Because Of COVID
U.S. regulators have historically inspected baby formula plants at least once a year, but they did not inspect any of the three biggest manufacturers in 2020, according to federal records reviewed by The Associated Press. When they finally did get inside an Abbott Nutrition formula plant in Michigan after a two-year gap, they found standing water and lax sanitation procedures. But inspectors offered only voluntary suggestions for fixing the problems, and issued no formal warning. (Perrone, 6/13)

ABC News: 190,000 Pounds Of Baby Formula From Australia Lands In US 
Around 95,000 tins of baby formula arrived in the U.S. from Australia on Sunday, potentially offering relief to many families who have struggled to obtain infant formula in recent weeks. Bubs Australia struck a deal with American grocery chains Kroger Co. and Albertsons Companies to import the formula under the fourth flight of Operation Fly Formula, the company announced. (Grant, 6/12)

CBS News: Rhode Island Hospital Launches First Human Pasteurized Milk Donor Program In The State 
A Rhode Island hospital is the first in the state to launch a human pasteurized milk donor program in an effort to combat the nationwide baby formula shortage. Kent Hospital's Women's Care Center, located in Warwick, launched the program in May. According to the hospital, the program "supports breastfeeding families by allowing them the option of providing their infant with pasteurized donor human milk, if supplementation is needed, as a bridge until a mother's own milk is available." (Cannella, 6/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Baby-Formula Shortage Has Spurred Competition, But Tough Road Remains To Unseat Similac, Enfamil 
Baby-formula makers have their best shot in decades to shake up a U.S. market long dominated by two players. Long-established companies and startups are angling to emerge from a nationwide formula shortage in a stronger market position as they work to hold on to new customers who are more willing to switch brands while shelves remain thinly stocked. This window of opportunity may be short-lived, industry analysts and executives say, as formula manufacturers still face significant barriers, ranging from federal product-safety rules to state contracts with major brands. (Terlep and Gasparro, 6/12)

AP: US Lifts COVID-19 Test Requirement For International Travel
The Biden administration is lifting its requirement that international travelers test negative for COVID-19 within a day before boarding a flight to the United States, ending one of the last remaining government mandates designed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that the requirement will end early Sunday morning. The health agency said it will continue to monitor state of the pandemic and will reassess the need for a testing requirement if the situation changes. (Miller and Koenig, 6/1)

The Wall Street Journal: What The Covid Testing Changes Mean For Air Travelers To The U.S. 
The testing requirement ended June 12 at 12:01 a.m. Those crossing into the U.S. by land or by seaport already face no testing requirements. ... The CDC still recommends that travelers boarding a flight to the U.S. get tested as close to the time of departure as possible, meaning no more than three days before leaving. The agency says those who are sick shouldn’t travel. Isolation rules vary by country and can be very strict and closely enforced. (Pohle, 6/12)

AP: Las Vegas Area Health Agency Urges Mask-Wearing Indoors 
With COVID-19 cases rising again, the public health agency for metro Las Vegas is advising a return to wearing masks in public, indoor settings. The Southern Nevada Health District said in a news release Friday that Clark County is at a “high community level” of the virus. (6/11)

The New York Times: Ivermectin Has Little Effect On Recovery Time From Covid, Study Finds
The antiparasite drug ivermectin does not meaningfully reduce the time needed to recover from Covid, according to a large study posted online Sunday. It is the largest of several clinical trials to show that the drug, popular since the early pandemic as an alternative treatment, is not effective against the virus. The new trial, conducted by researchers at Duke University and Vanderbilt University, tested more than 1,500 people with Covid, about half getting the drug and the others a placebo. The study has not yet been published in a scientific journal. (Zimmer, 6/12)

CIDRAP: Study: Health Workers Not Countering COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Well
Healthcare workers are a trusted source of COVID-19 vaccine information, but many aren't using that advantage on social media to encourage vaccination, a research team based at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health reported this week in the Journal of Community Health. The researchers based their findings on a survey of health workers conducted from April through June of 2021. They also examined a random sample of nearly 2,300 tweets about COVID-19 vaccination, of which 1,863 were written by individuals. The healthcare workers were from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Western Psychiatric Hospital, one of the nation's largest free-standing psychiatric hospitals. (6/10)

AP: New York Fund Apologizes For Role In Tuskegee Syphilis Study
For almost 40 years starting in the 1930s, as government researchers purposely let hundreds of Black men die of syphilis in Alabama so they could study the disease, a foundation in New York covered funeral expenses for the deceased. The payments were vital to survivors of the victims in a time and place ravaged by poverty and racism. Altruistic as they might sound, the checks — $100 at most — were no simple act of charity: They were part of an almost unimaginable scheme. To get the money, widows or other loved ones had to consent to letting doctors slice open the bodies of the dead men for autopsies that would detail the ravages of a disease the victims were told was “bad blood.” (Reeves, 6/11)

AP: Troubled Iowa Center For Disabled Fined For Resident's Death
A troubled Iowa center for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities failed to monitor the fluid intake of a 30-year-old resident who died in February due to dehydration, state inspectors said in a report. The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals has fined the Glenwood Resource Center $10,000 after inspectors found that center staff failed to ensure that the man received at least 101 ounces (3,000 milliliters) of fluids every day, as ordered by his doctor. (Beck, 6/10)

AP: Judge: NC Health Plan Must Cover Transgender Treatments 
The North Carolina state employee health plan unlawfully discriminates by excluding treatments for transgender people by refusing to pay for hormone therapy and surgeries, as it once did briefly, a federal judge ruled Friday. U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs sided with several transgender people or their parents in declaring the refusal of coverage for treatments linked to gender confirmation violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act on the basis of sex. (6/10)

AP: Judge: Georgia County Can't Deny Gender Surgery To Deputy
A federal judge has found that a Georgia sheriff’s office was illegally discriminating when it denied gender reassignment surgery to a deputy. U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell ruled June 2 that Houston County cannot exclude surgery for the transgender woman from its health insurance plan, citing a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision finding that a Michigan funeral home couldn’t fire an employee for being transgender. (Amy, 6/11)

AP: Butter Clams Cause Shellfish Poisoning In WA Resident
Health officials in Washington state say they have confirmed a case of shellfish poisoning in a person who ate butter clams that were recreationally harvested in Island County. The paralytic shellfish poisoning illness was found in a Snohomish County resident who experienced tingling and numbness of the lips, tongue and extremities, the Washington state Department of Health said Thursday in a statement. (6/10)

CIDRAP: Backyard Poultry-Linked Salmonella Outbreaks Sicken 219 In 38 States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday said it and health officials in multiple state are investigating Salmonella outbreaks tied to backyard poultry that have sickened 219 people, 1 fatally, in 38 states. ... Interviews with sick patients about possible exposures revealed that 70% had contact with backyard poultry before they got sick. Others ate eggs from backyard poultry, and two ate meat from backyard poultry. The states with the most cases include Minnesota (15), Wisconsin (13), Pennsylvania (12), Illinois (11), Texas (11), and Iowa (10). (6/10)

AP: Country Star Toby Keith Discloses Stomach Cancer Diagnosis 
Country music star Toby Keith announced Sunday that he has been undergoing treatment for stomach cancer since last fall. The multi-platinum-selling singer said on Twitter that he underwent surgery and received chemotherapy and radiation in the past six months. (6/12)

The New York Times: What Is Ramsay Hunt Syndrome? Justin Bieber’s Diagnosis, Explained 
Ramsay Hunt syndrome is a neurological condition caused by varicella zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox in children and shingles in adults. The virus can linger in your body for your entire life, even long after you have recovered from chickenpox, and reawaken to irritate and inflame the nerves in your face. (Blum, 6/10)

The New York Times: Heat Wave Persists In Southwest As High Temperatures Set Records 
Heat advisories and excessive heat warnings were in effect for more than 75 million people in the southern and central United States on Sunday, a continuation of a scorching heat wave that resulted in record high temperatures on Saturday in 16 cities from the Southwest to the Southern Plains, according to the National Weather Service. On Saturday, the temperature reached 114 degrees at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, tying a record set more than a century ago. (Chung, 6/12)

The Washington Post: Weight-Loss Surgery Linked To Lower Cancer Death Rate In Large Study 
Body weight is considered a risk factor for cancer — but can losing it reverse that risk? A study suggests the answer is an emphatic yes, at least for those who lose significant weight through bariatric surgery. Patients who had the surgery were 32 percent less likely to develop cancer and 48 percent less likely to die of cancer than their counterparts who did not have surgery, according to research published in JAMA. (Blakemore, 6/12)

The Hill: ‘Forever Chemicals’ Linked To High Blood Pressure In Middle-Aged Women: Study
Middle-aged women who have greater blood concentrations of toxic “forever chemicals” may be at greater risk of developing high blood pressure, a new study has found. These women were more likely to become hypertensive than those who had lower levels of the compounds, also called per- and polyfluroalkyl substances (PFAS), according to a study published on Monday in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension. (Udasin, 6/13)

AP: Census Wants To Know How To Ask About Sexuality And Gender
Recognizing the difficulty of persuading people to reveal information many find sensitive, the U.S. Census Bureau is requesting millions of dollars to study how best to ask about sexual orientation and gender identity. The results could provide much better data about the LGBTQ population nationwide at a time when views about sexual orientation and gender identity are evolving. (Schneider, 6/11)

AP: British Scientists Say It's Unclear If Monkeypox Has Peaked
British health officials said they cannot tell if the spread of monkeypox has peaked in the country as they announced another 45 cases Friday, bringing the total in the disease’s biggest-ever outbreak beyond Africa to 366 cases. Britain’s Health Security Agency said 99% of the total cases were in men and that nearly all of the 152 men who provided detailed information identified as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men. About 80% of cases were in London, and the median age of the people infected was 38, the agency said. (Cheng, 6/10)

AP: WTO Holds Big Meeting To Tackle Vaccines, Food Shortages 
The head of the World Trade Organization predicted a “bumpy and rocky” road as it opened its highest-level meeting in 4-1/2 years on Sunday, with issues like pandemic preparedness, food insecurity and overfishing of the world’s seas on the agenda. At a time when some question WTO’s relevance, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala hopes the meeting involving more than 120 ministers from the group’s 164 member countries yields progress toward reducing inequality and ensuring fair and free trade. (Keaten, 6/12)

Stat: Disputes Persist As Covid Patent Waiver Talks Come Down To The Wire
On Sunday, the World Trade Organization will hold a long-delayed ministerial conference to craft a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the issue likely to generate the most debate is a highly controversial proposal to temporarily waive intellectual property rights for vaccines. A version was first introduced in October 2020 by South Africa and India, but appeared to face the proverbial uphill battle until several months later, when the Biden administration unexpectedly backed the effort. But despite various attempts at a compromise, the initiative repeatedly stalled amid objections by the pharmaceutical industry and some wealthy nations where the largest drug companies are based. Now a furious last-minute bid is underway to pass the latest version of the proposal, but the latest version seems to satisfy no one. What is at stake? How will this affect access to medicines and pharmaceutical industry assets? (Silverman, 6/12)

AP: China Calls COVID 'Lab Leak' Theory A Lie After WHO Report 
China on Friday attacked the theory that the coronavirus pandemic may have originated as a leak from a Chinese laboratory as a politically motivated lie, after the World Health Organization recommended in its strongest terms yet that a deeper probe is needed into whether a lab accident may be to blame. (6/10)

The New York Times: Poland Shows The Risks For Women When Abortion Is Banned 
It was shortly before 11 p.m. when Izabela Sajbor realized the doctors were prepared to let her die. Her doctor had already told her that her fetus had severe abnormalities and would almost certainly die in the womb. If it made it to term, life expectancy was a year, at most. At 22 weeks pregnant, Ms. Sajbor had been admitted to a hospital after her water broke prematurely. She knew that there was a short window to induce birth or surgically remove the fetus to avert infection and potentially fatal sepsis. But even as she developed a fever, vomited and convulsed on the floor, it seemed to be the baby’s heartbeat that the doctors were most concerned about. (Bennhold and Pronczuk, 6/12)

AP: Salvadoran Women Jailed For Abortion Warn US Of Total Ban 
Teodora del Carmen Vásquez was nine months pregnant and working at a school cafeteria when she felt extreme pain in her back, like the crack of a hammer. She called 911 seven times before fainting in a bathroom in a pool of blood. The nightmare that followed is common in El Salvador, a heavily Catholic country where abortion is banned under all circumstances and even women who suffer miscarriages and stillbirths are sometimes accused of killing their babies and sentenced to years or even decades in prison. (Henao and Wardarski, 6/11)

AP: In Their Words: Salvadoran Women Jailed Under Abortion Ban 
Since the late 1990s, El Salvador has had a complete ban on abortion including in cases of rape, incest, fetal malformation or danger to a pregnant woman’s life. Not only planned abortions but also miscarriages, stillbirths and other pregnancy complications can sometimes result in prosecution and lengthy prison terms. Often women who end up being targeted by authorities are poor and live in rural areas. The Associated Press spoke with several women who served time in such cases. (Henao and Wardarski, 6/10)