First Edition: June 17, 2022

KHN: A Proposal To Import Drugs From Other Countries Creates An Unusual Alliance In The Senate 
Harmony is not often found between two of the most boisterous senators on Capitol Hill, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.). But it was there at Tuesday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee markup of legislation to reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration’s user fee program, which is set to expire Sept. 30. (Knight, 6/17)

KHN: Two Tennessee Abortion Clinics, Awaiting High-Court Ruling, Grapple With Uncertainty
Corinne Rovetti is worried about what will happen to the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health if the Supreme Court overturns the constitutional right to abortion. The clinic, where she has worked for 33 years helping people across a four-state region, could close. “We’re unsure if we’ll be able to maintain services at all,” said Rovetti, who is the co-director and a nurse practitioner at KCRH, which provides medication abortions and abortion procedures, as well as gynecological and family planning services. Each year, the center provides abortion services to 1,300 to 1,400 patients, including people from Kentucky, Georgia, and Virginia. (Knight, 6/17)

KHN: States Extend Medicaid For New Mothers — Even As They Reject Broader Expansion
Until last year, Georgia’s Medicaid coverage for new moms with low incomes lasted 60 days. That meant the Medicaid benefits of many women expired before they could be referred to other medical providers for help with serious health problems, said Dr. Keila Brown, an OB-GYN in Atlanta. “If they needed other postpartum issues followed up, it was rather difficult to get them in within that finite period of time,” said Brown, who works at the Family Health Centers of Georgia, a group of community health centers. (Whitehead, 6/17)

KHN: It’s Hot Outside — And That’s Bad News For Children’s Health 
Heat waves are getting hotter and becoming more frequent because of rising rates of air pollution, putting children’s health at risk, a wide-ranging new report finds. A June 15 article in the New England Journal of Medicine reviews current research to take a sweeping inventory of how air pollution and climate change interact to adversely affect people’s health, especially that of kids. It examined the link between fossil fuel emissions and a variety of consequences of climate change — including extreme weather events; wildfires; vector-borne illnesses such as malaria, Zika, and Lyme disease; and heat waves, a topic at the forefront of many people’s minds. (DeGuzman, 6/16)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Closing In On Covid Vaccines For ‘The Littles’
Children younger than 5 are the only population not eligible for a covid-19 vaccine in the U.S. But that may be about to change as an advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration recommends authorization for that group. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, senators are struggling to write into legislative language a tentative deal reached over the weekend on gun control and mental health, and the Supreme Court says no to certain administration cuts to hospitals under the Medicare program. (6/16)

The Washington Post: Congressional Covid Funding Deal Appears ‘Dead’ After GOP Criticism 
A congressional deal for billions of dollars in additional coronavirus funding appeared all but dead Thursday after Senate Republicans accused the White House of being dishonest about the nation’s pandemic funding needs. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who brought the Senate close to a bipartisan $10 billion covid funding deal in March, said the Biden administration had provided “patently false” information about its inability to buy additional vaccines, treatments and supplies. He cited a newly announced White House plan to repurpose some existing funds to cover the country’s most pressing vaccine and treatment needs. (Diamond, 6/16)

Stat: Mitt Romney Says White House Misled Congress On Covid-19 Funds
Mitt Romney, a prominent Republican senator who spearheaded failed Covid-19 response funding negotiations, on Thursday accused the White House of misleading Congress about the urgency of the situation. In a striking monologue during a congressional hearing, Romney expressed anger that he spent months negotiating with his colleagues to craft a $10 billion funding package, when the Biden administration earlier this month announced that it had repurposed existing funding to pay for $10 billion in vaccines and therapeutics purchases in the absence of congressional action. (Cohrs, 6/16)

Roll Call: Senate Passes Major Benefits Expansion For Sick Veterans 
The Senate on Thursday took a major step toward broadening America’s commitment to take care of sick veterans, passing a bill to offer new health care and tax-free disability benefits to as many as 3.5 million veterans on an 84-14 vote. Under the legislation written by Veterans' Affairs Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., and ranking member Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the Department of Veterans Affairs would consider a veteran with any of 23 conditions, ranging from brain cancer to hypertension, who was deployed to a combat zone during the wars in Iraq or in Afghanistan automatically eligible for care at government cost, based on the presumption that exposure to toxic chemicals in the war zone caused the ailments. (Satter, 6/16)

Politico: Senate Advances Bill On Veterans' Burn Pit Care
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) said in statement that the House will vote again on the measure, which it passed in March, next week. Biden, who has pushed for recognition of burn pit health risks since the campaign trail, is expected to swiftly sign the bill into law. (Owermohle, 6/16)

The Washington Post: Gun Deal In Jeopardy After Senators Fail To Agree On Text
Senators left Washington on Thursday with key elements still in dispute on a delicate bipartisan deal that could significantly expand federal gun laws for the first time in three decades. The lack of firm agreement could foil leaders’ hopes of holding a Senate vote on a bill next week, and raised the prospect that a framework agreement released Sunday might not be able to be translated into a bill. (DeBonis and Caldwell, 6/16)

NBC News: Senate Gun Group Eyes Finish Line As 'Boyfriend Loophole' Remains A Big Hurdle
The four U.S. senators leading negotiations on a gun deal met for hours in a Senate basement Thursday in pursuit of a final agreement, but emerged with one major unresolved issue. The meeting among Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., did not yield a resolution on how to close the "boyfriend loophole" involving gun rights for abusive partners. (Kapur, Tsirkin and Thorp V, 6/16)

Politico: McConnell's Gun Safety Gamble
Mitch McConnell is breaking character yet again, and this time it’s on one of the most polarizing issues in American politics. Once known as the Senate’s “guardian of gridlock,” the GOP leader is publicly endorsing the chamber’s bipartisan framework on gun safety, wading into a topic so volatile with his base that it ended one Republican lawmaker’s career this month. While McConnell’s position didn’t surprise his GOP colleagues, it continues a pattern of cutting against his reputation and easing up, ever so slightly, in his push to stop the Democratic agenda. (Levine and Everett, 6/16)

The Hill: Biden Signs Bill Boosting Security For SCOTUS Justices, Families 
President Biden on Thursday signed bipartisan legislation to bolster security protection for Supreme Court justices and their families.  The bill passed the House in a 396-27 vote on Tuesday, less than a week after an armed man was arrested outside of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home and charged with attempted murder. The White House said in a press release on Thursday evening that Biden had signed the bill.  (Chalfant, 6/16)

NBC News: 2 Dead, 1 Injured In Shooting At Alabama Church
Two people were killed and a third was injured when a gunman opened fire inside a church near Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday, police said. A suspect in the evening shooting at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills is in custody, police said. "From what we've gathered from the circumstances of this evening, a lone suspect entered a small group church meeting and began shooting," Vestavia Hills police Capt. Shane Ware said. The suspect's identity was not immediately released. The third person who was injured was being treated at a hospital, he said. A motive in the shooting was not disclosed. (Helsel, 6/16)

Des Moines Register: Iowa Church Shooter's Record Not Previously Shared Between Authorities
The man who authorities say shot and killed two Iowa State University students this month in the parking lot of an Ames church had a legal record spanning several years that included alleged violent behavior against women, but Story County's prosecutor said his office wasn't aware of it after Johnathan Lee Whitlatch was arrested two days before the shooting. Even if other law enforcement agencies had shared or could have shared the information about Whitlatch — including previous concerns about his mental health — Story County Attorney Tim Meals said it probably would not have changed how bond was set for him after his May 31 arrest or whether he would have been allowed pretrial release. (Sitter, 6/16)

Los Angeles Times: VP Harris: U.S. Expands Low-Income Postpartum Health Program
Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday announced an expansion of a federal program that provides healthcare coverage for lower-income women for up to a year after they give birth. The federal government, using money from the $1.9-trillion stimulus law signed last year, announced access to the program for three additional states — Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico — along with Washington, D.C. The number of jurisdictions providing the benefit stands at 15, including California. The program gives health benefits — including pelvic exams, vaccinations and screenings — through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to qualifying families. Previously, mothers were only covered for two months after giving birth. Administration officials would not say what the expansion will cost. (Bierman, 6/16)

NBC News: Biden Tested Negative For Covid, Source Says, After White House Spokesperson Declined To Disclose
President Joe Biden twice tested negative for the coronavirus this week, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News, despite high-profile interactions with individuals who recently disclosed positive cases. The disclosure came after the top White House spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, repeatedly refused to reveal the president’s testing status, a reversal from previous practice. (Memoli, 6/16)

AP: White House Clams Up On Biden COVID-19 Testing Regimen
In an abrupt change of course, the White House is now declining to comment on the frequency of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 testing regimen, even as it maintains that it would inform the public if he were to ever test positive for the coronavirus. Since Inauguration Day, the White House had frequently answered questions from reporters about when Biden, 79, last tested negative for the virus. Now, the White House says its policy is not to answer those questions. (Miller and Weissert, 6/17)

NBC News: Deborah Birx To Testify Publicly For First Time Since Leaving Trump Administration
Deborah Birx, who served as Covid response coordinator under former President Donald Trump, will give her first public testimony about her time in the Trump administration. Birx is scheduled to provide testimony on June 23 at a hearing before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, led by Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. (Stewart, 6/16)

CIDRAP: As More States Report Monkeypox, Officials Urge Caution
In new research developments, a Dutch team that studied 18 recently confirmed patients found a 4- to 17-day incubation period, which supports current isolation and contact-tracing guidance, but offers a bit narrower window than other estimates. (Soucheray, 6/16)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Reports First Presumed Case Of Monkeypox Virus; Resident Is Said To Be In Isolation With Mild Symptoms 
The first suspected Maryland case of human monkeypox, a rare but contagious infection that has emerged in the United States, has been identified by the state health department. A state resident presumed to have the infection showed mild symptoms and did not require hospital care, the Maryland Department of Health said Thursday. The person is in isolation and waiting for test results to confirm an infection. Human monkeypox is a virus that causes symptoms similar to smallpox, although typically less severe. The health department provided no other details about the individual, including where in the state they reside or personal information such as age or gender. (Price, 6/16)

AP: Oregon Reports First Probable Case Of Monkeypox 
Oregon health officials have reported the first probable case of monkeypox in the state. The Oregon Health Authority said in a statement Thursday the case was in an adult male who had travelled to a community with confirmed cases. He remains isolated and is following recommendations from public health officials and medical providers, authorities said. Testing to confirm the case is being done by federal officials. (6/16)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Five Cases Of Monkeypox In Broward Set Off Emergency Town Hall Meeting
With five cases of monkeypox in Broward County, LGBTQ community leaders are calling an emergency town hall in Wilton Manors on Thursday night to try to curb the spread. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the majority of monkeypox cases in the U.S. are in men who have had sex with men, although anyone can get it through close personal contact. Broward LGBTQ leaders said they believe there is cause for concern leading into the Stonewall Pride Parade this weekend. “We know there will be large gatherings and likely higher sexual activity,” said David Jobin, president and CEO of Our Fund Foundation. “We want the community to celebrate but use caution.” (Goodman, 6/16)

The Boston Globe: 7th Case Of Monkeypox Virus Confirmed In Mass., State Health Officials Say
State public health officials on Thursday confirmed that a seventh Massachusetts resident had tested positive for the monkeypox virus. The state Department of Public Health said the man had recently traveled internationally. “DPH is working with local health officials, the patient, and healthcare providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient while he was infectious,” the statement said. “The individual is currently isolating to prevent spread to others.” (Andersen, 6/16)

Bloomberg: Monkeypox Cases Could Spread Unseen In US If ‘Testing Bottlenecks’ Don’t Improve
US testing for monkeypox is insufficient to determine how widespread the virus is and where new cases are cropping up, according to infectious disease experts and advocates concerned about a sluggish response to the outbreak that’s already hit 32 countries. While government labs have the capacity to test as many as 8,000 samples a week, they’re only using 2% of that capability, suggesting that about 23 monkeypox tests are being performed a day, said James Krellenstein, the cofounder of PrEP4All, an HIV advocacy group that widened its focus during the pandemic. Much more testing is needed to find out where the pathogen is and how fast it’s moving, he said. (Muller, 6/16)

NBC News: Long Covid Symptoms Less Likely To Occur After Omicron Infection, Study Suggests
The new research, which was published Thursday in The Lancet, is an observational analysis of people who signed up for a smartphone app-led project called the ZOE Covid Study. Users regularly report any Covid symptoms, vaccination status and other demographic information. Since the app's launch in March 2020, approximately 4.7 million people, most of whom reside in the U.K., have signed on. (Edwards, 6/16)

NPR: Study Finds Omicron Poses Less Risk Than Delta For Long COVID
The omicron variant is much less likely than delta to cause long COVID, according to the first large-scale study published about the long-term risks posed by omicron. But almost 5% of people who catch omicron still experience fatigue, brain fog, headaches, heart problems or other health issues at least a month after getting infected, the study found. While some researchers found the results reassuring, others say the findings are alarming, given that so many people caught omicron and apparently remain at risk even if they're vaccinated. (Stein, 6/16)

CIDRAP: Boosters Plus Previous Infection Shown Most Protective Against Omicron
According to a study yesterday based on COVID-19 cases in Qatar, protection afforded by natural immunity from prior infections was longer-lasting than from a primary mRNA vaccine series, but booster vaccine doses combined with prior infection provided the most protection against infections during the Omicron surge. ... Previous infection alone was 46.1% effective in protecting against infection with BA.2, an Omicron subvariant that surpassed the original (BA.1) Omicron strain in late March. The highest level of protection against BA.2 infection was in people who had a previous infection plus three doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which was 77.3%.

CIDRAP: Study Finds Low 2-Dose Vaccine Protection Against Omicron In Teens
A study today in Pediatrics of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine efficacy (VE) in teens finds that VE was lower against symptomatic Omicron infection than against Delta and decreased faster, from 51% initially to 29% after 180 days, compared with 97% and 90% for the same intervals against symptomatic Delta infection. (6/16)

Politico: DeSantis Says Florida Is ‘Affirmatively Against’ Covid-19 Vaccines For Young Kids
Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday railed against providing Covid-19 vaccines to young children, saying Florida will not provide state programs to administer vaccinations for toddlers or infants. DeSantis, speaking at a press conference in Miami, said that Covid-19 vaccines have not gone through enough testing and clinical trials to determine that they are effective and added that kids are least likely to suffer serious health consequences from Covid. (Sarkissian, 6/16)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Children's Opens COVID Vaccine Appointments For Kids 5 And Under
Texas Children’s Hospital is opening up appointments for children as young as 6 months old to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday unanimously recommended for emergency use authorization for millions of infants, toddlers and preschoolers. The agency’s recommendation centers on Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 4 years old, and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 5 years old. The hospital is still waiting on official FDA authorization, then a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, followed by an official sign-off from CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. If that happens, the shots could be available as early as next week. (Gill, 6/16)

Fox News: Covid Outbreak In Illinois Veterans Home Sparks Concern
A COVID-19 outbreak at a state-run veterans home in northeastern Illinois has spread to 22 residents and staff members, a state agency said. The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs said Wednesday that 16 residents and six staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Illinois Veterans’ Home at Manteno, about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) south of Chicago, and the majority of the residents have shown no symptoms. However, a "small number" of residents are showing mild symptoms, the department said. (6/16)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Increasing In Southern Nevada
COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to rise this week, underscoring Friday’s announcement that Clark County is experiencing a high community level of the disease. The number of patients hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 in the county increased to 351 from last week’s 276, according to data released Wednesday by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. Statewide, there were 410 hospitalizations. (Hynes, 6/15)

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska Reports 35% Increase In COVID-19 Hospitalizations From Last Week
The number of people sick enough to be hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alaska rose by more than 35% this week compared to last as reported cases decreased slightly. Here are a few main takeaways from the latest data available from the state Department of Health and Social Services: • By Wednesday, there were 61 COVID-positive patients hospitalized around Alaska, a significant increase from the 45 reported by the state a week earlier. Just under 5% of Alaska’s hospital patients were COVID-positive. Current hospital counts are still well below all-time peaks, but on the rise. (6/15)

AP: California Lawmaker Scraps Plan For Preteen Vaccine Consent 
California lawmakers on Thursday amended a bill that would have let preteens be vaccinated against a range of health conditions without their parents’ consent, instead raising the proposed minimum age to 15, which would still be among the youngest in the U.S. Currently, minors age 12 to 17 in California cannot be vaccinated without permission from their parents or guardians, except for vaccinations to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. California state law already allows people 12 and older to consent to the Hepatitis B and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. (Thompson, 6/16)

The Washington Post: Anti-Vaccine Doctor Simone Gold Sentenced For Jan. 6 Trespassing 
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Simone Gold, the founder of the anti-vaccine group America’s Frontline Doctors, to 60 days in prison for trespassing in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack, blasting her for using her legal woes to raise $430,000 for herself and her organization. U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper said that Gold, who pleaded guilty in March, failed to show remorse or accept responsibility for her actions during the riot. (Hsu, 6/16)

Fox News: Fauci Says COVID-19 Origin Evidence Points 'Strongly' Toward 'Natural Occurrence'
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified virtually before a Thursday Senate panel about the illness only a day after announcing he had contracted COVID-19. Fauci, when asked if there were any breakthroughs in understanding the origin of COVID-19, said that researchers had concluded that it "very, very likely" had its genesis in an animal species. Additionally, Fauci stated that the disease "almost certainly" spread to human beings in the Wuhan region of China. (Nerozzi, 6/16)

CIDRAP: COVID Vaccine Hesitancy Threatens Flu Vaccine Uptake 
Polarized views and worries about COVID-19 vaccination had spillover effects on flu vaccination in adults, according to researchers who examined data over two pandemic years on both vaccines by state. The authors of the study say the findings are a warning of declining trust in public heath, which comes at a vulnerable time as eased COVID-19 measures put populations at risk for the return of disease threats such as flu. Late-season flu activity is still under way in some parts of the United States, and health officials are closely watching Australia, where an early-season surge is already worse than some of the country's pre–COVID pandemic flu seasons. (Schnirring, 6/16)

CIDRAP: Data Highlight Greater Impact Of COVID-19 Vs Flu In Young Children
A study today in JAMA Network Open comparing COVID-19 versus flu in kids 5 years old and younger finds that the novel coronavirus led to twice the rate of admissions to pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and rates of intubation one-third higher during the first 15 months of the pandemic. (6/15)

Stateline: Hawaii And Maine Have Scored Highest On Health Care During Pandemic
The health systems in Hawaii and Maine have performed best of all the states during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new rankings that weighed such factors as vaccination rates, capacity in hospital and intensive care units, and death rates. Alabama ranked at the bottom in the scorecard, followed by Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi and Georgia. The rankings, released Thursday, were compiled by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that promotes health equity and higher health care quality, efficiency and access. Every year, Commonwealth uses dozens of measures to produce a ranking of state health care systems. This year, it added categories specific to how state health care systems performed during COVID-19 from February 2020 to the end of March 2022. Vermont, Washington and Oregon rounded out the top five. (Ollove, 6/16)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia’s Pandemic Response Ranked Among The Nation’s Worst
Georgia’s response to the pandemic ranked among the nation’s worst, according to an analysis released Thursday by the New-York-based Commonwealth Fund. The state ranked 44th among all states and the District of Columbia for its overall health performance according to the report, which looked at dozens of measures of health and health care access. Within that, the state ranked 47th for its response to the pandemic, which measured rates of death and COVID-19 hospitalization as well as staffing shortages and overflow in hospital intensive care units. The message, said the authors: The pandemic has been bad, but being ill prepared made it worse for citizens. (Hart, 6/16)

Stat: Life Expectancy For Native Americans Has Stagnated — Long Before Covid
Native American and Alaska Native populations were the only Americans to see no increase whatsoever in life expectancy in the two decades preceding the Covid pandemic, living 73.1 years on average in 2019 — nearly six years less than white Americans. The figures were included in a new detailed analysis of life expectancy published Thursday that showed that overall life expectancy for Americans rose slightly over the period, to 79.1 years in 2019, but that persistent and widespread disparities remained between different racial and ethnic groups. (McFarling, 6/16)

USA Today: Closely Watched Alzheimer’s Study Fails To Prevent Advance Of Disease
The Alzheimer's drug crenezumab did not slow or prevent cognitive decline in a long-running study of Colombian families who carried a genetic mutation that put them at near certain risk to develop the mind-robbing disease. The study of 252 people tested whether the pharmaceutical giant Roche's antibody crenezumab could slow or halt the disease if participants took the medication before memory or thinking problems surfaced. The drug did not demonstrate a significant benefit in tests measuring cognitive abilities or memory function among study participants, Roche said Thursday in a news release. (Alltucker, 5/16)

Fox News: Vitamin D Deficiency Linked To Dementia In Certain Populations When Levels Are Very Low: Study
With many Americans concerned about vitamin D deficiency, a new study finds a causal link between vitamin D deficiency and dementia, according to a paper published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition this April. "Vitamin D is a hormone precursor that is increasingly [recognized] for widespread effects, including on brain health, but until now it has been very difficult to examine what would happen if we were able to prevent vitamin D deficiency," said lead author Elina Hyppönen, senior investigator and director of University of South Australia’s Australian Centre for Precision Health. "Our study is the first to examine the effect of very low levels of vitamin D on the risks of dementia and stroke, using robust genetic analyses among a large population." (Sudhakar, 6/16)

Modern Healthcare: Walgreens To Launch Clinical Trials With Drug, Biotech Manufacturers
Walgreens plans to launch clinical trials with drugmakers and biotech manufacturers later this year, in what executives say is an attempt to increase recruitment and diversity in medical research. The retail giant will utilize its network of primary care, home health and in-store clinics and pharmacies to staff the trials, and hire more physicians to oversee the research. Walgreens also will tap its database of pharmacy customers to identify patients who are eligible for certain trials and has formed a partnership with medical data company Pluto Health to access patient medical records. (Hartnett, 6/16)

Stat: FTC Warns Drugmakers And PBMs On Illegal Rebate Schemes
In a notable move, the Federal Trade Commission put drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers on notice that the agency will “ramp up enforcement” of any “illegal bribes and rebate schemes” that make it harder for patients to access lower-cost medicines. The new policy statement noted the FTC plans to scrutinize rebates and assorted fees for signs that these payments are violating antitrust and consumer protection laws. As part of that effort, the agency expects to monitor lawsuits and file its own legal briefs in cases where it can provide assistance in analyzing illegal practices that may raise prescription drug prices. (Silverman, 6/16)

The Hill: More Than 400,000 Bottles Of Over-The-Counter Medication Recalled Due To Issues With Child-Proofing 
The Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday announced the recall of over 400,000 bottles of over-the-counter medicine due to issues with the child-resistant packaging, which did not meet the requirements in the Poison Prevention Packaging Act. Aurohealth recalled about 137,300 units of Walgreens brand acetaminophen, as well as approximately 25,660 units of Kroger brand arthritis pain acetaminophen. (Scully, 6/16)

USA Today: Employees Fight Health Insurance Screenings That Cost Some Workers
Like many large employers, Yale University gave its clerical, food service and maintenance workers a choice: Get a routine health check or pay a $25 weekly fee. But workers alleged in a federal lawsuit the university's participate-or-pay employee wellness program violated two federal laws. In a preliminary settlement approved Tuesday by U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the university agreed to pay nearly $1.3 million to workers and attorneys and won’t assess the $25 weekly fee for four years, or until federal law or regulations change to allow such a program. Attorneys will have 45 days to notify about 6,300 eligible workers and their spouses about the settlement terms. A hearing to approve the final settlement is scheduled Nov. 22. (Alltucker, 5/16)

Des Moines Register: Iowa Supreme Court To Rule On Abortion Law, Constitutional Right
The Iowa Supreme Court will issue its ruling Friday in a closely-watched decision that could govern the future of abortion access in the state. The court is considering an appeal from the state, which seeks to overturn a lower court's decision blocking a 2020 law imposing a 24-hour waiting period before women can get an abortion. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland successfully sued, arguing the law was unconstitutional under a 2018 Iowa Supreme Court decision that blocked a similar 72-hour waiting period. (Morris, 6/16)

AP: Massachusetts House OKs Bill To Expand Mental Health Access
The Massachusetts House approved a bill Thursday designed to expand access to mental health services. Democratic House leaders said the proposal addresses a variety of pressing needs including acute psychiatric care, the behavioral health of young people, strengthening community-based mental health services and investing in the behavioral health workforce. The bill was passes unanimously by the House. (LeBlanc, 6/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: State Supreme Court Allows Customers To Sue Amazon Over Hazardous Products
The state Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed consumers to sue Amazon for failing to warn the public about potential harm from products sold on its website, such as mercury in skin-lightening creams. This is the first time a California court has allowed damage claims for online advertising of products manufactured and sold by others. A state appeals court ruling in March reinstating the lawsuit became final Wednesday when the state’s high court denied review of Amazon’s appeal and allowed the ruling to stand as a binding precedent for lower courts statewide. (Egelko, 6/15)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Looks At Tightening PFAS Standards After Feds Say Almost No Level Is Safe
Pioneering Maine restrictions on “forever chemicals” could be tightened further after the federal government said that virtually any level of exposure in drinking water is unsafe, policymakers said on Thursday. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a nonbinding health advisory on Thursday for four of the most common per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — known as PFAS — that would reduce drinking water standards from 70 parts per trillion to four parts per quadrillion, a level 17,500 times lower. Maine’s interim standard is 20 parts per trillion. (Andrews, 6/16)

The Washington Post: Black Lawmakers Outraged By Youngkin's Public Health Chief Demand Action
Black state lawmakers on Thursday demanded accountability from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin after his health commissioner, Colin Greene, dismissed the impact of structural racism on negative health outcomes for mothers of color and their babies, demoralizing a staff committed to protecting them. Lawmakers, who said they were “nothing short of outraged at the actions and insular comments,” stopped short of calling for Greene’s resignation but requested a meeting with Youngkin (R), Greene and John Littel, secretary of Health and Human Resources, to determine how the administration will tackle health disparities. (Portnoy and Schneider, 6/16)

Columbus Dispatch: A Franklin County Toddler Is Ohio's First Measles Case Since 2019
A 17-month-old girl from Franklin County is Ohio's first case of measles since 2019, the state Department of Health announced Thursday. The infected toddler recently traveled to a country with confirmed measles cases. She is under the jurisdiction of the Columbus Department of Health, which means she most likely resides in Columbus, though there is a slight chance she lives in Worthington since the department also serves that city. A statement by the Columbus Department of Health said an early investigation showed little risk to the public, and the affected family is isolating at home. The state is not disclosing additional information about the girl. (Behrens, 6/16)

ABC News: NHL Brings In Sign Language Interpreter For Commissioner 
Brice Christianson went to sporting events as a child and realized how inaccessible that world was for his deaf father. On Wednesday night, he stood 10 feet from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman translating English into American Sign Language for the annual state of the league address at the Stanley Cup Final. Christianson was shown picture-in-picture on NHL Network interpreting Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly's remarks. Sign language interpreters have been present for national anthems, but this represented the NHL’s biggest step yet to make the stories around hockey available to the deaf and hard of hearing community. (Whyno, 6/17)

AP: WHO: COVID-19 Deaths Rise, Reversing A 5-Week Decline
After five weeks of declining coronavirus deaths, the number of fatalities reported globally increased by 4% last week, according to the World Health Organization. In its weekly assessment of the pandemic issued on Thursday, the U.N. health agency said there were 8,700 COVID-19 deaths last week, with a 21% jump in the Americas and a 17% increase in the Western Pacific. (6/16)

Bloomberg: WTO Approves Covid Vaccine-Patent Waiver To Help Combat Pandemic
The World Trade Organization approved a politically important deal Friday to water down intellectual property restrictions for the manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines after an almost two-year effort involving scores of high-level meetings and much political arm twisting. During the early morning hours in Geneva, WTO ministers approved a package of agreements that included the vaccine patent waiver, which Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala previously said was necessary to end the “morally unacceptable” inequity of access to Covid-19 vaccines. (Baschuk, 6/17)

Politico: Canada Has A Massive Surplus Of Unused Ventilators 
More than half of the 40,000 ventilators the Canadian government ordered early in the pandemic are now sitting unused in the federal emergency stockpile. Just over 2,000 of the ventilators have been deployed, either in Canada or abroad. Ottawa is now working to cancel orders for ventilators that have yet to be delivered, but won’t say how much it has paid for the machines. (Forrest, 6/16)

The New York Times: Man Paralyzed 12 Years Ago Becomes Italy’s First Assisted Suicide
For more than a year, media reports kept Italians up-to-date on the travails of a 44-year-old man known only as “Mario” as he sought to end his life through physician-assisted suicide. Paralyzed 12 years ago in a traffic accident, “Mario” faced a series of legal, bureaucratic and financial hurdles in his pursuit of death. On Thursday, “Mario,” identified for the first time by his real name, Federico Carboni, ended his life, becoming Italy’s first legal assisted suicide, in his home in the central Italian port town of Senigallia. (Povoledo, 6/16)