First Edition: June 22, 2021

KHN: Hemmed In At Home, Nonprofit Hospitals Look For Profits Abroad 
Across the street from the Buckingham Palace Garden and an ocean away from its Ohio headquarters, Cleveland Clinic is making a nearly $1 billion bet that Europeans will embrace a hospital run by one of America’s marquee health systems. Cleveland Clinic London, scheduled to open for outpatient visits later this year and for overnight stays in 2022, will primarily offer elective surgeries and other profitable treatments for the heart, brain, joints and digestive system. The London strategy attempts to attract a well-off, privately insured population: American expatriates, Europeans drawn by the clinic’s reputation, and Britons impatient with the waits at their country’s National Health Service facilities. The hospital won’t offer less financially rewarding business lines, like emergency services. (Rau, 6/22)

KHN: Hospitals, Insurers Invest Big Dollars To Tackle Patients’ Social Needs
When doctors at a primary care clinic here noticed many of its poorest patients were failing to show up for appointments, they hoped giving out free rides would help. But the one-time complimentary ride didn’t reduce these patients’ 36% no-show rate at the University of Pennsylvania Health System clinics. “I was super surprised it did not have any effect,” said Dr. Krisda Chaiyachati, the Penn researcher who led the 2018 study of 786 Medicaid patients. (Galewitz, 6/22)

KHN: In A Murky Sea Of Mental Health Apps, Consumers Left Adrift
In the eyes of the tech industry, mental health treatment is an area ripe for disruption. In any given year, 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experience a form of mental illness, according to federal estimates. And research indicates only about half of them receive treatment in a system that is understaffed and ill distributed to meet demand. For tech startups looking to cash in on unmet need, that translates into more than 50 million potential customers. (Gold, 6/22)

KHN: Is Rand Paul Mixing Up The Vaccine Message For Covid Survivors?
Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) posted a Twitter thread asserting that people who have survived a covid-19 infection were unlikely to be reinfected and have better immunity against variants than those who have been vaccinated against — but not infected by — SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid. The social media communication represented his latest salvo in the ongoing debate over whether natural immunity is equivalent or even better than vaccination. (Knight, 6/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Administration To Miss June Target For Some Covid-19 Vaccine Donations 
The White House on Monday detailed plans to allocate 55 million Covid-19 vaccine doses it is donating overseas, saying the shipments would likely take longer than President Biden’s initial target of sending them out by the end of June. White House officials said the delays were related to logistical challenges in countries set to receive the vaccines. In addition, the AstraZeneca PLC vaccine, which was supposed to be among those donated, hasn’t been approved for shipment, leading the administration to substitute vaccines from other manufacturers. (Siddiqui, 6/21)

Politico: Biden Drops AstraZeneca Vaccine From Latest Donation
The Biden administration on Monday announced further plans for sharing coronavirus vaccines with the world, but it will no longer immediately send doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine following problems at a production plant. The administration detailed plans for sharing 55 million doses with other countries, which will come entirely from the U.S. supply of three vaccines the FDA has cleared for emergency use, according to an administration official. Earlier this month, the administration said the first 25 million doses it would donate abroad also would come from the U.S. supply of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. (Paun, 6/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Moderna Plans To Expand Production To Make Covid-19 Vaccine Boosters, Supply More Countries 
Moderna Inc. is adding two new production lines at the rebuilt former Polaroid plant where it manufactures its Covid-19 vaccine, part of a push to prepare for making booster shots and the future of the pandemic. At a site brimming with new steel production tanks and heavy equipment, construction workers in neon safety vests are working to get one new line up and running by fall and the other by early 2022. (Loftus, 6/21)

PBS NewsHour: A Mix-And-Match Approach To COVID-19 Vaccines Could Provide Logistical And Immunological Benefits
While it’s now pretty easy to get a COVID-19 shot in most places in the U.S., the vaccine rollout in other parts of the world has been slow or inconsistent due to shortages, uneven access and concerns about safety. Researchers hope that a mix-and-match approach to COVID-19 vaccines will help alleviate these issues and create more flexibility in the immunization regimens available to people. Around the world, different pharmaceutical companies have taken different approaches to developing vaccines. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna created mRNA vaccines. Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson went with what are called viral vectors. The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is protein-based. (Ferran, 6/21)

The Hill: Move By Catholic Bishops Against Biden Brings Howls Of Hypocrisy 
Catholic bishops who voted to advance an effort that could deny President Biden Communion over his stance on abortion are being accused of hypocrisy by critics of the decision. Biden, just the second Catholic U.S. president in history, regularly goes to church and touts his faith as a deeply personal aspect of his life. ... “You did not tell Bill Barr, a Catholic, not to take Communion when he expanded killing human beings with the death penalty,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), referring to the former attorney general and his position on the death penalty. (Gangitano, 6/21)

Politico: White House: Biden's Catholic Faith Is Not 'Political' 
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that President Joe Biden did not interpret his Catholic faith “through a political prism,” declining to comment on a recent decision by U.S. Catholic bishops that could result in a rebuke of the president for his views on abortion. “Joe Biden is a strong man of faith. And as he noted just a couple of days ago, it’s personal. He goes to church, as you know, nearly every weekend. He even went when we were on our overseas trip,” Psaki told reporters — referring to the president and first lady’s attendance at a Sunday service last week at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the English seaside town of St. Ives. (Forgey, 6/21)

The New York Times: Why Do Some Catholic Bishops Want To Deny Joe Biden Communion? 
The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops last week advanced a conservative push to deny communion to President Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, who regularly attends Mass and has spent a lifetime steeped in Christian rituals and practices. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted last week to draft new guidance on the sacrament of the Eucharist, in a challenge to Mr. Biden for his support of abortion rights, which contradicts church teaching. The new statement will address the sacrament broadly. But ultimately, it could be used as theological justification to deny communion to Mr. Biden and Catholic politicians like him who support abortion rights. (Heyward, 6/21)

The Washington Post: Biden Administration To Endorse Bill To End Disparity In Drug Sentencing Between Crack And Powder Cocaine
The Biden administration plans to endorse legislation that would end the disparity in sentences between crack and powder cocaine offenses that President Biden helped create decades ago, according to people with knowledge of the situation — a step that highlights how Biden’s attitudes on drug laws have shifted over his long tenure in elected office. (Sullivan and Kim, 6/21)

NBC News: Since 9/11, Military Suicides Dwarf The Number Of Soldiers Killed In Combat
Since 9/11, four times as many U.S. service members and veterans have died by suicide than have been killed in combat, according to a new report. The research, compiled by the Costs of War Project at Brown University, found an estimated 30,177 active duty personnel and veterans who have served in the military since 9/11 have died by suicide, compared with 7,057 killed in post 9/11 military operations. The figures include all service members, not just those who served in combat during that time. The majority of the deaths are among veterans who account for an estimated 22,261 of the suicides during that period. (Kube, 6/21)

Stat: HHS Withdraws Drug Discount Opinion Amid Lawsuits By Pharma Companies
After a defeat in federal court, the Department of Health and Human Services withdrew an advisory opinion which said drug makers participating in a controversial federal program must offer discounts through pharmacies that contract with hospitals serving low-income patients. However, HHS simultaneously maintained the move does not have any bearing on a separate set of “violation” letters sent last month to six drug makers, which could face fines for failing to offer discounts through the 340B drug discount program for safety-net hospitals and clinics. The agency said the letters should be viewed as distinct from the opinion and that enforcement action can be pursued. (Silverman, 6/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Medicaid Enrollment Surged During Covid-19 Pandemic, Report Shows
More than 80 million people—a record number—have health coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, as enrollments surged due to Covid-19, according to new data released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Between February of 2020 and January 2021, nearly 9.9 million people enrolled in the two programs—a 13.9% increase, the data shows. And more than 38.3 million children, or nearly half of the total Medicaid and CHIP enrollment, were in both those programs. (Parti, 6/21)

Axios: Medicaid Enrollment Hits Record 80 Million, With Insurers Benefiting 
National Medicaid enrollment hit a record 80.5 million this past January, as Congress provided extra funding for states to retain and sign up more low-income adults and children during the coronavirus pandemic. Because more states have outsourced their Medicaid programs to private health insurers, this pandemic-fueled growth also has been a boon for some of the largest insurance companies. (Herman, 6/22)

AP: Watchdog: Nursing Home Deaths Up 32% In 2020 Amid Pandemic
Deaths among Medicare patients in nursing homes soared by 32% last year, with two devastating spikes eight months apart, a government watchdog reported Tuesday in the most comprehensive look yet at the ravages of COVID-19 among its most vulnerable victims. The report from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services found that about 4 in 10 Medicare recipients in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020, and that deaths overall jumped by 169,291 from the previous year, before the coronavirus appeared. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/22)

AP: Most Idaho Nursing Home Workers Unvaccinated For COVID-19
Less than half of nursing home workers in Idaho have been vaccinated against COVID-19, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said. The agency said that 47.5% of Idaho nursing home workers were fully vaccinated by May 30. The agency said more than 82% of residents are vaccinated. (6/21)

AP: US Hits Encouraging Milestones On Virus Deaths And Shots
COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have dipped below 300 a day for the first time since the early days of the disaster in March 2020, while the drive to put shots in arms hit another encouraging milestone Monday: 150 million Americans fully vaccinated. The coronavirus was the third leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2020, behind heart disease and cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But now, as the outbreak loosens its grip, it has fallen down the list of the biggest killers. (Kunzelman, 6/21)

AP: First Lady To Visit Nashville, Encourage Vaccinations
First lady Jill Biden will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday as part of a national effort to get more Americans vaccinated against COVID-19. Biden will attend a pop-up vaccination site with signer-songwriter Brad Paisley at Ole Smoky Distillery in Nashville in the evening. (6/22)

CIDRAP: COVID Vaccination Site Deserts May Affect Rollout, Study Reveals
In Brooklyn, New York, communities with higher rates of poverty and minorities may have less access to COVID-19 vaccination sites, according to a JAMA Network Open research letter late last week. The researchers looked at Brooklyn's 18 communities and found 87 COVID-19 vaccination sites for its population of 2,604,747. A little over half of the people (51.7%) were Latino or Black, 52.6% were female, and the median age was 35.1 years. (6/21)

ABC News: Young Adult Vaccination Rate Lags Behind Other Age Groups, CDC Finds 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pushing younger Americans to get their coronavirus vaccines, as data shows they are significantly lagging behind other age groups. As of May 22, only 38% of Americans between the ages 18 to 29 received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to a report released by the agency Monday. By comparison, 57% of all Americans over 18 and 80% of all U.S. senior citizens had at least one shot during that period, the report said. (Pereira and Salzman, 6/21)

The Washington Post: Youngest Adults Are Least Likely To Be Vaccinated, And Their Interest In Shots Is Declining, CDC Finds 
The nation’s youngest adults remain the least likely to be vaccinated against the coronavirus — and their weekly rates of vaccination are declining, according to federal research released Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed adult vaccination rates by age through May 22, finding 80 percent of adults older than 65 had been immunized compared with just 38.3 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds. (Johnson,, 6/21)

Axios: The Rising Stakes Of CDC's Vaccine Meeting About Myocarditis Cases 
A CDC advisory committee will meet Wednesday to evaluate the risk of heart inflammation in teens who get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Cases of heart inflammation are rare, but they've raised concerns among some experts and scientists — including some whose job it is to sift through those risks and recommend whether to authorize the vaccines for children younger than 12. (Fernandez, 6/22)

Axios: CDC Launches Spanish WhatsApp Chat To Boost Latino COVID Vaccinations 
WhatsApp and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have partnered to deliver information on the coronavirus vaccine to Spanish-speaking users, the social media platform announced Monday. 36% of Latinos have had at least one vaccine dose compared to 45% of white people as of June 14, per the Kaiser Family Foundation. Reaching the Latino community on WhatsApp, which hosts a huge immigrant user base, could help counter misinformation and mistrust, NBC News reports. (Chen, 6/21)

The New York Times: Many Parts Of The U.S. Needed Persuading To Get Vaccinated. Not South Texas. 
While officials across the country have offered free beer, concert tickets and millions of dollars in lottery winnings to encourage vaccinations, residents of the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas have needed little prodding. Exposure to death and disease has been enough incentive. The four-county region accounts for nearly 10 percent of the state’s some 52,000 deaths from the coronavirus. But today, deaths are significantly down, as are case numbers, and vaccination rates are higher than both the broader state and national averages. In one county, about 70 percent of residents 12 and older are fully vaccinated, according to state figures and a vaccine tracker by The New York Times. (Sandoval, 6/21)

AP: 'Time To Play': Michigan Reopens 15 Months After Pandemic
Michigan is fully open again. After facing 15 months of capacity restrictions and being hit by the country’s worst surge of coronavirus infections this spring, restaurants, entertainment businesses and other venues can operate at 100% occupancy — instead of 50% — starting Tuesday. Limits on large indoor gatherings like wedding and funerals are gone. So is a broad requirement that the unvaccinated be masked indoors, a rule that remains in about a dozen states. Unvaccinated teen athletes will no longer have to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. (Eggert and Householder, 6/22)

AP: U Of Illinois Requiring Vaccination For On-Campus Students
The University of Illinois is requiring students attending classes in person this fall to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before stepping onto its three campuses, officials said Monday. In a mass email, University President Tim Killeen said the requirement for its campuses in Urbana-Champaign, Springfield and Chicago is consistent with the school’s own modeling of the risks associated with the spread of the virus and its variants. (6/21)

Fox News: Almost 4,000 Fully Vaccinated People In Massachusetts Have Tested Positive For COVID-19
Nearly 4,000 fully vaccinated people in Massachusetts have tested positive for COVID-19, according to recent data from the state Department of Public Health. The number of breakthrough cases in the state has been infrequent so far -- accounting for approximately one in 1,000 vaccinated people. As of June 12, there were 3,791 coronavirus cases among the more than 3.7 million fully vaccinated individuals in Massachusetts, reports said. (Aaro, 6/22)

CNN: A Coronavirus Outbreak Hit A Florida Government Building. Two People Are Dead But A Vaccinated Employee Wasn't Infected
Two people are dead and four of their coworkers were hospitalized after a Covid-19 outbreak swept through a government building in Manatee County, Florida. The outbreak began in the IT department, according to Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes, who is also an epidemiologist. Another person who worked on the same floor but in a different department also tested positive for coronavirus last week. (Lynch, 6/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: Delta Coronavirus Strain Is Growing Fast In California, With Risk For Unvaccinated People
The highly infectious delta coronavirus variant is rising fast in California, with cases more than doubling in the past month and tripling in one Bay Area county, according to genomic sequencing results reported by state and local public health departments. The first California cases of delta, a variant that emerged in India, were reported in early May. As of last week, 349 cases had been identified, and the variant made up about 5% of all coronavirus cases that underwent genomic sequencing for the week. The alpha variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, continues to dominate statewide, making up just over half of all cases reported last week. (Allday, 6/21)

Los Angeles Times: Fixing California COVID Digital Vaccination Record Issues
When California officials unveiled a new system to provide digital COVID-19 vaccine records last week, they billed it as a convenience, an easy way for residents to demonstrate and verify their inoculation status. But the offering has not been without hiccups. Already, the state has received nearly 70,000 troubleshooting forms submitted online by residents looking to correct or complete their information, according to the California Department of Public Health. Though only a fraction of the 558,000 digital records that have successfully been created since the system went live Friday, the numbers demonstrate how even relatively uncommon issues can wind up inconveniencing tens of thousands of people. (Money, 6/21)

The Washington Post: Or The First Time Since The Pandemic Started, Maryland Reported No Covid Deaths 
Maryland over the weekend reported its first consecutive days with zero deaths from the coronavirus since the early days of the pandemic — a symbolic benchmark suggesting the region has entered a new, more hopeful phase in its fight to stop the spread of the virus. On Monday, D.C. reported zero deaths over the weekend. Virginia reported a single death on Saturday, but the numbers crept up on Sunday and Monday — a reminder that the virus can still claim lives, especially in areas where vaccination rates are relatively low. (Tan, Brice-Saddler and Portnoy, 6/21)

Bloomberg: Return-To-Office Sparks Labor Complaint From AFL-CIO’s Own Staff
The AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. union federation, is facing a labor complaint from its own employees over policies compelling them to return to the office. The Washington-Baltimore News Guild filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the federation of violating federal labor law. The June 16 filing alleges that the AFL-CIO “has failed and refused to bargain in good faith” with the union over safety and health issues that stem from bringing staff back to the office. (Eidelson, 6/21)

CIDRAP: Birthdays Associated With More COVID-19 Outbreaks
The researchers looked at nationwide data covering about 2.9 million households and 6.5 million people with private health insurance from Jan 1 to Nov 9, 2020, and found that households with a birthday up to 2 weeks prior were associated with increased positive diagnoses. The COVID-19 prevalence rate for birthday households was 8.6 more diagnoses per 10,000 individuals. Compared with households in the 90th percentile for COVID-19 cases, which had 27.8 cases per 10,000 individuals, this was still a 31% relative increase. (6/21)

The Boston Globe: Study Suggests COVID-19 Harms Parts Of The Brain, Even In Mild Cases
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, one of the stranger symptoms of COVID-19 has been a loss of smell, taste, or both. Now, a study of brain scans of people who have had the disease offers new clues in the mystery. Researchers from Oxford University said they had found that people who had COVID-19 had a “loss of grey matter” in areas of the brain related to smell and taste. A review of hundreds of brain scans revealed “a significant, deleterious impact of COVID-19 on the olfactory and gustatory cortical systems,” the study said. (Finucane, 6/21)

Fox News: Rare COVID-19-Linked Syndrome In Kids Possible In Adults Too, Case Report Notes
While research into the specific cause of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is ongoing, a new case report suggests that it may also appear in adults who have a history of COVID-19 diagnosis or exposure. In a case report involving a 60-year-old Canadian man, doctors suggest that age should not limit the potential diagnosis. The man, whose case was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, sought medical treatment at a hospital for prolonged shortness of breath, high fever, swelling and severe fatigue. His medical history included a positive SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis four weeks prior to the new symptoms, and subsequent testing detected an enlarged heart and lung swelling. He had not received a COVID-19 vaccine and no known comorbidities. (6/21)

CIDRAP: Optimal Therapy For Post-COVID Syndrome In Kids Proves Elusive
Two new real-world studies evaluated the use of intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) therapy plus glucocortioids for treatment of post–COVID-19 multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), one finding a lower risk of new or persistent cardiovascular dysfunction with the combination treatment and the other showing no lessening in disease severity or time to recovery. The studies and a related editorial were published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Van Beusekom, 6/21)

The New York Times: Many Alzheimer’s Experts Say Use Of Aduhelm Should Be Sharply Limited 
A new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease should be given to a much narrower group of patients than the federal approval permits, Alzheimer’s experts — including those who strongly supported approval of the medication — said on Monday. Since the Food and Drug Administration approved the controversial and expensive drug, Aduhelm, made by Biogen, this month, much discussion has focused on the fact that many scientists, and the F.D.A.’s own independent advisory committee, say the evidence does not convincingly show that the drug works. (Belluck, 6/21)

Stat: Biogen Isn’t The Only Drug Company That Will Profit From Aduhelm
Biogen’s expecting to make billions from its newly approved Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm. But it won’t be the only one making money: the complex brain scans that help doctors decide whether a patient is a good fit for the pricey therapy will also bring in money for PET scan manufacturers and imaging drug makers, too. If the use of those scans skyrockets, it’ll open up a new market for the companies that make the machines and the drug companies that manufacture the imaging drugs needed for those screenings. (Cohrs, 6/22)

Fox News: FDA Adviser Who Resigned Over Alzheimer's Drug Says 'No Good Evidence' It Works
One of the FDA advisory panel members who resigned after the agency granted Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug Accelerated Approval has said "the drug showed no good evidence that it worked." Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and faculty member at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, spoke to CBS about his stepping down, with a resignation letter blasting the Aduhelm approval as "probably the worst drug approval decision in recent U.S. history." The agency’s decision, which was met with mixed reviews and marked the first approval of an Alzheimer’s drug in nearly two decades, came after the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee said in November that it was not reasonable to consider clinical benefit of the drug based on one successful study. (Rivas, 6/21)

Stat: BIO’s Chief On The FDA Commissioner Rumors, Drug Pricing, And IP Rights 
Everyone wants to know whether Michelle McMurry-Heath, the newly minted president of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, will be President Biden’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration. And whether, quite frankly, she wants the job. So STAT asked her just that — and asked, too, about the FDA’s controversial decision to approve Aduhelm for Alzheimer’s, and whether the drug industry should have gotten behind a high-profile, bipartisan drug pricing package it has opposed vehemently. (Florko, 6/21)

Stat: A Popular Algorithm To Predict Sepsis Misses Most Cases, Study Finds
It was a win-win. Hospitals needed to prevent patient deaths from sepsis, a complication of infection; and Epic, the nation’s largest seller of medical records, needed users for its new product — an algorithm that could predict which patients would develop the condition so doctors could intervene earlier. Over the last few years, hundreds of hospitals have plugged in the algorithm without verifying its advertised 80% accuracy rate. Then a group of researchers at the University of Michigan started asking questions about its performance. (Ross, 6/21)

The Hill: Access To Medicine: The States With The Most And Least Pharmacies Per Capita
The need of a pharmacist is dire amidst the pandemic. However, a new study shows that some of the nation's most populated counties are lacking pharmacists per 10,000 residents. North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and West Virginia are the top four states with the most adequate number of pharmacies, juxtaposed with states such as Oklahoma, California, Rhode Island and Hawaii, which have the least number of pharmacies per capita, according to USA RX. (Spencer, 6/21)

AP: Ex-CEO Of Phoenix Health Facility Pleads Guilty To Fraud
The former CEO of a Phoenix health care facility has pleaded guilty to two counts of felony fraud, according to state prosecutors. William J. Timmons is scheduled to be sentenced on July 22.The Arizona Attorney General’s Office said Monday that Timmons could be facing between three and 12 ½ years in prison on each count. (6/22)

Modern Healthcare: The Patient Is The New Site Of Care: VCU Health Moves Into Post-Acute Care
For a few years, Jay Holdren knew that VCU Health had a patient throughput problem that was contributing to higher readmission rates than the health system wanted. “We have a high demand for inpatient care and emergency services, and so moving patients through in a timely manner is an issue,” said Holdren, senior director of continuum integration at the Richmond, Va.-based system. “And balancing that against readmissions, it's a tough proposition.” VCU Health—comprised of an academic medical center, a smaller community hospital, a children’s hospital and a physician group—had its own home health agency in the 1990s, but it shuttered after very limited success. (Gillespie, 6/22)

Modern Healthcare: Encompass Health Names New Home Health And Hospice CEO
Encompass Health appointed Barbara Jacobsmeyer as CEO of its home health and hospice segment, the company announced Monday. She succeeds April Anthony, whose last day was June 18. Jacobsmeyer previously served as president of inpatient hospitals for Encompass Health, a role that the company President and CEO Mark Tarr will fill until further notice, the company said. Jacobsmeyer will still report to Tarr. (Christ, 6/21)

NBC News: 'Friends' Actor James Michael Tyler, Who Played Gunther, Shares Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
James Michael Tyler, the actor who played sarcastic coffee shop employee Gunther on "Friends," opened up about his struggle with prostate cancer since being diagnosed in September 2018. Tyler told "TODAY" on Monday that the illness had not been caught early and had advanced to other parts of his body. (Breen, 6/21)

NBC News and Houston Chronicle: New Texas Law Aims To Protect Parents Wrongly Accused Of Child Abuse
Texas child welfare workers and family courts will be required to consider additional medical opinions before taking children from parents in cases of suspected child abuse, under a new law going into effect Sept. 1. The law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday, also orders a state commission to study the work of state-funded doctors who are tasked with diagnosing child abuse. The commission will propose improvements to the process that Texas Child Protective Services workers follow when relying on these doctors’ medical reports. (Hixenbaugh and Blakinger, 6/21)

Houston Chronicle: Gov. Abbott Vetoes Bill Requiring Dating Violence Prevention Lessons
Despite a bipartisan push from state lawmakers, Texas middle and high school students won’t be required to learn about preventing family violence, dating violence and child abuse. Senate Bill 1109, which would have implemented such instruction in public schools, was among the 21 bills vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott after they were approved by both chambers of the Legislature. The measure, named the “Christine Blubaugh Act” in memory of a 16-year-old Grand Prairie girl who was murdered by an ex-boyfriend in 2000, would have mandated that Texans learn about prevention efforts at least once in middle school and twice in high school. Those lessons would have included information about the prevalence and signs of dating violence, ways to report abuse and resources available to students. (Harris, 6/22)

The New York Times: California Plans Rent Forgiveness Using Federal Stimulus Surplus
Swimming in cash from an unexpected budget surplus and federal stimulus money, California is planning rent forgiveness on a scale never seen before in the United States. A $5.2 billion program in final negotiations at the State Legislature would pay 100 percent of unpaid rent that lower-income Californians incurred during the pandemic and would be financed entirely by federal money. The state is also proposing to set aside $2 billion to pay for unpaid water and electricity bills. (Fuller, Dougherty and Heyward, 6/21)

Reuters: Cuba Says Abdala Vaccine 92.28% Effective Against Coronavirus
Cuba said on Monday its three-shot Abdala vaccine against the coronavirus had proved 92.28% effective in last-stage clinical trials. The announcement came just days after the government said another homegrown vaccine, Soberana 2, had proved 62% effective with just two of its three doses. (6/22)

Reuters: Colombia's COVID-19 Deaths Pass 100,000 In Unrelenting Third Wave
Reported deaths from COVID-19 in Colombia passed 100,000 on Monday, the country's health ministry said, amid warnings of potential scarcity of treatment drugs and oxygen in hospitals during a long and brutal third peak of infections and deaths. The country of 50 million people has reported more than 3.9 million cases of coronavirus infections, as well as 100,582 deaths. (6/21)

AP: Vaccine Technology Transfer Center To Open In South Africa
The World Health Organization is in talks to create the first-ever technology transfer hub for coronavirus vaccines in South Africa, a move to boost supply to the continent that’s desperately in need of COVID-19 shots, the head of the U.N. agency announced. The new consortium will include drugmakers Biovac and Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a network of universities and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. They will develop training facilities for other vaccine makers to make shots that use a genetic code of the spike protein, known as mRNA vaccines. (Meldrum and Cheng, 6/21)

Bloomberg: Will There Be Enough Vaccines? Covax Is Running Out
A string of nations across Africa, Asia and other regions have run out of Covid-19 vaccines or are on the brink of doing so, months after receiving first shipments from a global program meant to equitably distribute the lifesaving shots. When the supplies arrived in developing countries earlier this year through the Covax effort, they were seen as an important step in narrowing a glaring gap in global access. Today, many of those same countries are facing vaccine shortages and are unsure when they will receive donations from wealthy countries. (Paton and Gretler, 6/22)

AP:  NKorea Tells WHO It Has Detected No Virus Cases
North Korea has told the World Health Organization it tested more than 30,000 people for the coronavirus through June 10 but has yet to find a single infection. The WHO said in a monitoring report Tuesday that North Korea’s testing figures included 733 people who were tested during June 4-10, of which 149 were with influenza-like illnesses or severe respiratory infections. (6/22)

AP: Duterte Threatens To Arrest Filipinos Who Refuse Vaccination
The Philippine president has threatened to order the arrest of Filipinos who refuse COVID-19 vaccination and told them to leave the country if they would not cooperate with the efforts to contain the pandemic. President Rodrigo Duterte, who is known for his public outbursts and brash rhetoric, said in televised remarks Monday night that he has become exasperated with people who refuse to get immunized then help spread the coronavirus. (6/21)

AP: Hungary's Immunity Cards Allow Packed Stands, Raise Concerns
Tens of thousands of soccer fans packed the Puskas Arena in Budapest last week to attend Euro 2020 matches. It was the first full-house international soccer event in Europe in more than a year — made possible largely by Hungary’s adoption of government-issued immunity cards. The only one of the tournament’s 10 host countries to allow full crowds in stadiums, Hungary has conducted one of Europe’s most successful COVID-19 vaccination drives. The immunity cards attest that their bearers have received at least one vaccine dose or recovered from COVID-19, and allow them access to sports events as well as to services and venues such as hotels, spas, concerts, theaters and indoor restaurant dining. (Spike, 6/22)

Reuters: Mandatory Mask Rules Extended In Sydney As COVID-19 Cluster Grows
Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), on Tuesday reported its biggest rise in new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in nearly a week, prompting authorities to extend a mask mandate in Sydney for a week. Ten new locally acquired cases were reported in NSW on Tuesday, as officials fight to contain a latest cluster of the highly infectious Delta virus variant. Eight of the 10 are household contacts of previous cases in isolation. (Jose, 6/22)

CIDRAP: CDC Bans Imported Dogs From High-Risk Nations After Rabies Variant Detected
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has temporarily suspended the import of dogs from high-risk countries and recently launched a multistate investigation based on the detection of a rabies variant detected in a rescue dog from Azerbaijan. The 1-year suspension will begin on Jul 14."The importation of just one dog infected with CRVV [canine rabies virus variants] risks re-introduction of the virus into the United States resulting in a potential public health risk with consequent monetary cost and potential loss of human and animal life," said a notice from the Federal Register. (6/21)