First Edition: June 3, 2021

KHN: Expanding Insurance Coverage Is Top Priority For New Medicare-Medicaid Chief 
The new head of the federal agency that oversees health benefits for nearly 150 million Americans and $1 trillion in federal spending said in one of her first interviews that her top priorities will be broadening insurance coverage and ensuring health equity. “We’ve seen through the pandemic what happens when people don’t have health insurance and how important it is,” said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, who was confirmed by the Senate to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on May 25 and sworn in on May 27. “Our focus is going to be on making sure regulations and policies are going to be focused on improving coverage.” (Rovner, 6/3)

KHN: Newsom Wants To Spend Millions On The Health Of Low-Income Mothers And Their Babies 
Amid a pandemic that has pushed millions of mothers out of the workplace, caused fertility rates to plunge and heightened the risk of death for pregnant women, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic lawmakers are seeking a slate of health proposals for low-income families and children. Newsom, a self-described feminist and the father of four young children, has long advocated family-friendly health and economic policies. Flush with a projected budget surplus of $75.7 billion, state politicians have come up with myriad legislative and budget proposals to make poorer families healthier and wealthier. (Almendrala, 6/3)

KHN: Many New Moms Get Kicked Off Medicaid 2 Months After Giving Birth. Illinois Will Change That. 
The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in which the maternal death rate has been rising. Each year, about 700 deaths are due to pregnancy, childbirth or subsequent complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When someone dies while pregnant or within a year of childbirth in Illinois, that’s considered a maternal death. Karen Tabb Dina is a maternal health researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who serves on a state-level committee that’s trying to figure out what’s killing these mothers. (Herman, 6/3)

CNN: 'Get A Shot And Have A Beer': Biden's New Covid Strategy Woos Vaccine Skeptics 
This Bud's for you, and anyone else ready to roll up their sleeve to put the pandemic behind them. The White House's new partnership with Anheuser-Busch offering free beers if the country reaches its goal of getting 70% of adults at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot by July 4 -- almost Prohibition in reverse -- is more than a gimmick. (Collinson, 6/3)

Axios: Anheuser-Busch To Offer Biggest Beer Giveaway Ever If U.S. Reaches July 4 Vaccine Goal 
Anheuser-Busch announced Wednesday it is partnering with the White House to offer its "biggest beer giveaway ever" if the U.S. reaches President Biden's goal of having 70% of adults partially vaccinated by July 4. The campaign to "buy America’s next round of beer" comes as states, businesses and employers have sought creative ways to get shots in arms, as vaccination rates have dropped since April. (Allassan, 6/2)

USA Today: Biden Teams Up With Black Barbershops, Salons To Boost COVID Vaccines
With an eye toward 70% of U.S. adults receiving at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose by July 4, President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a monthlong effort to encourage more Americans to roll up their sleeves for a shot. "The more people we get vaccinated, the more success we’re going to have in the fight against this virus,” he said during remarks at the White House, adding that the U.S. could see a dramatically different summer from last year. "A summer of freedom. A summer of joy. A summer of get-togethers and celebrations." As part of his June "month of action," Biden announced "Shots at the Shop," an initiative bringing together 1,000 Black-owned barbershops and beauty salons across the nation to serve as vaccination locations. (Hassanein, 6/2)

Fox News: Walensky Worried Over Uneven COVID-19 Vaccination Rates As Summer Approaches
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), expressed concern Wednesday that unvaccinated people will suffer preventable COVID-19 sickness and death due to the seasonality of the virus. Federal data indicates 51.7% of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated as much of the country shifts into warmer summer months. Walensky, speaking virtually at the 9th annual Atlanta Global Health Summit, said coronaviruses tend to have seasonality, and respiratory viruses tend to favor the winter months. "In terms of seasonality, we certainly did see a summer surge in areas last year where people were indoors and the hot states, and this winter surge after travel." (Rivas, 6/2)

ABC News: 70% Of Adults In 12 States Have Received At Least 1 COVID Vaccine Dose: CDC 
A dozen states passed a major vaccine milestone Wednesday as more than 70% of their adult populations have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, according to health data. The situation, however, contrasts with a handful of states, most of which are in the South, that have not broken the halfway mark with their adult residents. (Pereira and Mitropoulos, 6/2)

CNN: White House Prepared To Announce Next Steps In US Global Vaccination Effort After Months Of Debate 
President Joe Biden has finalized his plan to distribute millions of coronavirus vaccines worldwide after months of deliberation, according to multiple sources familiar with the plans. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted earlier that an announcement was imminent, and the sources familiar with the plans said that officials could reveal it as soon as Thursday or Friday. (Collins, 6/2)

Bloomberg: Biden To Begin Covid Vaccine Donations Abroad As Variant Threat Looms
The Biden administration is poised to announce which countries will receive the first shipments of vaccines donated from the U.S. stockpile, amid the risk that more coronavirus variants will arise in countries lacking access to the shots, people familiar with the matter said. The White House, which has faced pressure from a range of countries to share its vaccines, has settled on its plan and an announcement is imminent, according to the people, who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity. (Wingrove, 6/2)

The New York Times: AstraZeneca In Talks To Switch Factories For Vaccine Production For U.S. Government 
The British-Swedish company AstraZeneca is negotiating with the federal government to shift production of its coronavirus vaccine from a troubled plant near Baltimore to a factory owned by the pharmaceutical company Catalent, according to people familiar with the government’s plans. Catalent already produces AstraZeneca’s vaccine for export at a factory in Harmans, Md., south of Baltimore. It is now in discussions to retrofit a production line there to make the vaccine for the federal government, taking over for Emergent BioSolutions, which was forced to stop manufacturing AstraZeneca’s vaccine more than six weeks ago after a major production mishap. (Weiland, LaFraniere and Stolberg, 6/2)

AP: Science Chief Wants Next Pandemic Vaccine Ready In 100 Days
The new White House science adviser wants to have a vaccine ready to fight the next pandemic in just about 100 days after recognizing a potential viral outbreak. In his first interview after being sworn in Wednesday, Eric Lander painted a rosy near future where a renewed American emphasis on science not only better prepares the world for the next pandemic with plug-and-play vaccines, but also changes how medicine fights disease and treats patients, curbs climate change and further explores space. He even threw in a “Star Trek” reference. (Borenstein, 6/2)

Bloomberg: U.S. Eviction Moratorium Will Stay In Place, Appeals Court Says
The U.S. government’s nationwide prohibition on evictions can stay in effect, a federal appeals court ruled. A three-judge panel in Washington said the eviction moratorium instituted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can continue while the Biden administration appeals a lower-court ruling that overturned the ban last month. (Yaffe-Bellany, 6/2)

NPR: Guns, Trucks And Trips: West Virginia Expands Prizes For Vaccinated Residents
West Virginia is giving its vaccine incentive program a boost to get more residents immunized from the coronavirus, Gov. Jim Justice announced on Tuesday. All residents who get a COVID-19 vaccine will be enrolled in the chance to win a college scholarship, a tricked-out truck, or hunting rifles, in addition to a $1.588 million grand prize. The program, which will run from June 20 through Aug. 4, will be paid for through federal pandemic relief funds. "The faster we get people across the finish line the more lives we save. That's all there is to it," Justice said. "If the tab just keeps running the cost is enormous. The hospitalizations are enormous. We have to get all of our folks across the finish line." (Diaz, 6/2)

AP: Ohio Lottery Announces 2nd Vax-A-Million Incentive Winners
Ohio residents who were recently vaccinated may want to answer their phone on Vax-A-Million days, even if the number isn’t familiar. It might be Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on the other end. ... Jonathan Carlyle, of Toledo, won the $1 million prize and Zoie Vincent, of Mayfield Village in Cuyahoga County, won the college scholarship. More than 3.2 million Ohioans entered their names for a shot at the $1 million, up from the 2.8 million who had registered for last week’s drawing. More than 133,000 children entered their names for the scholarship, up from just over 104,000 last week. (Welsh-Huggins, 6/3)

Los Angeles Times: Rural California Is Falling Behind In COVID Vaccine Rates
Some rural counties in Northern California are falling further behind in COVID-19 vaccination rates compared with the rest of the state, causing cases to remain flat or, in some cases, to rise. A Times analysis found that the counties with the lowest vaccination rates were likely to have higher recent case rates per capita. Counties in rural Northern California and the greater Sacramento area fared worst, while Southern California and the Bay Area have fared best in terms of higher rates of vaccination and lower daily case rates, the analysis found. (Money, Lin II and Greene, 6/2)

Bay Area News Group: Alameda County Wasted Most Coronavirus Vaccine Doses In California
A Bay Area county sits atop an unfortunate list. Alameda County has wasted more coronavirus vaccine doses than any other county in California, according to The Sacramento Bee, which based its reporting on data obtained through a public records request. The data, which the Bee shared with this news organization, shows the East Bay county tossed 7,055 shots, or 0.39% of the more than 1.8 million it received. That’s three times more than any other Bay Area County wasted. More than 6,000 of Alameda’s wasted doses were spoiled Pfizer vaccines, which must be kept at very cold temperatures and used quickly after they are thawed. (DeRuy, 6/2)

Oklahoman: Oklahoma Health Department To Launch COVID Vaccine Texting Campaign
Oklahomans can expect to get texts beginning this week from the Oklahoma Health Department with information about COVID-19 vaccinations. The department is launching a statewide texting campaign to reach people across the state with details about how to find an appointment near them. The state Health Department said the texts will be sent to residents in areas across the state with lower vaccination rates. The campaign will target adults ages 18 to 54 in rural areas, excluding the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas. (Branham, 6/3)

Detroit Free Press: House Passes Bill Banning Government-Sponsored Vaccine Passports
Any publicly funded entity in Michigan, including local school districts and universities, would be prohibited from requiring a COVID-19 vaccination under a controversial bill passed Wednesday in the state House. The measure, HB 4667, attempts to ban government-sanctioned vaccine passports, an effort supporters say limits state access to confidential health information. But opponents note the measure — touted by pandemic conspiracy theorists — is unnecessary and will likely lead to unanticipated negative consequences. (Boucher, 6/2)

Des Moines Register: New Reported COVID Cases Dip Below 100 Per Day In Iowa For First Time In More Than A Year
For the first time since April 2020, Iowa is averaging fewer than 100 new reported coronavirus infections per day, and there are fewer than 100 Iowans currently hospitalized with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday, June 2, was reporting a total of 371,617 coronavirus cases in Iowa since the start of the pandemic, an increase of 616 over the previous week. In the past seven days, Iowa has reported an average of 88 new cases each day. The rate of new infections has dropped drastically since peaking last fall. In mid-November 2020, Iowa was reporting more than 4,500 new cases per day. (Webber, 6/2)

AP: Florida COVID Hospitalizations At Lowest Point In A Year
Hospitalizations from COVID-19 are at their lowest level in the state in over a year, the Florida Hospital Association said Wednesday. There were roughly 1,842 COVID hospitalizations in Florida Wednesday. According to their data, the state’s hospitalizations have declined 19% in the last two weeks and stand 38% lower than one month ago. (6/3)

AP: Navajo Nation Reports No Additional Deaths From COVID-19
For the second day in a row, the Navajo Nation is reporting no additional deaths of COVID-19. The Navajo Department of Health reported Wednesday that only six new cases of the virus were reported on the vast reservation that covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. (6/3)

Fox News: FDA Recalls Unauthorized At-Home Coronavirus Rapid Test Over False Results Concerns
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned consumers to stop using an unauthorized COVID-19 at-home rapid test and antibody test over concerns that the kits may produce false results. The kits, produced by Lepu Medical Technology, were distributed to pharmacies to be sold to consumers for at-home testing and made available through direct sales despite not having FDA authorization. According to a safety communication issued by the FDA, the Lepu Medical Technology SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test Kit and the Leccurate SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Rapid Test Kit (Colloidal Gold Immunochromatography) could result in false test results, which "may cause people harm including serious illness and death." (Hein, 6/2)

CIDRAP: Study Identifies COVID Risks For Kidney Dialysis Patients 
Among patients with kidney failure who underwent dialysis at clinics several times a week, the risk of COVID-19 infection was highest in those who were older, had diabetes, lived in communities with high coronavirus prevalence, and received dialysis at clinics serving more patients, finds a study yesterday in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Led by British researchers, the study also showed that COVID-19 infection risks were lowest among patients who received dialysis in clinics with more isolation rooms and mask policies for all patients, including those with no coronavirus symptoms. (Van Beusekom, 6/2)

Philadelphia Inquirer: PCOS Raises The Risk Of Getting COVID-19. Women With The Complex Disorder Are Pushing For Research
In March, an advocacy group for women with polycystic ovary syndrome lobbied Congress to encourage research on PCOS and COVID-19. At that point, a year after the pandemic hit the United States, no one had studied whether PCOS — which affects at least 1 in 10 women worldwide — increases vulnerability to COVID-19, or to life-threatening complications, or both. However, the idea made sense. PCOS is a complex metabolic and endocrine disorder that is linked to a variety of chronic conditions, including obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and asthma. Federal health agencies warn that each of those conditions can make COVID-19 more devastating, as can cancer, HIV infection, dementia, and sickle-cell disease. Yet PCOS is not mentioned in high-risk groups. (McCullough, 6/2)

Roll Call: COVID-19 Forecast Murky As States Drop Mask Requirements 
Lingering questions about COVID-19 transmission and immunity are clouding the outlook for the fall as the U.S. drops restrictions, including mask requirements, and reduces case surveillance. The decisions to forgo some protective measures have split public health experts as the virus surges in some countries overseas and vaccination slows within the United States. New federal guidance lifting indoor mask recommendations for vaccinated people is also prompting a number of Republicans to flout mask mandates altogether, with some state leaders going so far as to ban masks in schools. (Clason and Kopp, 6/2)

AP: Even Vaccinated California Workers May Have To Keep Masks On
California is set to fully reopen in less than two weeks and do away with virtually all mask and social distancing requirements for vaccinated people, but those who regulate workplaces in the state aren’t ready to go that far and that has business groups upset. The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board meets Thursday and will consider new workplace rules that would only allow workers to go maskless if everyone in a room is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The rules could remain in place into early next year even though coronavirus cases have fallen dramatically after a severe winter spike and as more people are vaccinated. (Thompson, 6/3)

CNN: Some Students May Have To Wear Masks To School This Fall If Communities Don't Get Vaccinated, Fauci Warns 
Americans have seen a wave of reopenings and the relaxation of restrictions as more people get vaccinated, but experts are warning the public not to get complacent if the return to normal is to continue. And if some communities continue to see high levels of Covid-19 infections, children under 12 in those areas will likely still have to wear masks next school year, Dr. Anthony Fauci told NBC Nightly News. (Holcombe, 6/3)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Approves Pricey Pill to Treat Vaginal Yeast Infections
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a new drug to treat a vaginal yeast infection that is especially common in women who are pregnant, using birth control pills or taking antibiotics. The drug, Brexafemme (ibrexafungerp) made by SCYNEXIS, is a one-day oral treatment and the first of a new class of triterpenoid antifungal drugs. The company said the new drug kills candida — the yeast that can cause an infection. (Kaplan, 6/2)

Roll Call: Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden Investigating Drugmaker AbbVie’s Tax Strategy
Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden launched an investigation Wednesday into AbbVie’s international tax practices, accusing the pharmaceutical company of shifting profits offshore and registering patents in low-tax jurisdictions to avoid paying U.S. corporate income taxes. Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, wrote to AbbVie Inc. CEO Richard A. Gonzalez questioning how the company has paid “a stunningly low effective tax rate” and “consistently reported net losses in the U.S. and net income outside of the U.S.” despite its domestic headquarters and sales presence. (McPherson, 6/2)

Modern Healthcare: Congressional Leaders Propose Permanent Expansion Of GME In Health Centers
Two Congressional leaders on Wednesday introduced a bill that would expand a program that helps train primary-care and dental residents in high-need areas. Under the proposal, the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program, which supports the training of primary care doctors in outpatient settings in communities, would be made permanent and receive $500 million per year between 2024 and 2033 to fund about 1,600 new resident training slots at 100 programs across the country. Currently the program receives about $126 million per year, with funding expiring in 2023. (Hellmann, 6/2)

NPR: Sackler Family, Owner Of Purdue Pharma, Set To Win Immunity From Opioid Lawsuits
After more than a year of high stakes negotiations with billions of dollars on the line, a bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin, cleared a major hurdle late Wednesday. Federal Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, N.Y., moved the controversial deal forward despite objections from dozens of state attorneys general, setting the stage for a final vote by the company's creditors expected this summer. The drug maker filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2019 facing an avalanche of lawsuits tied to its aggressive opioid sales practices. (Mann, 6/2)

Stat: Morphosys To Buy Constellation Pharma In $1.7 Billion Deal
German drugmaker MorphoSys said Wednesday that it will acquire Constellation Pharmaceuticals for $1.7 billion to bolster its research pipeline of cancer drug candidates. Constellation, based in Cambridge, Mass. is in the late stage of clinical trials for a drug to treat patients with myelofibrosis, a type of bone marrow cancer. The company is also developing a second drug in earlier development for different types of blood-related cancers and solid tumors. (Feuerstein, 6/2)

NBC News: Kentucky Sues CVS, Accuses Company Of 'Fueling' Opioid Crisis By Turning Blind Eye
Kentucky sued the drugstore chain CVS on Wednesday, accusing the company of “fueling” the opioid crisis that has ravaged the commonwealth. “As both distributor and pharmacy, CVS was in a unique position to monitor and stop the peddling of these highly-addictive drugs from their stores,” Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said in a statement. “Yet they ignored their own safeguard systems.” (Siemaszko, 6/2)

Stat: Industry Payments To Doctors Are Associated With Increased Prescribing Of Long-Acting Insulin 
Amid ongoing concern over the cost of insulin, a new study finds that payments made by manufacturers to physicians were associated with a larger number of more expensive prescriptions for long-acting versions covered by Medicare. More than 51,800 physicians received industry payments worth $22.3 million in 2016, and they wrote, on average, 135 prescriptions for the diabetes treatment in 2017, compared with 77 prescriptions written by doctors who did not receive payments from insulin makers. The larger number of prescriptions resulted in an average Medicare Part D claim of $300, which was $71 more than claims generated by doctors who did not receive payments. (Silverman, 6/2)

The Boston Globe: Eleanor Slater Hospital In R.I. Worked To Discharge Patients Without Telling Them Or Their Families
The state-run Eleanor Slater Hospital tried to send ventilator patients to an outside facility without informing the patients or their families, according to interviews and state Department of Health records. The Department of Health surveyed Eleanor Slater in April in response to a complaint and found that it failed to follow its discharge policy earlier this year when it sent documents about a patient to an outside facility without telling the patient. In response, Eleanor Slater strengthened the policy and agreed to report to regulators for six months, according to documents obtained through a records request. (Amaral, 6/2)

KQED: Amid Ongoing Debate, State Senate Approves Bill To Decriminalize Psychedelic Drugs In California
The California Senate approved legislation to decriminalize the possession or sharing of psychedelic drugs, Tuesday. Senate Bill 519, introduced by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, now heads to the state Assembly. “This is a big step for this legislation and for our movement to end the war on drugs and to take a more health and science-based approach and to move away from criminalization of drugs,” Wiener said in a Twitter video posted on Tuesday. (Dembosky and Sarah, 6/2)

Bloomberg: Chicago’s Mercy Hospital To Get $50 Million From New Owner
Mercy Hospital and Medical Center’s new owner will invest $50 million in the next two years as it works to rebuild a facility once slated for shutdown. Insight, which took over June 1, will create a “comprehensive plan to increase services and meet community need,” a representative said in an email Wednesday. It will also appoint three independent community board members within 90 days and restore a full emergency department. Insight last week said it also intends to revive Mercy’s status as a teaching hospital as part of a plan to operate Mercy as a full-service hospital “through 2029 and beyond.” (Coleman-Lochner, 6/2)

Modern Healthcare: Small, Rural Hospitals Have More Trouble Enabling EHRs, ONC Says
Most hospitals have an application programming interface for patients to keep track of their health information, but small and rural providers still haven't given patients full access to their data, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on Wednesday. In 2019, 7 in 10 hospitals reported using an application programming interface to allow inpatients to access health data—a 50% increase from 2018 that's largely attributed to financial incentives that started that year. (Gellman, 6/2)

Modern Healthcare: Ohio State Wexner, DispatchHealth To Offer Hospital-At-Home Care
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is teaming up with DispatchHealth, an in-home medical care provider, to offer Columbus-area patients care at home. Starting July 1, Ohio State Wexner patients and providers will be able to request same-day at-home care for viral infections, COPD exacerbations, congestive heart failure and other injuries and illnesses, according to a news release. Those at-home services will be coordinated with a patient's care team. Some high-risk patients also will be able to request DispatchHealth's Bridge Care, which provides at-home care 24-72 hours after an acute care hospital stay. (Christ, 6/2)

360Dx: BARDA Venture Capital Program Dedicates Up To $500M For Pandemic Preparedness
The US Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, has launched a new program to spur development of technologies to combat future pandemics and health emergencies. For the initiative, the BARDA Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures, or DRIVe, will support the BARDA Ventures program in a partnership with the nonprofit Global Health Investment Corporation. According to a statement from HHS, BARDA Ventures will provide GHIC with a minimum of $50 million over five years, and the potential of up to $500 million over 10 years. In turn, GHIC will launch a global health security fund with matching capital from other investors. (6/2)

Modern Healthcare: Scripps Ransomware Attack Affects At Least 147,000 Patients
San Diego-based Scripps Health on Tuesday said it's notifying an estimated 147,267 patients that their data was stolen by hackers in last month's ransomware attack. A ransomware attack on Scripps' information systems in early May led the health system to take a portion of its network offline, disrupting access to the health system's electronic health record system and other applications for multiple weeks. Scripps' ongoing investigation into the incident revealed that the hackers who accessed the network stole copies of some documents. Documents stolen the breach contained health information and financial information of some patients, according to Scripps. Less than 2.5%—nearly 3,700—of patients had Social Security or driver's license numbers stolen; Scripps will provide free credit monitoring and identity protection services to those patients. (Kim Cohen, 6/2)

The Washington Post: VA Allowed Impaired Pathologist To Harm Hundreds Of Veterans, IG Report Finds 
Oversight failures, a fearful workplace culture and lax quality standards for years at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Arkansas allowed a pathologist who was routinely drunk on the job to misdiagnose thousands of veterans — sometimes with dire or deadly consequences, a new investigation has found. (Rein, 6/2)

AP: Former Nursing Home Manager Pleas To Endangering 3 Residents
A man who oversaw a suburban Philadelphia nursing home pleaded no contest Wednesday to endangering three residents who before dying suffered health complications because of inadequate staffing levels, prosecutors said. The defendant, Chaim “Charlie” Steg, 40, of Lakewood, New Jersey, had been regional operations director for the St. Francis Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Darby. He pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless endangerment. (Scolforo, 6/3)

The Washington Post: CPSC Votes To Ban Infant Inclined Sleepers Along With Other Unregulated Baby Sleep Aids 
A federal safety agency on Wednesday banned a range of infant sleep products that currently slip between gaps in regulations, an attempt to fix a loophole blamed for at least 90 accidental deaths. The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted 3 to 1 to pass the new rule. It requires any product designed for sleeping babies to meet within one year the mandatory federal standards already in place for cribs, bassinets, bedside sleepers and play yards. Dozens of products currently for sale don’t fit into one of those categories, so they don’t need to measure up. Yet they are popular with parents. (Frankel, 6/2)

CIDRAP: FDA Launches Challenge To Develop Traceability Tool For Food Outbreaks
In an effort to improve traceability tools used to identify sources in foodborne illness outbreaks, the FDA announced a new challenge to create low- or no-cost ways to alert people to outbreaks. ... The challenge asks food technology solution providers, public health advocates, entrepreneurs, and innovators to create digital information tools that will quickly alert users to the source of food contamination. ... The FDA will accept submissions from Jun 1 through Jul 30, and will announce as many as 12 winners as selected by judges from the federal government. The winners will present their ideas during a webinar in September. (6/2)

Axios: Harmful Superbugs Less Likely In Organic Meats, Study Finds 
Organic meats are less likely to contain harmful bacteria, including multi-drug resistant organisms, according to a recent study from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, highlights the risks of overuse of antibiotics in the U.S. food supply — which come not only in the form of foodborne illness, but the potential development of untreatable infections. (Reed, 6/2)

The Washington Post: Don’t Eat Cicadas If You’re Allergic To Seafood, The FDA Warns 
Weeks after the arrival of Brood X, the buzzy swarm of cicadas that emerge from the ground every 17 years to cover trees and sidewalks across a swath of the country, federal health officials have a new warning: People with seafood allergies shouldn’t eat the insects. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday issued the advice to would-be bug-munchers via Twitter, noting that the cicadas “share a family relation to shrimp and lobsters.” (Heil, 6/2)

The Atlantic: Maggot Therapy Can Heal Intractable Wounds
In its larval stage, Lucilia sericata looks unassuming enough. Beige and millimeters long, a bottle-fly grub may lack good looks, but it contains a sophisticated set of tools for eating dead and dying human flesh. The maggots ooze digestive enzymes and antimicrobials to dissolve decaying tissue and to kill off any unwanted bacteria or pathogens. Lacking teeth, they use rough patches on their exterior and shudder-inducing mandibles (called “mouth hooks”) to poke at and scratch off dead tissue before slurping it up. This flesh-eating repertoire is hard enough to stomach in the abstract. Now imagine hosting it on your skin. “Not everyone, psychologically, can deal with that sensation and knowing maggots are chewing on their flesh,” Robert Kirsner, the director of the University of Miami Hospital Wound Center, in Florida, told me. This is the barrier that advocates of maggot therapy face: the emotional gravity of pure human revulsion. (Renault, 6/2)

Fox News: Young Adults With Schizophrenia Face Highest Suicide Risk, Study Says
Suicide prevention efforts for those with schizophrenia should focus on young adults, researchers say, after a large study revealed heightened suicide risks in the 18-34 age group. Findings from Columbia University and Rutgers were published in JAMA Psychiatry last week, drawing from data on nearly 670,000 schizophrenic patients with Medicare coverage from 2007-2016, with data analysis conducted in 2020-2021. According to the Mayo Clinic, "schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally, [and] may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling." (Rivas, 6/2)

NBC News: 'A Lot Of Trauma': Trans Parents Say Medical System Isn't Set Up For Their Pregnancies
When Kayden Coleman was pregnant with his now 10-month-old daughter, no one held the door for him, fussed over his growing belly or made him feel special in the way that pregnant women are sometimes treated. In a way, he feels as though he missed out on "the perks" of pregnancy, he said. In another, he's relieved no one knew the truth. As a transgender man, he felt safer that way. (Murray, 6/2)

Stat: Researchers Remove Race From A Calculator For Childbirth
Since 2007, obstetricians have counseled patients planning to give birth after a previous C-section with help from a simple calculator designed to determine the likelihood of having a successful vaginal birth after cesarean, or VBAC. The tool takes into account a patient’s age, height, weight, and their history of vaginal and cesarean delivery. It also asks two yes-or-no questions: “African-American?” “Hispanic?” The answers can predict a drastically lower chance of success for patients of color. But now, after years of work by researchers, advocates, and clinicians, that racialized calculator has been replaced by a newly validated version that is the same in almost every way — except for eliminating race and ethnicity as a risk factor. (Palmer, 6/3)

NBC News: Right-Wing Pastor Gets Covid After Saying Vaccines Were Part Of 'Mass Death Campaign'
A right-wing Florida pastor was hospitalized with Covid-19, weeks after saying vaccination efforts were part of a "mass death campaign." The pastor, Rick Wiles, wrote Tuesday on TruNews.com, where he propagates homophobic, racist and other hateful conspiracy theories, that he had Covid-19-related pneumonia and difficulty breathing. He said that he was being released from the hospital later that day but that his wife was "still very fatigued." (Fieldstadt, 6/2)

Los Angeles Times: California Bill Would Give Healthcare Workers COVID Bonuses
California lawmakers are considering legislation that would require hospitals, clinics and skilled nursing facilities to pay medical professionals $10,000 in “hero pay” for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. But some employers and business groups have bristled at the $7-billion price tag, calling the bill “dangerous and costly.” (Gutierrez, 6/2)

AP: California To Pay $2M Church Legal Fees Over Virus Closures
The state of California has agreed not to impose greater coronavirus restrictions on church gatherings than it does on retail establishments in a pair of settlements that provide more than $2 million in fees to lawyers who challenged the rules as a violation of religious freedom. A deal approved Tuesday by a federal judge comes after lawyers for a San Diego-area Pentecostal church took their challenge against the state to the U.S. Supreme Court three times and won. (Melley, 6/2)

The New York Times: Outrage Greets Report of Arizona Plan to Use ‘Holocaust Gas’ in Executions
Arizona has refurbished and tested a gas chamber and purchased chemicals used to make hydrogen cyanide, a recent report said, drawing a backlash over its possible use on death row inmates. Headlines noting that the chemicals could form the same poison found in Zyklon B, a lethal gas used by the Nazis, provoked fresh outrage, including among Auschwitz survivors in Germany and Israel, over the association with the Holocaust and hydrogen cyanide’s use in the death camps. (Hauser, 6/2)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Lawmakers Allocate Nearly $400 Million To State Psychiatric Hospitals
State lawmakers took a critical step forward in expanding Texas’ psychiatric hospital system last week by pumping nearly $400 million into projects that would add more than 500 inpatient psychiatric beds across the state, as well as revamp old hospitals for mentally ill Texans. The money will go toward adding maximum security beds at Kerrville State Hospital, a 264-bed hospital in Harris County and planning for a new, 200-bed state hospital in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Additionally, the Legislature continued funding the rebuild of state hospitals in both Austin and San Antonio. (Stuckey, 6/2)

AP: Dallas HS Valedictorian Delivers Abortion Rights Call
A Dallas high school valedictorian scrapped a speech approved by her school administrators and delivered an abortion rights call in its place. Paxton Smith, the 2021 valedictorian at Lake Highlands High School, submitted to school officials an address on the effect of the media on young minds. But when she spoke at Sunday’s graduation ceremony, she talked of what she called “a war on the rights” of her body and those of other girls and women by the “heartbeat bill” signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott a week and a half before. (Wallace, 6/3)

AP: Union Considers Strike At Meat Plant That Was Virus Hotspot
Workers at a South Dakota meatpacking plant that became a coronavirus hotspot last year are considering a strike after contract negotiations between Smithfield Foods and the union have stalled, the union said Wednesday. The Sioux Falls chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union threatened to move for a walkout and work stoppage if the Virginia-based company does not resume negotiations on a new four-year contract. The dispute has centered on the wages for meatpacking employees, health care costs and break times. (Groves, 6/3)

AP: UK Hits Vaccine Milestone, Warns Of 'Deadly' Misinformation
Three-quarters of Britain’s adult population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the government said Wednesday, as it warned that “deadly” misinformation was undermining the global inoculation effort. The Department of Health said that 75.2% of people 18 and over in the U.K. have received a shot, and 49.5% are fully vaccinated after two doses. (Lawless, 6/2)