First Edition: June 4, 2021

KHN: FDA Weighs Approval Of A Lucrative Alzheimer’s Drug But Benefits Are Iffy 
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision next week whether to approve the first treatment for Alzheimer’s disease highlights a deep division over the drug’s benefits as well as criticism about the integrity of the FDA approval process. The agency said it will decide by June 7 the fate of Biogen’s drug aducanumab, despite a near-unanimous rejection of the product by an FDA advisory committee of outside experts in November. Doubts were raised when, in 2019, Biogen halted two large clinical trials of the drug after determining it wouldn’t reach its targets for efficacy. But the drugmaker later revised that assessment, stating that one trial showed the drug reduced the decline in patients’ cognitive and functional ability by 22%. (Meyer, 6/4)

KHN: Analysis: Mounting Pressure On China About Covid ‘Lab Leak’ Could Backfire
President Joe Biden has ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to determine whether the covid virus, or a near ancestor, emerged from a cave, a live-animal market, a farm — or a secretive Chinese laboratory. But it’s doubtful this probe will yield definitive insights, and it could even backfire. Some experts hypothesize that global pressure could prompt a Chinese scientific whistleblower to come forward with evidence of a lab leak. After all, it is unlikely such an accident could have occurred without dozens of people finding out about the leak, or an ensuing cover-up. (Allen, 6/4)

KHN: In Missouri And Other States, Flawed Data Makes It Hard To Track Vaccine Equity
Throughout the covid-19 vaccination effort, public health officials and politicians have insisted that providing shots equitably across racial and ethnic groups is a top priority. But it’s been left up to states to decide how to do that and to collect racial and ethnic data on vaccinated individuals so states can track how well they’re doing reaching all groups. The gaps and inconsistencies in the data have made it difficult to understand who’s actually getting shots. (Smith, 6/4)

NBC News: Covid Has Claimed More Than 600,000 Lives In United States
More than 600,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States, a grim reminder that even though cases are down as more people are vaccinated, the pandemic is not over. As of Thursday evening, the country had seen at least 600,040 Covid-19 deaths, according to a count of reports by NBC News. More than 33.4 million cases have been recorded in the U.S. The death toll crossed the 500,000 mark Feb. 21, according to NBC News' count. (Helsel and Mullen, 6/3)

Politico: Biden Admin Reveals Plans For First 25 Million Donated Vaccine Doses
After weeks of internal deliberations, the Biden administration finally announced Thursday which countries will share in the first Covid-19 vaccine doses donated by the U.S. to help end the pandemic. The U.S. will route a total of 25 million doses to countries overseas. About 19 million doses — roughly 75 percent — through the global vaccine aid program COVAX, the White House said Wednesday. The Biden administration will send the remaining 25 percent of the doses directly to specific countries. (Banco, 6/3)

NPR: U.S. Lays Out Plans For How It Will Share Surplus COVID-19 Vaccines Abroad
The Biden administration has previously said it would share 80 million doses by the end of June. "We know that won't be sufficient," said Jeff Zients, coordinator of the White House COVID-19 response. But he said it's an important step toward boosting global production and trying to end the global pandemic. "We expect a regular cadence of shipments around the world across the next several weeks. And in the weeks ahead, working with the world's democracies we will coordinate a multilateral effort, including the G-7, to combat and end the pandemic," Zients said. . (Keith, 6/3)

Roll Call: White House Outlines Plans To Donate Coronavirus Vaccines Abroad
The Biden administration on Thursday announced it would send 80 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to other nations struggling with the pandemic by the end of the month and outlined a plan for allocating the first 25 million doses. The U.S. will share 75 percent of those initial 25 million doses, or 19 million, through COVAX, the international effort to equitably distribute COVID-19 vaccines, according to a fact sheet. The other 6 million doses will go to countries that are regional priorities or partners. (McIntire, 6/3)

Stat: Drug Prevents Return Of Breast Cancer Caused By BRCA Mutations 
Lynparza, a cancer-fighting pill marketed by AstraZeneca and Merck, reduced the risk that breast cancer would return in an invasive form when it was given for a year to patients who carried cancer-causing variants of the BRCA gene. The companies had reported that the study stopped early in February, but the actual results, released on Thursday, are striking, and several experts said they were likely to change treatment for people with aggressive breast cancer caused by genes they have inherited. The full results are being presented this weekend at the annual virtual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. They are also being published in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Herper, 6/3)

AP: Pill Shows Benefit In Certain Hard-To-Treat Breast Cancers
It was studied in patients with mutations in genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2 that can predispose people to breast cancer if they don’t work properly, but who did not have a gene flaw that can be targeted by the drug Herceptin. Most patients in the study also had tumors that were not fueled by the hormones estrogen or progesterone. Cancers not fueled by these two hormones or by the gene Herceptin targets are called “triple negative.” They are especially hard to treat. (Johnson, 6/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Breast-Cancer Pill Reduced Recurrence, Death In Early-Stage Patients, Study Finds 
The finding, which on Thursday was published online by the New England Journal of Medicine and released at a major cancer-research meeting, marked the latest advance in cancer treatments targeting the genetic traits of tumors. It could expand the arsenal of weapons against a hereditary form of breast cancer. The result also helps validate the pharmaceutical industry’s investment in a pricey new class of drugs that target cancer cells, known as PARP inhibitors. (Loftus, 6/3)

NBC News: New Radiation Therapy For Prostate Cancer Reduces Deaths, Study Shows
By the time Michael Rosenblum’s prostate cancer was discovered, it was already at a late stage. He’d initially sought medical help because of excruciating back pain, but, during an exam, doctors found a tumor on his spine and tests revealed a skyrocketing prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, score. Chemotherapy didn’t help much, so when doctors offered the opportunity to be in a clinical trial for a new experimental treatment, Rosenblum jumped at it. The trial was investigating a new, potentially groundbreaking type of treatment for prostate cancer, a therapy that specifically targets a protein on the cancer cells. The treatment, part of a new class of liquid radiation drugs, obliterates most prostate cancer cells without hurting the surrounding tissue. (Carroll, 6/3)

AP: 'Next Big Wave': Radiation Drugs Track And Kill Cancer Cells
Doctors are reporting improved survival in men with advanced prostate cancer from an experimental drug that delivers radiation directly to tumor cells. Few such drugs are approved now, but the approach may become a new way to treat patients with other hard-to-reach or inoperable cancers. The study tested an emerging class of medicine called radiopharmaceuticals, drugs that deliver radiation directly to cancer cells. The drug in this case is a molecule that contains two parts: a tracker and a cancer-killing payload. (Johnson, 6/3)

Stat: For First Time, Keytruda After Surgery Shows Benefit In Early Kidney Cancer
Merck said Thursday that giving its drug Keytruda immediately after surgery significantly reduced the risk of relapse of kidney cancer in patients who had their tumors removed. The new clinical trial results make Keytruda the first immunotherapy to show a benefit for this early stage of kidney cancer treatment called the adjuvant setting. Currently, the class of drugs called checkpoint inhibitors are used for patients with more advanced kidney cancer — after it has recurred and spread to other parts of the body. (Feuerstein, 6/3)

AP: FDA Warns Doctors To Stop Using Heart Pump Tied To Deaths
The FDA said Medtronic halted sales after reviewing 100 reports of power failures with the device, which led to 14 patient deaths and 13 patients having it removed. The company previously issued recalls on some Heartware devices and components used when implanting it. In December, the company warned about power failures or delayed restarts with three lots. The company said patients should not automatically have the device removed. Taking out recalled heart implants has to be carefully weighed against the potential risks of surgery. (Perrone, 6/3)

Bloomberg: Medtronic Halts Heart Failure HVAD Device Sales As Risks Surface
Medtronic Plc is halting sales of its HVAD device that helps patients with advanced heart failure pump blood on growing evidence that it leads to more strokes and other adverse events than competing models. “The company notified physicians to cease new implants of the HVAD system and transition to an alternative means of durable mechanical circulatory support,” Dublin-based Medtronic said Thursday in a statement. The shares fell as much as 1.2% as of 9:53 a.m. in New York. (Rutherford and Connelly, 6/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Votes To Continue Requiring Masks At Work If Anyone Is Unvaccinated
If anyone in a workplace is unvaccinated, all colleagues must wear masks when in the same room, according to a new California workplace standard passed Thursday. But the standard allows workers to ditch masks when everyone in a room is vaccinated. The standards board for California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, passed the new rules as a stopgap measure after a marathon meeting Thursday, minutes after it initially rejected the same rules by a 4-3 vote, swayed by business groups’ arguments that they are too strict. (Said, 6/3)

AP: Most California Workers To Stay Masked Under Revised Rules
California employees will soon be able to skip masks in the workplace, but only if every employee in the room is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The revised rules adopted Thursday night by a sharply divided California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board are expected to kick in June 15, the same day the state more broadly loosens masking and other requirements in social settings in keeping with recent federal recommendations. (Thompson, 6/4)

Fox News: NIH Finds Potential Coronavirus Oral Antiviral Drug
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Thursday announced a potential oral antiviral treatment to lessen the severity of COVID-19 disease, ahead of clinical studies assessing efficacy in patients. Researchers said the experimental drug, TEMPOL, showed promise in cell cultures by impacting the virus’ ability to replicate, or impairing an enzyme called RNA replicase. Findings were published in the journal Science. "We urgently need additional effective, accessible treatments for COVID-19," Dr. Diana W. Bianchi, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) director, said in a statement posted Thursday. "An oral drug that prevents SARS-CoV-2 from replicating would be an important tool for reducing the severity of the disease." (Rivas, 6/3)

Modern Healthcare: Sepsis Cases Increased Among Children During COVID-19 Pandemic
Children who received surgery during the first part of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 developed life-threatening sepsis at higher rates than pre-pandemic, according to new research out in the journal Hospital Pediatrics. Study authors are calling for more efforts to improve the safety of care for children post-surgery, especially as health officials estimate the pandemic is not over. (Gillespie, 6/3)

Bloomberg: Andrew Cuomo Wins Dismissal Of Lawsuit Over NY's Covid Quarantine Rule
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo won a fight over his authority to control the pandemic, as a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging his executive order requiring visitors from states with spiking Covid-19 numbers to go into quarantine for 14 days. Cuomo’s order was “rational” because it intended to stop the spread of a “highly contagious” virus, and there’s no indication that a less restrictive rule would have had the same effect on public health, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla said in a decision Wednesday in Manhattan. (Larson, 6/3)

AP: Whitmer Vetoes Bill To Exempt Graduations From Crowd Limits
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday vetoed Republican-sponsored legislation that would have exempted high school graduation ceremonies from COVID-19 restrictions on Michigan crowd sizes, calling it “half-baked and punchless.” The veto, which was expected, came two days after her administration’s order was loosened to end outdoor capacity limits and limit indoor gatherings to 50% occupancy. (Eggert, 6/3)

The Boston Globe: Free Pooled COVID Testing Offered To Day Cares Statewide
Thousands of Massachusetts day-care providers will be able to regularly screen children and employees for COVID-19 this summer, thanks to a new partnership between the state and a local nonprofit. Neighborhood Villages, a child-care advocacy group, is teaming up with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care to offer free weekly pooled COVID-19 testing for child-care programs throughout the state. The initiative, which relies on testing kits from the genetic-sequencing company Veritas, will test roughly 6,000 children, teachers, and staff per week throughout the summer, with the potential for expansion in the fall if there is enough demand. (Lyons, 6/3)

Reuters: 'Mission: Impossible 7' Set Shut Down Due To Positive Covid-19 Tests
Filming in Britain on the latest "Mission: Impossible" movie, one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood, has been shut down for two weeks after some people working on the movie tested positive for the coronavirus, Paramount Pictures said on Thursday. The movie studio did not say who or how many people had tested positive but Britain's Sun newspaper said star Tom Cruise was not among them. ... The Sun newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said 14 members of the production tested positive after shooting a nightclub scene, and that Cruise, like other people working on the set, would have to self-isolate for 14 days. (6/3)

The Wall Street Journal: The Covid Calculus Of Herd Immunity 
As the roll out for Covid-19 vaccines continues, many people have questions about the idea of herd immunity. After all, vaccines are not just for those who receive them; they are also intended to protect those who can’t or don’t get the shot. Herd immunity doesn’t mean that everyone is somehow immune by association. Rather, it means something quite precise mathematically. The starting point is that viruses spread exponentially: Each person infects, say, three people on average, and each of those people goes on to infect three people, and so on. The number of infected people is repeatedly multiplied by 3 (in this hypothetical example), and repeated multiplication is the definition of an exponential in mathematics. (Cheng, 6/3)

The New York Times: Here Are The States Falling Behind Biden’s Covid-19 Vaccination Goal 
The United States is roughly on track to meet President Biden’s goal of getting at least one Covid-19 shot into the arms of 70 percent of adults by July 4 — if the current vaccination pace holds. But demand for vaccines has decreased in much of the country in recent weeks, and the promising national numbers (about 63 percent of adults have received at least one shot) do not reflect the uneven rates among states. Even if the country as a whole reaches the national target, at least 30 states probably will not. And a handful are unlikely to reach the 70 percent mark before the end of the year, a New York Times analysis shows, potentially prolonging the pandemic. (Gamio and Walker, 6/3)

CNN: States That Fall Well Below Vaccinating 70% Of Adults Are 'Sitting Ducks' For An Outbreak, Expert Warns 
The US is pushing to have 70% of adults get at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by July 4, but an expert said that number is important to reach at the state level too -- and those states who are falling well below may be vulnerable to another outbreak. "There are 12 states that are already at 70%. I worry about the ones that are way below that, and they are sitting ducks for the next outbreak of Covid-19 -- which shouldn't have to happen now," National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told CNN's Chris Cuomo. (Holcombe, 6/4)

AP: Washington Vaccination Lottery: Cash Prize, Tuition, Flights
Washington is the latest state to offer prizes to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, with Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday announcing a series of giveaways that includes lottery drawings totaling $2 million, college tuition assistance, airline tickets and game systems. The incentive program, called “Shot of a Lifetime,” applies to those who start the vaccination process this month as well as residents who are already vaccinated. (La Corte, 6/3)

AP: Louisiana Adds Free State Park Visits To COVID Vaccine Perks
Louisiana is adding free entry to all 21 state parks as a perk for getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday. Unlike the free drinks available this month at some bars and restaurants around the state, the free admission runs through July for anyone who can prove full vaccination, no matter when, he said. (McConnaughey, 6/4)

AP: Heart Reaction Probed As Possible Rare Vaccine Link In Teens
Health authorities are trying to determine whether heart inflammation that can occur along with many types of infections could also be a rare side effect in teens and young adults after the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine. An article on seven U.S. teen boys in several states, published online Friday in Pediatrics, is among the latest reports of heart inflammation discovered after COVID-19 vaccination, though a link to the vaccine has not been proven. The boys, aged 14 to 19, received Pfizer shots in April or May and developed chest pain within a few days. Heart imaging tests showed a type of heart muscle inflammation called myocarditis. (Tanner and Neergaard, 6/4)

NBC News: Landlord Group Asks Supreme Court To Lift Moratorium On Evicting Tenants
A group representing some of the nation's property owners asked the U.S. Supreme Court late Thursday to block enforcement of an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that has stopped landlords from evicting tenants who aren't paying their rent during the Covid-19 pandemic. Keeping that order in place "will prolong the severe financial burdens borne by landlords under the moratorium for the past nine months," the group said, in an emergency application directed to Chief Justice John Roberts filed by the Alabama Association of Realtors. (Williams, 6/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Jobless Claims Drop To Another Pandemic Low
Worker filings for initial jobless claims have dropped by 35% since late April, adding to signs of a healing labor market as the U.S. economy ramps up. Weekly unemployment claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 385,000 last week from a revised 405,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Last week’s decline in claims marked the fifth straight week that new filings fell, from 590,000 the week ended April 24. (Guilford, 6/3)

Los Angeles Times: Healthcare Worker Bonuses Fizzle In California Legislature
California Assembly members declined Thursday to vote on a bill that would have awarded “hero pay” to healthcare workers who helped steer the state through the pandemic, effectively killing the $7-billion effort for the year. Assembly Bill 650 by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Rolling Hills Estates) would have required hospitals, clinics and skilled nursing facilities to pay medical professionals $10,000, with smaller bonuses for those who work part time. (Gutierrez, 6/3)

Modern Healthcare: Judge Won't Force CMS To Use 2021 Quality Ratings Data
Three Medicare Advantage plans lost their fight to require CMS to collect data on patient care and satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a federal judge ruling that the agency did not need to ask Congress before deciding to suspend collection. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday granted HHS' motion for summary judgment. The case stems from an April 2020 interim final rule that said CMS would rely on 2020 information with regard to the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set, or HEDIS, and the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, or CAHPS, when calculating Star ratings for the plans. The rule was made "because data collection was unsafe and would divert resources from patients" during the pandemic, according to the opinion. (Tepper, 6/3)

Modern Healthcare: CMMI Exploring More Mandatory Models, Fowler Says
CMS' Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation could mandate more participation in its models, CMMI Director Liz Fowler said during a Health Affairs event on Thursday. The agency wants to ensure that its experiments prioritize patients' needs and support the transformation of the healthcare delivery system—objectives consistent with the Biden administration's greater emphasis on improving health equity and quality. But they also signal that CMMI will fight against the entrenched interests of a healthcare industry under increasing pressure to change the way it does business. (Brady, 6/3)

Modern Healthcare: Post-Acute Care Programs Close Over Staffing Concerns
Throughout the pandemic, long-term care facilities have struggled to find staff. The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), which represents more than 14,000 long-term care providers, now calls the workforce shortage "a legitimate crisis." The problem is a nuanced one: Workers have left an industry that was hit hard by COVID-19 cases and deaths during the pandemic, seeking out higher paying and potentially less dangerous jobs. And employers have struggled to remain operational as volumes fell and costs rose, strapped by what they characterize as inadequate Medicaid reimbursement rates. Nursing homes lost nearly 19,000 jobs in April, the biggest loss in the healthcare sector, according to figures from the the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Christ, 6/3)

Modern Healthcare: UPMC Spins Off AI Company That Analyzes EHR Data
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on Thursday launched Realyze Intelligence, an artificial-intelligence company that analyzes electronic health record data. Realyze Intelligence's tools use natural language processing and other types of AI to analyze clinical notes and data held in patients' health records, from which it can identify patients with cancer, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and other chronic conditions who are at high risk for poor health outcomes. Ideally, clinicians will apply the findings to prioritize care for those high-risk patients. (Kim Cohen, 6/3)

Stat: Former Celgene Shareholders Claim Bristol Myers Reaped A $6.4 Billion Windfall By Delaying A Drug Approval 
A lymphoma drug that was approved later than expected by regulators is at the center of a lawsuit accusing Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) of deliberately delaying production and development of the medicine in order to save $6.4 billion in payments to investors. At issue is a provision in the 2019 agreement in which Bristol Myers paid $80.3 billion for Celgene. As part of the deal, Bristol Myers agreed to pay Celgene shareholders $9 in cash, or contingent value rights, for each share they held. But there was a stipulation — the company had to win Food and Drug Administration approval for a treatment for Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma by Dec. 31, 2020. (Silverman, 6/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes’s Emails With Law Firm Allowed At Trial
A federal judge rejected Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes’s request to keep her emails with law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP out of her coming criminal fraud trial. Ms. Holmes, who faces wire fraud charges for allegedly deceiving investors and patients about her blood-testing company, had argued that 13 documents showing communications she exchanged with Boies Schiller lawyers were protected by attorney-client privilege. (Randazzo, 6/3)

Stat: Martin Shkreli's Longtime Friend Wants To Undo His 4,000% Price Hike
Martin Shkreli’s drug company has a lot of problems. Revenue was cut in half last year. Losses are mounting. There’s a pile of ongoing civil lawsuits, and the federal government is trying to shut the whole thing down. But the biggest problem might be Shkreli himself, who has been running the firm from federal prison and using it as a financial lifeline for himself and his associates. (Garde and Feuerstein, 6/4)

Stat: Landmark Alzheimer's Drug Approval Would Likely Deepen Inequities In Care
Come Monday, we should learn whether the Food and Drug Administration will approve the first new drug since 2003 to help slow the relentless cognitive decline caused by Alzheimer’s disease. While there is much uncertainty swirling over whether the drug will be approved, how effective it is, how much it should cost, and how it could be administered given the shortage of memory specialists and brain imaging machines required to identify eligible patients, one thing is abundantly clear: Approval of Biogen’s aducanumab, or other similar medications rising through the drug development pipeline, is likely to only increase massive racial inequities in the treatment of the more than 6 million Americans with Alzheimer’s. (McFarling, 6/4)

Live Science: 11 Children Diagnosed With New Form Of ALS
Six years ago, a teenager from Italy traveled to the U.S. in hopes of finding a diagnosis for her mysterious medical condition, which had caused her to lose the ability to walk and required her to have a breathing tube. Now, researchers have diagnosed the teenager, Claudia Digregorio, and 10 other children with a new form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that strikes in childhood and progresses more slowly than what is typically seen with this condition.In addition, the researchers have pinpointed a gene that seems to cause this form of ALS, and they may have also identified a potential treatment for the condition, according to a study describing the findings, published Monday (May 31) in the journal Nature Medicine. (Rettner, 6/3)

USA Today: New 50-State Ranking Shows The Best And Worst For Senior Health Care
Seniors in states that invested in their health systems enjoy a higher quality of overall care, a new 50-state ranking shows. Researchers compared health care in 24 categories for Medicare recipients in all 50 states and Washington D.C. related to cost, quality and access. The data, taken from publicly available databases, was weighed equally against each other before being averaged out, giving each state an overall score. The analysis, conducted by insurance technology company MedicareGuide.com, ranked Minnesota first with North Dakota close behind. Massachusetts and California followed in the third and fourth spots. Nebraska ranked fifth, and Hawaii followed in sixth. (Avery, 6/3)

NPR: With Roots In Civil Rights Era, Community Health Clinics Fight Pandemic
In the 1960s, health care for Black residents in rural Mississippi was meager. Most health systems were segregated. Although some hospitals did serve Black patients, they struggled to stay afloat. At the height of the civil rights movement, young Black doctors decided to launch a movement of their own. "Mississippi was third-world and was so bad and so separated," says Dr. Robert Smith, "The community health center movement was the conduit for physicians all over this country who believed that all people have a right to health care." In 1967, Smith helped start Delta Health Center, the country's first rural community health center. They put the clinic in Mound Bayou, a small town in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, in the northwest part of the state. (Chatlani, 6/3)

Fox News: HIV Incidence Down 73% Since 1980s Peak, CDC Estimates
HIV incidence, or yearly new infections, in the U.S has declined about 73% since peaks in the mid-1980s, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report released Thursday resulted from modeling applied to data in the National HIV Surveillance System to determine the number of new annual HIV infections from 1981 to 2019. The agency estimated 2.2 million new HIV infections during the decades-long study period, with about 1.2 million Americans living with HIV infection in 2019. (Rivas, 6/3)

The Boston Globe: ‘A Tragedy Waiting To Happen’: What’s Behind The Steep Rise In Opioid Overdoses Among Black Men?
The statistic was a shocker. The state’s latest opioid figures showed that Black men in Massachusetts had died of overdoses in 2020 at a rate 69 percent higher than the previous year. Public health officials decried the death toll as “heart-breaking” and “troubling.” Black leaders in health care agreed — but also had another word to describe the data: unsurprising. (Freyer, 6/3)

Fox News: CDC Alerts Salmonella Outbreak From Breaded, Stuffed Chicken
Heads up, consumers: federal health officials are investigating a multistate salmonella outbreak tied to raw frozen breaded stuffed chicken. The investigation notice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes at least 17 related illnesses and eight hospitalizations, as of June 2. Six states have reported illnesses in connection with the outbreak, including Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, New York and Arizona. Data suggests illnesses cropped up in late February and persisted through early May. Those affected range in age from 3 to 83. Testing conducted by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture found the outbreak strain in two samples of Kirkwood’s Chicken Cordon Bleu. However, there isn't a recall involved, per the CDC notice. (Rivas, 6/3)

Fox News: Eating Fresh Fruit Lowers Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes, Study Claims
Slipping two servings of fresh fruit into your daily diet can lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by over one-third, a new study suggests. But, in this study, not all fruit is created equal as the benefits of eating whole fruit were not seen for those who drank fruit juice. The study, conducted by Edith Cowan University (ECU) and published in the Journal of Clinical and Endocrinology and Metabolism, found that people who ate at least two servings of fruit per day had higher measures of insulin sensitivity than those who ate less than half of a serving, according to a news release posted on EurekAlert.org. (Hein, 6/3)

Today: Do LED Masks Work For Acne, Wrinkles? Dermatologists Weigh In
As vaccinated Americans start to take off their face coverings in public, some are turning to a different type of mask at home in the hopes of achieving better-looking skin. LED face masks are growing in popularity, boosted by celebrities touting their use on social media and the general quest to get a bit of extra glow after the stresses of the pandemic. The devices promise to make a difference in treating acne and improving fine lines through “light therapy.” (Pawlowski, 6/3)

USA Today: National Egg Day: Are Eggs Healthy Or Not? Is It Safe To Eat Raw Eggs?
Are brown eggs healthier than white eggs? Are raw eggs safe to consume? This National Egg Day, we're answering some common questions about egg health and busting myths, too. National Egg Day, recognized on June 3, reportedly traces back to the 1920s when a new highway was built to transport poultry and eggs in the town of Winlock, Washington. In 1918, California launched a “National Egg Day” to be held in August. The date was later shifted to June 3. Today, some companies recognize the day as an opportunity to launch deals. (Kochi, 6/3)

AP: CDC Says Florida Lawsuit Imperils Summer Cruises To Alaska
U.S. officials say Florida’s lawsuit against the federal government over conditions for cruise lines to resume sailing could threaten plans to restart cruising in Alaska. Florida sued the Biden administration to throw out requirements, called a conditional sailing order, that were imposed on cruise lines before they can sail in U.S. water for the first time since March 2020.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that Congress effectively ratified the conditional sailing order when it passed a law last month to let large cruise ships resume trips from Washington state to Alaska this summer. (6/4)

WILL / Illinois Public Media: Illinois To Give New Moms More Time On Medicaid
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)

The Wall Street Journal: Europe Pushes Alternative To Waiving Patents On Covid-19 Vaccines 
The European Union is pushing back hard against U.S.-backed calls to temporarily waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, preparing a rival plan that officials said would better safeguard drug companies’ patents and look for other ways to boost supplies for developing countries. As the gap between vaccine haves and have-nots has widened, Washington and China have endorsed a proposal by developing countries at the World Trade Organization to suspend patent protections for the immunizations. (Shah and Steinhauser, 6/3)

Bloomberg: Global Covid Shots Reach 2 Billion In Race To Tame Pandemic
Inoculations against Covid-19 reached 2 billion as the world races to control the pandemic. It took just over six months to reach the milestone, an extraordinary accomplishment precipitated by countries’ desperation to save lives and reopen their economies. Still, at the current pace, it will take nine more months to vaccinate 75% of the global population, a threshold that could provide so-called herd immunity. (Klemming and Kew, 6/3)

AP: Slow To Start, China Now Vaccinating At A Staggering Pace
In the span of just five days last month, China gave out 100 million shots of its COVID-19 vaccines. After a slow start, China is now doing what virtually no other country in the world can: leveraging the power and all-encompassing reach of its one-party system and a maturing domestic vaccine industry to administer shots at a staggering pace. The rollout is far from perfect, including uneven distribution, but Chinese public health leaders now say they’re hoping to inoculate 80% of the population of 1.4 billion by the end of the year. (Wu, 6/3)

The Washington Post: China’s Great Vaccine Hope, Sinopharm, Sees Reputation Darkened Amid Covid Spikes In Countries Using It
Last year, Bahrain became one of the first countries to throw support behind China’s Sinopharm vaccine, granting it emergency use approval in December — a substantial boost for Beijing’s global ambitions for the vaccine, despite doubts on the part of some scientists over lack of public safety and efficacy data. Now, the Persian Gulf country is the latest to raise doubts about the vaccine’s effectiveness. (Taylor and Schemm, 6/3)

Reuters: Chile Halts Second Dose, Ups Minimum Age For AstraZeneca Vaccine After Blood Clot Report
Chile's health ministry on Thursday said it would raise the minimum age of men approved to receive the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccine to 45 from 18, and suspend administering second doses until authorities complete an investigation into a man who had a blood clot after his first shot. Chile, a leader in vaccinating its citizens against the virus, received its first doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine in April. Regulators initially approved the vaccine for men over 18 and women over 45. (6/3)

AP: Denmark Donating Unused AZ Jabs To Kenya
Denmark will donate 358,700 unused vaccine doses to Kenya, saying the batch of Astra Zeneca that expires July 31 should be delivered as soon as possible. It is part of the 3 million doses that Denmark has earmarked for donation this year. “No one is safe until everyone is safe,” Denmark’s Foreign Aid Minister Flemming Moeller Mortensen said in a statement. “Kenya is in a difficult situation as they have received far fewer vaccines than they should have had.” (6/4)

Bloomberg: Germany’s Vaccine Demand Set to Continue Outstripping Supply
Demand for Covid-19 vaccines in Germany will continue to outstrip supply for several more weeks as the country nears the milestone of administering a first shot to half the population, according to Health Minister Jens Spahn. “We are still moving forward at high speed, but I know that demand is still exceeding supply and it will remain the case for several weeks more,” Spahn said Friday in an interview with Inforadio. “But we are talking about weeks rather than months and that means we have good prospects for the rest of the summer.” (Rogers, 6/4)

AP: Japan Donates 1.24M Vaccine To Taiwan Amid China Influence
A flight carrying 1.24 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Japan touched down in Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport on Friday to help the island fight its largest outbreak since the pandemic began. The donation underscores how geopolitics have come to impact the global vaccination rollout, as countries scramble to secure enough vaccines for their populations. Taiwan, a self-governing island, has struggled to get its own vaccines, blaming China for interfering in a deal. Now the island is more than doubling its vaccine supply thanks to Tokyo, as Japan tries to play a greater role in global vaccination distribution while pushing to accelerate its painfully slow vaccine rollouts at home ahead of the Olympics in July. (Yamaguchi and Wu, 6/4)

Bloomberg: Prayer Is Preferred to Covid Vaccine in Namibia, Survey Shows
Almost two-thirds of Namibians believe prayer is more effective at preventing Covid-19 than a vaccine, and the majority of people in the southern African nation are concerned about the safety of the inoculations, according to a survey. Half of Namibians say they’re unlikely to try and get vaccinated even if the government says the vaccine is safe, Afrobarometer said in a study dated June 2 published on its website. Slow vaccine uptake in Namibia is “of great concern” with the threat of a third wave of infections looming, it said. (Nhongo, 6/3)