First Edition: May 24, 2022

KHN: To Shed Bias, Doctors Get Schooled To Look Beyond Obesity 
When Melissa Boughton complained to her OB-GYN about dull pelvic pain, the doctor responded by asking about her diet and exercise habits. The question seemed irrelevant, considering the type of pain she was having, Boughton thought at the time. But it wasn’t unusual coming from this doctor. “Every time I was in there, she’d talk about diet and exercise,” said Boughton, who is 34 and lives in Durham, North Carolina. On this occasion, three years ago, the OB-GYN told Boughton that losing weight would likely resolve the pelvic pain. (Sausser, 5/24)

KHN: Tribal Pharmacy Dispenses Free Meds And Fills Gaps For Native Americans In The City 
Tucked away on a side street near downtown, the Mashkiki Waakaa’igan Pharmacy offers its Native American clientele the services of any ordinary drugstore — it dispenses critical medication and provides consultation on treatments. But there are two key differences: Every Mashkiki patient gets prescriptions for free — with no out-of-pocket expense — and can access care that’s conscious of cultural traditions. (Huggins and Mueller, 5/24)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Births Increase For First Time Since 2014
U.S. births increased last year for the first time in seven years, according to federal figures released Tuesday that offer the latest indication the pandemic baby bust was smaller than expected. American women had about 3.66 million babies in 2021, up 1% from the prior year, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. It was the first increase since 2014. The rebound spanned age groups, with birthrates rising for every cohort of women age 25 and older. (Adamy and DeBarros, 5/24)

AP: US Births Rose Last Year But Still Less Than Before Pandemic 
But there were still about 86,000 fewer births last year than in 2019, according to a government report released Tuesday. “We’re still not returning to pre-pandemic levels,” said Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine. U.S. births had been declining for more than a decade before COVID-19 hit, and “I would expect that we would continue to see small, modest decreases,” she said. (Stobbe, 5/24)

Reuters: U.S. Agency Issues Order To Speed Baby Formula Ingredient Deliveries 
The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) said late Monday it was issuing a national emergency declaration to waive hours-of-service requirements for commercial vehicle drivers transporting baby formula ingredients and packaging. ... The FMCSA order includes, but is not limited to, whey, casein, corn syrup and hydrolyzed protein, and containers and packaging for baby formula. (Shepardson, 5/23)

NBC News: Parents Accuse Online Sellers Of Price Gouging On Baby Formula
Parents struggling to find baby formula amid a nationwide shortage are reporting that price gougers are selling bottles and cans marked up by as much as 300 percent or more on websites like eBay, OfferUp, Amazon and Craigslist, and inside Facebook communities. But in many cases, they’re finding that the platforms are doing little to punish the predatory sellers. (Cook, 5/23)

The 19th: Baby Formula Shortage Prompts New Facebook Groups To Connect Parents
Kate Jorgensen was down to a week’s worth of infant formula for her 5-month-old when the messages started to stream in. Desperate for the Enfamil Gentlease formula that calms her daughter’s digestive discomfort, Jorgensen had posted on national and local Facebook pages that have emerged in recent weeks to connect parents with the formula they need. In Platte City, Missouri, not one of the numerous grocery stores, pharmacies and big box retailers she checked for days had her baby’s formula, and she was running out of time. (Luterman and Carrazana, 5/23)

Poynter: A Conspiracy Theory Tries To Blame Pfizer And Bill Gates For The Baby Formula Shortage 
A Facebook post linked several unfounded claims to create one conspiracy theory about U.S. baby formula shortages.“(Pfizer) says do not breastfeed,” the May 17 post said. “Baby formula shortages everywhere. Gates promotes brand new artificial breast milk technology. All within less than a 2 week period. …Nothing to see here.“ ... The claim that “(Pfizer) says do not breastfeed” appears to be a reference to falsehoods that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine isn’t recommended while breastfeeding. Those claims said the recommendation came from Pfizer, but included screenshots of a document published by United Kingdom health officials in late 2020, when COVID-19 vaccines were in their infancy and rollout had just begun, the Associated Press reported earlier this month. (Curet, 5/23)

The New York Times: As Monkeypox Cases Rise, Nations Are Urged To Examine Vaccine Stores 
The U.S. emergency stockpile holds two vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration that could be used to contain monkeypox, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters on Monday. The stockpile contains more than 100 million doses of the original smallpox vaccine. But that vaccine is associated with side effects and shouldn’t be given to certain patients, including those who are immuno-compromised. (Mandavilli, 5/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Smallpox Vaccine Enters Wider Production Amid Monkeypox Outbreak 
Danish vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic A/S is making more of a smallpox vaccine typically stockpiled in case of biological warfare, as governments seek doses that also offer protection against monkeypox amid an unusual outbreak around the world. ... There is no vaccine directed specifically against monkeypox. But smallpox vaccines like Bavarian Nordic’s shot, known as Jynneos in the U.S., have been shown in studies to be at least 85% at preventing monkeypox, which is closely related to smallpox but much less severe. (Roland, 5/23 )

NPR: Monkeypox Isn't Much Of A Threat To The Public, A White House Official Says
The risk posed to the U.S. general public from ongoing outbreaks of monkeypox cases reported in Europe, the U.K. and Canada is low, a White House official told Morning Edition on Monday. Dr. Raj Panjabi, Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the National Security Council, says the fewer than 10 cases seen in the United States so far have not been severe — "flu-like symptoms and a rash which can be painful but resolves in two to four weeks" — and aren't likely to get much worse. "Historically in countries with weaker health care systems less than 1% of patients have died from this milder strain," Panjabi said. "We have access to vaccines and even treatments here in the U.S., and so the risk we believe is substantially lower." (Dean Hopkins, 5/23)

The Boston Globe: Boston Monkeypox Patient Had 200 Contacts
Health officials have identified 200 people who came in contact with a patient who was hospitalized last week in Boston with the monkeypox virus, a CDC official said Monday, adding that “the vast majority” were health care workers. The illness is not considered easily transmissible and, unlike COVID-19, people are not contagious until after they have symptoms. The World Health Organization has identified more than 100 suspected and confirmed cases of the virus in a recent outbreak in Europe and North America. The illness is rarely seen outside of West and Central Africa, though WHO officials said on Monday that there was no sign the virus had mutated into a more easily transmissible form. (Freyer, 5/23)

CNBC: CDC Officials Sound Alarm For Gay, Bisexual Men As Monkeypox Spreads
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday alerted gay and bisexual men that monkeypox appears to be spreading in the community globally, warning people to take precautions if they have been in close contact with someone who may have the virus and to be on the lookout for symptoms. Dr. John Brooks, a CDC official, emphasized that anyone can contract monkeypox through close personal contact regardless of sexual orientation. However, Brooks said many of the people affected globally so far are men who identify as gay or bisexual. Though some groups have greater chance of exposure to monkeypox right now, the risk isn’t limited only to the gay and bisexual community, he cautioned. (Kimball, 5/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: Monkeypox Outbreak And Pride Events: CDC Advises Precautions For Gay And Bisexual Men
Federal health officials are advising gay and bisexual men, and their health care providers, to look out for symptoms of monkeypox ahead of upcoming Pride festivities, after a handful of presumed cases associated with possible sexual transmission have been identified in the United States. One confirmed case and four suspected cases of monkeypox, a more benign version of smallpox, have been found in the United States, in Massachusetts, New York, Florida and Utah, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The confirmed case is in a Massachusetts man who had recently traveled to Canada. The four other cases are in men with recent travel, too. (Allday, 5/23)

USA Today: CDC: Monkeypox Cases May Be Mistaken For A Sexual Transmitted Disease
Unlike most known cases of monkeypox, where the telltale rash usually appears first on the hands, among the current cases many rashes are first appearing around the genitals or anus, CDC officials said in an afternoon news conference with media. With beach season kicking off this weekend, public health officials want to be sure that Americans and their health care providers are aware of the possibility that a rash plus travel history might indicate monkeypox rather than a more common sexually transmitted disease, like herpes or syphilis, which it can resemble. (Weintraub, 5/23)

The Hill: Here Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Monkeypox
Monkeypox patients usually first present symptoms within one to two weeks following infection but have reported onset as early as five days after exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Some patients may not experience any symptoms for up to 21 days.  Monkeypox patients first experience symptoms like fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion. The swelling of the lymph nodes makes the virus distinctive to other diseases that mimic monkeypox’s other initial symptoms, including smallpox, chickenpox and measles. (Schonfeld, 5/23)

AP: What's Next For COVID-19 Vaccines For Youngest US Children
U.S. Food and Drug Administration vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks has pledged the agency will “move quickly without sacrificing our standards” in evaluating tot-sized doses from both Pfizer and Moderna. The FDA has tentatively set a June 15 date for its scientific advisers to publicly review the two companies’ vaccines. After the advisers weigh in, the FDA determines whether to authorize the shot. (5/23)

Stat: Pfizer/BioNTech To Seek Covid Vaccine EUA For Children Under Age 5
Vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech said they will complete their submission for emergency use authorization of their Covid-19 vaccine for children under the age of 5 this week after a study of a third dose found it improves the efficacy of the vaccine. Just hours after the news was made public, the Food and Drug Administration announced it expects to convene its independent vaccine advisers, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, on June 15 to review the submission. (Branswell, 5/23)

The Atlantic: Are COVID Vaccines Still Blocking Severe Disease?
Billions of people around the world have now been dosed at least once, twice, or thrice; the shots have saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives, in the United States alone—and they probably could have saved hundreds of thousands more, had more people rolled up their sleeves. “We’re so much better off than where we were in 2020, when nobody had any immunity,” says Donna Farber, an immunologist at Columbia University. It feels, in some ways, like gazing down the side of a mountain we’ve been trekking up for a good 30 months: A nice, stubborn buffer of elevation now lies between us and the bottom, the sea-level status of no protection at all. The body’s defenses against severe disease are immunological bedrock—once cemented, they’re quite difficult to erode. Even as the fast-mutating virus pushes down from above, our footing has, for more than a year now, felt solid, and the ground beneath us unlikely to give. (Wu, 5/23)

Bloomberg: N.Y. School Covid Vaccine Mandate Survives As US Supreme Court Rejects Appeal
The US Supreme Court turned away a challenge to New York’s requirement that schoolchildren be vaccinated against serious diseases, refusing to question the state’s 2019 repeal of its longstanding exemption for families with religious objections. The justices without comment left in place a state court ruling that said New York wasn’t targeting religion when it eliminated the exemption after the worst measles outbreak in a quarter century. The vaccine requirement applies to children under 18 in both public and private schools. (Stohr, 5/23)

AP: Opponents Of Federal Vaccine Mandate Seek Rehearing 
A federal appeals court is being asked to reconsider its decision allowing the Biden administration to require that federal employees get vaccinated against COVID-19. A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month vacated a lower court ruling blocking the mandate and ordered dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the policy, which was ordered by President Joe Biden in September. (McGill, 5/23)

Arizona Republic: Epstein-Barr Virus, MS Link May Give Clues To Long COVID Cause
Dr. Janko Nikolich-Žugich, the head of the immunobiology department at the University of Arizona and co-director of the Arizona Center on Aging, said he and other researchers are interested in examining the relationship between long COVID and latent viruses because it is “probably the interplay between the host and the viruses that will determine why one person got (long COVID) and the other person just sailed through,” he said. He is part of a team that recently received a $9.2 million grant to study long COVID. But uncovering temporal and causal connections between latent viruses and long COVID could take a while. That’s why scientists are looking to existing knowledge, like the recently-confirmed connection between EBV and MS, for a glimpse of the future. (Walling, 5/23)

NBC News: Brain Fog, Other Long Covid Symptoms Can Last More Than A Year, Study Finds
The devastating neurological effects of long Covid can persist for more than a year, research published Tuesday finds — even as other symptoms abate. The study, published in the journal Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, is the longest follow-up study of the neurological symptoms among long Covid patients who were never hospitalized for Covid. (Sullivan and Edwards, 5/24)

CIDRAP: Kids' COVID Syndrome—MIS-C—Less Severe In Omicron
COVID-19–related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) was milder amid the Omicron variant surge than during the Alpha and Delta waves in Israel, concludes a research letter published late last week in JAMA. ... Of the 171 MIS-C patients, 59 (34.5%) were diagnosed during the Alpha wave, while 79 (46.2%) were identified during Delta, and 33 (19.3%) amid Omicron. Median patient age was 8 years, and 55% were boys. (Van Beusekom, 5/23)

The Washington Examiner: Capitol Group Tours Set To Resume After Long COVID-19 Hiatus 
The Capitol is entering the second phase of its reopening plan next week after the House sergeant-at-arms declared the coronavirus pandemic had abated enough to allow more outside tour groups. The guidelines will begin next week on May 30, according to a Monday announcement from Sergeant-at-Arms William Walker. The first phase began in March shortly after Capitol authorities lifted the mask mandate. (Aabram, 5/23)

The Hill: Merkley Tests COVID-19 Positive, A Complication In 50-50 Senate
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Monday that he had tested positive for COVID-19, an announcement that could throw a wrench in Democrats’ agenda this week in an evenly divided Senate. (Weixel, 5/23)

AP: Harris, Surgeon General Warn Of Health Care Worker Burnout
Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a warning Monday about burnout among the nation’s health care staff after more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the potential for severe worker shortages in the years ahead if the situation is not addressed. “You do so much to take care of your patients in their time of need,” Harris told health care workers as she visited Children’s National Hospital in Washington with Murthy on Monday. “Which is why I’m here to say, we need to do a better job of taking care of you.” (Megerian, 5/23)

Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Ohio Wants To Regulate And Put Caps On Health Care Staffing Agencies
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the shortage of health care workers nationwide caused serious strain on nursing homes, hospitals and other medical facilities. As a result, many turned to staffing agencies and traveling nurses to help fill the gap. But more than two years after the start of the pandemic, that relationship has soured. Given the unprecedented demand for workers, the agencies charged high rates, which many facilities felt they had no choice but to accept. As the nursing shortage continues, some Ohio lawmakers want to cap those rates and regulate staffing agencies. But nurses are criticizing the effort as capping wages and not addressing the shortage's root cause. (Wu, 5/24)

ABC7 New York: Nurses, Techs At St. Michael's Medical Center In Newark Stage Strike Over Working Conditions 
Nurses and technologists at St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark went on strike at 7 a.m. Monday, citing what they call hospital management's blatant disregard for the safety of employees and patients. (5/23)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Helmsley Trust Gives $4.2M Grant To Nevada Health Centers For Equipment 
The Helmsley Charitable Trust has granted $4.2 million to Nevada health centers to purchase ultrasound equipment and support-related training, it announced Monday. The national philanthropic organization largely focused on health initiatives and grants and founded by the late businesswoman Leona Helmsley awarded the grants to 18 health centers and clinics and two mobile care units across Nevada — most located in rural locations, but also eight in the Las Vegas Valley. “Our hospitals and health centers need to stay current with rapidly advancing technology so they can continue to provide top-notch healthcare close to home,” Walter Panzirer, a trustee and Helmsley’s grandson, said in a news release. “These grants help ensure that facilities across Nevada have the latest and greatest ultrasound equipment.” (Ross, 5/23)

Modern Healthcare: As Central-Line Infections Rise, Providers Look For Best Practices
As health systems grappled with staffing and supply challenges during the pandemic, they also saw a surge in central-line associated bloodstream infections. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showed a 28% jump in the standardized infection ratio for central-line-associated bloodstream infections between the second quarters of 2019 and 2020. From 2015 to 2019, a 31% decline occurred in the standardized infection ratio for central-line infections. The analysis of CDC data calculated the number of observed central-line associated bloodstream infections over the number of predicted infections at 936 facilities and more than 13,000 inpatient units. (Devereaux, 5/23)

Bloomberg: Antibiotics Price Stalls Development To Counter Superbugs
As bacteria become increasingly resistant to antibiotics, the pipeline of drugs to counter so-called superbugs has virtually dried up. Only a few dozen are in clinical trials even as infections impervious to existing treatments kill more than 1.2 million people a year. The problem is that the cost of developing an antibiotic can reach $1.5 billion, and drugmakers don’t see a sufficient payoff. Three years after announcing a strategy to boost investment in antibiotics, England is poised to fund a pair of new drugs by offering companies a fixed annual fee regardless of how much—or how little—they’re used. The National Health Service plans to pay as much as £10 million ($12.6 million) a year, or £100 million over a decade, for each drug. A government advisory group in April concluded a review confirming the benefits of a pair of drugs from Pfizer Inc. and Shionogi & Co., paving the way for the NHS to finalize contracts with the companies. “There is an intention to move forward as quickly as possible,” says David Glover, assistant head of medicines analysis at the NHS. (Paton, 5/24)

CIDRAP: Report: US Plant Closure Portends Drug Shortages—Some Critical 
In its first analysis, the newly formed End Drug Shortages Alliance (EDSA) warns that the recent shuttering of a troubled Teva Pharmaceuticals manufacturing plant in Irvine, California, could affect the availability of 24 generic sterile injectable drugs, including 5 essential medications for which the company had an over 15% market share. (Van Beusekom, 5/23)

The Boston Globe: Internal Analysis Shows Black Patients At Brigham Faced More Security Calls
Black patients at Brigham and Women’s Hospital were nearly twice as likely as white patients to have security called on them, according to a new study led by researchers at the hospital. The findings, published May 13 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, will propel efforts within the Brigham to address the problem, executives and researchers said. Dr. Yannis Valtis, lead author of the study and senior resident in the Division of General Internal Medicine & Primary Care, said residents began looking at how race played into the use of security after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police officers two years ago. (Bartlett, 5/23)

AP: NC Medicaid Expansion Gets Serious Attention From Senate GOP
North Carolina Senate Republicans are strongly considering legislation that would expand Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of additional low-income adults. Such legislation would mark a key step in an extraordinary turnabout by GOP members in the chamber set against expansion for a decade. A draft bill yet to be formally filed also would include several other medical, health care coverage and insurance reforms, according to a summary of the bill obtained by The Associated Press. Many of these proposals, including expansion, have been discussed in a House-Senate health care study committee that’s met several times since February. (Robertson, 5/23)

Los Angeles Times: Facilities Emitting Gas In Vernon Will Remain Open Amid Probe
The medical sterilizer facilities in Vernon that were found in violation of emitting a carcinogen at elevated levels will not be shuttered. District 4 Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn had called for the Sterigenics facilities to be temporarily closed last week. She cited heightened emissions of ethylene oxide that could put people at risk. But the South Coast Air Quality Management District determined that the facilities will stay open, stating in a letter Thursday that it will work with the facilities to ensure the safety of the community. (Alyssa Choi, 5/23)

Los Angeles Times: California Gets New Rules For Medical Malpractice Payments
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday to raise the amount of money that patients can receive in medical malpractice cases, increasing pain and suffering payments for the first time since lawmakers placed a cap on monetary damages nearly five decades ago. The governor’s signature on Assembly Bill 35 was the final step in a process that began last month when rival interests groups — doctors and lawyers — announced a deal to avoid a costly battle at the ballot box in November to overhaul the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975, known as MICRA. (Gutierrez, 5/23)

Los Angeles Times: California Lawmakers Take On Texas By Blocking 'Heartbeat' Abortion Laws
A proposal that cleared the California Assembly on Monday seeks to guard against so-called fetal heartbeat laws and abortion restrictions imposed by other states amid uncertainty over the landmark ruling in Roe vs. Wade. The bill reinforces California’s pro-abortion rights status as federal protections are in jeopardy and after Texas and almost a dozen other states have passed laws to ban the procedure as early as the sixth week of pregnancy. Texas law allows civil lawsuits to be filed against abortion providers or anyone who otherwise “aids or abets” a person receiving an abortion after a heartbeat has been detected — a hard-to-define timeline that significantly limits abortion access. (Mays, 5/23)

AP: Planned Parenthood To Step In If North Dakota Clinic Closes
Planned Parenthood said Monday it will offer abortion services at its clinic in Moorhead, Minnesota, if North Dakota’s only abortion clinic does not quickly relocate from Fargo should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. Planned Parenthood said it expected Red River Women’s Clinic, a private clinic not affiliated with it, to make the short move across the river by July 1, if necessary. (Kolpack, 5/23)

Arizona Republic: CMV And Herpes Are Latent Viruses That Could Help Create New Vaccines
Scientists and drug makers have been seriously investigating a potential CMV vaccine for years. The concern is particularly serious for pregnant people, as well as for those undergoing transplants (CMV infections can be deadly in immunocompromised people). Moderna was able to create an mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 so quickly in part because they had already been working on a CMV vaccine using the same technology for several years. Their CMV vaccine is now in Phase III clinical trials. (Walling, 5/23)

The Boston Globe: Experimental Pill Prompts Some To Regrow A Nearly Full Head Of Hair
Concert Pharmaceuticals said Monday that its experimental treatment for a severe form of hair loss called alopecia areata could restore a nearly full head of hair in about 30 to 40 percent of people. The small Lexington company is one of a few firms with drugs in the advanced stages of clinical testing for the disease in which a person’s immune system attacks their hair follicles, resulting in patchy or total hair loss. Although alopecia areata can sometimes clear up on its own in months, the condition often lasts for years. There are no treatments approved for the disease. “Like many other autoimmune diseases, it is one that has not received a ton of attention until relatively recently,” said Concert Pharma chief executive Roger Tung. While developing the therapy, he has met people who suffer severe anxiety and depression from spontaneously developing the condition. “This can really screw up people’s lives,” he said. (Cross, 5/23)

Stat: The FDA's In The Dark About Thousands Of Dietary Supplement Ingredients
The companies that make dietary supplements like vitamins and herbs have quietly introduced thousands and thousands of new ingredients without telling the government, despite federal law requiring the disclosure. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act requires dietary supplement makers to notify the Food and Drug Administration whenever they introduce a “new dietary ingredient” into the market. The FDA doesn’t have approval authority like it does for traditional medicines, but the agency is supposed to get some idea of what a supplement maker is selling and why the company thinks the ingredient is safe. (Florko, 5/24)

CIDRAP: Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Jif Peanut Butter Sickens 14 In 12 States
In epidemiologic investigations, all five case-patients interviewed reported eating peanut butter before they got sick, and four of them (80%) reported eating different types of Jif peanut butter. Texas and Georgia each reported two cases, while Washington, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, and Massachusetts each reported a single case. (5/23)

Stat: Are Smartphones Making Us Miserable? A Google Study Aims To Find Out
Google is teaming up with researchers to investigate how the mobile devices glued to our hands may be affecting our minds. Conducted with researchers from the University of Oregon, the effort will be the second study to launch through the Google Health Studies app, the company’s nascent platform for conducting health research on its Android operating system. Like a similar program run by its competitor Apple, Google Health Studies aims to beef up the company’s health bona fides among consumers, researchers, and care providers. (Aguilar, 5/23)

Reuters: Davos Booster For $18 Billion Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis And Malaria
A global health fund has raised a third of the $18 billion it says is needed to reverse setbacks caused by the coronavirus pandemic and combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced its first pledge from the private sector on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, on Tuesday. The $10 million pledge by Comic Relief U.S. unlocks a matching $20 million commitment by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (de Kretser, 5/24)

NPR: With Food Prices Continuing To Climb, UN Warns Of Crippling Global Shortages
Fears of a global food crisis are growing due to the shock of the war in Ukraine, climate change and rising inflation. Kristalina Georgieva, the International Monetary Fund managing director, told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Monday that "the anxiety about access to food at a reasonable price globally is hitting the roof" as food prices continue "to go up up up". Last week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned of "the specter of a global food shortage in the coming months" without urgent international action. The U.N. estimates that in the past year, global food prices have risen by almost one third, fertilizer by more than half and oil prices by almost two thirds. (Griffiths, 5/23)

The Washington Post: Spain Eases Covid Restrictions For U.S. Travelers 
Spain eased its entry requirements for travelers from outside the European Union over the weekend, allowing Americans who are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus to enter as long as they present negative test results. Previously, unvaccinated travelers from places such as the United States and Britain could only enter the country if they could prove a recent case of the coronavirus, meaning they had developed natural protections. (Diller, 5/23)

AP: Sweden: 5th COVID-19 Shot To People Over 65, Pregnant Women 
Sweden is recommending a fifth COVID-19 vaccine dose for people with an increased risk of becoming seriously ill, including pregnant women and anyone aged 65 and over, authorities said Tuesday, adding that the country must “be prepared for an increased spread during the upcoming autumn and winter season.” (5/24)