First Edition: Oct. 8, 2021
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KHN:
From Sewers To Golf Courses, Cities See Green With New Federal Covid Relief Dollars
Duluth, Minnesota, is hiring a social worker to help people with addiction and mental health problems. Pueblo, Colorado, started paying homeless residents to clean city streets. Palm Beach Gardens, Florida — in Palm Beach County, home to 160 golf courses — is building a new golf course. These are among the thousands of ways cities and counties have started spending the first tranche of covid relief money from the American Rescue Plan Act passed by Congress in March. (Galewitz, 10/8)
KHN:
Covid Immunity Through Infection Or Vaccination: Are They Equal?
Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, a University of California-Irvine psychiatry professor, felt he didn’t need to be vaccinated against covid because he’d fallen ill with the disease in July 2020. So, in August, he sued to stop the university system’s vaccination mandate, saying “natural” immunity had given him and millions of others better protection than any vaccine could. A judge on Sept. 28 dismissed Kheriaty’s request for an injunction against the university over its mandate, which took effect Sept. 3. While Kheriaty intends to pursue the case further, legal experts doubt that his and similar lawsuits filed around the country will ultimately succeed. (Allen, 10/8)
KHN:
Organ Centers To Transplant Patients: Get A Covid Shot Or Move Down On Waitlist
A Colorado kidney transplant candidate who was bumped to inactive status for failing to get a covid-19 vaccine has become the most public example of an argument roiling the nation’s more than 250 organ transplant centers. Across the country, growing numbers of transplant programs have chosen to either bar patients who refuse to take the widely available covid vaccines from receiving transplants, or give them lower priority on crowded organ waitlists. Other programs, however, say they plan no such restrictions — for now. (Aleccia, 10/8)
KHN:
NY Reaches Agreement With DOJ Over Vaccine Access For Blind People
Five New York state and local government agencies agreed to fix covid-19 vaccine websites to make them accessible for blind users following a Department of Justice investigation spurred by a KHN story. New York State’s Department of Health, the City of New York’s Department of Health, New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., Nassau County and Suffolk County entered into written agreements with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, saying they have corrected issues that prevent blind or visually impaired users from accessing forms or navigating vaccine websites. In the agreements announced Tuesday, they pledged to maintain accessibility on those sites. (Weber and Recht, 10/8)
KHN:
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Abortion Politics Front And Center
Abortion, an issue that has mostly been simmering under the surface lately, is taking center stage in fights at the Supreme Court, in Congress and in the states, as the fate of legalized abortion in the United States hangs in the balance. Meanwhile, Congress flirted with disaster as it appeared unlikely to meet deadlines to approve a series of budget bills, including an extension of the federal government’s lending authority. But lawmakers found ways to extend programs long enough to continue negotiating through the fall. (10/7)
Bloomberg:
Biden Escalates Push For Companies To Mandate Covid Vaccines
President Joe Biden escalated his campaign to pressure private employers into imposing coronavirus vaccination mandates in a trip to a Chicago suburb, saying shots would save lives and boost the economy. “I’m calling on more employers to act,” Biden said Thursday in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. “My message is require your employees to get vaccinated. With vaccinations, we’re going to beat this pandemic.” Biden is seeking to increase the vaccination rate as public approval of his handling of the pandemic has been falling. The president said his administration would soon issue regulations to implement a plan he announced last month to require businesses with more than 100 employees to ensure workers are fully vaccinated or face weekly testing. (Jacobs, 10/7)
Roll Call:
Biden Pushes Back On Opposition To Vaccine Mandates
“I’ve tried everything in my power to get people vaccinated,” Biden said, naming lotteries, time off from work and providing the vaccine for free as incentives. “But even after all these efforts, we still had over a quarter of Americans eligible for vaccinations who didn’t get the shot. And we know there is no other way to end the pandemic than to get the vast majority of Americans vaccinated. “So while I didn’t race to do it right away, that’s why I’ve had to move toward requirements. . . . That wasn’t my first instinct,” Biden added, an acknowledgement of prior statements that he wouldn’t impose requirements. (Kopp, 10/7)
ABC News:
Biden Touts Vaccine Mandates For Large Businesses: 'These Requirements Work'
President Joe Biden renewed his call for private employers to require their workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying "we are going to beat this pandemic" if more Americans get their shots. ... Biden's remarks came just hours after the White House released a new report outlining the importance of requirements in driving up vaccination rates and helping Americans return to work. The 26-page report says more than 185 million Americans are now fully vaccinated and that "the unprecedented pace of the president’s vaccination campaign saved over 100,000 lives and prevented 450,000 hospitalizations." (Gomez, 10/7)
Politico:
Where Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Will Hit And Miss
The Biden administration is preparing to enact vaccine mandates covering workers at large businesses, health care employers, and federal employees and contractors. The large-business mandate, which affects businesses with at least 100 employees, has the potential to dramatically boost the number of vaccinated Americans in counties where adult vaccination rates are lagging, according to a POLITICO analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and CDC data. Even so, pockets of unvaccinated adults would remain due to business size and because the mandate would not affect adults who aren’t working. (Thomas, Li, Rainey and Gardner, 10/7)
Politico:
Tensions Grow Between Moderna, White House Over Vaccine Production
Vaccine maker Moderna is resisting pressure from the White House to increase international donations of its Covid-19 shot in 2022, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. The Biden administration has urged Moderna for months to increase its production domestically, in an attempt to help deliver on the president’s pledge to make the U.S. “an arsenal of vaccines” for the world. The White House has donated tens of millions of Moderna doses abroad. Its push for more comes despite the company’s agreement to supply 500 million doses to low- and middle-income countries, including 34 million doses this year, through the international vaccine aid program known as the COVAX Facility. (Banco, Cancryn and Owermohle, 10/7)
ABC News:
Senate Votes To Raise Debt Limit After 11 Republicans Join Democrats To Break Filibuster
After weeks of brinkmanship, the Senate voted Thursday night to temporarily raise the debt limit by $480 billion until Dec. 3. The procedural move to break the GOP filibuster, which required 60 votes, was the first hurdle cleared, with a final count of 61-38. At least 10 Republicans needed to side with all Democrats to clear the hurdle to move forward to a final vote; 11 ultimately voted to advance the vote. (Turner, Pecorin and Cathey, 10/7)
NBC News:
Democrats Split Over How To Pare Biden Agenda As $3.5 Trillion Price Tag Falls
As President Joe Biden puts his party on notice that the $3.5 trillion price tag on his social safety net agenda will get to secure a deal, congressional Democrats are confronting fresh divisions over how to scale back. In recent days, some Democrats have begun pushing to narrow the scope of the package to a few programs and to make them permanent so a future Republican-led Congress or White House cannot let them lapse. (Kapur and Caldwell, 10/8)
Politico:
Big Tobacco Comes Out Swinging Against Biden’s Build Back Better Bill
A group tied to major cigarette manufacturers is warning Congress that if lawmakers tax tobacco to help pay for President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, suppliers will market smokes to children. That was the not-so-subtle message made last month by a coalition of trade associations, including the National Association of Convenience Stores, as Congress began hammering out the specifics of the president’s Build Back Better bill. (Fuchs, 10/7)
The Wall Street Journal:
Texas Abortions Pick Up After Federal Judge Allows Them
Some Texas clinics again began performing abortions later than six weeks Thursday after a federal judge blocked a state law imposing a near ban on the procedure, while others are moving more slowly as legal challenges play out. Whole Woman’s Health, which operates four Texas abortion clinics, said it reached out Wednesday night to women who had been on a waiting list for abortions after being turned away in recent weeks. The Texas Heartbeat Act, also known as SB8, went into effect Sept 1. It prohibits abortions after an embryo’s cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks into a pregnancy. (Findell, 10/7)
Houston Chronicle:
Texas Abortion Ban Still Poses Threat, Despite Federal Judge's Ruling
Some clinics in Texas resumed performing abortions Thursday after a federal judge halted the state’s near-ban on the procedure, but others are waiting for a looming appeal to be resolved. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday night that prevents enforcement of the new law known as Senate Bill 8. The law prohibits abortions after cardiac activity is detected in the fetus, usually around six weeks, and enlists private citizens to sue providers who violate the guidelines for damages of at least $10,000. The state said it will appeal. (Goldenstein and Blackman, 10/7)
The Washington Post:
Despite Latest Court Ruling Blocking Texas Abortion Ban, Most Providers Are Still Reluctant To Defy It
John Seago, legislative director of Texas Right to Life, which helped draft the law, said in an interview Thursday that he was confident any doctor who offered abortions would be sued if Pitman’s ruling is overturned. “The big question is, how will abortion providers respond?” Seago said. “They can’t just say, ‘I was acting under the protection of the injunction.’ Will a doctor or the industry be willing to take the risk?” The legal uncertainties have left Texas abortion providers in limbo. At Whole Woman’s Health, one of the largest abortion providers in Texas, the decision to perform the procedure after six weeks has been left to individual doctors. Many have opted to continue complying with the new law, said Joe Nelson, an abortion provider at Whole Woman’s Health in Austin. (Kitchener, Wax-Thibodeaux, Marimow and Parks, 10/7)
Bloomberg:
Texas Abortion Law Criticized By EU's Top Diplomat In Rare Rebuke Toward U.S.
The European Union’s top diplomat blasted Texas for a law passed recently that dramatically curbs access to abortions, marking an unusually direct criticism of a U.S. state by a close ally. In a debate in the European Parliament on this issue, Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said that the near-total ban imposed by the Texas law “could have serious implications for the physical and mental health and well-being of the women affected.” The new law, which entered into force on Sept. 1, effectively bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, without making exemptions for cases of incest or rape. Moreover, individuals could bring lawsuits against anyone who aids women in getting an abortion. (Valero, 10/7)
NPR:
After New Abortion Law, A Louisiana Clinic Is Seeing More Texans
The day before a federal judge blocked enforcement of Texas' restrictive new abortion law, the parking lot of Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, La., was filled with Texas license plates. Women held the door open as the line spilled out onto the sidewalk and into the grass. "I drove 6 hours and 58 minutes," said M. from Corpus Christi, who didn't want to give her full name for privacy reasons. "I got here at 8:55 a.m. this morning. So I have not ate, we can't bring in anything to drink. My boyfriend's in the car asleep." M. is 20 years old and a college student. She says she worked double shifts at her service job all weekend to be able to afford the trip. (McCammon, Hodges and Mehta, 10/7)
The Washington Post:
Pressure Mounts On Florida Republicans As Antiabortion Activists Eye Their Next Battleground State
The Manatee County Commission was considering a plan to explore banning abortions, and Carol Whitmore seemed to be a likely "yes" vote. She is a longtime Republican, serving on a board that is mostly Republican, in a county that voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. But when it was her turn to speak during deliberations last month, Whitmore publicly revealed an experience she'd only talked about in private: She had an abortion in 1973, the year Roe v. Wade was decided. She was a teenager then, pregnant from a nonconsensual relationship, and an aunt had given her the $150 needed for the procedure after her parents kicked her out of the house. “Do I regret it? Yes,” Whitmore said. “Do I still believe women should be pro-choice? Yes.” (Rozsa and Wax-Thibodeaux, 10/7)
NPR:
California Is The First State To Ban 'Stealthing,' Nonconsensual Condom Removal
California just became the first state in the U.S. to outlaw 'stealthing,' a slang term for the nonconsensual removal of a condom during sex. The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday, makes it a civil offense under state law for someone to remove a condom without their romantic partner's consent. "For a majority of the people, it's like, yeah, it makes sense that this is immoral and it should be illegal," State Assemblymember Cristina Garcia, who sponsored the legislation, told NPR. (Hernandez, 10/7)
Fox News:
US Daily COVID-19 Deaths Decline 12% Over 2 Weeks
The U.S. is experiencing a decline in daily COVID-19 deaths after a two-month steady increase to mid-September, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A seven-day moving average indicates a 12% decline over the last approximate two weeks, from 1,630 on Sept. 21 to 1,428 on Oct. 5, per the latest available figures. Nevertheless, the country logged a grim milestone late Friday when U.S. death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 700,000. (Rivas, 10/7)
Axios:
The Delta COVID Wave Is Receding
COVID-19 cases have been falling across the U.S. for weeks — and now deaths are finally on the decline, too. The Delta wave may truly be behind us, and though unvaccinated people in heavily unvaccinated areas will always remain at risk, getting the virus under control would allow the country as a whole to breathe a little easier this fall. The U.S. is now averaging roughly 102,000 new cases per day — a 22% drop over the past two weeks. (Baker, 10/7)
NBC News:
Covid-19 Booster Shots Now Surpassing Initial Vaccination Doses By Nearly Half
America’s booster shots are booming. An NBC News analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that the number of people receiving booster shots is outpacing those getting their first or second doses of the initial vaccination, and is contributing to a modest increase in Covid vaccinations in October. Of the 6.7 million shots administered from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, nearly 2.7 million were booster shots. That’s compared to the nearly 2 million first doses and nearly 2 million second doses in the same period. (Ramos, 10/7)
Stat:
CDC Director Defends Overruling Expert Panel On Booster Shots
Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Thursday defended herself for having overruled an expert panel on whether health care workers and other frontline workers should be offered Covid-19 booster shots, saying her decision was based on how she would have voted, had she been able to cast a vote. Walensky insisted she made the call without consulting the White House, which had announced in mid-August a plan to give booster shots to all Americans 16 years of age and older, even though the Food and Drug Administration had not yet approved any company’s booster shots. Currently only one booster jab has been authorized — the one made by Pfizer and BioNTech. (Branswell and Gil, 10/7)
USA Today:
Studies Highlight Waning Pfizer Vaccine Protection For People 65+
Two new studies show the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provided diminished protection over time against coronavirus infection, although one of them presented strong evidence the shots continue to offer powerful protection against severe COVID, hospitalization and death. The studies, conducted in Israel and Qatar, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Both concluded that vaccine protection diminishes the most for people age 65 and older as well as the immunocompromised, supporting the Biden administration's moves to prioritize those groups for booster shots. (Bacon and Tebor, 10/7)
The Washington Post:
State Says It Will Also Withhold Money If Biden Administration Interferes
The tug of war between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the Biden administration over mask mandates in schools escalated Thursday when the state Board of Education voted unanimously to penalize school districts that continue to require masks, a move the U.S. Department of Education warned could be illegal. The board found that eight districts were not in compliance with a new state law on parental rights and that they violated a recent state health department rule that says students exposed to the coronavirus cannot be ordered to quarantine if they are asymptomatic. (Rozsa and Strauss, 10/7)
The Washington Post:
Oklahoma GOP Education Official Switches Parties To Run For Governor, Citing Covid Response
Oklahoma’s top public education official on Thursday switched her party affiliation to Democratic and announced a bid for governor, blasting Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Joy Hofmeister, a lifelong member of the GOP first elected as state superintendent in 2014, stressed that her values have not changed and that her decision was not an easy one. But she said she was bothered by what she called Stitt’s “toothless health response.” She has previously broken with him over mask policies in schools. (Shammas, 10/7)
The Hill:
Los Angeles Sheriff Says He Will Not Enforce Vaccine Mandate
Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he will not force his employees to get vaccinated as required by a mandate the city council passed on Wednesday. "The issue has become so politicized," Villanueva said on Thursday. "There are entire groups of employees that are willing to be fired and laid off rather than get vaccinated, so I don't want to be in a position to lose 5 percent, 10 percent of my workforce overnight on a vaccine mandate." (Beals, 10/7)
The Wall Street Journal:
San Francisco To Ease Some Face-Mask Requirements
San Francisco plans to lift indoor face-mask requirements in limited settings. City officials said Thursday that as long as newly reported Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations remain stable or are declining, some mask requirements will be eased Oct. 15 in various settings, including offices, gyms and fitness centers, religious gatherings and college classes. The new rules require everyone in the setting to be vaccinated and the capacity to not exceed 100 people. (Ansari, 10/7)
The Hill:
Artist Puts Coffin On Trump's Hollywood Star To Highlight Preventable COVID-19 Deaths
An artist has made a grim addition to former President Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame star, installing a coffin that he says is in protest of those who oppose face masks and COVID-19 vaccines. The life-sized white coffin from Plastic Jesus, a Los Angeles-based street artist, could be seen Thursday on Trump's marker. "On the side it's got the 'USA Freedom Box,'" the artist said in an interview posted on Twitter. "It's really kind of a blow at the people saying vaccines and masks are impeding their freedoms," he said. "Once you're dead and you're in a coffin, you don't have any worries about losing freedoms." (Kurtz, 10/7)
Fox News:
Depression, Anxiety Fell As US COVID-19 Restrictions Ended In 2021: CDC Data
Symptoms of depression and anxiety among U.S. adults fell over the first half of 2021, as Americans received COVID-19 vaccine shots and state lockdowns and other restrictions were lifted. According to a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on Tuesday, increases and decreases in the frequency of reported symptoms at the state and national levels "mirrored the weekly number of new COVID-19 cases during the same period." (Musto, 10/7)
The Hill:
Poll: Americans Think US Politicians, Social Media Spread Misinformation More Than Foreign Governments
The majority of Americans believe U.S. politicians and social media companies spread misinformation online more than China, Russia, or other foreign governments, a poll released Friday found. According to a poll carried out by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs and the University of Chicago’s Pearson Institute, around three-quarters of respondents believe that politicians, social media companies, and social media users are responsible for spreading misinformation. (Miller, 10/8)
Axios:
YouTube Allows COVID Misinformation To Stay Up
YouTube decided last month to ban "harmful vaccine content" from the site, thereby cutting off a major vector of misinformation. Yet one especially high-profile and dangerous vaccine misinformation channel in Germany remains up and running. When tech giants announce major policy changes, there's always a suspicion they're doing so for their domestic audience, and specifically for U.S. journalists and policymakers. Which makes it easy for them to ignore content made in Berlin. (Salmon and McGill, 10/7)
Fox News:
Unvaxxed Colorado Woman Speaks Out After Hospital Denies Life-Saving Transplant: 'My Days Are Numbered'
A Colorado woman who has stage 5 renal failure went on "The Ingraham Angle" Thursday to talk about being denied a kidney transplant due to her and her prospective donor's vaccination status. "I believe that my days are numbered as I continue to deteriorate in my GFR numbers," Leilani Lutali said. GFR, or glomerular filtration rate, measures how well the kidneys are functioning in filtering out toxins and waste from the blood. A number of 60 or higher is considered normal. Stage 5 is characterized by GFR numbers below 15, where the kidneys have almost or completely stopped their functioning. In September, the Colorado health system, UCHealth, denied the transplant due to the fact that she had not received a vaccine, Lutali said. (Grossman, 10/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Former NBA Players Charged In $4 Million Health-Insurance Fraud
Eighteen former National Basketball Association players were charged in an alleged scheme to scam a league healthcare fund out of nearly $4 million, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday in federal court in New York. The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan accused the former players, including guard Sebastian Telfair, small forward Tony Allen and power forward Ronald Glen “Big Baby” Davis, of submitting false claims for reimbursement of medical and dental expenses for services they didn’t receive or pay for. In all, the players pocketed about $2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds, the indictment said. (Fanelli and Ramey, 10/7)
AP:
18 Ex-NBA Players Charged In $4M Health Care Fraud Scheme
In one instance, she said, an ex-player was playing basketball in Taiwan when he was supposedly getting $48,000 worth of root canals and crowns on eight teeth at a Beverly Hills, California, dental office in December 2018.The indictment said the scheme was carried out from at least 2017 to 2020, when the plan — funded primarily by NBA teams — received false claims totaling about $3.9 million. Of that, the defendants received about $2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds. (Neumeister and Reynolds, 10/7)
The New York Times:
18 Former N.B.A. Players Are Charged In $4 Million Insurance Fraud Scheme
Greg Smith had been out of the National Basketball Association for about two years in December 2018, when the former power forward for the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks had what appeared to be a long day at a dental office in Beverly Hills. Invoices submitted on his behalf showed that he received IV sedation and root canals, and had crowns placed on eight teeth. But the invoices, totaling $47,900, were fake, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Thursday. (Weiser and Bromwich, 10/7)
Naples Daily News:
Nurse Shortage: Hospitals Paying Double Pre-COVID Rates For Temp Staff
Florida hospitals are facing skyrocketing costs for temporary contract nurses as the COVID-19 pandemic burns out longtime staff members and workforce shortages continue to worsen. As staffing agencies for travel nurses double and triple their fees to hospitals, the Florida Hospital Association is tracking complaints of price gouging in other states. California's hospital association last month asked the state Department of Justice to conduct a probe on behalf of its 400 hospitals. (Freeman, 10/7)
Modern Healthcare:
Union Challenges 'Exploitative' Hospital Contract Requirements For New Nurses
Kira Farrington entered the nursing workforce last year as the COVID-19 pandemic took the world in its grasp. As part of a condition of her hire at an HCA Healthcare facility in Asheville, North Carolina, she had to sign a contract that bound her to the system for two years and carried a penalty of to $10,000 if she left sooner. "That's just not feasible for me who's a fairly new nurse and single mom," Farrington said. "It's a financial burden." National Nurses United, a union representing more than 175,000 members nationwide, believes contracts like that are "exploitative" and is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate. "The true intent of the contracts is to indenture nurses to the employers," the union said in a news release. (Christ, 10/7)
New Orleans Times-Picayune:
After State Shut Down Nursing Homes, Owner Bob Dean Files Appeal Arguing To Reopen Them
The owner of seven nursing homes that evacuated 843 residents to a squalid warehouse for Hurricane Ida has filed appeal documents to get his nursing home licenses back, arguing that the residents faced "no cruelty or indifference," though residents and their families have described living in inhumane conditions. In an Oct. 5 letter to the Louisiana Department of Health announcing that he would appeal his license revocations, Dean's attorney argued that the warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish had ample space and supplies for the 843 residents who he evacuated there. The storm was not expected to hit Independence, and its last-minute change in trajectory caused unexpected problems at the site. (Gallo and Simerman, 10/7)
Bloomberg:
Palantir Wins $90 Million Contract With U.S. Veterans Affairs
Palantir Technologies Inc. said Thursday it won a contract with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the latest in a steady drumbeat of new government deals for the company. The contract -- a $90 million, four-year deal -- comes just days after Palantir renewed and expanded contracts with the U.S. Army and the National Institutes of Health. Those deals are worth nearly $900 million over several years. (Chapman, 10/7)
Stat:
FDA Halts Allogene Blood Cancer Trials After Abnormality Seen In Patient
Allogene Therapeutics said Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration had placed a hold on its clinical trials after a patient with blood cancer treated with its off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapy was found to have a “chromosomal abnormality.” An investigation is underway to determine what might have caused the unexpected changes to the engineered T cells that make up the Allogene treatment, the company said. At this time, the clinical significance to the patient remains unclear. (Feuerstein, 10/7)
Stat:
AbbVie Loses A Lawsuit Over Humira Trade Secrets It Claimed Were Stolen
In a setback to AbbVie (ABBV), a U.S. federal court judge dismissed a lawsuit in which the drug maker claimed a would-be rival hired one of its employees, who then allegedly transferred a boatload of confidential information about its best-selling Humira treatment. AbbVie had contended that Alvotech recruited Rongzan Ho in its quest to jumpstart its entry into the market for biosimilar versions of Humira. The biologic treatment is widely prescribed to combat rheumatoid arthritis, among other ailments, and racked up $19.8 billion in worldwide sales last year, including $16.1 billion in the U.S. The medicine accounted for 43% of its revenue. (Silverman, 10/7)
CIDRAP:
Study Highlights Impact Of Antibiotic Resistance On Older Americans
New research shows that roughly 40% of the deaths caused by the most common antibiotic-resistant infections occur in American 65 years and older. In a study published today in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers estimated that in 2017, more than 11,000 Americans 65 and over died from community- and hospital-onset invasive infections caused by six resistant bacterial pathogens. According to the most recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), those same pathogens killed an estimated 30,000 Americans in 2017. (Dall, 10/7)
Stat:
Backed With $500M, A Startup Aims To Rethink Psychiatric Drug Development
For more than a decade, psychiatry has been a graveyard for new medicines. While in the 1990s and 2000s the pharmaceutical industry became rich off of the profits from big-name drugs like Prozac and Abilify, in recent years many firms have exited the neuroscience business entirely. Recent attempts to re-enter it have been underwhelming. On Thursday, ARCH Venture Partners, one of the biotechnology industry’s top venture capital firms, revealed new details about a company it has started to try to re-ignite the development of medicines for diseases such as depression, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s. Neumora, a roll-up of assets from several biotech firms and from the drug giant Amgen, is backed with $500 million in funding from ARCH and at least 12 other investors. (Herper, 10/7)
The Washington Post:
Mortimer Mishkin, Neuroscientist Who Unlocked Mysteries Of The Brain, Dies At 94
Mortimer Mishkin, a neuroscientist who received the National Medal of Science for his role in unlocking some of the most vexing mysteries of the brain, including how memories are made and kept, died Oct. 2 at his home in Bethesda, Md. He was 94.His daughter Wendy Mishkin confirmed his death but did not cite a cause. (Langer, 10/6)
USA Today:
Flu Shot: 40% Of Americans May Not Get Flu Vaccine Amid COVID
More than 4 in 10 Americans aren't sure about or aren't planning on getting a flu shot this year, a new survey found, in a worrying trend public health experts say could exacerbate a worse-than-average flu season. Last year's worries around a "twindemic" of influenza and COVID-19 overwhelming hospitals around the nation luckily went unfounded after a historically mild flu season. But with COVID-19 vaccinations affording many people a return to more "normal" lives of socialization and in-person work during flu season, hospitals and health systems could be strained in parts of the country where vaccination against both viruses remains low, doctors say. (Miller, 10/7)
CIDRAP:
CDC: Salmonella Outbreak Tied To Salads Infected 31 People In 4 States
The CDC says its investigation into a Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that was linked to packaged salads from BrightFarms has come to an end; it confirmed 31 cases in 4 states—Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania—20 more than in its most recent update. Four people were hospitalized during this outbreak, and no deaths were reported. Illness-onset dates range from Jun 10 to Aug 18. Illinois had the most illnesses, with 18, followed by Wisconsin (10), Pennsylvania (2), and Michigan (1). (10/7)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Three Milwaukee Health Department Risk Assessors For Lead Contamination Failed To Meet Standards, State Says
Three lead risk assessors in the Milwaukee Health Department received letters notifying them that their work failed to meet state standards — and more notices are expected related to the long-troubled program that is now under greater state scrutiny. The "notices of noncompliance" issued by the state Department of Health Services on Aug. 5 were related to six assessments of lead hazards conducted in homes where children had elevated levels of lead in their blood. Two of the assessments involved multiple units at the same street address, according to DHS. (Dirr, 10/7)
The Washington Post:
What Is Frozen Shoulder? Symptoms, Treatment And A Possible Pandemic Connection.
Sarah Noll Wilson started feeling the sharp pain in her right shoulder last July any time she would try to reach her arm behind her. “It got to the point where it was like take-your-breath-away pain,” said Noll Wilson, 40, of Des Moines. “I knew it wasn’t right, but because it would only happen at certain times at that point, I didn’t think it was as serious as it was.” That pain, Noll Wilson later came to learn, marked the beginning of a condition that would disrupt her life for months: frozen shoulder. (Chiu, 10/7)
The Washington Post:
Divorced Parents Are Going To Court Over Kids’ Covid Vaccine
Divorced parents who disagree about coronavirus vaccination are taking their fights to court. The tensions have been fueled by inconsistent mask rules, misinformation and reports of more children hospitalized for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. ... Laws vary state to state. Jonathan Bates, a family lawyer in Dallas, says that in most Texas cases, “the parents each have the independent right to consent to noninvasive medical decisions.” But whether vaccination is invasive depends on whom you ask. (Nguyen, 10/7)
Stat:
Moderna Plans Vaccine Plant In Africa, But Some Say The Move Isn't Enough
Amid intense concern that low-income countries lack access to Covid-19 vaccines, Moderna (MRNA) announced plans to build a manufacturing plant in Africa that can produce up to 500 million doses each year for different diseases in a bid to combat the pandemic and other illnesses on a wider scale. But the move was quickly panned by patient advocates who saw a public relations gambit for thwarting efforts to convince drug makers to share technology, which could be used by other companies to boost vaccine production for global distribution more quickly. (Silverman, 10/7)
Stat:
Europe's Largest Clinical Trial Sponsors Are Getting Better At Reporting Results
More than two dozen of the largest universities and hospitals in Europe have shown a “dramatic improvement” in reporting clinical trial results and most are actively working to clear their backlogs of missing results to a European Union database, according to a new analysis. The 26 research institutions have run nearly 4,600 trials testing medicines and, so far, 641 sets of results have been made available. Of the 2,300 of those studies with results due to be reported to the EU Clinical Trials Register, 28% have now been submitted. Only five trial sponsors have not shown any sign of progress, and all of these are located in Italy and the Netherlands. (Silverman, 10/7)