First Edition: Nov. 5, 2021
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
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Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
Opinion writers examine these covid and vaccine topics.
Editorial writers delve into these public health issues.
The APA issued a statement last week admitting it played a role in perpetuating structural racism and apologized that psychology, as a whole field, had harmed people of color for decades. Also: Chicago's Mercy Hospital, a rural health grant in Nevada, Walmart's health ambitions and more.
Detroit voters passed a proposal yesterday, 61% to 39%, to decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi. Stateline reports that Oregon's moves to decriminalize drugs are spurring progressive lawmakers elsewhere to follow its example. Cancer-causing pollution in Houston is among other news.
The rise over 2019's figures for enrollment in U.S. nursing programs was reported alongside data from Temple University in Pennsylvania, which has seen applications up 15% this fall. Nursing shortages and reports on life as a nurse during the pandemic are also in the news.
Tens of millions of people, mainly in the 30 to 59 age group, may be advised to get hepatitis B shots (with people below 30 largely covered, after a 1991 decision to vaccinate kids). Separately, scientists uncover why some people have Alzheimer's-risk brain chemistry, but no dementia.
Expansion of the program took effect at the beginning of July. Nearly 60% of the people approved for benefits through expansion are female, the state said Wednesday.
New research has identified that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can easily reach a person's brain after being inhaled through the nose, and then "lurk" there, possibly causing long-term neurological problems. The virus can also infect inner ear cells, potentially affecting hearing and balance.
The approval comes amid surging covid infections in the U.K. Elsewhere around the globe, Thursday saw the highest number of new covid cases in Germany since the pandemic's outbreak, the AP reports, and China is also reported to be locking down Beijing as an outbreak continues.
Worried that this week's election results are a harbinger of midterm elections to come, Democrats say they will move forward on companion spending bills with renewed urgency. But thorny issues like drug pricing could still throw a wrench in those plans. Politico rounds up what's made the cut so far, and what still needs to be hashed out.
A study of 37 nations estimates the extra years lost in 2020 total 28 million and found a greater decline in life expectancy among males. In the U.S., it fell by about 2.3 years for men, while women lost 1.6 years. Meanwhile, the U.S. covid death toll surpassed 750,000 people.
President Joe Biden said newly-approved covid shots for kids ages 5 to 11 were safe, effective and that parents should get their kids vaccinated. Maine's public health director also pleaded for parents to get their kids the jabs, and Trump's former surgeon general pointed out the benefits.
The Pentagon is leaving the decision to local commanders about less-than-honorable discharges for troops dismissed over covid vaccines, The Military Times reports. As the Air Force and Space Force deadlines pass, the vast majority are now vaccinated -- though over 7,500 service members are seeking exemptions.
It's been a long wait for the parents ready to vaccinate their younger kids against covid. Now that federal authorization has been issued, hunting for a shot is the next step.
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial writers delve into these public health concerns.
Read about the biggest pharmaceutical developments and pricing stories from the past week in KHN's Prescription Drug Watch roundup.
Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.
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