US Announces New Covid Surveillance Measures At 4 Key Airports

The New York Times: Federal Health Officials Say That They Are Expanding The Search For Omicron In The U.S.
Top federal health officials said on Tuesday that they were expanding a surveillance program at some of the largest U.S. airports as part of a sprawling effort to identify and contain what could be the first cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the United States. Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, said at a White House news conference on the pandemic that the agency was “actively looking” for the variant but had not found a case so far among the many positive virus samples sequenced around the nation each week. Cases of the Delta variant, which drove a devastating summer surge, still make up 99.9 percent of those samples. (Weiland, 11/30)

The New York Times: The State Department’s Vaccine Envoy Is Leaving After Less Than A Year
The State Department’s coronavirus vaccine envoy is leaving her post after less than a year, at a time when the new Omicron variant is showing the peril of failing to protect large areas of the world from the virus. The envoy, Gayle E. Smith, took a leave of absence from her job as chief executive for the ONE Campaign, an advocacy organization that seeks to eradicate poverty and preventable disease, to join the Biden administration in April. It was not clear on Tuesday why she was leaving the envoy post now, and she did not respond to a request for comment. People close to her said she stayed longer than the six months she had initially committed to the government position. (Jakes, 11/30)

Modern Healthcare: Pharmacists Ask CMS To Require COVID-19 Pill Dispensing Fee
Medicare Part D plans should be required to pay pharmacists for counseling patients and dispensing oral antiviral medications that treat COVID-19, organizations representing druggists say. Several promising COVID-19 treatments have emerged in recent weeks, led by a Merck drug that a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended be approved for emergency use on Tuesday. But while the Health and Human Services Department authorized pharmacists to administer covered COVID-19 therapeutics in September, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hasn't mandated that health plans pay pharmacists for giving out the medicines. (Goldman, 11/30)

In non-covid news —

Axios: Supreme Court Weighs Whether Hospital Drug Cuts Are Valid 
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday about whether the federal government had the authority to cut hospitals' payments for outpatient drugs. The controversial case involves billions of dollars for hospitals, pits not-for-profit hospitals against rural and for-profit facilities, and tests the broader legal theory of whether federal agencies can take matters into their own hands when laws are vague. (Herman, 12/1)

Stat: 7 Policies In Biden’s Spending Plan Aimed At Health Equity 
Democrats have made big promises to tackle racial inequities across society, including in health care, since protests for racial justice swept the nation in 2020. Until recently, it wasn’t clear how either lawmakers or the Biden administration would deliver on those goals — but some of the first concrete steps are now taking shape in the new spending plan Democrats are moving. Embedded in the nearly $2 trillion plan are billions of dollars to help make health care services more accessible and affordable for Americans who slipped through the cracks of existing safety-net policies. (Cohrs, 12/1)

On Dr. Oz —

AP: Celebrity Surgeon Dr. Oz Running For Senate In Pennsylvania
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon best known as the host of TV’s Dr. Oz Show after rocketing to fame on Oprah Winfrey’s show, announced Tuesday that he is running for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat as a Republican. Oz, 61, will bring his unrivaled name recognition and wealth to a wide-open race that is expected to among the nation’s most competitive and could determine control of the Senate in next year’s election. (Levy, 12/1)

CNBC: Dr. Oz Will Run For Senate In Pennsylvania As A Republican
Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz will run for Senate as a Republican in Pennsylvania next year, adding intrigue to one of the races that will determine control of the chamber. The 61-year-old host of “The Dr. Oz Show” will enter a crowded swing-state race where no clear frontrunner has emerged on the GOP side. Oz, who has never held elected office, will try to leverage his name recognition and wealth in the bid to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. (Pramuk, 11/30)

Also —

AP: States: Sackler Family Members Abusing Bankruptcy Process
A federal judge should reject a sweeping settlement to thousands of lawsuits against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, a group of states said at a hearing Tuesday, arguing that the protections it extends to members of the Sackler family who own the firm are improper. States have credible claims that family members took more than $10 billion from the company, steered it toward bankruptcy, and then used a settlement crafted in bankruptcy court to gain legal protections for themselves, Washington state Solicitor General Noah Purcell told U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon. (Mulvihill, 11/30)

The Washington Post: Nursing Unions Around The World File U.N. Complaint Over Vaccine Patent Waivers
On Monday, nurses unions from around the world filed a complaint with the United Nations, accusing some wealthy nations of violating human rights by blocking waivers that they say are critical to equitably expanding vaccine access and keeping health workers safe. The move comes as the World Trade Organization postponed what was to be its biggest meeting in four years — an in-person forum to debate calls to waive intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines, which the United States in theory has endorsed — after news of the omicron variant spread Friday. (Westfall, 11/30)