Reuters: Moderna Gets Nod To Speed Up Virus Vaccine Output With Bigger Vials
The U.S. drug regulator gave Moderna Inc clearance to speed up output of its COVID-19 vaccine by letting it fill a single vial with up to 15 doses, with the United States banking on rapid immunisation to stem the spread of the deadly virus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also authorized vaccinators to extract a maximum of 11 doses from the current vials, instead of the ten previously permitted. In a statement, Moderna said its vaccine can now can be supplied in vials containing 11 or 15 doses, and it expected to begin shipping 15-dose vials in coming weeks. (4/2)

Politico: FDA Allows Moderna To Put More Coronavirus Vaccine Doses In Each Vial
The agency also gave permission to vaccinators to extract 11 doses from existing 10-dose vials vials, depending on the availability of certain syringes and needles. Some pharmacies have already said that they have been able to eke extra doses from existing vials. “Both of these revisions positively impact the supply of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, which will help provide more vaccine doses to communities and allow shots to get into arms more quickly,” FDA vaccine regulator Peter Marks said in a statement. “Ultimately, more vaccines getting to the public in a timely manner should help bring an end to the pandemic more rapidly.” (Lim, 4/1)

AP: The Latest: FDA Authorizes 2 Changes To Moderna’s Vaccine
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two changes to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine that can provide extra doses from each vial. The agency said late Thursday it approved new vials from Moderna that can contain up to 15 doses each, compared with the original vials designed to hold 10 doses. Additionally, regulators said providers can safely extract up to 11 doses from the original 10-dose vials. Those changes will be added to instructions for health care workers. The dosing updates should help bolster U.S. supplies and speed vaccinations as the U.S. nears 100 million inoculations against COVID-19. President Joe Biden has vowed to provide enough shots to vaccinate all U.S. adults by late May and recently set a new goal of administering 200 million injections within his first 100 days in office. (4/2)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Probes Cause Of Failed Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 Vaccine Batch
The Food and Drug Administration is investigating what caused a batch of the active ingredient for Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine to be scrapped for failing to meet quality standards at a contract manufacturing plant, according to a person familiar with the matter. The FDA may send an inspection team to assess the situation at the Baltimore plant operated by contractor Emergent BioSolutions Inc., the person said. The regulatory scrutiny follows J&J’s disclosure Wednesday that a batch of the main ingredient for its Covid-19 vaccine manufactured at the Emergent plant didn’t meet standards. The batch didn’t reach the vial-filling and finishing stage, and no doses from it were distributed. (Loftus and Burton, 4/1)

AP: Company Producing J&J Vaccine Had History Of Violations
The company at the center of quality problems that led Johnson & Johnson to discard 15 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine has a string of citations from U.S. health officials for quality control problems.Emergent BioSolutions, a little-known company vital to the vaccine supply chain, was a key to Johnson & Johnson’s plan to deliver 100 million doses of its single-shot vaccine to the United States by the end of May. But the Food and Drug Administration repeatedly has cited Emergent for problems such as poorly trained employees, cracked vials and problems managing mold and other contamination around one of its facilities, according to records obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act. The records cover inspections at Emergent facilities since 2017. (Lardner, Dearen and Johnson, 4/1)

The Washington Post: FDA Found Violations At Emergent Plant That Ruined Johnson And Johnson Vaccine Doses
In April last year, an investigator from the Food and Drug Administration reported problems he had discovered at a Baltimore plant operated by Emergent BioSolutions, a major supplier of vaccines to the federal government. Some employees had not been properly trained. Records were not adequately secured. Established testing procedures were not being followed. And a measure intended to “prevent contamination or mix-ups” was found to be deficient. (Swaine and Rowland, 4/2)

Stat: Federal Agency Urges FDA To Rethink Approach To Inspection Oversight
In a stern letter, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel rebuked the Food and Drug Administration over four instances in which agency officials belatedly downgraded troubling findings at manufacturing plants and also urged the FDA to rethink its approach to oversight of inspections. The investigating agency cited, in particular, a high-profile episode involving a Merck (MRK) vaccine plant in North Carolina, where a whistleblower tipped off the FDA to numerous sanitary problems. An FDA inspector who subsequently visited the plant maintained the violations were serious enough to warrant action by both the FDA and the drug maker. But his recommendations were minimized by supervisors. (Silverman, 4/1)

Politico: Emergent Admits To Manufacturing Issues With J&J Vaccine
A contractor Johnson & Johnson enlisted to make its coronavirus vaccine acknowledged Thursday that it had contaminated millions of doses, confirming reports of supply problems related to the firm's Maryland facility. The acknowledgment by Emergent BioSolutions came one day after news reports revealed the mistake at its West Baltimore plant that affected 15 million doses. The company signed on to produce a J&J vaccine substance last spring and later added AstraZeneca, another drugmaker producing a potential Covid-19 shot, to its roster of clients. Emergent previously promised to deliver 1 billion shots between the two by the end of this year. (Owermohle, 4/1)

The Baltimore Sun: Mistakes Happen, But The One Made By A Baltimore COVID Vaccine Maker May Hurt For A While 
When an East Baltimore plant run by Emergent BioSolutions found that a large batch of urgently needed COVID-19 vaccine had to be trashed because workers used the wrong ingredients, the company said the episode was “disappointing” but showed that its rigorous quality controls worked. That’s true, say vaccine supply chain and public health experts. Snafus are not infrequent in plants producing complex vaccines and therapeutics, and the pandemic likely added to the pressure to produce. (Cohn, 4/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine Is Still Highly Effective Six Months After Second Dose
The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE remains highly effective six months after its second dose, an indication that protection could last for an even longer period. The findings, released on Thursday, emerged from a continuing review of how volunteers in the shot’s late-stage trial were faring and whether they contracted Covid-19 with symptoms. In the rush to introduce vaccines for a new virus, companies and other vaccine researchers were unable to determine how long shots would provide protection, or whether booster shots would be needed to ensure protection. (Hopkins, 4/1)

Axios: Pfizer Says COVID-19 Vaccine 91.3% Effective Through At Least 6 Months 
Real-world and trial data continue to indicate that the vaccine is highly effective, especially against COVID-19 hospitalization and death. The companies said updated trial results showed the vaccine offered 100% protection against severe disease as defined by the CDC, and 95.3% as defined by the FDA. 927 symptomatic COVID-19 cases were detected among the trial's 46,307 participants — 850 of which came from the placebo group and 77 of which came from the vaccine group. (4/1)

Vox: Moderna Vs Pfizer Vaccine: Why You Shouldn’t Decide Which Is Better Based On Efficacy
n the US, the first two available Covid-19 vaccines were those from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. Both vaccines have very high “efficacy rates” of around 95 percent. But the third vaccine introduced in the US, from Johnson & Johnson, has a much lower efficacy rate: just 66 percent. Look at those numbers next to each other, and it’s natural to conclude that one of them is considerably worse. Why settle for 66 percent when you can have 95 percent? But that isn’t the right way to understand a vaccine’s efficacy rate, or to even understand what a vaccine does. And public health experts say that if you really want to know which vaccine is the best one, efficacy isn’t actually the most important number at all. (Marshall and Mas, 4/1)

More on the vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and NovaVax —

Reuters: Exclusive: Fauci Says U.S. May Not Need AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine
The United States may not need AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, even if it wins U.S. regulatory approval, Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease doctor told Reuters on Thursday. The vaccine, once hailed as another milestone in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, has been dogged by questions since late last year, even as it has been authorized for use by dozens of countries, not including United States. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the White House, said the United States has enough contracts with other vaccine makers to vaccinate its entire population, and possibly enough for booster shots in the fall. (Steenhuysen, 4/2)

Reuters: UK Regulator Found Total Of 30 Cases Of Blood Clot Events After AstraZeneca Vaccine Use
British regulators on Thursday said they have identified 30 cases of rare blood clot events after the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, 25 more than the agency previously reported. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said it had received no such reports of clotting events following use of the vaccine made by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. (4/2)

CNN: How The Novavax Covid-19 Vaccine Works 
At the headquarters of biotechnology company Novavax, scientists are developing what they hope could soon be another Covid-19 vaccine for the United States and the world. Data from the company's large-scale Phase 3 clinical trial of the vaccine in the US and Mexico are expected this month, but the timeline depends on how quickly it accumulates data on the prevalence of disease in trial areas. The company's vaccine against Covid-19 has been a year in the making, Dr. Gregory Glenn, president of research and development for Novavax, told CNN. The work began even before the world realized it faced a pandemic. (Howard, 4/1)

The New York Times: Biden Administration Announces Ad Campaign To Combat Vaccine Hesitancy
The Biden administration on Thursday morning announced an ambitious advertising campaign intended to encourage as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. The campaign, with ads in English and Spanish that will air throughout April on network TV and cable channels nationwide, as well as online, comes as the administration is rapidly expanding access to coronavirus vaccines but skepticism about the vaccines also remains high. (Karni, 4/1)

The Washington Post: ‘We Can Do This’: Biden Unveils Pro-Vaccine TV Ads, Network Of Grass-Roots Leaders To Push Shots
The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled its first television advertisements to encourage Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, part of a series of pro-vaccine messages as the White House pushes to achieve the president’s goal of returning the country to some normalcy by July Fourth. The “We Can Do This” campaign will air across cable and broadcast stations nationwide and include targeted multimillion-dollar ad buys for Black and Spanish-language media. (Diamond, 4/1)

Stateline: Just Half Of Long-Term Caretakers Are Vaccinated Against COVID 
Union leaders, facility owners and staff members who led by example, such as [Alice] Hakata, have been working to curb vaccine hesitancy of long-term caretakers nationwide, but only about half those workers have been vaccinated so far, according to Ruth Link-Gelles, an epidemiologist and member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Task Force. Vaccinating the remaining half of these frontline workers may fall only on states and the facilities themselves when a federal program to inoculate caretakers ends in the next few weeks. As of March 18, 1.86 million staff members at long-term care facilities nationwide had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to CDC data, shared with Stateline. The numbers were reported by pharmacies that partnered with the agency to administer vaccines through the national Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program. (Hernández, 4/1)

Other frequently asked vaccination questions —

CNN: Wait To Be Fully Vaccinated Before Resuming Normal Activities, Health Experts Plead With Americans 
With fears growing that the US may be facing a fourth surge of Covid-19 cases, health experts are pleading with Americans to keep taking precautions until they are fully vaccinated. "Please wait until you're fully vaccinated before you're traveling, before you're engaging in high-risk activities," said CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen. "No doubt when you become vaccinated, the activities that were once higher risk are now going to be lower risk and so just wait until then." Wen said she worries the US is on the "precipice" of a fourth surge as data is showing that infections are now skewed toward a younger generation. (Holcombe, 4/2)

AP: Can I Still Spread The Coronavirus After I'm Vaccinated?
Can I still spread the coronavirus after I’m vaccinated?It’s possible. Experts say the risk is low, but are still studying how well the shots blunt the spread of the virus. The current vaccines are highly effective at preventing people from getting seriously sick with COVID-19. But even if vaccinated people don’t get sick, they might still get infected without showing any symptoms. Experts think the vaccine would also curb the chances of those people spreading the virus. “A vaccinated person controls the virus better, so the chances of transmitting will be greatly reduced,” said Dr. Robert Gallo a virus expert at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. (Renault, 4/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: How Long Will Your Coronavirus Vaccination Last? Here's What We Know About Immunity So Far
More than three months into the rollout of coronavirus vaccinations in the U.S., many may already be wondering: How long will the protection last? The short answer is, we do not yet know for certain. Not enough time has passed to gather the research to determine a more exact estimate. The only definitive answer is that vaccine immunity will last at least three months, because that is how long vaccine trial participants were studied. But experts believe that immunity will last longer, with some convinced it could be years. (Hwang, 4/1)

CNBC: Can I Be Forced To Get The Covid Vaccine
President Joe Biden said in March that the U.S. aims to have 200 million Covid vaccine doses administered during his first 100 days in office. By May, every American adult who wants a vaccine will be eligible to get in line for a shot. That said, 30% of U.S. adults still don’t want to get the Covid vaccine. But many of them may not have much of a choice. (4/1)

CNN: Covid-19 Vaccine Side Effects: Why You Shouldn't Freak Out Of These Happen To You 
With millions more Americans getting vaccinated every day, some have complained about fever, fatigue and other ailments they weren't expecting. Don't panic, doctors say. Side effects from Covid-19 vaccines won't last long. And they're actually proof that your immune system is working the way it's supposed to. (Though vaccines are still very effective even without side effects.) (Yan, 4/1)

The Oregonian: Ask A Pediatrician: Do Kids Really Need The Coronavirus Vaccine? 
A big question among parents and teachers as more schools reopen is when their kids will be vaccinated against COVID-19. Some have wondered whether the vaccine is even necessary for children. (4/1)

On the thorny issue of vaccine "passports" —

The Atlantic: Social Distance: No Shirt. No Shoes. No Shots. No Service. 
Vaccine passports are almost certainly in our near future. But what are they exactly? And with concerns about vaccine equity now complicated by partisan fear mongering, how should they be implemented? Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist with NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine who’s spent years thinking about vaccine ethics, joins James Hamblin and Maeve Higgins on the podcast Social Distance to explain. Listen to their conversation here: (4/1)

Grow: Why Not To Share Your Vaccination Card On Social Media
You might want to share online that you received your Covid-19 vaccine, but posting the CDC vaccination record card on social media can make you a target for identity theft. “It’s great that people are excited about getting vaccinated — it’s one step to getting back to normal,” says Sandra Guile, director of communications at the International Association of Better Business Bureaus. “What they’re doing is saying, ‘Hey, I got my first shot or my second shot.’ And they’re sharing their card online.” (4/1)

The Washington Post: Vaccine passport apps are here. Without a common standard, tech challenges are myriad
Coming soon to your smartphone: Digital codes that afford you access to airplanes, concert venues and even restaurants. Vaccine passports are new apps that will carry pieces of your health information — most critically your coronavirus vaccination status. They may soon be required to travel internationally or even to enter some buildings. (Lerman, 4/2)

Stat: Businesses, Health Experts Join Ranks Of ‘Vaccine Passport’ Opponents
When it comes to decrying the concept of “vaccine passports,” conservatives have company. The idea’s detractors now include certain business owners, who fear customer backlash and the hassle or danger of enforcing the policy, and even prominent public health advocates, too. The proof-of-vaccine concept is gaining traction in some circles globally and within the U.S., including among some professional sports teams, a major university, and highly vaccinated countries like Israel. In New York and Hawaii, among other states, governors have pitched the idea as a means of returning to normal life. (Facher, 4/1)

KHN: Beating The Pavement To Vaccinate The Underrepresented — And Protect Everyone
Leonor Garcia held her clipboard close to her chest and rapped on the car window with her knuckles. The driver was in one of dozens of cars lined up on a quiet stretch of road in Adelanto, California, a small city near the southwestern edge of the Mojave Desert. He was waiting for the food bank line to start moving and lowered the passenger window just enough to hear what Garcia wanted. Then she launched into her pitch. “Good morning! We’re here to talk about covid-19 today! Do you have a minute?” she said in Spanish. (Almendrala, 4/2)

Bloomberg: Vaccine Trickle Becomes Torrent As U.S. Eligibility Rules Widen
It’s taking some effort and some patience. But just as eligibility is opening to millions of people across the U.S. after months of cutthroat competition to find Covid-19 shots, vaccines are starting to stream into people’s arms. Becky Jacobsen, 41, was ready to drive as long as an hour for a shot as soon as Connecticut made all adults eligible on Thursday. A friend stayed up late to snatch an appointment at a CVS Health Corp. drugstore just 6 miles from Jacobsen’s home in Windsor. (LaVito, 4/1)

Axios: The Race Between COVID Vaccines And Emerging Variants
America is in a race to vaccinate people before the country is overwhelmed by variants that are spurring a fourth wave of COVID-19. Spring is here, and when cases were dropping, hope was rising for a more normal summer. But experts warn this will only happen if people keep social distancing, wearing masks and getting vaccinated as soon as they can. (Drage O'Reilly and Chase, 4/1)

Reuters: Pandemic Poised To Surge Again In California's Silicon Valley Tech Hub
A California community that has been a bellwether of the coronavirus pandemic’s rampage across the United States warned on Thursday that the number of cases of more contagious COVID-19 variants is increasing to worrisome levels. “The region’s progress in curbing the pandemic remains precarious,” the health department in Santa Clara County, home to California’s Silicon Valley, said. “County residents are therefore urged to avoid travel, quarantine if travelling, and consistently use face coverings.” (Bernstein, 4/2)

CBS News: COVID-19 Cases Spike In Michigan, Fueled By Infections Among Kids
As federal officials warn of a potential fourth wave of COVID-19 infections, Michigan has emerged as one of the most pressing hotspots, with average daily infections now five times what they were six weeks ago. New data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows this dramatic surge is due in large part to cases spiking among children and teenagers. According to state data, since February 19, average daily new COVID-19 cases among children under 10 jumped 230%, more than any other age group. The second-highest increase in infections is in the 10 to 19 age group, which saw cases rise 227%. The trends in these groups exceed that of the state as a whole. (Bayer, 4/2)

Axios: Feds Push Forward On Rapid Coronavirus Tests 
The federal government is pushing forward on rapid, at-home coronavirus tests. Testing remains an important part of controlling the pandemic, even as vaccinations continue to rise — both for people who haven't yet been vaccinated, and to catch emerging outbreaks early. (Fernandez, 4/2)

KHN: Backed By Millions In Public And Private Cash, Rapid Covid Tests Are Coming To Stores Near You
Scientists and lawmakers agree that over-the-counter covid tests could allow desk workers to settle back into their cubicles and make it easier to reopen schools and travel. But even as entrepreneurs race their products to market, armed with millions of dollars in venture capital and government investment, the demand for covid testing has waned. Manufacturing and bureaucratic delays have also kept rapid tests from hitting store shelves in large numbers, though the industry was energized by the Food and Drug Administration’s greenlighting of two more over-the-counter tests Wednesday. (Norman, 4/1)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Testing Declines May Mask The Spread In Some States
Declines in coronavirus testing in many states in the South and the Great Plains are making it harder to know just how widely the virus may be spreading in those states, even as restrictions are lifted and residents ease back into daily life, experts say. States in both regions are reporting few new cases relative to their population, compared with harder-hit states like Michigan or New York. But they are also testing far fewer people. Kansas, for example, is now testing about 60 people a day for every 100,000 in population, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and Alabama only a bit more. The picture is similar in Iowa, Mississippi and elsewhere. (Martínez, 4/1)

North Carolina Health News: As Variants Lurk, Continued COVID Testing Is Crucial 
As North Carolina’s COVID-19 vaccination numbers go up, the number of people getting tested for the virus has gone down. While that could be a sign of hope that virus spread has slowed because of the millions of people who are fully or partially vaccinated in this state, it also troubles public health experts. (Blythe, 4/2)

CNBC: Biden Considers Health Care Public Option In Economic Recovery Plan
While President Joe Biden tries to steer his mammoth new infrastructure plan through Congress, his administration is planning the next phase of its economic recovery efforts. As the White House prepares to unveil a second proposal focused on education, paid leave and health care, it has given few hints about whether it will include a core Biden campaign plank: a public insurance option. (Pramuk, 4/1)

The Washington Post: Homecare Investments For The Elderly Included In White House Infrastructure Plan
President Biden’s jobs plan proposes a massive investment in home care for the elderly and people with disabilities, as America’s caretaking system faces strain from the nation’s looming demographic challenges. The White House’s American Jobs Plan calls for spending about $400 billion over eight years on “home- or community-based care” for the elderly and people with disabilities. That amounts to roughly a fifth of the overall price tag of Biden’s plan, the first of two related economic proposals expected from the White House. (Stein, 4/2)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Planning For Round Two
Congress is out of session, but that hasn’t stopped Democrats from planning their next round of health legislation. Together with President Joe Biden, they are looking at a broad array of possibilities, from allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices to adding more benefits to the program to creating a government-funded “public option” insurance plan that consumers could choose. Meanwhile, despite financial incentives for states to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the Wyoming legislature this week killed a nascent effort to expand the government health program, and Republicans in Missouri are trying to block implementation of an expansion approved by voters in 2020. (4/1)

And more Biden administration news —

Modern Healthcare: ACA Exchanges Unveil New Subsidies For Consumers
The federal Affordable Care Act exchanges on Thursday included new subsidies to help 15 million uninsured Americans purchase coverage. The Biden administration approved the subsidies in March, under the American Rescue Plan, estimating that expanded premium assistance would result in four out of five customers purchasing a plan on the marketplaces with premiums of $10 or less per month. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated the law increased the number of people eligible for a subsidy by 20%, to 21.8 million. (Tepper, 4/1)

NPR: Dr. Rachel Levine: Transgender Health Care Is An Equity Issue, Not A Political One
Dozens of states are considering Republican-led bills that advocates say are harmful to transgender people. The recent spate of bills are "really challenging to see," says Dr. Rachel Levine, the nation's newly confirmed assistant secretary for health. "I really think that the decisions about health care for LGBTQ youth are really between the family, the child, the young person, their doctor, maybe their therapist," said Levine, the first openly transgender official to serve in any Senate-confirmed position, in an NPR interview. (Sullivan and Shapiro, 4/1)

CBS News: USDA Drops Trump Plan To Cut Food Stamps For 700,000 Americans
A Trump-era plan to cut food stamps is now off the table after the Biden administration said it is abandoning a previous plan to tighten work requirements for working-age adults without children. Those restrictions were projected to deny federal food assistance benefits to 700,000 adults, a proposal that had had drawn strong condemnation from anti-hunger advocates. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on March 24 said it is withdrawing a Trump administration appeal of a federal court ruling that had blocked the planned restrictions on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), better known as food stamps. Trump officials had filed the appeal in May, two months after the coronavirus pandemic had shuttered the economy and caused millions of people to lose their jobs. (Picchi, 4/1)

AP: US Hunger Crisis Persists, Especially For Kids, Older Adults
America is starting to claw its way out of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, but food insecurity persists, especially for children and older adults. Food banks around the U.S. continue giving away far more canned, packaged and fresh provisions than they did before the virus outbreak tossed millions of people out of work, forcing many to seek something to eat for the first time. For those who are now back at work, many are still struggling, paying back rent or trying to rebuild savings. “We have all been through an unimaginable year,” said Brian Greene, CEO of the Houston Food Bank, the network’s largest. It was distributing as much as 1 million pounds of groceries daily at various points during the pandemic last year. (Snow, Santana and Choi, 4/1)

The Christian Science Monitor: Who Is Hungry In America? The Pandemic Has Changed The Answer.
Before the pandemic, rates of food insecurity in the United States had been declining during the longest economic expansion in the country’s history. The percentage of households that were food insecure for at least some portion of the year had dropped from 14.9% in 2011 to 10.5% in 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). But within those households, that still represented 35.2 million Americans worried about a low-quality diet or even when they would get their next meal. And now, over the past year, the pandemic has multiplied the number of people who face food insecurity in some way. (Fong, 3/31)

San Francisco Public Press: As Pandemic Threatens Restaurants, Charities Battling Hunger Can Help
On a sunny weekday morning in March just shy of the one-year anniversary of San Francisco’s shelter-in-place order, Brian Fernando, the chef and owner of the Michelin-rated modern Sri Lankan restaurant 1601 Bar & Kitchen, was in a rush. He and his only colleagues still working at the restaurant — his wife and one line cook — were busy transferring 105 individual brown paper bag lunches to the trunk of his car. He would then drive them from western SoMa, where his restaurant is located, to Lombard Street, the site of that day’s delivery. The lunches they had prepared were not the restaurant’s typical Sri Lankan-inspired dishes sourced from the foods of his childhood but, as requested by the community-based organizations working to feed residents facing food insecurity, “American comfort food.” “We’ve totally transitioned into basically a soup kitchen from normal restaurant operations,” Fernando said.  (Paul, 4/1)

ProPublica: 'No Good Choices': HHS Is Cutting Safety Corners To Move Migrant Kids Out Of Overcrowded Facilities
The startling images have appeared in one news report after another: children packed into overcrowded, unsafe Border Patrol facilities because there was nowhere else to put them. As of March 30, over 5,000 children were being held in Border Patrol custody, including more than 600 in each of two units in Donna, Texas, that were supposed to hold no more than 32 apiece under COVID-19 protocols. But as the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services scrambles to open “emergency” temporary facilities at military bases, work camps and convention centers to house up to 15,000 additional children, it’s cutting corners on health and safety standards, which raises new concerns about its ability to protect children, according to congressional sources and legal observers. And even its permanent shelter network includes some facilities whose grants were renewed this year despite a record of complaints about the physical or sexual abuse of children. (Lind, 4/1)

The Hill: HHS Asks Pentagon For Use Of Third Base To House Migrant Children
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has asked the Pentagon to temporarily house unaccompanied migrant children at another military base, this one in California, the Defense Department’s top spokesman confirmed Thursday. “We have received a request for assistance from HHS for the potential use of Camp Roberts in California to house unaccompanied minors,” press secretary John Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon. (Mitchell, 4/1)

CBS News: Migrant Children In Emergency Facilities Have Limited Access To Family Phone Calls And Case Managers, Lawyers Say
Migrant children in two emergency housing sites in Texas managed by the U.S. government have limited access to case managers, phone calls to family, outside recreation and education, attorneys who inspected the facilities told CBS News. However, the attorneys said the two makeshift shelters overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Dallas and Midland, Texas, are safe and sanitary, and are much better settings for migrant children than overcrowded, jail-like Border Patrol facilities. The children at the HHS facilities expressed relief at being transferred out of Border Patrol custody, the attorneys said, citing interviews with more than a dozen migrant minors. (Montoya-Galvez, 4/2)

NPR: White House Says Drug Overdose Deaths Spiked To 88,000 During The Pandemic
The acting head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said Thursday that drug deaths spiked dramatically during the pandemic, up roughly 27% compared with the previous year. "We lost 88,000 people in the 12-month period ending in August 2020," Regina LaBelle told reporters during a morning briefing. "Illicitly manufactured fentanyl and synthetic opioids are the primary drivers of this increase." (Mann, 4/1)

Axios: White House: Deaths Due To Drug Overdoses Hit 88,000 During COVID Pandemic 
[Acting director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Regina] LeBelle also revealed a plan designed by the Biden administration to help address "the overdose and addiction crisis" during its first year, saying that "new data suggest that COVID-19 has exacerbated the epidemic." (Gonzalez, 4/1)

Modern Healthcare: Addressing Long-Standing Barriers Needed For Mental And Physical Health Integration
The pandemic's negative impact on the mental health of millions of people has renewed discussions around why that nation's behavioral healthcare system has been inadequate to meet the level demand for care. But the failure to meet patients' mental health needs predated the pandemic. Approximately 43% of the more than 51 million adults estimated to have had a mental health condition in 2019 received treatment, according to care access data compiled by Mental Health America. (Johnson, 4/1)

CNN: Post-Covid PTSD: The Storm After The Storm 
At first, the thermometer read 101. But when Ricardo Ramirez arrived in the emergency department it just kept rising. He began pleading for his life, begging the fully gowned, gloved, and masked strangers to give him something to stop it. And then, on March 23, 2020, a few hours after he arrived, it hit Ramirez all at once: he was sure he was going to die. (Rios, 4/1)

The Atlantic: The Hidden Toll Of Remote Work
Between one-third and one-half of American employees worked in person throughout the pandemic, with or without a say in the matter, and some at great personal risk. Most of the rest of us were forced to work from home, also without necessarily wanting to. And in fact, almost two-thirds of people in a poll last fall felt that the cons of working from home outweighed the pros, and nearly a third said they had considered quitting their jobs since being banned from the workplace. In another poll, about 70 percent said that mixing work and other responsibilities had become a source of stress, and about three in four American workers in the early days of the pandemic confessed to being “burned out.” (Brooks, 4/1)

Stat: Virtual Therapy Startups Tackling Mental Health Care For Kids, Teens 
When Alex Alvarado and his co-founders started their virtual therapy company Daybreak Health in February 2020, they saw a “massive need” for better mental health options for teens. Then the pandemic hit, and the gap they were trying to fill grew even bigger. “The need has really obviously skyrocketed in this population, as well as the need for technology-based solutions,” he said. “So it was fortunate for us to be able to help as many kids as we have been during this time.” (Aguilar, 4/2)

The Washington Post: United States Spent $162 Million On Remdesivir Development But Holds No Patents, Review Finds
A new government report says the United States spent $162 million getting Gilead’s covid-19 drug remdesivir to market but opted against seeking government patents because Gilead invented the experimental medicine years earlier. The drug sells for $3,120 for a five-day course of treatment for covid 19. It brought in $2.8 billion in revenue for Gilead last year and the company expects to make a similar amount in 2020. (Rowland, 4/1)

Bloomberg: Hydroxychloroquine Lives On As Covid Drug Despite Trial Flops
Hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug that former President Donald Trump touted as a “game changer” in the fight against Covid-19, is still being prescribed by physicians in the U.S. though it has proven to be ineffective against the virus in clinical trials. Concern is growing that patients are at risk of harm because physicians continue to prescribe hydroxychloroquine over other potentially life-saving Covid treatments. In June, the Food and Drug Administration revoked the emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine “in light of ongoing serious cardiac adverse events and other serious side effects.” The potential benefits of the drug no longer outweigh the known and potential risks for the authorized use, the agency said in a statement. (Rutherford, 4/1)

CIDRAP: Organ Issues Linked With 'Long COVID-19'
Long-term COVID-19 symptoms include fatigue, "brain fog," and, according to a study published yesterday in BMJ, organ problems like respiratory or heart disease. Compared with the general population, patients who were discharged from COVID-related hospitalization were six times more likely to develop respiratory disease and three times more likely to develop a major cardiovascular disease. They also had a 29.4% rate of readmission and a 12.2% death rate). These results are in line with other recent studies, according to the researchers. (Matt McLemon, 4/1)

NPR: Mice That Hear Imaginary Sounds May Help Explain Hallucinations In People 
A technique that induces imaginary sounds in both mice and people could help scientists understand the brain circuits involved in schizophrenia and other disorders that cause hallucinations. The technique appears to offer "a way to study psychotic disorders in animals," says Adam Kepecs, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. It also shows how levels of the brain chemical dopamine determine the likelihood that a mouse or a person will perceive something that isn't really there, Kepecs and a team report in this week's issue of the journal Science. (Hamilton, 4/1)

CNBC: Retirees Ready To Hit The Road Should Check Their Medicare Coverage
Retired, vaccinated and ready to hit the road? Don’t forget to check whether your Medicare plan will travel with you. While coverage when you’re away from home depends partly on where you’re headed, it also hinges on the specifics of your coverage. Whether the care you receive is routine or emergency also can play a part. (O'Brien, 4/1)

Becker's Hospital Review: Patients Delay Care Until Medicare-Eligible, Study On Cancer Diagnoses Suggests
A rise in the number of cancer diagnoses seen among those turning 65 indicates patients may be delaying medical care until they are insured through Medicare, according to research published March 29 in Cancer. Using a national database, researchers from Stanford (Calif.) School of Medicine analyzed hundreds of thousands of lung, breast, colon and prostate cancer diagnoses between 2004-16 among patients aged 61-69. (Carbajal, 4/1)

In other Medicare news —

Modern Healthcare: MedPAC Calls For Fewer Pay Models, Cutting Medicare Advantage Spending
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, at its meeting on Thursday, approved several Medicare policy recommendations that will appear in its June report to Congress. The congressional advisory panel will recommend that CMS simplify its approach to alternative payment models. Commissioners approved an updated version of the recommendation presented by MedPAC's staff at last month's meeting. (Brady, 4/1)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Las Vegas Hospital Told To Refund Over $26M For Medicare Billing Errors 
A federal audit has concluded that Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center of Las Vegas improperly billed Medicare for more than $23.6 million in services and called on it to refund the money. Sunrise Hospital will appeal the decision by the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, triggering a process that could take “several years,” CEO Todd Sklamberg said Thursday. (Dylan, 4/1)

Meanwhile, on the topic of nursing homes and covid infection rates —

CIDRAP: Varying Risk Factors For Nursing Home COVID Infection, Death Revealed
Risk factors for COVID-19 infection in US nursing homes were related to county and facility rather than resident characteristics, while risk of hospitalization and death was linked to both facility and resident factors in a nationwide study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston studied coronavirus infections, hospitalizations, and deaths among 482,323 residents at 15,038 nursing homes from Apr 1 to Sep 30, 2020. The virus infected 28.4% of residents, of whom 21.3% were hospitalized, and 19.2% died within 30 days. (4/1)

Modern Healthcare: One Year Into Pandemic, Hospitals Have More PPE, But Prices Still Inflated
Hospitals' spending on N95 masks is up 715% since March 2020, although they have more inventory than during last year's COVID-19 spikes, a new Premier analysis finds. One year into the devastating global pandemic, the supply chain for personal protective equipment has recovered somewhat from the catastrophic weeks of March 2020, but remains strained, with hospitals continuing to pay more than they did pre-pandemic. Those higher prices contributed to hospitals' to lower operating margins in 2020. (4/1)

Stat: Former CMS Leader Seema Verma Joins Board Of Health Tech Firm Lumeris
She was President Trump’s top Medicare official. Now, Seema Verma, the former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid administrator, is taking a seat on the board of directors at Lumeris, a health tech company that uses software to help health systems manage value-based reimbursement requirements. To some, the appointment could come as a surprise: Verma, a Republican, has publicly criticized some value-based care models and advocated for stricter controls to government health programs, especially in Medicaid, in which she pushed changes like requiring recipients to prove current employment. (Brodwin, 4/1)

The New York Times: Doctors Accuse UnitedHealthcare Of Stifling Competition
UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, is being sued in two states by a large group of anesthesiologists who are accusing the company of stifling competition by forcing the doctors out of its network and by using its enormous clout to pressure hospitals and surgeons to stop referring patients to them. The lawsuits, filed Wednesday in Colorado and Texas, were brought by U.S. Anesthesia Partners, a sizable physician-owned practice backed by private-equity investors. The practice claims in the Texas lawsuit that United engaged in “unlawful tactics and pressure campaigns,” including “bribing” surgeons with contracts that paid them much more if they steered patients away from the group’s anesthesiologists. (Abelson, 4/1)

In other health industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Lack Of Diversity In Healthcare Likely To Continue, Study Finds
Racial and ethnic minorities continue to be underrepresented in the healthcare workforce despite increased attention toward improving diversity, and a new analysis predicts it will only get worse in the coming years. An analysis of diversity occupational data published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open found Black and Latino individuals were underrepresented across 10 healthcare professions when compared to their proportion of working-age adults. (Johnson, 4/1)

Stat: An Antitrust Expert Weighs In On The FTC's Complaint Against Illumina
Spare a thought for Illumina. The $56 billion dollar titan of genomics has become the world’s leading supplier of DNA sequencing technology. That’s been great for the company’s bottom line over the years. But Illumina’s market dominance is making it incredibly difficult to expand the business. The latest example came this week when the Federal Trade Commission moved to block Illumina’s $7.1 billion merger with the cancer testing company Grail. Now Grail’s products are meant to detect cancer at the earliest stages when it’s most susceptible to treatment. (Feuerstein, Tirrell and Garde, 4/2)

Modern Healthcare: Atrium Health Navicent Starts Vaccinating Homebound Georgia Residents
Atrium Health Navicent is working with the Georgia Department of Public Health to administer COVID-19 vaccines to residents who are homebound. Nurses with the Macon, Ga.-based health system started administering the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine Thursday to individuals identified by the Area Agency on Aging and the Department of Public Health. (Christ, 4/1)

Tampa Bay Times: Tampa Physicians Group Suspected Of Making False Federal Medical Claims
A physicians group suspected of making false claims to the federal government wants its emails back. In response to a demand made in June 2018, Physician Partners of America turned over to federal investigators some 2,500 emails from more than 500 employees at 35 company locations in Florida and Texas, according to a Justice Department lawsuit filed last month with U.S. District Court in Tampa. (Dawson, 4/1)

WBEZ Chicago: More Than Half Of Chicago’s Vaccines Shipped To 10 ZIP Codes
In early February, the first shipment of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines arrived at a small clinic run by Sinai Medical Group inside a strip mall at Ashland Avenue and 63rd Street. The 100 doses allocated to the small storefront were the first to show up in West Englewood since the vaccine roll out began about two months earlier. Another 200 doses were ordered the following week. That was all that West Englewood got. (Vevea and Schorsch, 3/31)

The Hill: Los Angeles County Could Vaccinate 80 Percent Of Residents By June, Officials Say
Eighty percent of Los Angeles County residents could be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of June if an expected increase in doses occurs, health officials said. "Reaching such a milestone is possible with increased allocations, and it would dramatically change the trajectory of the pandemic here in Los Angeles County," Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. Such a high vaccination rate, combined with people who already have antibodies from being infected, could help the county achieve herd immunity. (Weixel, 4/1)

AP: 100,000 Appointments Likely On 1st Day Of Open Vaccinations
About 100,000 appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations were expected to be made on Thursday, the first day that anyone 16 years and older was allowed in Connecticut to sign up to get a shot. The move to allow all adults in the state to make appointments comes as Connecticut ranked during the past week among the top 10 states for new cases per capita, Gov. Ned Lamont noted. But he stressed that Connecticut, which has a high testing rate compared to other states, was not among the top 10 for COVID-associated deaths per capita during the past week. (Haigh, 4/2)

The New York Times: As Nation Speeds To Vaccinate All, Maryland’s Path Shows Challenges Ahead
Maryland offers a microcosm of the issues states face as they rush to open enough vaccination sites to meet President Biden’s goal of making every adult eligible for Covid-19 shots by May 1. It has encountered nearly all the geographic, demographic and human behavioral challenges that come with a public health task of this scale. It has poor urban neighborhoods where many people lack access to regular care; wealthy Washington suburbs whose residents have proved adept at vacuuming up shots meant for other ZIP codes; isolated rural areas; and a sign-up system that has so vexed the citizenry that vaccine hunting has become for many a part-time job. (Steinhauer and Goodnough, 4/1)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland To Preregister Those 16 And Up For COVID Vaccine, Plans To Accelerate Schedule Of Who’s Eligible When 
With cases of the coronavirus spiking in several East Coast states, Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that Maryland would aim to accelerate its COVID-19 vaccine prioritization schedule and authorize everyone 16 and older to preregister for appointments at mass vaccination sites. The governor said while rising infection and positivity rates raises alarm, the trends don’t correlate to states’ lifting capacity limits at bars, restaurants, gyms and other indoor spaces. Maryland’s mask mandate remains intact, he added, which has helped businesses stay open while keeping people safe. (Miller and Mann, 4/1)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore’s Coronavirus Vaccine Registry To Take Sign-Ups From All City Adults, Contact Them As Appointments Open 
Baltimore has created a system to register residents 16 and older for coronavirus vaccination, and people on the list will be called as appointments become available for them, city officials announced Thursday. The registry, which went live Thursday at covax.baltimorecity.gov, is a one-stop shop to get residents signed up for shots at city and partner locations such as hospitals, Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said at a news conference. She encouraged people to sign up by submitting their names and eligibility information. (Opilo, 4/1)

The New York Times: Maine Will Open Covid-19 Vaccination To Anyone 16 Or Older On Wednesday. Virginia Will Do So On April 19
Maine announced on Thursday that adults 16 years and older will be eligible for a vaccine on Wednesday, more than a week sooner than the April 19 deadline the state previously set. Virginia also announced it would allow residents 16 or older to begin getting vaccinated against Covid-19 on April 19, joining more than 40 states that have sped up efforts to open the process to all adults as federal health officials warn about a possible fourth surge of the coronavirus. “The Covid-19 vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel,” Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement. “And that light is getting brighter every day, as more and more Virginians get vaccinated.” (Martínez and Sullivan, 4/1)

The Oregonian: A Flash Mob For COVID-19 Vaccine? Hundreds Line Up, Sans Dancing, To Nab Soon-To-Expire Doses 
Consider it a vaccine flash mob. Minus the dancing. Hundreds of people descended on the Lake Oswego Fire Department Wednesday night seeking soon-to-spoil COVID-19 vaccine, creating a line stretching several city blocks. The unusual scene, prompted by at least one social media post, underscores the steady demand for vaccine access in the Portland area – particularly among those who won’t otherwise be eligible until April 5 or May 1 based on state criteria. (Schmidt, 4/1)

In other covid news from the states —

NH Times Union: Federal Inspection On COVID-19 Found Flaws At Vets Home
A federal inspection of the New Hampshire Veterans Home last December found inadequate infectious disease control practices that officials said may have contributed to continuing spread at the Tilton home where 37 residents died from the virus. Gov. Chris Sununu released a report last month on the outbreak at the home that made reference to this federal inspection but did not include any of its findings. (Landrigan, 4/1)

CNN: Florida Covid-19: Extreme Policies, Average Statistics Raise Questions Around The State's Coronavirus Data 
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, policy decisions in Florida have been among the most extreme -- often among the first, the only or the few. Florida was one of the first states to roll back capacity restrictions on restaurants and bars and require schools to offer in-person learning. It is one of a few states that never implemented a mask mandate, blocking local jurisdictions from enforcing mask-related rules. However, various Covid-19 data points peg the state right in the middle of the pack. According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, Florida has had the 27th most Covid-19 cases and deaths per capita out of the 50 states overall. (McPhillips, 4/1)

The Hill: Michigan Identifies First Case Of Brazilian COVID-19 Variant As Virus Surges Statewide
Michigan has identified its first case of the P.1 coronavirus variant first discovered in Brazil, health officials announced Thursday. The confirmation of yet another variant in the state underscores the urgency to vaccinate as many Michiganders as quickly as possible, as the state is in the middle of the country's biggest surge of new infections. The variant was found in a woman in Bay County. The case was diagnosed in early March and she has recovered, state officials said. (Weixel, 4/1)

KHN: Battle Brews Over Neutral Zone Where Border-Crossing Parties Rendezvous, Risking Detection And Infection
In the shadows of covid travel restrictions, a 42-acre park on the far western edge of the U.S.-Canadian dividing line has become a popular opening in an otherwise closed border, a place where Americans and Canadians can gather without needing permission to go through an official border crossing. What is known as Peace Arch Park has lush green lawns, gardens and a 67-foot-tall white concrete arch erected in 1921 that spans the border. It’s an often muddy, sometimes idyllic place. But the pandemic has transformed this patch of historically neutral ground into a playing field for some fundamental public health questions. (Silberner, 4/2)

Axios: Mets-Nationals Opening Day Game Postponed Due To COVID-19 
The Washington Nationals-New York Mets Opening Day game, which was set to kick off in the nation's capital on Thursday night, will reportedly be postponed due to COVID-19 protocols, per ESPN's Buster Olney. More than one year after the first professional sports game was canceled due to COVID-19, it's a reminder that the pandemic is still disrupting everyday life — especially as fourth wave of infections driven by new variants looms over the country. (Rummier, 4/1)

AP: WHO: Europe's Vaccination Program Is 'Unacceptably Slow'
European nations’ immunization campaigns against COVID-19 are “unacceptably slow” and risk prolonging the pandemic, a senior World Health Organization official said Thursday. Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, said vaccines “present our best way out of this pandemic,” but noted that to date, only 10% of Europe’s population has received one dose and that only 4% have been fully protected with two doses. “As long as coverage remains low, we need to apply the same public health and social measures as we have in the past, to compensate for delayed schedules,” Kluge said. (4/1)

AP: EU Nations Struggle To Full Show Vaccination Solidarity
The European Union is struggling to show complete coronavirus vaccination solidarity among member nations, after a week of negotiations over the distribution of extra doses exposed fissures on Friday. Five EU nations that struggled most to get their vaccination drive going were given extra doses from an alliance of 19 other countries. Three nations weren’t part of the deal, however, showing the difficulties of compromise politics when COVID-19 cases are surging again. (4/2)

CNBC: Europe Covid Vaccine: Slow Rollout Gives Lesson In EU Politics
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it herself: “The start was tough.” The European Union has had a bumpy Covid-19 vaccine rollout. The campaign has prompted complaints that regulators were too slow to approve the shots and led to a simmering tussle with AstraZeneca as the pharmaceutical giant repeatedly slashed its delivery commitments. (Amaro, 4/2)

Reuters: COVID-19 Landing In Canada Despite Pre-Flight Testing
More than 1,000 air passengers arrived in Canada infected with COVID-19 over a recent four-week period despite obligatory pre-departure testing, according to federal data that cast doubt on any broad easing of restrictions before the summer travel season. Canada began testing international arrivals in February, requiring air travelers to spend up to three days in hotel quarantine at their own expense until results come back, a measure criticized by airlines hit hard by the pandemic. People who test negative can finish a 14-day quarantine at home. (Mehler Paperny and Lampert, 4/1)

Axios: Canada's 3 Biggest Provinces Impose Fresh COVID Restrictions As Cases Surge 
Canada's three biggest provinces this week announced new coronavirus restrictions amid a surge in cases largely driven by COVID-19 variants, the Wall Street Journal reports. Ontario will enter a four-week limited lockdown — its third lockdown since the beginning of the pandemic — starting Saturday, which will ban all indoor activities. Earlier this week, Quebec closed schools and non-essential businesses, and British Columbia banned indoor activities, including places of worship. (Gonzalez, 4/1)

AP: China Aims To Vaccinate Entire City In 5 Days After Outbreak
A Chinese border city hit by a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 began a five-day drive Friday to vaccinate its entire population of 300,000 people. State broadcaster CCTV showed people lining up and getting vaccinated in Ruili, where 16 cases have been confirmed since Tuesday. Twelve of them are Chinese and the other four are nationals of Myanmar, which lies across the border. A city Communist Party official told CCTV the previous day that 159,000 doses of vaccine had arrived in the city. (4/2)

The Atlantic: The Place With Surprisingly High Vaccine Hesitancy
Hong Kong’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic has put it in an enviable position. Bolstered by a public that learned difficult lessons from the 2003 SARS pandemic, and because of a relatively swift government response this time around, this city of roughly 7 million people has suffered fewer than 12,000 cases and only 205 deaths. It never underwent the large-scale, harsh lockdowns implemented elsewhere. The inconveniences that the pandemic brought here—closed beaches, overly crowded hiking trails, and an on-again, off-again curfew for bars and restaurants—seemed rather minor, petty even, in comparison with the collapsing health-care systems and mass burials experienced in other countries. (McLaughlin, 4/1)

Reuters: Opposition Grows Against UK Vaccine Passports
More than 70 British lawmakers have signalled their opposition to the introduction of so-called vaccine passports that the government is considering bringing in to help to open the economy as it starts lifting COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. The government is reviewing the idea of asking people to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination to access crowded spaces such as pubs or sports events, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson having already said that a certificate is likely to be needed for international travel. (4/2)

Axios: India's Second Wave Hits The Whole World Through Vaccine Export Curbs 
Facing a brutal new wave of coronavirus cases, India on Thursday made anyone over 45 eligible for vaccination. But the scramble to vaccinate as many people as possible has also meant sharply curtailing exports. The hopes of vaccinating the world have largely fallen on the shoulders of India, a vaccine manufacturing powerhouse and home to the world’s largest producer, the Serum Institute. (Lawler, 4/1)

Reuters: India AstraZeneca Shot Delay Could Be 'Catastrophic' For Africa -Health Official
India’s temporary hold on major exports of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shot will undermine Africa’s vaccination plans, and could have a “catastrophic” impact if extended, the head of the continent’s disease control body said on Thursday. India decided to delay big exports of the shots made in its territory by the Serum Institute of India (SII) to make sure it could meet local demand, two sources told Reuters last week. (4/1)

The Atlantic: The Pandemic's Wrongest Man 
In this crowded field of wrongness, one voice stands out. The voice of Alex Berenson: the former New York Times reporter, Yale-educated novelist, avid tweeter, online essayist, and all-around pandemic gadfly. Berenson has been serving up COVID-19 hot takes for the past year, blithely predicting that the United States would not reach 500,000 deaths (we’ve surpassed 550,000) and arguing that cloth and surgical masks can’t protect against the coronavirus (yes, they can). (Thompson, 4/1)

The New Yorker: How Do Plague Stories End?
In the literature of contagion, when society is finally free of disease, it’s up to humanity to decide how to begin again. (LePore, 3/24)

The New York Times: ‘Mom Is Really Different’: Nursing Homes Reopen To Joy And Grief
Nursing homes, one of the most restricted settings in America during the pandemic, are allowing visitors again. But opening the doors has brought new complications. (Mervosh, 3/31)

Nature: Why Is It So Hard To Investigate The Rare Side Effects Of COVID Vaccines?
These events illustrate how fiendishly challenging it is to prove that a medical problem following immunization — known as an ‘adverse event’ — was caused by the vaccine itself. Public-health officials must strike a “delicate balance” when communicating the risk of rare side effects alongside the dangers of severe COVID-19, says vaccinologist Kathryn Edwards at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. Physicians worry about fuelling anti-vaccine movements that are already increasing vaccine hesitancy in some communities. At the same time, it is important not to dismiss the potential for rare but severe side effects until researchers can establish causality, a process that can take years. (Remmel, 4/1)

Scientific American: COVID Showed How Trials For New Drugs Could Be Faster And Better 
A dozen years and a billion or more dollars —that is what it typically takes to bring a new drug from the lab to your medicine cabinet. Testing medications on patients has become a slow, arduous process. People, even those who are desperate to participate, often have to travel long distances to a study site and make the trip over and over again. For scientists, coordinating the paperwork among a large number of research centers can be extremely laborious and time-consuming. (Wallis, 4/2)

The Sacramento Bee: How CA Sheriff Falsely Linked Man’s Death To COVID Vaccine
When the Placer County Sheriff’s Office announced in January that a man had died just hours after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, the surprising news reverberated around the globe. Sheriff Devon Bell’s statement on Facebook quickly became another nugget of misinformation used by anti-vaccine activists to discredit the COVID-19 vaccine, universally considered the only way to safely end a pandemic that has killed millions. But Bell’s unexpected, unusual announcement could have been avoided if his office had listened to warnings from the county’s own medical experts, according to emails obtained by The Sacramento Bee. (Sabalow and Phol, 3/30)

The Atlantic: That Other Reason You Might Feel Terrible Right Now
One morning in March, I woke up feeling horrible. Head: pressurized. Limbs: leaden. Nose: runny. Oh no, I thought, as I lay in bed. I rubbed my eyes. They were … itchy! I got up and went to the bathroom mirror. Red, too! Thank God, I thought. Allergies! I don’t usually get so excited about the onset of my seasonal allergies. Most years, it goes something like this: I wake up feeling sick. I assume it’s a cold. I slouch around self-pityingly and wait for the illness to pass, but a few days later nothing has changed. At which point I start to wonder: Could it be allergies? But no, I think. It’s still so cold out! The temperature has hardly broken 60! Then I remember that this is what happens every year, and I vow, for real this time, that I will not let pollen blindside me again, that next year, I’ll launch a preemptive strike and begin my allergy-pill regimen before the weather even breaks 50—no, 45! Which, of course, I don’t. (Stern, 4/1)

The New York Times: The Year Grandparents Lost 
The enforced separations of the pandemic have caused widespread sorrow for grandparents. Whether they live an ocean apart or around the corner, many have had to cancel visits, forgo holiday gatherings and give up the ordinary pleasures of reading stories and playing games. Even though distancing protects grandparents’ physical health and safety, because elders are at higher risk, it has been a painful time. (Span, 3/11)

KHN: Web Event: The Crucial Role Of Home Health Workers, Unsung Heroes Of The Pandemic
Even as the pandemic took a devastating toll on health care workers and older adults in the United States, many home care workers reported to work and provided vital care to vulnerable people despite the health risks to themselves and their families. KHN and The John A. Hartford Foundation held an interactive web event to examine the crucial roles these workers have played for families during the pandemic, as well as the challenging economics of the industry for providers and consumers alike. (3/30)

National Geographic: Many Mammals Are Contagious Yawners—This Might Be Why.
Fair warning: Reading this story might make you yawn. Though yawning is an instantly recognizable behavior shared among most vertebrate animals, scientists still don’t know enough about this seemingly simple phenomenon. It can occur spontaneously or as the result of seeing or hearing a yawn, called contagious yawning. Most of the research on spontaneous yawning points to a physiological function: increasing blood flow to the head, oxygenating and cooling the brain. This, in turn, makes an animal more alert, particularly when it’s feeling sleepy. But one of the biggest unsolved questions is why mammals yawn in response to one another. (Bates, 3/31)

LA Daily News: Mental Health Workers, Not Police, Should Responses To Mental Health Crises 
We learned recently about the tragic loss of Angelo Quinto, a 30-year-old Navy veteran and Antioch resident who died after family members called 911, hoping to get him help. Angelo had a history of anxiety and depression, and his family worried that he was behaving erratically – in part by hugging them too tightly – and that he might harm himself or others. According to news reports, Angelo’s mother was holding him when police arrived. They took him from his mother, turned him on his stomach and handcuffed him. According to a wrongful-death claim against the city of Antioch, the police pressed their lower legs against his neck. He lost consciousness and was declared dead three days later. (Taun Hall, 4/1)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘Goldwater Rule’ Stifles Psychiatrists’ Free Speech
Hollywood scriptwriters could not have imagined a better drama than the emerging legal battle between Yale University and renegade psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee, who was fired after Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz complained that Dr. Lee violated professional standards in January 2020, when she accused him of suffering from a “shared psychosis” with other supporters of Donald Trump. The standard in question — known colloquially as the “Goldwater rule” — is an ethical principle of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) dating back to 1973. It prohibits psychiatrists from commenting publicly on the mental health of individuals they have not personally examined. In contrast, psychologists are not bound by the same code, so Mary Trump has been able to diagnose her uncle with impunity. (Jacob M. Appel, 4/2)

Stat: Fee Or Free? The Services Hospital-Based Psychologists Provide Are 'Priceless' 
Hospital-based psychologists are sorely undervalued, not just for the care they provide their patients and the insights they offer their clinician colleagues, but for the substantial savings they can provide their institutions. Under the current fee-for-service model in health care, a typical one-hour therapy session with a psychologist nets their hospital or institution about $150, not enough to hire a psychologist on even a modest salary, making it difficult if not impossible for health care systems to employ them. Yet the potential for cost savings by increasing the number of psychologists in health care systems is undeniable. (Abigail Hardin, 4/2)

Also —

The New York Times: Should We Edit Our Children’s Genes? Would It Be Cruel Not To? 
For years now, I’ve had the same recurring worry: Am I focusing on the trivial? When future generations look back on this moment in history, will they remember the daily political fights — or will everything just look like a sideshow compared to humans being able to edit genetic code? The technology I’m referring to, known as CRISPR, could cure genetic diseases like sickle-cell anemia and Huntington’s. It could let us regulate height, hair color, and vulnerabilities in our children. And, one day, it has the potential to imbue human beings with superhuman characteristics — making us stronger, faster, smarter. Nor is it just us. CRISPR lets us edit other animals and plants, with all kinds of beckoning possibilities, some wonderful, some terrible. We cannot do all this yet. But it’s coming, and soon. (Ezra Klein, 4/2)

Stat: Reforming Organ Transplant Systems Will Save Lives And Money 
Every day, 33 people — disproportionately people of color — die in the U.S. as they wait for organ transplants. Most of these deaths, and the suffering that precedes it, are preventable. Given that Covid-19 causes organ failure, the problem is only going to get worse. The majority of people currently waiting for organ transplants need kidneys. As people languish on transplant waiting lists, Medicare now spends $36 billion each year on dialysis, which acts like an external kidney. Not only would more kidney transplants save lives, each transplant would save taxpayers as much as $1.45 million per person through avoided dialysis. (Alvin E. Roth and Greg Segal, 4/2)

Scientific American: The Best Medicine Doesn't Always Come In A Bottle 
Ed Bidwell lived a nightmare before waking up to a better day. A debilitating brain bleed caused by a burst artery turned his life on a dime. He temporarily lost consciousness. With the left side of his body subsequently weakened and his ability to work compromised, he soon lost his job, and he went into a tailspin. Jail time followed. And then, like that, Bidwell was on the street, one of the legions of unhoused in San Diego. Bidwell’s is one of many stories you might hear, one of the many paths that have led people into unsheltered situations. Over the past year in particular, those paths have sadly multiplied. The thing is, Bidwell can tell you his story himself—from the other side. (Carolyn Barber, 4/1)

Bloomberg: Vaccines Can Heal Europe’s Lockdown Blues
Lockdown restrictions are sweeping Europe again. France’s Emmanuel Macron is the latest leader to impose nationwide stay-at-home curbs, closing non-essential businesses, schools and daycare centers. A surge in Covid-19 infections has also forced neighboring Germany and Italy into Easter shutdowns, as vaccinations still aren’t where they need to be to keep pace with new and more contagious virus variants. (Lionel Laurent, 4/2)

USA Today: Dr. Birx Spoke Out Against Trump COVID Response A Year Too Late
The coordinator of the Trump administration's coronavirus response made a shocking revelation during a recent CNN interview — many of the 550,000 Americans lives lost to the pandemic could have been saved with better leadership .In other words, managing the response to the pandemic under President Donald Trump — Dr. Deborah Birx's responsibility — was a failure of historic proportions. (4/1)

Houston Chronicle: Did Scientists In China Design Coronavirus? Mother Nature Is A Far Likelier Culprit.
This year, one of the great events in biology takes place, the emergence of the 17-year cicadas. These remarkable creatures have managed to avoid extinction by creating an event every 17 years in the northeast and every 13 years in the south. Their behavior has evolved perfectly to avoid the crushing impact of advancing and retreating glaciers and predators over millions of years. What does this have to with the emergence of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2? As I listened this week to Robert Redfield, the former director of the CDC, tell CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta that, in his opinion, SARS-Cov-2 came from a laboratory in China, the association became clear. His reasoning was that because the virus was so capable of infecting people, it must have originated in a laboratory in China. He believes well-intentioned researchers may have selected out strains that are easier to cultivate for their research, and in this sense designed the deadly SARS-CoV-2 that made its way into the general population, even if accidentally. Based on that reasoning, the 17-year cicadas must also have been designed by man in a laboratory somewhere on Earth. (Paul Klotman, 4/2)

The Baltimore Sun: The Pandemic Is Not Over: Wear Your Mask
There is a natural human instinct to declare victory before it is actually achieved. From the Chicago Tribune’s infamous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline to wide receiver DeSean Jackson spiking the football before he reached the end zone that cost the Philadelphia Eagles a touchdown some years back, people under stress can make bad choices. Sometimes, the impact is merely comical as with a football game or instant collector’s item newspaper. But then there are times when such pronouncements can have deadly consequences. Now happens to be one of those times. (4/1)

Chicago Tribune: What To Do When Friends, Family Resist COVID Vaccine? Persist. Gently. 
Mary Murtaugh is a recently retired nurse who says she has never been shy about promoting good health. She wasn’t shy the day she asked her favorite grocery store cashier if she’d been vaccinated. The cashier was emphatic. No. And she wasn’t going to be. After listening to the cashier explain that she’d had a bad reaction to a flu shot, Murtaugh persisted. (Mary Schmich, 4/2)

Dallas Morning News: More Than 1 Million Texas Seniors Aren’t Vaccinated. We Need To Get More Creative.
Residents of Dickinson Place, a low-income apartment complex for seniors in Old East Dallas, had been holding their breath for months, waiting for a jab in the arm. Their former lives, full of gatherings and activity, were put away in storage along with the communal living room furniture that was pushed together and hidden behind curtains to enforce social distancing. The dining hall was cleared of tables, and upholstered chairs that sat in a corner were covered in yellow “caution” tape. Many of the seniors at Dickinson Place have mobility problems and require the assistance of home care aides. But because Dickinson Place is not a long-term care facility, the residents did not qualify for a federal program that deployed CVS and Walgreens to administer shots on site. As of late March, about 40 of the 141 residents at Dickinson Place who wanted a vaccine had not been able to get one, even though they live half a mile away from the closest vaccination hub. (4/2)