The Guardian: Covid Has Wiped Out Years Of Progress On Life Expectancy, Finds Study 
The Covid pandemic has caused the biggest decrease in life expectancy in western Europe since the second world war, according to a study. Data from most of the 29 countries – spanning most of Europe, the US and Chile – that were analysed by scientists recorded reductions in life expectancy last year and at a scale that wiped out years of progress. The biggest declines in life expectancy were among males in the US, with a decline of 2.2 years relative to 2019 levels, followed by Lithuanian males (1.7 years). (Quinn, 9/26)

Reuters: COVID-19 Pandemic Cut Life Expectancy By Most Since World War Two
The COVID-19 pandemic reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War Two, according to a study published on Monday by Oxford University, with the life expectancy of American men dropping by more than two years. Life expectancy fell by more than six months compared with 2019 in 22 of the 29 countries analysed in the study, which spanned Europe, the United States and Chile. There were reductions in life expectancy in 27 of the 29 countries overall. (Jack, 9/26)

Bloomberg: Covid Cuts Two Years Off The Life Expectancy Of U.S. Men
American men lost 2.2 years of life expectancy last year because of Covid-19, the biggest decline among 29 nations in a study of the pandemic’s impact on longevity. Deaths among working-age men contributed the most to declining lifespans in the U.S., according to research led by demographers at the U.K.’s University of Oxford. Only Denmark and Norway, who have excelled at controlling their outbreaks, avoided drops in life expectancy across both sexes, the study published Sunday in the International Journal of Epidemiology found. (Gale, 9/27)

Politico: House Budget Dems Approve Unfinished $3.5T Social Spending Plan
House Budget Democrats approved their $3.5 trillion spending plan in a rare Saturday session, sending more than 2,400 pages of text to the floor as the party looks to signal progress on the massive bill heading into a critical week. The measure passed along party lines at the start of a markup that would last nearly eight hours, filled with debate and voting on nonbinding GOP motions spanning issues like inflation concerns, abortion and electric vehicle tax credits, all of which were defeated. As the markup dragged into the night, Democrats and Republicans sniped at each other while members struggled to vote from the driver’s seat of moving cars, outdoor venues, the golf course and their bedrooms. (Scholtes and Emma, 9/25)

Stat: Democrats’ Opposition To Drug Pricing Reform Is Shrinking, Ahead Of Key Vote
Ten House Democrats fired a warning shot in the spring that they could cause trouble for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s signature drug pricing reform legislation. But as the House prepares to vote on a multitrillion-dollar spending bill that appears likely to include those drug pricing policies, it’s almost impossible to imagine all 10 voting against the entire package. (Cohrs and Florko, 9/27)

The Hill: Pelosi Sets Thursday Vote On Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill 
The House will vote Thursday on the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, pushing back an originally planned vote for Monday that Democratic moderates had demanded as part of a deal with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Lawmakers will still debate the bill on the House floor on Monday, but the actual vote will be pushed to Sept. 30, when some surface transportation programs are set to expire, Pelosi announced in a Sunday night missive to Democrats.  (Marcos, 9/26)

Politico: Pelosi Sets Infrastructure Vote As Dem Leaders Struggle To Unify Caucus
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday announced the House will vote Thursday on President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, as Democratic leaders race to unify their fractious caucus ahead of a critical week. Pelosi told her members Sunday night that the vote will now take place Thursday, the same day that a slate of surface transportation programs expire, rather than Monday as originally planned. Debate on the infrastructure legislation will still begin Monday, Pelosi said — the date she and a group of moderates had originally agreed upon in August. (Ferris and Caygle, 9/26)

NBC News: Congress Braces For High-Stakes Week Over Shutdown, Default And Infrastructure
The Democratic-controlled Congress is poised for a chaotic week. On Monday, the Senate is bracing for a vote — which Republicans have already vowed to block — to avert a government shutdown and a debt default. The government would shut down Friday if there's no resolution. The House is expected to vote Thursday on an infrastructure bill that progressive Democrats have threatened to block to maximize their leverage over a separate multitrillion-dollar package. The vote had originally been scheduled for Monday. (Kapur and Finn, 9/27)

In related news —

The Hill: Democrats Urge Biden To Go All In With Agenda In Limbo
Democrats are urging President Biden to lean way in as the party faces big divides amid a rocky stretch, with his signature legislative item at stake. The calls for Biden to act as the party’s unifier-in-chief comes as the president acknowledged that his agenda is at a “stalemate,” amid high-profile fights between not only moderates and progressives but the House and Senate over the scope of the sweeping spending package. (Carney, 9/26)

Politico: These Republicans Helped Craft The Infrastructure Bill. They Might Not Vote For It. 
A motley gang of deal-making House Republicans took partial credit for pushing through President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan this summer. That doesn’t mean they’ll all vote for it. The roughly 50-member centrist group, dubbed the Problem Solvers Caucus, wedged its way into this summer's multitrillion-dollar talks between Biden and some like-minded Senate Republicans. While the group's exact role in prying loose a Senate compromise is up for debate, many of those House members, including Republicans, claimed a critical role. (Ferris and Wu, 9/26)

The New York Times: For Schumer And Pelosi, The Challenge Of A Career With No Margin For Error 
Last week, as all outward appearances suggested gridlock on Capitol Hill, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi were in perpetual motion, grasping to salvage their $3.5 trillion social policy and climate change bill. On Tuesday, Mr. Schumer convened breakfast for 20 Democratic senators, a sit-down at noon with key Democratic moderates, including the balking Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, then on to the weekly lunch with the full Democratic caucus. (Weisman, 9/26)

Politico: Whose Kid Is That? Dems Want Big Changes In Who Qualifies For Child Tax Break
House Democrats don’t just want to expand their signature Child Tax Credit payment program, they also want to redefine what it means to be someone's child. As part of their sweeping reconciliation plan, they are proposing to overhaul, for the first time in almost a generation, the legal definition of a child that’s used to claim the hugely popular break. But that's not as simple as it sounds, and implementing it could become a bureaucratic nightmare. (Faler, 9/26)

CNBC: House Passes Abortion Rights Bill In Response To Restrictive Texas Law
House Democrats on Friday approved wide-ranging legislation to protect abortion rights, a swift but mostly symbolic response to the Supreme Court’s refusal to block a Texas law banning most abortions. The bill, which passed 218-211, is principally a show of solidarity, given that the bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, will face steep opposition from Senate Republicans and is not expected to advance through the chamber. (Franck, 9/24)

Roll Call: House Passes Abortion Rights Legislation 
The bill would prohibit some state-level restrictions such as bans on mandatory waiting periods and limits on when during pregnancy an abortion can be performed. It also would not permit limits on a health care providers' ability to administer abortion services, such as the abortion pill mifepristone, by telemedicine, other than limits all telehealth providers follow. (Raman, 9/24)

NPR: The House Passes A Bill Meant To Counter Texas-Style Abortion Bans
Passage of the Women's Health Protection Act is a response to a Texas law that essentially bans abortion after six weeks, before most people realize they are pregnant. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the law from taking effect, although the decision leaves the door open for future challenges. ... The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal, has 47 co-sponsors, although it's unlikely to garner the support of Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey, who has previously voted for abortion restrictions, and West Virginia moderate Joe Manchin. (Sprunt, 9/24)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

AP: Collins Wants Congress To Pass Fetal Alcohol Disorders Bill
Maine’s Republican senator has co-sponsored a proposal designed to help prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Sen. Susan Collins said the proposal would use early intervention to address the problem of prenatal substance exposure. She said the proposal would boost federal, state and local programs and funding for prevention efforts. (9/26)

The Hill: North Dakota Republican Latest House Breakthrough COVID-19 Case 
Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, becoming the latest breakthrough case in the U.S. House. Armstrong wrote in a statement posted to Twitter that he received a positive test after feeling mild symptoms. He said he has been fully vaccinated since January, and will quarantine for 10 days. (Schnell, 9/26)

NPR: New York Expects Health Care Worker Shortages Ahead Of Vaccine Mandate Deadline 
New York state officials are bracing for staffing shortages when the state's health care worker vaccination mandate takes effect on Monday, and could be looking to the National Guard — as well as medical professionals from other states and countries — to help address them. Gov. Kathy Hochul released a plan on Saturday, outlining the steps she could take to increase the workforce in the event that large numbers of hospital and nursing home employees do not meet the state's deadline. (Treisman, 9/26)

Reuters: New York May Tap National Guard To Replace Unvaccinated Healthcare Workers 
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is considering employing the National Guard and out-of-state medical workers to fill hospital staffing shortages with tens of thousands of workers possibly losing their jobs for not meeting a Monday deadline for mandated COVID-19 vaccination. The plan, outlined in a statement from Hochul on Saturday, would allow her to declare a state of emergency to increase the supply of healthcare workers to include licensed professionals from other states and countries as well as retired nurses. (Layne, 9/26)

CNN: New York Vaccine Mandates: What You Need To Know 
Monday is the deadline for tens of thousands of New York workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Court orders, though, have thrown that deadline off for some. The vaccines were mandated by New York City for public school employees, by the state for health care workers and by the state's court system for its staff members after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine received full approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in August. Here's what we know as the deadline falls. (Waldrop, 9/27)

The New York Times: These Health Care Workers Would Rather Get Fired Than Get Vaccinated 
Deborah Conrad, a physician assistant in western New York, and Simmone Leslie, a hospital switchboard operator in Queens, have both worked long, risky hours during the pandemic. But now, both are prepared to lose their jobs rather than meet Monday’s state deadline for health care workers to get vaccinated .In defying the order, they are resisting a step that public-health experts say is critical to save lives and end the pandemic. While they each cite differing reasons for their decisions — Ms. Leslie said her employer rejected her request for a medical exemption; Ms. Conrad referenced vaccine side effects she claimed to have seen but that veer from the scientific consensus — their recalcitrance embodies a conundrum facing New York. (Barnard, Ashford and Vigdor, 9/26)

And in updates on New York City's vaccine mandate for teachers —

Reuters: Court Sets Hearing For Wednesday On New York City Schools Vaccine Mandate 
A requirement for New York City school teachers and staff to get vaccinated for COVID-19 was temporarily blocked by a U.S. appeals court just days before it was to take effect, but the court on Saturday set a hearing on the matter for next week. Mayor Bill de Blasio last month set Monday as the deadline for 148,000 staff members of the largest U.S. school system to get at least one dose of a vaccine under a mandate aimed at slowing the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. (Szekely, 9/25)

The New York Times: N.Y.C.'s Vaccine Mandate For Teachers Is Delayed By A Court
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has been temporarily blocked from enforcing a vaccine mandate for nearly all adults in New York City public school buildings, after a federal appeals court granted a temporary injunction on Friday. The mandate, which affects well over 150,000 people working in the nation’s largest school system, was set to go into effect on Monday at midnight. Educators, parents and union officials have been bracing for the likelihood of staffing shortages and disruption in at least some schools where significant numbers of educators and staff members are not vaccinated. (Shapiro and Bromwich, 9/25)

Also —

The Washington Post: Staten Island Crowd Storms Mall Food Court, Opposing NYC’s Indoor Dining Vaccine Mandate 
As customers enjoyed their Saturday afternoon at Staten Island Mall and prepared to dig in to their meals, a raucous, maskless crowd of dozens opposing New York City’s indoor vaccination mandate stormed into the food court while chanting, “U-S-A!” Their goal: to eat at the food court without showing proof of vaccination. “Everybody go get food and eat. That is what we’re here to do!” one woman said to the group, according to a video from freelance journalist Oliya Scootercaster. “We’re going to meet over there and go into the food court area and sit our butts down and stay as long as we like!” (Villegas, 9/26)

The New York Times: Schools With Mask Mandates Saw Fewer Outbreaks, C.D.C. Finds 
School mask mandates have generated controversy in many parts of the country. Now, two studies, published on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provide additional evidence that masks protect children from the coronavirus, even when community rates are high and the contagious Delta variant is circulating. One study, conducted in Arizona, where children returned to school in July, found that schools that did not require staff and students to wear masks were 3.5 times as likely to have a virus outbreak as schools that required universal masking. (Rabin, 9/24)

The Washington Post: Pediatric Covid-19 Cases Rose Faster In Counties Without School Mask Requirements, CDC Says
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday offered more evidence that school mask requirements can help keep children healthy and in classrooms, showing lower spikes in pediatric coronavirus cases and fewer school outbreaks in places that require them. In an analysis of 520 U.S. counties, the CDC found that pediatric cases rose more sharply in places without school mask requirements. And in a separate report that looked at Arizona’s two most populous counties, the agency found that schools without mask requirements were 3.5 times as likely to experience an outbreak than schools with them. (Balingit, 9/24)

In related news from Kentucky —

AP: Third Judge Blocks Gov. Lee's Mask Opt Out In Schools
A third federal judge has blocked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s order allowing families to opt out of school mask mandates. The decision, handed down by U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw late Friday, is the latest development in the ongoing legal battle over Lee’s order launched by parents and advocates alarmed over the spike in coronavirus cases in Tennessee’s schools. Lee issued the order in August after a handful of Republican lawmakers demanded the governor call a special session so the GOP-dominant General Assembly could halt mask mandates in schools and other COVID-19 safety measures. Many students have been attending classes without masks ever since as pediatric hospitalizations reached record highs. (Kruesi, 9/25)

In updates on covid shots for children younger than 12 —

CNN: In A Matter Of Days, Pfizer CEO Says They'll Be Ready To Ask For Approval Of A Covid-19 Vaccine For Kids 
Pfizer/BioNTech plans to ask for authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine for children under 12 soon, bringing the US one step closer to offering protection to a population that has grown particularly vulnerable as the fall season gets underway. "It is a question of days, not weeks," Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla told ABC News Sunday about when the company will submit data on children ages 5 to 11 to the FDA for consideration. (Holcombe, 9/27)

In other school news —

WUSF 89.7: Teachers Union Suggests Florida Schools May Bend The New Quarantine Rules 
Florida's largest public school union is decrying the state's new ruling that students who are exposed to COVID-19 can stay in school unless they develop symptoms. But some schools might be tempted to bend the rule. The Florida Education Association says the new rule could put teachers and school employees at risk by exposing them to students who should be quarantining at home. (Newborn, 9/24)

KHN: These Schools Use Weekly Testing To Keep Kids In Class — And Covid Out 
On a recent Monday morning, a group of preschoolers filed into the gymnasium at Hillside School in the west Chicago suburbs. These 4- and 5-year-olds were the first of more than 200 students to get tested for the coronavirus that day — and every Monday — for the foreseeable future. At the front of the line, a girl in a unicorn headband and sparkly pink skirt clutched a zip-close bag with her name on it. She pulled out a plastic tube with a small funnel attached. Next, Hillside superintendent Kevin Suchinski led the student to a spot marked off with red tape. Suchinski coached her how to carefully release — but not “spit” — about a half-teaspoon’s worth of saliva into the tube. (Herman, 9/27)

CNN: How Child Covid-19 Cases Changed Life For These Pediatricians - CNN
The unrelenting nature of the pandemic has overwhelmed health care workers across the country. And for those in pediatric care, they've had to overcome many new obstacles. For some, it's making children feel comfortable in an intimidating environment. For others, it's navigating the stress of a child's diagnosis on top of the family's financial insecurity. And many providers are struggling to adapt virtual visits for patients who can't always describe what they are feeling. (Holcombe, 9/26)

And for the second year in a row, parents ask, "Is it safe to go trick-or-treating?" —

CNBC: CDC Director On Whether Kids Should Go Trick-Or-Treating On Halloween
Kids should be able to go trick-or-treating this Halloween with a couple of caveats, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Sunday. “I certainly hope so,” Walensky said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” when asked whether it’s safe for children to go trick-or-treating this year. “If you’re able to be outdoors, absolutely,” she said. (Clifford, 9/26)

CNBC: Biden: Unvaccinated People Are 'Costing All Of Us,' Presses Covid Shot Mandates
President Joe Biden on Friday blamed unvaccinated Americans for slowing down the U.S. economic recovery, accusing some elected officials of actively trying to undermine the administration’s efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. ... “The vast majority of Americans are doing the right thing,” Biden said in addressing the nation, noting that three-fourths of those eligible have gotten at least one shot. He criticized the more than 70 million people who haven’t yet started the vaccination process. “And to make matters worse, there are elected officials actively working to undermine with false information the fight against Covid-19. This is totally unacceptable.” (Towey, /24)

CNN: Want To Help Prevent More Variants Down The Road? Get Vaccinated, CDC Director Says
Adequate rates of vaccination can help prevent the rise of new mutations that could force people to get booster after booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine, the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday.The CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended booster shots for many Americans last week to help preserve their immunity. ... "Our goal right now is to stay ahead of the virus. We want to boost now so we don't end up in a vulnerable place," Walensky said. (Elamroussi, 9/26)

In news from Connecticut —

Hartford Courant: After Imposing Vaccine Mandates, Connecticut Colleges And Universities Seeing Few COVID-19 Cases 
After nearly all Connecticut colleges and universities chose to require COVID-19 vaccination for all students returning to campus this fall, most have recorded few coronavirus cases in the early weeks of the semester, numbers from the schools show. That marks a dramatic change from last fall, when COVID-19 cases surged on college campuses, leading schools to quarantine dorms, send home students who violated social distancing rules and, in one case, threaten to halt all in-person classes. (Putterman, 9/26)

The CT Mirror: State Will Pay For Some COVID Tests For Unvaccinated State Workers 
As the deadline approaches for state workers to get vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID tests, the Lamont administration has reached an agreement with its largest state employee union to pay for four tests for those who aren’t vaccinated. The agreement comes after state officials said the state will stop paying for surveillance COVID testing and that those who choose not to get vaccinated will either have to get their insurance to cover testing costs or pay for each test out-of-pocket. A COVID test can cost more than $100, depending on where it is collected. (Altimari, 9/24)

C-Hit.org: CT Doctor Accused Of Mailing Vaccine Exemptions To Anyone Who Asked
The state Medical Examining Board agreed Friday to temporarily suspend the medical license of a Durham physician who is accused of giving out exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines and masks without examining – or even knowing – the patients requesting the documents, state records show. Dr. Sue McIntosh is accused of allowing people to mail her Durham practice a self-addressed, stamped envelope to receive signed exemptions, state Department of Public Health (DPH) documents said. Her license to practice medicine and surgery is suspended until a hearing can be held on Oct. 5, officials said. (Backus, 9/24)

In other news about mask and vaccine mandates —

Boston Herald: 'Dozens' Of Massachusetts Troopers Line Up To Quit Over COVID Vaccine Mandate
“Dozens” of state troopers fed up with the governor’s vaccine mandate are filing paperwork to quit the force as a Superior Court judge has denied any delay in the mandate that kicks in Oct. 17. “Many of these troopers are going to be returning to their previous municipal police departments within the state that allow for regular testing and masks,” said union boss Michael Cherven. “To date, dozens of troopers have already submitted their resignation paperwork.” The State Police Association of Massachusetts said in a statement shared with the Herald Friday that allowing the union representing 1,800 members to negotiate with the Baker administration was their preferred route. (Dwinell and Sokolow, 9/24)

The Washington Post: Massachusetts Man Daniel Libby Attacks Rail Conductor Who Asked Him To Wear Mask, Police Say 
Daniel Libby was set to board a Boston-area train when a rail conductor asked the passenger for a simple request: Put a mask on. But instead of adhering to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s mask mandate for riders regardless of vaccination status to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, the 40-year-old man responded Wednesday by allegedly attacking the conductor who asked him to wear a face covering. Libby, of Middleborough, Mass., was arrested and charged with assault and battery on a public official, MBTA police said in a news release. Police said the man “responded with several expletives and refused to place a mask on” at the Braintree MBTA Commuter Rail Station. (Bella, 9/26)

The Washington Post: A Vaccine Mandate Fractures A State Fair, Leaving Children As ‘Pawns’ 
Down from the New Mexico State Fair’s glittery midway, and past the stands selling funnel cakes and turkey legs, the barns that are typically packed with animals entered in the state’s premiere youth livestock contest were quiet. Resting in pens were a sleepy pig and a few sheep there only for display, not awards. About 200 miles southeast, hundreds of children instead gathered at a fairground with no rides and few spectators to show more than a thousand cows, pigs, sheep and goats in open-sided barns. It was an alternative livestock show quickly thrown together after families decided to boycott the state fair over a requirement that everyone over age 12 show proof of coronavirus vaccination, test or exemption to enter. (Brulliard, 9/26)

The New Republic: Religious Objections To Vaccine Mandates Pose A Tricky Challenge For The Courts 
As vaccine mandates begin to take effect, thousands of Americans are scrambling to get religion. For those who oppose vaccination, a “sincerely held religious belief” might be the only way to avoid getting the shot—or losing their job. Online, one can find dozens of official-looking forms, letter templates, and tips on how to explain why your anti-vaccination beliefs are both sincere and religious. Some people are even attempting to turn the exemption business into a lucrative side hustle. Leaders of many major religious organizations and denominations have released statements supporting vaccination and clarifying that their teachings, official and unofficial, do not oppose vaccination. But some are offering “exemption letters” to parishioners who want a minister’s religious authority backing them up. (McCrary, 9/27)

The Washington Post: CDC’s Rochelle Walensky Admits Coronavirus Booster Messaging Led To Confusion
The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged that seemingly contradictory messaging between her agency and the Biden administration has led to confusion among doctors and patients about who should get booster shots and when. On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan pointed to the apparent disconnect between comments from President Biden — who has suggested most Americans should get boosters — and recommendations by U.S. health agencies. Rochelle Walensky said: “I recognize that confusion.” (Pietsch and Timsit, 9/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Booster Shots Are Here, And So Is The Angst Over Who Gets One
Americans have reached the booster angst stage of the pandemic—and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s announcement on Friday backing extra shots for some people, but not all, has left many with more questions than answers. ... “The patient portal is being overrun with emails from patients,” says Mark Fierstein, a primary care physician at NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Lake Success in New York. “There’s a lot of questions. The confusion is because every day someone comes out and says something a little different.” (Reddy and Chaker, 9/25)

The Washington Post: Changes In Covid Booster Shot Guidance Lead To Confusion, Chaos For Doctors And The Vaccinated 
Even in Idaho, which has one of the lowest coronavirus vaccination rates in the country, clinics have been gearing up for an onslaught of calls and emails requesting booster shots. Administrators at the Primary Health Medical Group updated their website Thursday and then set about revising it Friday when government eligibility recommendations for boosters suddenly changed to include workers in high-risk jobs. Even then, the clinic’s chief executive had to figure out which occupations that meant. “Who’s at high risk? I had to look it up. Is it firemen? I don’t know,” said David Peterman. (Wolf, Sellers, Cusick and Mueller, 9/25)

Stat: Biden's Covid Booster Plan Pits The White House Against Scientific Advisers
The White House’s chaotic, contradictory messaging on Covid-19 vaccine booster shots has given Americans whiplash. But more concerning, experts say, is that it risks undermining President Biden’s campaign pledge that he would listen to the scientists and adhere to official approval processes. (Facher and Branswell, 9/24)

KHN: Who Qualifies For A Covid Booster? The List Is Growing Longer
On Friday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said people whose jobs put them at risk of coronavirus infection qualify for a shot to boost the protection of their covid-19 vaccination. That step to include people with “institutional and occupational exposure” overrules the recommendation of her agency’s advisory panel, and the move was a surprise to many. (9/27)

And officials say there are enough shots for all Americans —

Politico: Pfizer CEO: We Can Do Both Booster Shots And Primary Vaccines 
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Sunday that first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and booster shots can be distributed simultaneously. "I think it is also not the right thing to try to resolve it with an 'or' when you can resolve it with an 'and,'" Bourla said on ABC's "This Week." "It's not, 'Shall we give boosters or give primary doses to other people?' I think the answer should be, 'Let's give both boosters and doses for other people.'" (Parthasarathy, 9/26)

AP: US Has Enough COVID-19 Vaccines For Boosters, Kids' Shots
With more than 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccines available, U.S. health authorities said they’re confident there will be enough for both qualified older Americans seeking booster shots and the young children for whom initial vaccines are expected to be approved in the not-too-distant future. The spike in demand — expected following last week’s federal recommendation on booster shots — would be the first significant jump in months. More than 70 million Americans remain unvaccinated despite the enticement of lottery prizes, free food or gifts and pleas from exhausted health care workers as the average number of deaths per day climbed to more than 1,900 in recent weeks. (Richmond and Foody, 9/26)

Also —

AP: COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters Could Mean Billions For Drugmakers
Billions more in profits are at stake for some vaccine makers as the U.S. moves toward dispensing COVID-19 booster shots to shore up Americans’ protection against the virus. How much the manufacturers stand to gain depends on how big the rollout proves to be. U.S. health officials late on Thursday endorsed booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine for all Americans 65 and older — along with tens of millions of younger people who are at higher risk from the coronavirus because of health conditions or their jobs. (Murphy, 9/25)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Has Decreased, Survey Says
Of 1,061 people who were hesitant about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine at the end of 2020, 32% were at least partially vaccinated by spring 2021, and 37% said they were likely to be, according to a research letter published today in JAMA Network Open. The researchers surveyed 3,439 people from Aug 9 to Dec 8, 2020, of whom 1,061 said they were vaccine hesitant. While follow-up from Mar 2 to Apr 21, 2021, showed that most people in this subgroup were either vaccinated (32%) or said they were likely to be (37%), 32% said they were unlikely to be vaccinated. (9/24)

Axios: America Has Fallen Behind On Coronavirus Vaccinations 
The U.S. has fallen from the top of the world's list of most-vaccinated countries, largely due to the substantial percentage of Americans who don't want the vaccine. Vaccine mandates are becoming much more common in the U.S., and children under 12 will likely become eligible for vaccines within the next few months — both of which should help boost the vaccination rate here. (Owens, 9/25)

CNN: Teens Are Not Getting The Covid-19 Vaccine Even At Clinics Made For Them
Leaders of the nonprofit Neighbor2Neighbor had high hopes for their Covid-19 Vax to School clinic in Randolph County, Georgia. Their rural town about 170 miles south of Atlanta has not fully embraced Covid-19 vaccines, but the group's clinics earlier in the year were popular. After the county schools temporarily closed due to Covid-19, they knew this one was needed. So, the bright blue and green Phoebe Putney Health System mobile Covid-19 vaccine bus made the half-hour drive from Albany this month. Nurses in scrubs that matched the logo hustled in and out of a former school building, wheeling in plastic crates of vaccine supplies. The vaccination target for this clinic was one of the most difficult to reach anywhere: teens. (Christensen, 9/26)

Bloomberg: To Reach Vaccine Holdouts, Scientists Take A Page From Digital Marketing 
Public-health researchers seeking new ways to persuade vaccine holdouts to take coronavirus shots are turning to the strategies of the digital marketing industry to figure out how to win over the reluctant. Companies that use online ads to sell products try out various colors, phrases, typefaces and a whole host of other variables to determine what resonates with consumers. So why not, the thinking goes, apply the same sort of A/B testing to figure out how best to promote vaccines? (Brown, 9/25)

CNN: Get Vaccinated To Help Prevent More Variants Down The Road 
Adequate rates of vaccination can help prevent the rise of new mutations that could force people to get booster after booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine, the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday. The CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended booster shots for many Americans last week to help preserve their immunity. But that doesn't necessarily mean people will need to keep getting boosters. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told CBS's "Face the Nation." (Elamroussi, 9/26)

In other vaccine developments —

ABC11 Raleigh-Durham: 3D Printed Vaccine Patch Pioneered At UNC Could Revolutionize How We Distribute Vaccinations 
New technology coming out of UNC Chapel Hill could change everything about how vaccines are administered. Scientists at UNC and Stanford created a 3-D printed vaccine patch that's as small as the tip of your finger. The vaccine patch uses microneedles just long enough to attach to the skin. From there, the vaccine directly targets immune cells in the skin. The brains behind the new vaccine patch said it creates an immune response 10 times stronger than a typical vaccine injection that sends its contents into muscle. (9/26)

Bloomberg: CDC Director Warns Of ‘Dire Straits’ In Delta-Hit Areas Of U.S. 
Parts of the U.S. health system “are in dire straits,” as the spread of the Covid-19 delta variant forces some states to prepare for rationed medical care, Rochelle Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said. “That means that we are talking about who is going to get a ventilator, who is going to get an ICU bed,” Walensky said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “Those are not easy discussions to have, and that is not a place we want our health care system to ever be.” (Fisher, 9/26)

Axios: Montana VA Medical Center Opens To Non-Veterans Amid COVID Surge 
A veterans medical facility in Montana is planning to accept non-eligible patients as a COVID-19 surge overwhelms nearby hospitals in the state, CNN reports. The move underscores the dire health situation in Montana due to the latest COVID-19 case surge, where some hospitals in the state have started to consider rationing care, according to the Montana Free Press. (Doherty, 9/25)

The Washington Post: Idaho Morgues Are Running Out Of Space For Bodies As Covid-19 Deaths Mount 
The dire situation in Idaho, one of the least vaccinated states in the country, is another grisly illustration of what happens when a state fails to contain infections. (Hawkins, 9/25)

WUSF 89.7: Florida Has Surpassed 53,000 Deaths From COVID-19 
Total deaths with COVID-19 in Florida during the pandemic have jumped to 53,105, with more than 10,000 in the past month alone, according to Thursday’s data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thursday’s report showed an increase of 1,213 over Wednesday, though officials caution that the deaths on any given day’s report may have occurred in the days or weeks prior. (Sheridan, 9/24)

AP: Judge Won't Order Hospital To Give Ivermectin To Patient
A Delaware judge has refused to order a hospital to administer the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to a man who is seriously ill with COVID-19. Vice Chancellor Morgan Zurn said in a ruling issued Friday that patients, even if they are gravely ill, do not have a right to a particular medical treatment. She also said a health care provider’s duty to treat is bound by that provider’s standard of care. (Chase, 9/24)

The New York Times: As Covid Wave Pushes Up Demand, Costco Limits Purchases Of Toilet Paper And Water
Last year, a frantic run on toilet paper that left store shelves bare across the United States became a symbol of the panic that seized Americans in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, at least one big-box retailer is trying to prevent a repeat of that frenzy as the Delta variant has driven caseloads higher in many parts of the country. (Levenson, 9/26)

In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —

AP: LA Police, Fire Agencies Had Over 200 COVID-19 Outbreaks
Public health officials have identified more than 200 coronavirus outbreaks at police or fire agencies throughout Los Angeles County since the start of the pandemic, according to data obtained by the Los Angeles Times. The 211 outbreaks, accounting for more than 2,500 cases between March 2020 and last month, represent 9% of total workplace outbreaks across the county, the newspaper reported Sunday. However, they have continued to occur regularly even as vaccination rates increased among police and fire personnel and the number of individual coronavirus cases per outbreak has fallen since last winter. (9/26)

KHN: Firefighters On Front Lines, No Strangers To Risk, Push Back Against Covid Vaccine Mandates 
Kentucky firefighter Jimmy Adams saw the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic when he served as a medic who helped care for the sick on medical calls amid surging covid cases. He knew retired firefighters who died of complications from covid-19. But he reasoned that they were older and likely had underlying health issues, making them susceptible to the virus. “That’s how you make peace with those things,” said Adams, 51, a lieutenant. He believed the precautions his department was taking kept him safe. But he refused to get a covid vaccine. The reason wasn’t strictly political, he said. He had grown weary of the debate around masks, mitigation, caseloads and vaccines. (West, 9/27)

CIDRAP: Medicare Eligibility Not Tied To Excess Pandemic Deaths
Medicare, for which most US adults become eligible around age 65, was not associated with excess deaths in 2020, according to a study published today in JAMA Health Forum. US mortality data from those 61 to 69 years old from March to December, 2015 to 2020, showed no discontinuities in the researchers' model. Similar results were found when the researchers tightened their age range around 65 years and when they altered the model relationship between age and death counts. The percent change in total death counts in the 2020 period compared with those from 2015 to 2019 was 28.1% or 30.6%, depending on whether Datavant or National Center for Health Statistics data were used, respectively. (9/24)

The New York Times: Covid Rapid Test Prices: How A Law Allows Labs To Charge Any Price 
At the drugstore, a rapid Covid test usually costs less than $20.Across the country, over a dozen testing sites owned by the start-up company GS Labs regularly bill $380. There’s a reason they can. When Congress tried to ensure that Americans wouldn’t have to pay for coronavirus testing, it required insurers to pay certain laboratories whatever “cash price” they listed online for the tests, with no limit on what that might be. (Kliff, 9/26)

North Carolina Health News: COVID Testing Questions In NC Prisons Cause Confusion 
As the most recent COVID-19 outbreak spread throughout the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women late this summer, the most pervasive feeling among those incarcerated was fear. Fear that they would get sick, fear that they wouldn’t make it home, fear that no one on the outside really knew exactly what was going on inside the Raleigh women’s prison. Though about 80 percent of the women incarcerated at NCCIW are vaccinated against COVID, there is still a lot of confusion over who gets tested for the virus and why. (Thompson, 9/27)

Bloomberg: The Rise Of The Pandemic Dashboard
In 2019, the website of Public Health England (PHE) wasn’t exactly racking up the hits. People visited it occasionally for general public health information, or some key data insights. But it was not much compared to the 19 million hits the site now receives on a weekly basis, with spikes of 300,000 users hanging around on the website at 4 p.m. every day, waiting for the updated Covid-19 numbers to publish. (Patino, 9/25)

Bloomberg: Profiling Coronavirus Mutations Helps Scientists Find Weak Spots 
Erica Ollmann Saphire spent the past year and a half profiling the coronavirus, creating intricate three-dimensional images in her San Diego lab to understand its most problematic features. That information is now revealing the pathogen’s weak spots and ways to exploit them. Using an 11-foot (3.35 meter) tall microscope, the most powerful commercially available, she’s scoured hundreds of different antibodies against the Covid culprit to identify its salient features. The research at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology led to a study Thursday in Science that gives the most detailed map yet of how to circumvent the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s panoply of mutations and variants. (Gale, 9/25)

WUSF 89.7: A New Monoclonal Antibody Drug Is Coming To Florida To Address Cut In Regeneron Shipments 
Florida has purchased the shipment of a new monoclonal antibody medication to help treat people with COVID-19 symptoms. Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced the shipment of 3,000 doses sotrovimab to help the state overcome what he says will be a shortage in the Regeneron monoclonal antibody treatment due to federal rationing. "We're going to be able to use that sotrovimab to bridge some of the gaps that are gonna be developing as a result of the Biden administration dramatically cutting medications to the state of Florida," DeSantis said at the Florida Department of Health office in Tampa. (Lisciandrello, 9/24)

Stat: WHO Recommends Regeneron Drug, But Criticizes Pricing And Distribution
The World Health Organization added a Regeneron Pharmaceuticals medication to its list of recommended treatments for Covid-19, and at the same time, joined Unitaid in criticizing the company’s pricing and distribution of the drug globally. As part of their message, the agencies also urged Regeneron to transfer technology used to make its monoclonal antibody to other manufacturers so that lower-cost biosimilar versions could be made more quickly for low and middle-income nations. They also directed the message at Roche (RHHBY), which struck a deal with Regeneron to make the treatment for distribution outside the U.S. (Silverman, 9/24)

In news about Alzheimer's disease —

CNN: Alzheimer's Drug Aduhelm: What One Ex-FDA Adviser Called 'Probably The Worst Drug Approval Decision In Recent US History' 
Dr. Aaron Kesselheim had been on an advisory committee for the US Food and Drug Administration for a half-dozen years, but he had never been to a meeting like this one. The FDA establishes advisory committees to assist the federal agency with one of its most important duties: deciding whether to approve the distribution of new drugs. The stakes of these decisions are enormous. Based on the outcome of the FDA's deliberations, patients may gain access to lifesaving medicines, and manufacturers may reap billions in profits. (Toobin, 9/26)

AP: UMass Lowell Professor Gets $2.7M Alzheimer's Research Grant
A University of Massachusetts Lowell researcher has received a $2.7 million federal grant to continue her research into the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The National Institutes of Health grant will help engineering associate professor Joyita Dutta look at the disease from a network perspective, viewing the interconnections between the regions of the brain, the university said in a statement last week. (9/26)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

Axios: Adyn Is Developing Genetic Birth Control Tests To Avoid Side Effects 
A new Seattle-based company is using genetic screening to match women with hormonal contraception that minimizes the risk of side effects. A poorly matched birth control prescription can lead to dangerous side effects like blood clots and depression. Analyzing a patient's genetic makeup can help users find the right method without resorting to costly trial and error. (Walsh, 9/25)

Bloomberg: Brothers Who Made Billions On U.S. Pharma Firm Boost Health Bet
Germano and Giammaria Giuliani are still betting on the sector that made their family one of the world’s richest, even after shifting some of their wealth into finance, technology and travel. Investment funds for the billionaire brothers put $133 million into a half-a-dozen or so health-focused businesses from the start of 2020 through July, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. (Stupples, 9/27)

Stat: Epic's Sepsis Algorithm Struggles In The Real World. Its Variables May Be Why
In marketing materials and internal documents, national electronic health record vendor Epic Systems has touted the ability of its sepsis algorithm to crunch dozens of variables to detect the life-threatening condition in advance, enabling doctors to expedite the delivery of potentially lifesaving antibiotics. But STAT has learned it is using a curious piece of data to make its prediction: whether a doctor has already ordered antibiotics. (Ross, 9/27)

CIDRAP: Telehealth Widened Eye Care Disparities In Pandemic, Data Show 
Male, Black, older, and non–English-speaking eye care patients and those with no more than a high school education were less likely to choose telemedical care over in-person visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, finds a retrospective study yesterday in JAMA Ophthalmology. Led by Johns Hopkins University researchers, the study analyzed health insurance claims data of 1,911 ophthalmologic and optometric patients with 2,262 telemedical visits at Massachusetts Eye and Ear from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2020. They then compared the data with statistics from 2019 and in-person visits. (Van Beusekom, 9/24)

Modern Healthcare: Providers Have Unanswered Questions Ahead Of COVID-19 Grant Reporting Deadline 
For some healthcare providers, meeting next week's deadline for reporting on their federal COVID-19 grant spending is shaping up to be a mad scramble. Accountants helping providers get ready for the Sept. 30 deadline to report on the first tranche of Provider Relief Fund spending say even those who've been prepared for weeks have legitimate questions about how to move forward. Congress approved $178 billion to help providers weather the unprecedented crisis, but many in the healthcare industry say the Health and Human Services Department's guidance on how to account for that money has been confusing and unclear. (Bannow, 9/24)

Modern Healthcare: More Behavioral Health Providers Need EHRs, MACPAC Says 
The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission is developing recommendations for Congress on improving health IT adoption among behavioral health providers, according to comments made during the commission's September meeting on Friday. It's exploring whether the federal government could use existing programs to provide states with matching funds if they give behavioral health providers money to adopt electronic health records and related technologies. MACPAC is also looking into whether Medicaid managed care plans could make direct payments to such providers to encourage EHR uptake and promote greater interoperability. (Brady, 9/24)

AP: Struggling Mississippi Hospital Seeks Financial Turnaround
Leaders of Greenwood Leflore Hospital held closed-door hearings in the past week to brief local officials and its own employees about proposals for a financial turnaround. CEO Jason Studley said no layoffs or terminations are anticipated, although some positions might not be filled as employees leave, the Greenwood Commonwealth reported. Studley told the newspaper he would publicly release details of the financial plan in the coming week. (9/26)

KHN: From The FDA’s Empty Seat To Chock-Full ICUs, Journalists Recap The Week’s Stories 
KHN correspondent Rachana Pradhan discussed why President Joe Biden hasn’t yet nominated a permanent leader for the Food and Drug Administration on Newsy’s “Morning Rush” on Thursday. ... KHN freelancer Nick Ehli discussed Montana’s overrun intensive care units on the Northern Broadcasting System’s “Voices of Montana” on Wednesday. (9/25)

CIDRAP: Foodborne Illnesses Decreased In 2020, Study Finds
Foodborne illnesses decreased by 26% in 2020 compared with the average from 2017-19, according to a report today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly (MMWR). In 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's FoodNet surveillance system, which covers 10 US states and about 15% of the US population, identified 18,462 infections—26% lower than the 2017-19 average—including 4,788 hospitalizations and 118 deaths. ... The researchers speculated that pandemic-related behaviors, such as more handwashing, less international travel, and restaurant closures, may have contributed to the decrease in foodborne illnesses, but they note that changes in healthcare delivery and healthcare-seeking behaviors may have caused underreporting. (9/24)

CIDRAP: Salmonella Outbreak From Mystery Food Source Climbs To 279 Cases
A Salmonella Oranienburg outbreak tied to a still-unknown food source has sickened 152 more people with 4 more states reporting cases, pushing the total to 279 cases from 29 states, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in an update. So far, 26 patients have been hospitalized, reflecting an increase of 8. No deaths have been reported. The latest illness onset was Sep 13. States reporting the most cases include Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Virginia, and Minnesota. (9/24)

In other public health news —

The Wall Street Journal: Apple’s IOS 15 Has A Fall-Prevention Feature Everyone Should Use 
Wearable devices are good at detecting if you’ve fallen down, but now it’s possible to figure out if your walking is unsteady, well before you take a tumble. Apple’s latest iPhone operating system, iOS 15, takes the walking metrics previously rolled out in the Health app—walking asymmetry, double support time, step length and walking speed—and assesses them to rate a person’s overall walking steadiness. After a few days of collecting data as you walk around, preferably carrying or wearing your iPhone at hip level, you’ll receive a notification that your walking steadiness is OK, low or very low. (Jargon, 9/25)

Politico: Some Cannabis Firms See ‘Disaster’ In Federal Legalization 
Cannabis entrepreneurs spent decades longing for Washington’s blessing — but now a vocal corner of the industry is afraid federal marijuana legalization poses an existential threat. Two in three Americans live in a state that has approved the sale of recreational weed. What has evolved in the policy gap with federal law over the past decade is a patchwork of state-sanctioned fiefdoms where cannabis markets have largely developed locally and extend just to the border. (Fertig, 9/26)

The New York Times: As Covid Wave Pushes Up Demand, Costco Limits Purchases Of Toilet Paper And Water.
Last year, a frantic run on toilet paper that left store shelves bare across the United States became a symbol of the panic that seized Americans in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, at least one big-box retailer is trying to prevent a repeat of that frenzy as the Delta variant has driven caseloads higher in many parts of the country. The retailer, Costco, which is known for its bargains on bulk food and cleaning supplies, confirmed in a fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday that it was “putting some limitations on key items” such as toilet paper, cleaning products and Kirkland Signature water. (Levenson, 9/27)

Also —

The Washington Post: Linda Evangelista Says CoolSculpting ‘Disfigured’ Her. Here’s What Experts Say About The Procedure.
Danielle Venuto isn’t a supermodel, but she can relate to runway icon Linda Evangelista, who revealed this week that she had become “brutally disfigured” and “unrecognizable” following a cosmetic body-sculpting procedure more than five years ago that, instead of reducing areas of fat, increased them. Venuto, a 32-year-old who lives in New York City, underwent the same procedure, CoolSculpting, in May 2019. She’s small — 114 pounds — and said she just wanted help with stubborn areas on her lower abdomen and flanks. By July of that year, she said, she knew something was wrong with the area on her stomach. “I was like, ‘It’s not looking right, this is weird, it’s protruding out more,’ ” she said. “And then by December it looked like a complete stick of butter. It was legitimately horrible. I was extremely self-conscious and insecure about it. It looked like I had a little kangaroo pouch.” (Haupt, 9/25)

The New York Times: What Is CoolSculpting? 
On Wednesday, Linda Evangelista, the ’90s-era supermodel, shared on Instagram that she had been disfigured by a fat-reducing procedure called CoolSculpting that did the opposite of what it promised: Instead of reducing the amount of fat she had, CoolSculpting increased it, she said. After treatment, Evangelista said, she developed a condition known as paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, or PAH, in which the tissue in the treated area grows larger and hardens and stays that way. PAH is sometimes referred to as the “stick of butter effect,” because it can look like a stick of butter hidden under the skin; the enlarged tissue matches the long, thin shape of the CoolSculpting applicator. (Moyer, 9/25)

AP: Georgia Sees Spike In New 'Obamacare' Sign Ups
Georgia experienced a dramatic increase in the number of people signing up for health care coverage during a special enrollment window for the Affordable Care Act. Between February 15 and August 15, a little more than 147,000 people in the state selected an ACA health plan, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The report was released on Sept. 15. (9/26)

AP: Kentucky Company's New Respirator To Aid Healthcare Workers
A Kentucky safety and personal protective equipment developer is manufacturing a new respirator to help front-line healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andy Beshear said. ... Cynthiana-based Bullard said the new respirator is designed to be more comfortable and make it easier for the workers to better communicate. The respirators were built with “all day use” in mind, to be worn around the shoulders instead of the waist, said Landon Borders, Bullard’s director of product development. (9/27)

CIDRAP: Potential Human-To-Human Spread Eyed In Ohio H1N2v Flu Case
In its latest weekly flu update today the CDC said a variant H1N2 (H1N2v) case has been reported from Ohio, the nation's third involving the influenza subtype this season. The patient is younger than 18, wasn't hospitalized, and has recovered. Neither the patient nor his or her household contacts had contact with swine or had attended agricultural events where pigs were present, features that are often associated with swine-variant infections. (9/24)

AP: Ducey Replaces Massage Therapist Regulatory Board's Members
Gov. Doug Ducey has ousted and replaced all five members the Arizona State Board of Massage Therapy in the wake of a newspaper’s critical report about the occupational regulatory panel’s handling of complaints about alleged sexual abuse by therapists. Ducey’s announcement Friday didn’t mention the Arizona Republic’s Sept. 15 investigative report that the board was lax in disciplining therapists accused of abuse, but he said it was critical that the board “protects massage clients, especially those who are in a vulnerable position.” (9/25)

The Wall Street Journal: WHO Seeks To Revive Stalled Inquiry Into Origins Of Covid-19 With New Team
The World Health Organization is reviving its stalled investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 virus as agency officials warn that time is running out to determine how the pandemic that has killed more than 4.7 million people world-wide began. A new team of about 20 scientists—including specialists in laboratory safety and biosecurity and geneticists and animal-disease experts versed in how viruses spill over from nature—is being assembled with a mandate to hunt for new evidence in China and elsewhere. (Hinshaw and McKay, 9/26)

In other global developments —

ABC News: Prince Harry, Meghan Call For COVID-19 Vaccine Equity At Star-Studded Global Citizen Live 
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan appeared at a star-studded concert Saturday to draw attention to making COVID-19 vaccines accessible to everyone around the world. Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, traveled from their home in California to New York City to join stars including Billie Eilish, Camila Cabello and Jennifer Lopez at Global Citizen Live, a 24-hour event at Central Park's Great Lawn. (Kindelan, 9/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Vaccine Gap Between Rich And Poor Nations Keeps Widening 
The central African nation of Burundi has yet to administer a single Covid-19 vaccine. In Kinshasa, a megacity of 12 million in the Democratic Republic of Congo, healthcare workers have given out fewer than 40,000 Covid-19 shots. In Uganda, people line up for hours outside hospitals only to be turned away amid dwindling vaccine supplies. Nearly 10 months after the first Covid-19 vaccine became available to the public, the divide between nations that have shots and those that don’t is starker than ever. The U.S. and other rich countries such as Israel and the U.K. are doling out third shots, while in low-income countries—the vast majority of which are in Africa—just 2.2% of people have received even a single dose. (Bariyo and Steinhauser, 9/25)

AP: New Zealand To Allow Home Isolation To Travelers
New Zealand’s prime minister says the government will start a pilot program of home-isolation for overseas travelers, ahead of what she expects to be increasing vaccination levels. Currently New Zealanders have to quarantine in hotels for two weeks when they return home from abroad. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday a pilot program that will allow New Zealanders to quarantine at home will include 150 business travelers who arrive between Oct. 30 and Dec. 8. The program will involve monitoring and testing. (9/27)

Reuters: Fourth Member Of Brazil's Delegation To U.N. Tests Positive For COVID-19
Pedro Guimaraes, a member of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's delegation to the United Nations, has tested positive for COVID-19, the CEO of state lender Caixa Economica Federal said on his one of his social media accounts on Sunday. Guimaraes, who said he was fully vaccinated, is the fourth member of the delegation that was with Bolsonaro in New York for his address to the United Nations to test positive. ... Health minister Marcelo Queiroga, Bolsonaro's son Eduardo and one diplomat also tested positive for COVID-19. Queiroga, diagnosed during the visit, is still in isolation in a New York hotel. (9/26)

AP: Rowdy Celebrations Erupt In Norway As COVID Restrictions End
Police in Norway on Sunday reported dozens of disturbances and violent clashes including mass brawls in the Nordic country’s big cities after streets, bars, restaurants and nightclubs were filled with people celebrating the end of COVID-19 restrictions that lasted for more than a year. The Norwegian government abruptly announced Friday that most of the remaining coronavirus restrictions would be scrapped beginning Saturday and that life in the nation of 5.3 million would return to normal. (9/26)

In other news from around the world —

Politico: What The German Election Could Mean For EU Health Policy 
The German political parties aiming to form a new government agree on one thing: Europe needs to be better prepared for the next pandemic. But they diverge, sometimes fundamentally, on approaches to the European Health Union, pharmaceutical companies, intellectual property rights, and a European Health Data Space. ... Germany has been a staunch opponent of a waiver on intellectual property rights for coronavirus products. But with a different coalition in power, that could change. The Greens and the Left both support the waiver. The Left states that “patents can be fatal” and in its manifesto, it describes the unequal distribution of vaccines under last year's German Council presidency as a “scandal.” (Furlong, 9/24)

Reuters: China Says It Will Reduce Abortions For 'Non-Medical Purposes'
China will reduce the number of abortions performed for "non-medical purposes", the country's cabinet said in new guidelines issued on Monday that it said were aimed at improving women's reproductive health. China has already enacted strict measures aimed at preventing sex-selective abortions, and health authorities also warned in 2018 that the use of abortion to end unwanted pregnancies was harmful to women's bodies and risks causing infertility. (9/27)

Stat: I Fear Covid-19 Is Pushing Young Physicians Out Of Medicine 
During more than 30 years as a physician and an officer in the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, including deployment in Iraq, I have witnessed trauma and battle fatigue up close. I have seen the immense toll that unrelenting physical and emotional stress takes on the minds and bodies of soldiers — people in peak conditioning. It worried me to see that same fear and exhaustion in young physicians recently as I completed a 100-hour, seven-day teaching rotation in a small community hospital near my home in coastal South Carolina. (Gerald E. Harmon, 9/27)

The Atlantic: How America Lost Its Lead On Vaccination 
In April, when I received my second Moderna shot, America was on a roll. Adjusted for population, the United States had distributed more COVID-19 vaccines per capita than any country but Israel, Chile, the United Kingdom, and a smattering of small nations and islands. With a surge of doses, we could have been No. 1 in the world. (Derek Thompson, 9/26)

Los Angeles Times: A Lesson From Ebola In 2015 Will Be Key To Ending COVID-19 
That was U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in April 2015 speaking to world leaders about the Ebola crisis in West Africa. As President Biden and his team asked heads of state and leaders of industry at a COVID-19 summit this week to make new commitments to end the latest pandemic, they all seemed to forget the very issue that Ban highlighted six years ago: the last mile. (David Heymann, Ashish Jha and Edward Kelley, 9/25)

The Boston Globe: The Year Of Understanding: COVID-19 And The Humanity Of The Unvaccinated 
Recently, I came onto a night shift in the ER at the hospital where I work to pick up the baton after a particularly heavy COVID-19 day. The staff was tired, beleaguered, defeated. During sign-out, a physician recounted with a slight smirk a few of the recent COVID patients they had admitted, all unvaccinated (some of whom were hardened COVID deniers), who had died within days of admission. Throughout the night, comments from staff regarding unvaccinated patients struck similar tones: “Idiots.” “Serves them right.” “What did they expect?” (William J. Boroughf, 9/27)

NBC News: Covid Vaccine And Mask Mandate Bans In Florida And Elsewhere Raise Cynical Questions
Across the country, Republican leaders seem increasingly comfortable amplifying anti-vaccine rhetoric and conspiracies while banning mask and vaccine requirements, even though unvaccinated people are causing the virus to spread and increasing the likelihood of more coronavirus variants. And DeSantis is not the only Republican seeking to blame Biden for the latest Covid surge. This raises a cynical question: Do some Republicans think they can reap political benefits from the continued spread of Covid? And if so, how might that calculation factor into their policy decisions? (Teri Kanefield, 9/25)

The Baltimore Sun: As Unvaccinated COVID-19 Patients Overwhelm ERs, Hospitals Ration Care 
Dear “Personal Choicers,” As long as unvaccinated people provide a significant breeding ground for COVID-19 virus variants, medical care for those seriously ill with coronavirus will be diminished. Rationing hospital patient admissions has become urgently necessary because of depleted staff and limitations of space and equipment. As the daughter of a doctor and the mother of one, as well as the wife of a research neurophysiologist, I well understand the reasons for this. I don’t think you do, however. Please allow me to explain. (Diana C. Schramm, 9/27)

Newsweek: Stop Politicizing My Dying Patients 
I have seen hundreds of hundreds of people die over the last 20 months. I'm a traveling ICU nurse and I have spent the pandemic as an RN at hospitals in Colorado, New Jersey, and California. Of the millions of people who have contracted COVID-19 worldwide, I have treated thousands. And I have lost too many. It is the greatest threat to our patients that we will see in our lifetime. (Zac Shepard, 9/24)

The Washington Post: The Mississippi Bait-And-Switch On Abortion 
In June 2020, when lawyers for Mississippi asked the Supreme Court to hear a case involving the state’s 15-week abortion ban, they took care to assure the justices that this wasn’t the big one, the case that would call on the court to overrule Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion. “To be clear, the questions presented in this petition do not require the Court to overturn Roe or Casey,” their petition for review said, referring to the 1992 decision in which a closely divided court declined to do away with Roe. (Ruth Marcus, 9/24)

USA Today: Early Cancer Screenings Drop As COVID Fears Keep Patients From Doctor
In health care, time is everything. And even beyond the continuing day-to-day tragedies, COVID-19 has created a ticking time bomb of further tragic consequences. But time is not on our side right now. Anxious about COVID-19, patients are delaying their routine doctor’s visits. A recent study revealed that the number of new cancer diagnosis went down significantly in the first full year of the pandemic – good news only on the surface. (Michael Zinner, 9/25)

Newsweek: The Critical Role Technology Plays In Democratizing Health Care 
Technology has left no part of the world untouched. While critics may have previously argued that it contributes to an increased sense of loneliness or lack of connectivity, I would assert that during the pandemic, technology strengthened our connections, saved countless lives and continued to propel modern medicine forward, democratizing health care in a way like never before. While health care in the United States and other high-income nations is largely available, in low- and middle-income countries, access to medicine, physicians and treatments remains limited. In these health care deserts, diseases that have long since been eradicated in our country continue to affect lives. Children are susceptible to everything from malaria to trachoma, and the effects have a debilitating impact not only on the individuals and families directly affected, but on entire economies. (Nicolas Jaccard, 9/24)

Newsweek: Prioritize Community Physicians For Clinical Trial Diversity 
Clinical trials must continue to evolve to more closely reflect a diverse population. This includes knowing which physicians talk to their patients about such trials and which are incentivized to do so. Policy can play a big part in incentivizing this expansion, such as reform to Medicare and Medicaid that reimburse physicians for talking to their patients about trials. (Andrew Barnhill and Victor Agbafe, 9/25)

Roll Call: Disparities In Clinical Trials Threaten African American Lives 
As we mark World Cancer Research Day on Friday, the issue of unequal representation in clinical trials and cancer research initiatives remains a persistent problem in the United States. The sad truth is that, across most cancers, Black Americans have the highest death and shortest survival rates of any racial or ethnic group. To correct course, the health care community must take steps to increase representation of minority groups in clinical trials and help them take better advantage of life-saving technology and therapies. (Higgins, 9/24)

Chicago Tribune: We Must Close The Medicaid Coverage Gap To Save Black Mothers
Across the U.S., women die of pregnancy-related complications at a higher rate than in any other similarly large, wealthy country in the world. Expanding Medicaid will save the lives of women and babies and save money in our health care system. But the two states that we represent in the U.S. House of Representatives — Illinois and Florida — have taken very different approaches to this national crisis. Illinois chose to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid. Florida’s leaders have refused. As a result, we have seen a stark contrast between our two states: one in which pregnant women and new moms are able to access critical health services, and one in which moms are told, “You’re on your own.” (Robin Kelly and Val Demings, 9/27)

Stat: How To Avoid The Worst Of A Looming Shortage Of Health Care Workers
During the marathon of Covid-19, nurses and other health care workers have faced unprecedented levels of work stress as the world approaches two years of this global pandemic — and that stress isn’t easing anytime soon. Health care systems today face a potentially disastrous retention crisis among nurses that will hit hard in the next five years. This crisis isn’t exclusive to nurses — similar ones are on the horizon across all sectors of the health care workforce if health care organizations fail to respond to the stunning levels of burnout their employees are reporting. (Lauren Beechly, 9/27)

Chicago Tribune: Biden Invests In The ‘Harm Reduction’ Approach To Prevent Overdose Deaths 
A deadly plague continues to rage across America, and neither vaccines nor face masks nor herd immunity can stop it. The epidemic of drug overdose deaths has taken more lives than COVID-19 and is more intractable. But the Biden administration is showing a welcome openness to a new strategy. That approach is known broadly as “harm reduction.” The idea is that drug abuse should be regarded as a public health problem, not a crime or a sin. Prohibiting and punishing drug use doesn’t work. A better option is helping illicit users modify their behavior to reduce their risks. (Steve Chapman, 9/24)