The New York Times: Hospitals Discover A Surprise In Their Pfizer Vaccine Deliveries: Extra Doses 
As boxes of Pfizer vaccines began arriving around the country this week, hospital pharmacists made a surprising discovery: Some of the glass vials that are supposed to hold five doses contained enough for a sixth — or even a seventh — person. The news prompted a flurry of excited exchanges on Twitter and pharmacy message boards this week as hospital workers considered the tantalizing possibility that the limited supply of desperately needed vaccine might be stretched to reach more people. But it also set off a wave of confusion and debate over whether to use the extra doses, or to throw them out. (Thomas, 12/16)

The Hill: FDA Says Pfizer Vaccine Supply Is Up To 40 Percent Higher Than Previously Thought As Vials Hold Multiple Doses 
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday said that health officials may be able to obtain as many as seven doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine from vials initially intended to hold just five. Hospital pharmacists had noted the discovery on Twitter and pharmacy message boards this week as front-line health care workers began receiving the vaccine on Monday. (Castronuovo, 12/16)

USA Today: Pfizer COVID Vaccine Vials May Hold Extra Doses, Adding To US Supply
"The amount of vaccine remaining in the multidose vial after removal of 5 doses can vary, depending on the type of needles and syringes used," a Pfizer spokesperson told USA TODAY in a statement. "At this time, we cannot provide a recommendation on the use of the remaining amount of vaccine from each vial. Vaccinators need to consult their institution’s policies for the use of multidose vials." The FDA has authorized hospital pharmacists to use the extra doses while the agency works with Pfizer officials to "determine the best path forward." (Flores and Weintraub, 12/16)

Reuters: FDA Says Extra Doses From Vials Of Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine Can Be Used
“At this time, given the public health emergency, FDA is advising that it is acceptable to use every full dose obtainable (the sixth, or possibly even a seventh) from each vial, pending resolution of the issue,” an FDA representative said in an emailed statement. “However, since the vials are preservative free, it is critical to note that any further remaining product that does not constitute a full dose should not be pooled from multiple vials to create one,” the statement added. (12/16)

Stat: Labeling Confusion Led To Wasted Doses Of Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine 
With the Covid-19 vaccine in short supply, hospital pharmacists found themselves in the unexpected position of throwing away one in every six doses of the first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines distributed this week in the United States. The confusion came over labeling: The vaccine comes in vials labeled as containing enough for five doses. But pharmacists discovered that, after thawing and mixing the contents with a dilutent, each vial contained enough vaccine for six doses. Without explicit approval from the manufacturer, that final dose had to be discarded. (Goldhill, 12/16)

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska Health Care Worker Hospitalized Overnight And Another Received Brief Emergency Treatment After COVID-19 Vaccine
A Juneau health care worker was hospitalized and treated for a serious allergic reaction after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, hospital and health officials said Wednesday morning. Wednesday evening, hospital officials reported that another worker who received a vaccine at the hospital that day received brief emergency treatment as well, but did not experience anaphylaxis, or what’s known as a life-threatening allergic reaction. Multiple health care workers and officials on Wednesday were adamant about the importance of people continuing to receive the vaccine, and the state’s top health official said no changes to the vaccination plan were expected. (Krakow, 12/16)

The New York Times: 2 Alaska Health Workers Got Emergency Treatment After Receiving Pfizer’s Vaccine
The hospital, which had administered 144 total doses as of Wednesday night, said both workers did not want their experiences to have a negative impact on others lining up for the vaccine. “We have no plans to change our vaccine schedule, dosing or regimen,” Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer, said in a statement. (Weiland, LaFraniere, Baker and Thomas, 12/16)

CBS News: 2 Alaska Health Care Workers Have Allergic Reactions After Taking Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine 
The worker received the vaccine Tuesday at Bartlett Regional Hospital. "During the whole time, she was still enthusiastic that she got the vaccine and the benefits that it would give her in the future," [according to Dr. Lindy Jones, the emergency room director at Bartlett.] The hospital's statement said she was "still encouraging her colleagues to get the vaccine." ... A second health care worker, a male, suffered a less-serious allergic reaction to the vaccine at the same hospital on Wednesday. "He felt completely back to normal within an hour and was released," after treatment in the emergency department with epinephrine, Pepcid and Benadryl, according to the hospital, which noted: "He too does not want his experience to have a negative impact on his colleagues lining up for the vaccine." (Christen Jones, 12/17)

Also —

AP: Health Officials Track Safety As COVID-19 Vaccines Roll Out
The challenge is telling whether the vaccine caused a health problem or if it’s coincidence. Don’t jump to conclusions that there’s a connection, health authorities stress. The way to tell: Comparing any reports of possible side effects with data showing how often that same condition occurs routinely in the population. The government has multiple ways to do that. (Neergaard, 12/17)

AP: Vaccinations Reach Nursing Homes As California Faces Crisis
The first COVID-19 vaccinations are underway at U.S. nursing homes, where the virus has killed more than 110,000 people, even as the nation struggles to contain a surge so alarming it has spurred California to dispense thousands of body bags and line up refrigerated morgue trucks. With the rollout of shots picking up speed Wednesday, lawmakers in Washington closed in on a long-stalled $900 billion coronavirus relief package that would send direct payments of around $600 to most Americans. Meanwhile, the U.S. appeared to be days away from adding a second vaccine to its arsenal. (Geller and Spencer, 12/17)

Politico: Groups Mount Lobbying Blitz To Be Next In Line For Covid Shots
Teachers, firefighters and camp counselors all say they should be next in line to get coronavirus vaccinations. The question is who’s most “essential.” The Centers for Disease Control will begin to settle that on Sunday, when an advisory panel will recommend who should follow medical workers and nursing home residents in the next tier for immunizations. The vote will mark the start of a veritable land rush for Covid shots that will play out over the coming months, as more than 80 million essential workers not in health care jobs jockey for priority designations. (Roubein and Ehley, 12/17)

KHN: With Vaccine Delivery Imminent, Nursing Homes Must Make A Strong Pitch To Residents 
Imagine this: Your elderly mother, who has dementia, is in a nursing home and COVID-19 vaccines are due to arrive in a week or two. You think she should be vaccinated, having heard the vaccine is effective in generating an immune response in older adults. Your brother disagrees. He worries that development of the vaccine was rushed and doesn’t want your mother to be among the first people to get it. These kinds of conflicts are likely to arise as COVID vaccines are rolled out to long-term care facilities across the country. (Graham, 12/17)

Boston Globe: Health Officials Prepare For A New Challenge — Snow
As the first major snowstorm approached the region, health officials on Wednesday prepared for the first weather-related challenge to the state’s COVID-19 testing system, which largely relies on a web of tented outdoor sites that will likely be shut down in high winds and heavy snowfall. At least a half-dozen state testing sites from Holyoke to New Bedford to Hingham had already announced they would be closed Thursday, with the storm predicted to hammer the area with a foot or more of snow. Officials warned residents to expect further closures. The testing site closures come at a tenuous time for the state, which is experiencing a surge of COVID-19 cases and deaths ahead of the holidays. A total of 5,450 new cases and 71 more deaths were reported Wednesday. (Krueger and Andersen, 12/16)

KHN: Trusted Messengers May Help Disenfranchised Communities Overcome Vaccine Hesitancy
Gloria Torres-Herbeck gets the flu vaccine every year, but the 53-year-old teacher in Rochester, Minnesota, isn’t yet convinced she wants to be first in line for a potential COVID-19 vaccine. “I’m not super old, but I’m not as strong as other people,” she said. “So, I need to be realistic on my own situation. Do I want to participate in something that might be a big risk for me?” (Mulrooney Eldred, 12/17)

Some states may let teachers go next —

The Oklahoman: Oklahoma Expected To Make Teachers Higher Priority For Vaccine
Keith Reed, the state’s deputy commissioner of health, said distribution “is actively taking place across the state, but we want to remind everyone that we still have a long road ahead of us. The first people to receive the vaccine will be frontline health care workers, followed soon after by long-term care facility staff members and residents and public health staff who are critical to the COVID-19 vaccination program. We need Oklahomans to continue doing their part to slow the spread of COVID-19 until a vaccine is widely available to the public later in 2021.” State officials are expected to announce on Thursday that teachers will be made a higher priority than they were in the state’s original vaccination plan. (Casteel, 12/17)

AP: California Sets Teachers, First Responders For Next Vaccines
Teachers, first responders, and grocery and restaurant workers were among those recommended Wednesday to get the next round of scarce vaccines in California, as were florists and sawmill operators who fall into the same broad category of those deemed essential workers. “We’ve got to figure who we’re going to prioritize,” said Dr. Oliver Brooks, co-chairman of a 16-member panel of medical experts recommending who makes the potential life-and-death cut after the first round of about 3 million vaccines began going this week to health care workers and those in long-term care facilities. (Thompson, 12/17)

CNBC: US Officials Had To Return Pfizer Vaccine Doses After They Got Too Cold 
U.S. officials said Wednesday they quarantined several thousand doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine in California and Alabama this week after an “anomaly” in the transportation process caused the storage temperature to get too cold. Pfizer’s vaccine, which was developed with German drugmaker BioNTech, requires a storage temperature of around minus 70 degrees Celsius. Vials of the vaccine are stored in trays, which carry a minimum of 975 doses each, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Lovelace Jr., 12/16)

Stat: Pfizer Decision On Vaccine Temperature Sensors Forced Scramble 
A last-minute snafu this fall threatened to disrupt the smooth rollout of the first Covid-19 vaccine approved in the United States, according to industry officials. At issue was how to monitor the temperature of the ultra-cold storage containers being used to distribute vials of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech. (Goldhill, 12/17)

Reuters: Some Vaccine Doses Kept Too Cold, Pfizer Having Manufacturing Issues, U.S. Officials Say 
Pfizer also has reported some production issues, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said. “We will ensure that by whatever mechanism, that we provide them full support to ensure that they can produce for the American people,” Azar said. ... Officials did not outline what the specific manufacturing challenges were. (O'Donnell and Spalding, 12/16)

Clarion-Ledger: COVID-19 Vaccine: Storage A Challenge For Some Hospitals
Dr. Jonathan Wilson, chief administrative officer at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said the temperature requirements for the vaccine caused logistical problems the hospital scrambled to address. Pfizer's vaccine is required to be stored at super cold temperatures and the equipment able to produce that environment is limited. "Those freezers, especially now, everybody in the country wants them and they're kinda hard to find," Wilson said. (Rowe, 12/16)

And the Trump administration continues its effort to increase the supply of vaccines —

AP: US Angling To Secure More Of Pfizer's Coronavirus Vaccine
U.S. officials say they’re actively negotiating for additional purchases of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine after passing up a chance to lock in a contract this summer since it was still unclear how well the shots would work. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and special adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui also told reporters Wednesday that Pfizer had been unable to commit to a firm delivery date. Azar called that “the core issue.” There was no immediate comment from the company, whose CEO Albert Bourla told CNN this week it is “working very collaboratively” with the government to deliver additional vaccine through the federal Operation Warp Speed. That’s a White House-backed, taxpayer-funded effort to quickly develop coronavirus vaccines and treatments. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/17)

CNN: Supply Issues Hampering Pfizer Providing Additional Vaccine Faster 
Vaccine supply constraints are complicating the Trump administration's hopes of striking a deal with Pfizer to purchase another 100 million doses of the company's coronavirus vaccines, the latest hurdle to ramping up vaccine production as the virus rapidly spreads. Officials from the Trump administration and Pfizer confirmed that the two sides are negotiating for the government to purchase the additional doses for distribution between April and June 2021. But the timing has been a sticking point, as the US clamors for delivery as soon as possible while Pfizer juggles global demand. (Kaufman and Murray, 12/16)

Some states say they won't receive as many doses as they expected —

Des Moines Register: Iowa, Other States Will Receive Less COVID-19 Vaccine Than Anticipated In Initial Wave
The Iowa Department of Public Health announced Wednesday evening that Iowa will receive less COVID-19 vaccine in its initial wave than anticipated — as much as 30% less. "We are working to gain confirmation and additional details from our federal partners. It will take us some time to work through next steps and adjust our planning," IDPH spokeswoman Sarah Ekstrand wrote in a Wednesday evening news release. (May Sahouri and Leys, 12/16)

AP: Missouri's 2nd Batch Of Vaccine Smaller Than Anticipated
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday lauded the rollout of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, but it appears the second-week supply will be thousands of doses smaller than anticipated. Missouri received about 51,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, and vaccinations of frontline health care workers began Monday. The state initially said it would get another 63,675 doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week, as well as 105,300 doses of the Moderna vaccine if that version receives federal clearance. (Salter, 12/16)

The New York Times: Vaccine Distribution Tracker: How Many Doses Can Your State Expect? 
The federal government said Wednesday that 5.9 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — enough to inoculate more than 2.9 million people — had been set aside mainly for states and territories to start protecting medical workers and nursing home residents against the coronavirus. ... Some states have begun to publish data on the Pfizer doses they have received and administered, but there is not yet a consistent method for them to publicly report how many doses they have received and administered. (Ivory, Lee, Schoenfeld Walker and Smith, 12/16)

USA Today: Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Goes Before FDA Committee For Final Review
A second COVID-19 vaccine likely will receive a thumbs up Thursday from an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which authorized the first one a week ago. This time, the committee is reviewing a vaccine made by Cambridge, Massachusetts, biotech Moderna, with similar technology and results as the one it supported last week by Pfizer and its German collaborator, BioNTech.  (Weintraub, 12/17)

CNBC: 5 Things To Know Before FDA Panel Votes On Moderna
A key Food and Drug Administration advisory panel is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to recommend the approval of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, which would help pave the way to distribute a second vaccine in the U.S. The nonbinding decision from the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee comes exactly a week after the outside group of vaccine and infectious disease experts voted 17 to 4 with one member abstaining to recommend the approval of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine for emergency use. The FDA approved that vaccine a day later. (Lovelace Jr., 12/17)

Stat: Tracking An FDA Advisory Panel's Review Of The Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine
An expert panel is meeting Thursday to consider whether the Food and Drug Administration should issue a second emergency use authorization for a Covid-19 vaccine, this one made by Moderna. It is almost a foregone conclusion that it will. But the hearing still promises to tell us more about the vaccine and its use. (12/17)

In related news about the COVID vaccines —

CNN: How Moderna's Coronavirus Vaccine Differs From Pfizer's
Moderna's coronavirus vaccine candidate is similar to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that was authorized and shipped out to the first Americans earlier this week. But there are a few key differences. Most importantly, Moderna's vaccine can be stored in normal freezers and does not require a super-cold transportation network, making it more accessible for smaller facilities and local communities. (Levenson and Howard, 12/17)

Los Angeles Times: How The COVID-19 Vaccines From Moderna And Pfizer Compare Head To Head 
Like the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine primes the immune system to attack the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 by delivering a snippet of the virus’s genetic code. That code — known as messenger RNA, or mRNA — instructs the body to build copies of the spike protein that studs the virus’ surface. The immune system responds by creating antibodies, which remain on standby until confronted by an actual infection. Here’s a closer look at how the two vaccines stack up. (Kaplan, 12/15)

CNN: Katalin Kariko's Work In MRNA Is The Basis Of The Covid-19 Vaccine 
Covid-19 vaccines are starting to roll out in several countries, a momentous breakthrough that hopefully signals a light at the end of this dark pandemic. For Katalin Karikó, the moment is particularly special. (Asmelash and Willingham, 12/16)

NPR: With 3,600 Deaths, U.S. Reaches A New Daily Record For COVID Deaths
The U.S. on Wednesday reported the highest number of new cases of the coronavirus and the most COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began.As of 1:30 a.m. Thursday, more than 3,600 Americans died Wednesday from complications of the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking coronavirus infection data. Data from the COVID Tracking Project revealed more than 230,000 new coronavirus infections and showed 113,090 Americans were hospitalized with the virus — a number that's been on the rise since Dec. 6. (Diaz, 12/17)

CNN: Nation Sets Covid-19 Case, Hospitalization And Death Records Ahead Of Key Meeting For Moderna's Vaccine Candidate 
The US on Wednesday reported record numbers for Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, ahead of a key meeting for what could be the country's second Covid-19 vaccine to get the green light. Vaccine advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will meet Thursday to discuss Moderna's vaccine and officials expect a speedy emergency use authorization process -- even faster than last week's for the Pfizer vaccine. (Maxouris, 12/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Are COVID Cases Spiking Across All Age Groups In California?
California’s current coronavirus surge appears to be sparing no one demographic. Recent data compiled by George Lemp, an infectious disease epidemiologist and retired director of the California HIV/AIDS research program at the University of California, show that cases have risen meteorically among every age group in the state. New COVID-19 cases increased 350% overall in the period from Nov. 15 to Dec. 12, compared to the previous four weeks. Each age group saw increases well over 300%, and the highest was 360% among individuals 80 years and older. While not significantly higher than the other age groups, the primary concern is older individuals are at higher risk for severe illness with COVID-19. (Hwang, 12/16)

The Washington Post: Many Hospitals Are Overwhelmed With Record Covid Cases 
In Boston, pediatric wards are being consolidated to fit all the adults battling covid-19. Philadelphia hospitals are once again barring family visitors due to transmission worries. And in Los Angeles, a public hospital canceled elective and scheduled surgeries because it cannot spare ICU beds. Mounting hospitalizations in these and other states are pushing some hospital systems to near breaking points, with many scrambling to reconfigure themselves to handle a crush of patients streaming in after holiday gatherings and the arrival of flu season. (Shammas, Eunjung Cha, Guarino and Dupree, 12/16)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: State Health Secretary Says Full Hospitals May Have Prompted Some Residents To Change Behavior, Leading To Decline In COVID-19 Cases
Reports of full and overwhelmed hospitals in October and early November may have concerned Wisconsin residents and prompted some to change their behavior, contributing to the decline in COVID-19 cases the state has seen over the last month. That's the theory of Andrea Palm, state Department of Health Services secretary-designee. She's hopeful the steady decline in new COVID-19 cases since mid-November will continue if residents keep following safety precautions. (Carson, 12/16)

In related news —

CIDRAP: COVID 5 Times Deadlier Than Flu For Hospital Patients, Study Finds 
Compared with patients with seasonal flu, hospitalized COVID-19 patients face an increased need for ventilation and intensive care, longer hospital stays, more complications, and nearly five times the risk of death, according to a US study published yesterday in BMJ. The study, led by researchers from the VA Saint Louis Health Care System, mined the US Department of Veterans Affairs medical records database to compare the outcomes of 3,641 COVID-19 patients hospitalized from Feb 1 to Jun 17 with those of 12,676 hospitalized with the flu from 2017 to 2019. (Van Beusekom, 12/16)

The Hill: Fauci Says He Won't Be Seeing His Children For Christmas For First Time Since They Were Born 
Top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said this week that he won’t be seeing his three adult daughters for Christmas for the first time since they were born. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The Washington Post’s Power Up that his family will follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations and avoid gathering for the holiday. (Coleman, 12/16)

Politico: ‘We Want Them Infected’: Trump Appointee Demanded ‘Herd Immunity’ Strategy, Emails Reveal
A top Trump appointee repeatedly urged top health officials to adopt a "herd immunity" approach to Covid-19 and allow millions of Americans to be infected by the virus, according to internal emails obtained by a House watchdog and shared with POLITICO. “There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD," then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote on July 4 to his boss, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for public affairs Michael Caputo, and six other senior officials. (Diamond, 12/16)

CNBC: 'We Want Them Infected,' Trump HHS Appointee Said In Email Pushing To Expose Infants, Kids And Teens To Covid
The emails surfaced as part of an investigation by the House coronavirus subcommittee into alleged political interference by the Trump administration. The probe came about after former HHS scientific advisor Paul Alexander and longtime Trump ally Michael Caputo were accused this summer of meddling with the work of career scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease specialist. Alexander was ousted when Caputo, assistant secretary for public affairs, departed HHS on medical leave in September. (Feuer, 12/16)

CNN: Former Trump Appointee Encouraged Herd Immunity Strategy For Covid-19, Internal Emails Reveal
An HHS spokesperson told CNN in a statement that Alexander's emails "absolutely did not shape department strategy." "Dr. Paul Alexander previously served as a temporary Senior Policy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and is no longer employed at the Department," the spokesperson said, adding, "Herd immunity is not the policy of the United States COVID-19 response." (Wilson, Diaz and Klein, 12/16)

Forbes: ‘We Want Them All Infected’: HHS Distances Itself From Trump Appointee Who Repeatedly Pushed For ‘Herd Immunity’
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has sought to distance itself from one of the agency’s former advisors—personally installed by President Trump—who the results of a watchdog investigation published Wednesday show repeatedly advocated for allowing millions of young and middle-aged Americans to become infected with Covid-19 over the summer in a push for the HHS to pursue a controversial “herd immunity” strategy. (McEvoy, 12/16)

In other news, CDC appointees say messaging regularly won out over science —

The Hill: CDC Appointees Describe Messaging Winning Out Over Science At The Agency 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) appointees told The New York Times that political messaging won out over science when the two were pitted against each other throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Former chief of staff Kyle McGowan and his deputy Amanda Campbell, both of whom were appointed by President Trump and left the CDC in August, described their attempts to protect the agency and their colleagues from interference from the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (Coleman, 12/16)

CNN: Trump Administration Says It Will Withhold $200 Million In California Medicaid Funding Over Abortion Insurance Requirement 
The Trump administration announced two measures on Wednesday seeking to restrict abortion access, including withholding hundreds of millions in federal funding from California, one in a series of parting shots from an outgoing administration that has repeatedly sought to limit the procedure on religious protection grounds. (Kelly, 12/17)

Fox News: Trump Administration Blocks Funding For California, Brings DOJ Suit Over Abortion Issues
The Trump administration announced two key actions Wednesday designed to protect entities that sought to avoid supporting abortion. Both announcements addressed longstanding issues handled by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights. In a press release Wednesday, HHS said it would block $200 million in federal Medicaid funds slated for California "due to the state illegally mandating that all health care plans subject to regulation by the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) cover abortion without exclusion or limitation." (Dorman, 12/16)

In other news, Vice President Mike Pence will get the COVID vaccine Friday —

NPR: Pence To Take COVID-19 Vaccine Publicly
Vice President Pence will publicly receive a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, the White House has announced. Surgeon General Jerome Adams and second lady Karen Pence also will receive the vaccine. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to receive the vaccine "as soon as next week," a transition official confirmed to NPR. Biden has also said he would get the vaccine publicly. (Wise, 12/16)

The Hill: Pence, Other Trump Officials To Get Vaccine Publicly 
Vice President Pence will receive the vaccine for the novel coronavirus publicly on Friday as part of an effort by officials to build public confidence in the vaccine. Pence, the leader of the White House coronavirus task force, second lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams will all receive the vaccine for COVID-19 at the White House, Pence’s office announced on Wednesday. (Chalfant and Castronuovo, 12/16)

And more Trump administration officials are in quarantine —

The Hill: Interior Secretary Tests Positive For COVID-19 After Two Days Of Meetings With Officials: Report 
Department of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has tested positive for COVID-19 following days of meetings with political appointees, a department spokesman confirmed to The Washington Post Wednesday. Interior spokesman Nicholas Goodwin told the Post in an email that Bernhardt, 51, received the diagnosis ahead of a scheduled Cabinet meeting with President Trump Wednesday, which Bernhardt did not attend following his positive test. (Castronuovo, 12/16)

Politico: Pompeo In Quarantine After Coronavirus Exposure 
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in quarantine after he was exposed to someone with the coronavirus, the State Department said Wednesday. The secretary himself has tested negative so far. The announcement provided little information about how exactly Pompeo may have been exposed to Covid-19. But the secretary of state has been patchy in his efforts to follow social distancing rules recommended by public health experts. (Toosi, 12/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Pompeo Cancels Party For Ambassadors After Coronavirus Exposure 
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo canceled a holiday reception with foreign ambassadors on Wednesday after he was exposed to someone who tested positive for Covid-19, according to a State Department official and a diplomat who was invited to the event. A State Department spokesman said Mr. Pompeo would go into quarantine after coming into contact with the unidentified person who had tested positive. “The secretary has been tested and is negative,” the spokesman said. “He is being closely monitored by the department’s medical team.” (Mauldin, 12/16)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid And CHIP Enrollment Grew 5.6% Since Last Year
Enrollment in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program increased by 5.6% from July 2019 to July 2020, according to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission on Wednesday. The expert panel said the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic drove most of the increase. All states saw their Medicaid rolls grow except Montana and the District of Columbia, ranging from 0.2% in South Carolina to 30.2% in Idaho, which expanded its Medicaid program in 2020. (Brady, 12/16)

The Washington Post: Nearly 8 Million Americans Have Fallen Into Poverty Since The Summer 
The U.S. poverty rate has surged over the past five months, with 7.8 million Americans falling into poverty, the latest indication of how deeply many are struggling after government aid dwindled. The poverty rate jumped to 11.7 percent in November, up 2.4 percentage points since June, according to new data released Wednesday by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame. (Long, 12/16)

In other news —

Albuquerque Journal: Nurse: Deaths At Veterans’ Home Underreported
As one of the state’s worst COVID-19 nursing home hot spots in recent weeks, the New Mexico State Veterans Home in Truth or Consequences is facing allegations that its administration has underreported the number of residents who have died from the virus. The death count is actually more than double the number that has been publicly disclosed in daily COVID-19 updates from state officials, Diana Lyn Gennaro, a nurse who works in administration at the veterans home, said in an email to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week. (Heild, 12/16)

Philadelphia Inquirer: New Nursing Home Rules Coming In Pa. Are Being Kept Secret As COVID-19 Roils The Industry
Pennsylvania is in the midst of revising its nursing home regulations for the first time since the late 1990s in a process that started long before the coronavirus pandemic swept through the state’s nearly 700 facilities. That worries advocates for the elderly who say they have been in the dark about what the state is planning and want to ensure that the new rules help prevent future pandemics from being so devastating to the long-term care facilities. (Brubaker, 12/16)

Modern Healthcare: Two-Thirds Of Nursing Homes Risk Closure In 2021, Survey Shows
As many as 66% of nursing homes say they could close in 2021 due to COVID-19 costs, according to a new survey of nursing home providers. The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, which represents more than 14,000 nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the U.S., found 90% of the 953 nursing homes that responded said their profit margins are 3% or less, and 65% said they are currently operating at a loss. The biggest increase in cost was staffing. (Christ, 12/16)

The Washington Post: Stimulus Checks Are Back In The $900 Billion Relief Package As Congressional Leaders Near Deal 
Congressional leaders said Wednesday that they are nearing agreement on a roughly $900 billion economic relief package that would include a second round of stimulus checks and could be completed by the end of this week. The package emerging is expected to include hundreds of billions of dollars in aid for ailing small businesses and jobless Americans; tens of billions of dollars in aid for other critical needs, such as vaccine distribution and schools; and a one-time check of between $600 and $700 for millions of Americans below a certain income threshold. (Stein, DeBonis and Min Kim, 12/16)

The Hill: McConnell Getting Much Of What He Wants In Emerging Relief Deal
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is getting much of what he wants in an emerging coronavirus relief package, after months of digging in his heels against a demand by Democratic leaders to pass a multi-trillion-dollar package that would shore up the ailing finances of state and local governments. The GOP leader isn’t getting liability protection for businesses and other organizations but McConnell himself last week proposed dropping that controversial item along with another large tranche of funding for state and local government. (Bolton and Wong, 12/17)

The Hill: Biden Says Approaching Coronavirus Relief Deal Would Be A 'Down Payment' 
President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday commended the latest progress toward a bipartisan coronavirus relief package but described it as a “down payment” on what will ultimately need to be enacted early next year. “The stimulus package is encouraging. It looks like they are very, very close and it looks like there’s going to be direct cash payments,” Biden told reporters Wednesday in Wilmington, Del. “But it’s a down payment, an important down payment on what’s going to have to be done beginning the end of January into February, but it’s very important it get done.” (Chalfant, 12/16)

KHN: As Congress Bickers Over Pandemic Relief, Flight Attendant’s Life Is In A Holding Pattern 
Troy Muenzer has seen the damage that COVID can do. A flight attendant who was diagnosed with a “suspected” case of the deadly virus, Muenzer, 32, endured months of lingering breathing problems; hefty, unexpected medical bills; lost wages, then furlough; and, earlier this month, the loss of his health insurance. Last week, his bank account was hacked, causing him to lie awake one night worrying he wouldn’t be able to get back all that 2020 has taken. “From everything that’s happened this year, it just seems like it’s never-ending,” he said. (Huetteman, 12/17)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The Hill: Oklahoma GOP Lawmaker Says He Will Introduce Bill To Criminalize And End All Abortions In The State 
An Oklahoma GOP lawmaker announced plans Wednesday to introduce a bill criminalizing abortion in the state. Republican State Sen. Warren Hamilton said in a statement he plans to file the bill, titled the Abolition of Abortion in Oklahoma Act/Equal Protection and Equal Justice Act, according to local ABC affiliate KOCO News. (Deese, 12/16)

The Hill: South Carolina Republican Tests Positive For Coronavirus Hours After Speaking On House Floor 
South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson (R) on Wednesday announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 just hours after speaking on the House floor about the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed and the beginnings of vaccine distribution across the country. “Earlier this evening I learned that I have tested positive for COVID-19,” Wilson said in a statement Wednesday. “I will be taking all necessary precautions, as directed by the House Physician, including quarantining through the Christmas holiday.” (Castronuovo, 12/16)

The Hill: Biden Plans To Get COVID-19 Vaccination Publicly As Early As Next Week 
President-elect Joe Biden is planning to publicly receive the COVID-19 vaccine “as soon as next week,” a transition team source confirmed to The Hill. CNN first reported the news Wednesday, citing people familiar with the plans, and added that aides said the delay of the public shot had been due to the logistics of administering it in public, rather than hesitation to get the vaccine. (Castronuovo, 12/16)

Also —

The Washington Post: Biden Inauguration Tickets Will Be Limited 
There will be few tickets available for the public to attend the presidential inauguration next month, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies announced Wednesday. The announcement signaled how the coronavirus pandemic will dramatically change President-elect Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony and stoked calls for a more festive celebration around July 4. (Davies, 12/16)

The Washington Post: What You Need To Know About Joe Biden’s Presidential Inauguration
The coronavirus pandemic will transform the traditions long associated with inaugural celebrations. In fact, [Joe] Biden’s transition team is urging all Americans to stay home, refrain from travel and to limit gatherings during the inauguration to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Galas and balls may be canceled entirely. Some events, such as the parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, are expected to occur in a smaller and potentially distant form. Other celebratory components may be virtual, drawing inspiration from the Democratic National Convention’s online event. And people interested in coming to D.C. for the 59th presidential inauguration will have to navigate coronavirus travel restrictions. Here’s a look at what is known so far. (Davies, Jouvenal, Amenabar and Viser, 12/15)

The Hill: Congressional Panel Announces Guest Limits At Biden Inauguration 
The congressional committee overseeing plans for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration said Wednesday that it would significantly limit the number of guests who can attend the ceremony next month due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) said invitations would be limited to each member of Congress and one guest, meaning that 1,070 invitations will be given to members of Congress. (Chalfant, 12/16)

USA Today: FDA Clears A New Abbott Home Test To Detect The COVID-19 Virus
A day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the nation's first home COVID-19 test, the agency on Wednesday cleared a second home test made by Abbott Laboratories. Abbott said the rapid BinaxNow home test will cost $25 and be available through a telehealth provider, eMed, which will determine whether a person is eligible. Only people with COVID-19 symptoms can get the home test. (Alltucker, 12/16)

Bloomberg: Abbott’s $25 Rapid Virus Test Cleared For At-Home Use 
Abbott Laboratories won U.S. authorization for a rapid Covid-19 test that costs $25 and can be used at home, a new accessible option from the manufacturer after months of obstacles to screening access in the country. The emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration opens a new market for Abbott’s BinaxNOW, a single-use swab-collected test that produces results in 15 minutes. Until now, the test had been administered by health-care providers. Abbott is partnered with a service to remotely prescribe the screening. ... The Abbott news follows the FDA’s clearance of the first at-home, over-the-counter Covid-19 test on Tuesday from East Brisbane, Australia-based Ellume. (Court, 12/16)

Boston Globe: Harvard Professor: New At-Home Coronavirus Test Is A ‘Major Boon’ — But More Need To Be Approved
A Harvard professor who has been an outspoken advocate for cheap, rapid, at-home coronavirus testing hailed a new test that will be sold over the counter and can provide results to the user in about 15 minutes. The new test, made by Australian company Ellume, is a “major boon,” said Dr. Michael Mina, a professor at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Mina is among a group of experts who have argued that at-home testing could offer a way out of the pandemic. “An over-the-counter rapid test is a tremendous advance. It means that some people will have ready access to a much needed test to help know their status, without having to go through a physician,” Mina said Tuesday in a statement. (Finucane, 12/16)

The Washington Post: How Do Home Tests For Coronavirus Work? Where Can I Get One? 
For months, consumers have been able to buy home collection kits. But these are quite different from the new rapid home tests. The older home collection kits usually sell for $110 to $150 at retailers such as Costco, Walmart or at testing companies, including LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics. With collection kits, people swab their nostrils or spit saliva into a vial and send the sample for processing at a lab. The companies say it takes 24 to 48 hours to get results. What makes the three newly authorized home tests different? Users swab their nostrils and can get results in roughly 15 minutes from the single-use tests. (Wan, 12/16)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

AP: Senate Report: Opioid Industry Has Paid Advocacy Groups $65M
A bipartisan congressional investigation released Wednesday found that key players in the nation’s opioid industry have spent $65 million since 1997 funding nonprofits that advocate treating pain with medications, a strategy intended to boost the sale of prescription painkillers. The report from Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Wyden of Oregon found the contributions continued in recent years, even as the industry’s practices and the toll of opioid addiction came under greater scrutiny. (Mulvihill, 12/17)

Stat: Sage Names Former Alnylam Exec Barry Greene As Its New CEO
Sage Therapeutics is making a significant leadership change, hiring Barry Greene, the recently departed president of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, as the biotech’s new chief executive officer. Jeff Jonas, Sage’s CEO since 2013, will remain with the company as chief innovation officer. The official CEO handoff took place on Tuesday and was made public on Wednesday morning. (Feuerstein, 12/16)

Stat: Ethics: A Necessary Ingredient In The Biotech Recipe For Success 
Even as hopes soar that soon-to-be-distributed Covid-19 vaccines will help quench the global coronavirus pandemic, there are still concerns about the rapid speed with which these vaccines were developed. And with some estimates suggesting that the global Covid-19 vaccine market could surpass $40 billion in 2021 alone, this scrutiny is likely to continue. (Kaplan, 12/17)

Modern Healthcare: CommonSpirit Partners With Morehouse To Train Black Physicians
Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health is partnering with historically Black Morehouse School of Medicine to establish medical school campuses and graduate medical education programs across the country in an effort to increase the number of minority physicians. The organizations announced on Wednesday plans to commit $21 million over the next two years as part of a 10-year, $100 million initiative to develop a joint undergraduate and graduate medical education program to train a minimum of 300 additional clinicians from historically underrepresented communities. (Ross Johnson, 12/16)

Philadelphia Inquirer: State-Run Psychiatric Hospital Can’t Recruit Enough Workers As Pa. Risks Violating Federal Requirements
A state-run psychiatric hospital with a long history of struggling to employ enough workers is now so short-staffed that it risks violating federal requirements for patient care, Spotlight PA has learned. In an emergency request, the Department of Human Services said Torrance State Hospital in Western Pennsylvania was operating short-staffed essentially every day because it can’t recruit enough aides, and doing so could put funding for the hospital in jeopardy. An outside expert who reviewed the department’s request to hire a staffing agency said its description of conditions at the hospital raised serious questions about risks for both patients and staff. (Mahon, 12/16)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Spending Growth Holds Steady In 2019, Despite Jump In Hospital Spending
Even though Americans got more hospital care and prescription drugs in 2019, elimination of a tax on insurers kept the healthcare spending growth rate effectively flat year-over-year. U.S. healthcare spending grew 4.6% to $3.8 trillion in 2019, close to its 4.7% growth in 2018 and tracking with the industry's 4.5% average yearly rate since 2016, according to an analysis by CMS' Office of the Actuary released Wednesday in Health Affairs. (Bannow, 12/16)

Modern Healthcare: The Pricier The Policy, The More Money Insurance Brokers Can Make, Study Shows
Insurance plans that pay higher commissions to brokers usually have higher premiums, which is contributing to rising healthcare costs, according to a new study. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University said Wednesday that brokerages operating under fee-based models, as well as those that have no middleman purchasers, offer the most value for businesses of all sizes. (Tepper, 12/16)

In other news —

Detroit Free Press: Protesters Target Michigan Health Director's Home: 'Open Up Now'
Flashlights and American flags in hand, a group of protesters marched through the dark Tuesday night to the Lansing home of Robert Gordon, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, to protest the statewide public health orders to slow the spread of coronavirus. Chanting, "Open up now!" and "We're not going to take it anymore," while ringing cowbells and using megaphones, the group of about 15-20 protesters shared a video of the protest on  social media. (Jordan Shamus and Hendrickson, 12/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Wants Boies Schiller Documents Kept Secret 
Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes is fighting to keep jurors in her coming fraud trial from seeing emails and other documents tied to the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, arguing they are protected communications with her lawyers. Ms. Holmes and former top Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani are facing charges of defrauding investors in the defunct blood-testing startup out of hundreds of millions of dollars and deceiving patients about the reliability of Theranos tests. (Randazzo, 12/16)

KHN: Readers And Tweeters Defend Front-Line Nurses And Blind Us With Science
I read your article “Need a COVID-19 Nurse? That’ll Be $8,000 a Week” (Nov. 24) in the Springfield Journal-Register. It was an interesting article as I have a daughter who is a nurse. Nurses have been underpaid and unappreciated for years. It made me angry that the article characterized the wages some hospitals are willing to pay for nurses as exorbitant. (12/17)

The Hill: Twitter To Label, Remove Coronavirus Vaccine Misinformation 
Twitter said Wednesday it will begin labeling and removing posts with false claims about coronavirus vaccines during the coming weeks as efforts to vaccinate front-line workers across the country are underway. The social media platform said it will expand its existing policies regarding coronavirus misinformation to include posts that “advance harmful, false or misleading narratives” about the COVID-19 vaccinations. Those posts will be labeled and the platform said it may require users to remove such tweets. (Klar, 12/16)

PCMag: Facebook Starts Sending Notifications To Users Who Engage With COVID-19 Misinformation
Facebook is reportedly cracking down harder on COVID-19 misinformation. The social network is notifying users who have liked, commented on, or shared a post that's been removed for violating Facebook's terms of service relating to the coronavirus pandemic. Then, in an effort to course correct, it will connect those folks with what the company deems trustworthy sources. (Mlot, 12/16)

Stat: Facebook Overhauls Its Covid-19 Misinformation Policy
Facebook has overhauled its approach to harmful Covid-19 health misinformation, announcing major changes that would send a much stronger message to users who have interacted with harmful falsehoods about the virus. The decision on Tuesday comes after STAT reported in May on expert criticism of the social network’s handling of falsehoods about Covid-19 from the researchers whom Facebook said it had consulted to design the policy. (Brodwin, 12/16)

The New York Times: From Voter Fraud To Vaccine Lies: Misinformation Peddlers Shift Gears 
As Mr. Trump’s challenges to the election’s results have been knocked down and the Electoral College has affirmed President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s win, voter fraud misinformation has subsided. Instead, peddlers of online falsehoods are ramping up lies about the Covid-19 vaccines, which were administered to Americans for the first time this week. (Alba and Frenkel, 12/16)

The New York Times: How Effective Is The Mask You’re Wearing? You May Know Soon 
More than 100,000 varieties of face masks are currently for sale. They come in silk, cotton and synthetics; with filters and without; over-the-head and over-the-ears. They have sparkles and sunflowers; friendly greetings and insults; cartoon characters and teeny reindeer. What they don’t have is a label that shows how well they block infectious particles, an omission that has frustrated public health officials during the coronavirus pandemic. ... That may change soon. A division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to develop minimum filter efficiency standards, and labels showing which products meet them, for the vast and bewildering marketplace for masks and other face coverings. (Kaplan, 12/16)

New York Post: For COVID-19 Protection, Wearing A Used Mask Could Be Worse Than No Mask: Study
Wearing a used mask could be more dangerous than not wearing one at all when it comes to warding off COVID-19, a new study has found. A new three-layer surgical mask is 65 percent efficient in filtering particles in the air — but when used, that number drops to 25 percent, according to the study published Tuesday in the Physics of Fluids. Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and California Baptist University say that masks slow down airflow, making people more susceptible to breathing in particles — and a dirty face mask can’t effectively filter out the tiniest of droplets. (Eustachewich, 12/16)

In other developments about mask-wearing —

The Hill: Kamala Harris Says There Will Be No 'Punishment' For Not Wearing Masks Under Biden 
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said Wednesday that President-elect Joe Biden’s administration is not seeking “punishment” for people who do not wear masks, despite his call for a nationwide mandate. “There's no punishment ... they don't have to. But [Biden] is saying, as a leader, ‘Please, everybody work with me here. For the first 100 days, let's everybody just wear a mask ... and see the outcomes there,’” Harris told ABC News’s Robin Roberts. (Budryk, 12/16)

The Hill: Army Issues Combat Face Masks For Soldiers In 2021 
The U.S. Army will begin issuing camouflage-print official combat cloth face coverings to new soldiers next year, the service announced Wednesday. The Army Uniform Board (UAB) recommended the move this summer and and Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville approved the recommendation, according to an official release. (Deese, 12/16)

AP: Montana Lawmakers Reject Mask Mandate Ahead Of Session
Republican state lawmakers in Montana rejected proposals Wednesday by Democrats to require masks at next month’s legislative session or meet remotely, opting instead to form a panel that will assess what’s needed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Republicans, who hold majorities in both legislative chambers, also declined to delay the session until the vaccine is widely available. (Samuels, 12/17)

The Hill: Chris Christie Posts Video To People Refusing To Wear A Mask: 'Learn From My Experience' 
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who has opened up in recent months about his own experience battling COVID-19 earlier this year, has released a new video urging all Americans to wear a mask amid the ongoing pandemic. “This message isn’t for everyone. It’s for all those people who refuse to wear a mask,” he said in a video posted on Twitter Wednesday. “You know, lying in isolation in ICU for seven days, I thought about how wrong I was to remove my mask at the White House.” (Folley, 12/16)

CNN: Two Mothers Face Charges After Renting Party Bus And Cramming 60 Maskless Kids Inside For Child's Birthday 
Parents from Ohio face charges after they rented a party bus for their child's 14th birthday and had 60 mask-less kids packed inside, Ohio police said. On Saturday, the Mount Healthy police saw an unmarked bus drop 60 kids off at the Hilltop Shopping Center, which is located approximately 11 miles north of Cincinnati. The kids exiting the vehicle were not wearing masks or social distancing, and several fights broke out after the children exited the bus, the police said in a statement. (Kim, 12/16)

CNN: Fitness Video Games Can Break Your Covid Pandemic Exercise Slump 
Some discover their preferred method of exercise early on and have the self-discipline to stick with it for decades. The rest of us, well, we get a little bored. Among the many challenges brought on by the pandemic, some far more urgent than others, is the inability to spice up our workout routines. (Strauss, 12/17)

Houston Chronicle: No, The COVID-19 Vaccine Will Not Alter Your DNA, And Other Myths Debunked By The CDC
The first doses of the coronavirus vaccine were administered to frontline healthcare workers in Houston this week, marking a huge step forward in the fight against the pandemic. The arrival of the first COVID-19 vaccines created by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna has raised questions on safety and re-invigorated the very present anti-vaccine movement in Texas. Despite the 95 percent efficacy rate of the vaccine, about 40 percent of Americans have said they don’t plan to receive it, while only 42 percent of Texans say they will. (Hennes, 12/16)

The Washington Post: Can You Travel If You Have Covid-19 Antibodies?
As Americans grapple with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s strong warning to stay at home this winter to stop the spread of the coronavirus, some are wondering if they are exempt from the recommendation if they have already recovered from the illness. People who had the coronavirus can develop antibodies that circulate in the blood and can neutralize the pathogen. But questions around immunity still linger. The CDC says cases of reinfection have been reported but “are rare.” (Compton, 12/16)

CIDRAP: Survey: 2 Of 10 School Districts Mulling Keeping E-Learning After COVID-19
About 2 in 10 US school districts have said they will continue, or are considering continuing, distance learning after the COVID-19 pandemic ends, citing student and parent demand, according to a Rand Corporation study released yesterday. In the fall, administrators on the new American School District Panel (ASDP) said that the biggest challenges facing them in the 2020-21 school year were disparities in students' access to learning opportunities during the pandemic. Rand, the Center on Reinventing Public Education, Chiefs for Change, and Kitamba developed the ASDP, a nationally representative panel of US traditional school districts and charter management organizations, to help inform school policy and practice. (12/16)

In other public health news —

KHN: Alzheimer’s Inc.: Colleagues Question Scientist’s Pricey Recipe Against Memory Loss 
When her husband was diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease in 2015, Elizabeth Pan was devastated by the lack of options to slow his inevitable decline. But she was encouraged when she discovered the work of a UCLA neurologist, Dr. Dale Bredesen, who offered a comprehensive lifestyle management program to halt or even reverse cognitive decline in patients like her husband. After decades of research, Bredesen had concluded that more than 36 drivers of Alzheimer’s cumulatively contribute to the loss of mental acuity. They range from chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes to vitamin and hormonal deficiencies, undiagnosed infections and even long-term exposures to toxic substances. Bredesen’s impressive academic credentials lent legitimacy to his approach. (Marsa, 12/17)

Los Angeles Times: Have You Been Exposed To Toxic Chemicals While Flying?
If you’ve flown on an airplane, chances are you’ve wondered about mystery smells in the cabin. They can be harmless — for example, food in the galley oven. But you could be smelling toxic chemicals contaminating the plane’s air supply. A Times investigation found that hundreds of people were sickened after exposure to toxic fumes on airplanes in recent years. Inside the cockpit, pilots have used emergency oxygen to escape fumes and made emergency landings, federal aviation records show. (Feldman, 12/17)

The Hill: Washington State Eyes Reopening Schools No Matter The Rate Of COVID-19 Infections
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) on Wednesday released updated plans for returning to in-person learning at schools across the state, regardless of a community’s COVID-19 infection rates. "I know some would have liked to see this sooner, but we have data and research now that we did not have six months ago," Inslee said during a press briefing Wednesday, where he was joined by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, as well as other education and health leaders. (Castronuovo, 12/16)

The Washington Post: Kansas Mayor Joyce Warshaw Resigns After Receiving Threats Over Mask Mandate 
The emails and voice mails to Dodge City, Kan., Mayor Joyce Warshaw began pouring in last month, after the city commission voted to require everyone in town to wear masks indoors. Some anonymous messages told her that she was restricting civil liberties, Warshaw told The Washington Post. Others said she should go to jail over her vote. But after the western Kansas city’s uphill battle against the coronavirus pandemic was highlighted in a USA Today feature Friday, the messages grew more frequent and aggressive: Burn in hell. Get murdered. One person simply wrote, “We’re coming for you.” So after nearly eight years in government, she called it quits Tuesday. (Armus, 12/16)

AP: Farmers Ordered To Pay Back Wages Over COVID-19 Quarantines
Three area farmers have been ordered to pay more than $11,000 in back wages after denying paid sick leave to employees who were advised to self-quarantine following potential COVID-19 exposure. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division ordered Coleman Agriculture in Gervais to pay seven employees $8,878; St. Joseph Orchard Inc. in McMinnville to pay four employees $1,820 and J Farms LLC to pay one employee $720, the Statesman Journal reported. (12/16)

AP: Oklahoma Puts Hold On Planned $400 Lost Wages Payments
Planned payments of $400 to some Oklahoma residents who lost wages amid the coronavirus pandemic are being put on hold due to the potential approval of additional federal unemployment payments, Oklahoma Employment Security Commission director Shelley Zumwalt said Wednesday. “If new federal legislation is passed and a new federal unemployment relief package reaches Oklahomans, it will be clear that OESC will return the funds,” said Zumwalt, who announced Dec. 10 that the payments would begin this week. (Miller, 12/16)

Tribune News Service: Tyson Foods Fires 7 Managers Accused Of Betting On Employee COVID-19 Infections At Iowa Plant
Seven Tyson Foods plant managers who were accused of betting on how many employees would get coronavirus were fired Wednesday, the company said. The suspected pool at Tyson’s pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa, was first reported in a November lawsuit filed by the son of a Isidro Fernandez, a plant employee who died from COVID-19. The lawsuit also accused of Tyson of disregarding worker safety while keeping the plant open and pressuring sick employees to keep working. (12/17)

Also —

Des Moines Register: Iowa Water Lead Levels Expose Thousands Of Iowans, UI Researchers Say
Thousands of Iowans, especially children, are being exposed to high levels of lead in their drinking water, a threat that should push Iowa lawmakers to increase testing and lower how much lead the state allows, University of Iowa researchers said Tuesday. An indication of the severity of the threat: One in five infants in Iowa is born with elevated levels of lead, said Michelle Scherer, a University of Iowa civil and environmental engineering professor, pointing to a 2017 study of blood samples from newborns. (Eller, 12/15)

Courier-Journal: Louisville Overdoses Climb As COVID-19 Cuts Access To Support Groups
As drug users have been cut off from some in-person support services because of the pandemic, overdose deaths in Louisville have skyrocketed this year, according to Dr. Martin Huecker, an emergency room physician. "It's very challenging to get people with addiction the treatment they need when we have these barriers," said Huecker, who noted that the increase has come as the number of overall emergency room visits has dropped. (Aulbach, 12/16)

Bloomberg: EU Said To Expedite Covid Vaccine For Pre-Christmas Rollout
European authorities are pushing for a compressed approval timeline for the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, according to people familiar with the plan, which could enable a rollout on the continent before Christmas. Should the vaccine win the backing of a key drugs oversight committee on Monday, the European Commission is planning for a sign-off as soon as the same day, two people said. That would enable shipping the first shots to vaccine centers as early as Wednesday, one of the people said. (Nardelli, Kregse and Stearns, 12/16)

NPR: France's Emmanuel Macron Tests Positive For The Coronavirus
French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for the coronavirus and will quarantine for a week, his official residence announced Thursday. Macron was tested for the virus following the onset of symptoms, though the Élysée Palace didn't immediately explain what those symptoms might include. He will isolate himself for seven days and will continue to work remotely, his residence said. (Diaz, 12/17)

The New York Times: ‘Nightmare’ Australia Housing Lockdown Called Breach Of Human Rights 
The sudden lockdown this summer of nine public housing towers in Melbourne that left 3,000 people without adequate food and medication and access to fresh air during the city’s second coronavirus wave breached human rights laws, an investigation found. The report, released on Thursday by the ombudsman in the state of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, said that the residents had been effectively placed under house arrest for 14 days in July without warning. It deprived them of essential supports, as well as access to activities like outdoor exercise, the report said. (Albeck-Ripka, 12/17)

Bloomberg: Brazil Hits 7 Million Cases With Infections Picking Up Speed
Brazil reached 7 million coronavirus cases as infections pick up pace just ahead of the holiday season. The government reported a record 70,574 new cases Wednesday, taking the total to 7,040,608. The milestone comes less than a month after Brazil hit the 6 million mark. The Latin American nation trails only the U.S. in number of cases and is third in the world in Covid-19 deaths, with 183,735. (Aragaki and Viotti Beck, 12/16)

Also —

The New York Times: In Landmark Ruling, Air Pollution Recorded As A Cause Of Death For British Girl 
A 9-year-old girl who suffered a fatal asthma attack in 2013 became the first person in Britain to officially have air pollution listed as a cause of death, a British official said. The landmark ruling puts a face and a name on one of the millions of people whose deaths are hastened by air pollution across the world every year. And in Britain, legal experts said, it could open a new door to lawsuits by pollution victims or their families. (Peltier, 12/16)

The New York Times: Faced With Protests, Pakistan Says Rapists Could Be Chemically Castrated 
When a top police official in the eastern city of Lahore said that a woman who was raped on a deserted highway was partly to blame for the attack, thousands of protesters swarmed city streets. Now, in response to months of protest, the government has passed a measure that says men convicted of rape can be sentenced to chemical castration. The ordinance, announced by the office of President Arif Alvi, also orders the creation of crisis centers to process rape kits within six hours of an attack, and special courts that will be required to try cases within four months. (ur-Rehman and Schmall, 12/16)

CIDRAP: Low Risk Of Severe COVID-19 Noted For Young Kids
A French study in Pediatrics today reports a low risk of severe COVID-19 for children less than 3 months old and points to low blood oxygen levels and high levels of inflammatory proteins as reliable predictors of severe disease in children. Researchers conducted a surveillance study of 60 hospitals—representing 38.5% of French children hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2. ... Nearly all (92%) of these infants presented with a fever. (12/15)

CIDRAP: Study Finds No Link Between COVID-19, Guillain-Barré Syndrome 
A large epidemiologic study in the United Kingdom today finds no association between COVID-19 and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), an autoimmune condition linked to other bacterial and viral infections. GBS is a rare neurologic disease that attacks the peripheral nervous system—typically the feet, hands, and limbs—causing numbness, weakness, pain, and occasionally, fatal paralysis or permanent neurological effects. The most common trigger for GBS is infection with Campylobacter jejuni, a bacterial strain that causes gastroenteritis, or infection of the digestive tract. (Kuebelbeck Paulsen, 12/14)

New England Journal of Medicine: Efficacy Of Tocilizumab In Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19 
Tocilizumab was not effective for preventing intubation or death in moderately ill hospitalized patients with Covid-19. Some benefit or harm cannot be ruled out, however, because the confidence intervals for efficacy comparisons were wide. (Stone et al, 12/10)

CIDRAP: UK Trial Finds No Benefit From Azithromycin In Hospital COVID-19 Patients
Investigators with the United Kingdom's RECOVERY trial reported yesterday that a preliminary analysis of data from the azithromycin arm of the trial showed the antibiotic had no impact on clinical outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. In the trial, which was conducted among COVID-19 patients at 176 National Health Service hospitals, 2,582 patients were randomized to receive 500 milligrams of azithromycin, an antibiotic, once daily and compared with 5,182 patients who received usual care. Patients entered the study an average of 8 days after onset of symptoms. The primary outcome was 28-day mortality, and the results, which were not peer-reviewed, were published on medRxiv, a preprint server. (12/15)

CIDRAP: Survey: Most Prefer COVID Messages That Note Scientific Limits 
Most German residents surveyed as part of a study published today in JAMA Network Open said they prefer COVID-19 public health messaging that acknowledges scientific uncertainty, suggesting that admitting to incomplete knowledge fosters public trust and motivates compliance. Published as a research letter by investigators from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, the study involved randomly sampling, from Jul 13 to 20, adult German residents who were part of an online research panel of more than 80,000 residents. Their aim was to test the validity of the assumption that communicating scientific uncertainty generates public mistrust and noncompliance in Germany, where coronavirus-related government and public health messages have sometimes not acknowledged their scientific limits. (Van Beusekom, 12/10)

CIDRAP: High Risk Of Death, Readmission Found After Hospitalization For COVID-19
A JAMA study yesterday of veterans hospitalized for COVID-19 found that the first 10 days after hospitalization are the most dangerous for patients, with a 40% to 60% higher risk of death or readmission compared with similar patients treated for pneumonia or heart failure. A research team from the University of Michigan and Veterans Administration (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System compared outcomes for 2,179 veterans hospitalized for COVID-19 and discharged from 132 US VA hospitals from Mar 1 to Jul 1 with nearly 5,300 similar patients hospitalized for non–COVID-19 pneumonia and heart failure during the same period. (12/15)

Also —

The Lancet: Oral Rimegepant For Preventive Treatment Of Migraine: A Phase 2/3, Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial
Rimegepant is a calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist that has shown efficacy and safety in the acute treatment of migraine. We aimed to compare the efficacy of rimegepant with placebo for preventive treatment of migraine. (Croop et al, 12/15)

New England Journal of Medicine: Survival With Olaparib In Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Among men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who had tumors with at least one alteration in BRCA1, BRCA2, or ATM and whose disease had progressed during previous treatment with a next-generation hormonal agent, those who were initially assigned to receive olaparib had a significantly longer duration of overall survival than those who were assigned to receive enzalutamide or abiraterone plus prednisone as the control therapy, despite substantial crossover from control therapy to olaparib. (Hussain et al, 12/10)

PLOS ONE: Knowledge, Attitudes, And Acceptability Of Direct-Acting Antiviral Hepatitis C Treatment Among People Incarcerated In Jail: A Qualitative Study
While U.S. jails are critical sites for engagement in HCV care, short lengths-of-stay often do not permit treatment in jail. Therefore, linkage to HCV care after incarceration is crucial. However, little is known about HCV treatment acceptability among justice-involved individuals in U.S. jails. The goal of this study was to understand knowledge, attitudes, and acceptability of HCV treatment among people living with HCV in the New York City (NYC) jail system. (Akiyama et al, 12/2)

Boston Globe: Let Public Health Expertise Guide School Reopenings
As evidence mounts that schools can reopen without worsening the coronavirus pandemic — and that keeping them shut has stunted the educations of millions of children — Boston Public Schools superintendent Brenda Cassellius is working to restore more in-person education across the city. For her efforts, she’s received furious pushback from the teachers union. But as long as schools are taking adequate safety precautions — as determined by public health officials — she should continue steadily reopening the school system. There’s no longer much doubt that remote instruction, delivered over computer screens, is inferior to in-person learning. (12/17)

Stat: Vaccination Makes A Big Difference In Reaching Herd Immunity 
On a recent Skype call with my grandmother, I broached the topic of the fast-arriving Covid-19 vaccines. Advanced age brings wisdom, but it also brings an elevated risk of severe illness from infection with the coronavirus, so I wanted to prime her to get an FDA-approved vaccine as early as possible. But as I was extolling the benefits of vaccination, I noticed a furrowed brow, a frown, and a look of uncertainty on her face. (Zach Nayer, 12/17)

The New York Times: The Covid-19 Vaccine Doesn't Mean Big Pharma Is Your Savior
It’s about as near as science gets to a miracle: A coronavirus vaccine has arrived — and the main reason is that mRNA vaccines, a previously untested technology, appears to work better than almost anyone had hoped. As recently as this summer, many analysts were pushing their predictions for a vaccine into the fall of 2021, in line with the timeline of traditional treatments. If these new vaccines perform as well in the wild as they have in clinical trials, the world will remember it as a victory perhaps greater than Salk and Sabin against polio. If this new type of vaccine also goes on to work against other viruses, it will mark an epochal advance in vaccinology, closer to the discoveries of Pasteur and Jenner. (Stephen Buranyi, 12/17)

The Washington Post: Purdue University Reopened This Fall. Here's What We Learned.
A few years ago — no, it was almost eight months, but like everything else about 2020 it feels longer — we decided to reopen our university this fall. Like almost all hard calls, the choice had to be made with a less-than-ideal amount of information in hand. Experience warned us against procrastination; the operational difficulties of the task ahead clearly were going to require every possible day of planning and preparation. We did reopen Purdue University in late August, and with great relief just completed a semester with more than 40,000 students taking courses on campus. (Mitch Daniels, 12/16)

The New York Times: People Thought Covid-19 Was Relatively Harmless For Younger Adults. They Were Wrong.
The largest burden of Covid-19 has undoubtedly fallen on people older than 65, accounting for around 80 percent of deaths in the United States. But if we momentarily eclipse that from our mind’s eye, something else becomes visible: The corona of this virus. Young adults are dying at historic rates. In research published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, we found that among U.S. adults ages 25 to 44, from March through the end of July, there were almost 12,000 more deaths than were expected based on historical norms. (Jeremy Samuel Faust, Harlan M. Krumholz and Rochelle P. Walensky, 12/17)

The Washington Post: Giving Trump Credit For The Vaccine Is The Best Way For Biden To Unite The Country
Joe Biden promised in his victory speech to “unite us here at home” and told Trump supporters that he wanted to “put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature [and] see each other again.” There’s one simple way he could show he is serious: Give President Trump credit for the stunning success of Operation Warp Speed. On Monday, the first Americans were vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. This is the greatest public health achievement in history. Until now, the record for the fastest vaccine development was four years. Operation Warp Speed did it in nine months. (Marc A. Thiessen, 12/15)

The Hill: The Fourth 'W' Needed To Defeat The Virus 
Experts have made us all familiar with the three Ws we need to follow during the pandemic: wash your hands, wear a mask, watch your distance. If we’re going to defeat this virus, we need to add a fourth W to that list: Wait to go back to work until you know you’re healthy if you’ve been exposed to COVID-19. (Curtis Chan and Wendy Chun-Hoon, 12/16)

The Washington Post: Women Might Be More Skeptical Of The Covid Vaccine. Why?
A trio of surveys released in the past few weeks upended what we knew, or thought we knew, about women’s and men’s behaviors and beliefs during the pandemic. With coronavirus vaccines on the horizon, Pew Research asked nearly 13,000 Americans whether they intended to get one. Women were 13 percent less likely than men, 54 to 67 percent, to say they did. A National Geographic survey a few days later reinforced the discrepancy with an even larger gap, women trailing by a full 19 percent. In a Gallup poll, the gap was smaller, but women were still 6 percent less likely than men to say they planned to get a coronavirus vaccine.What on earth is going on?“ Gotta wonder how this ties into social media and online wellness communities,” tweeted Ben Collins, a journalist who reports on disinformation and conspiracy theories. (Monica Hess, 12/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid Vaccine Shakedown At The WTO
The World Trade Organization will decide on Thursday whether to approve an Indian and South African proposal that would allow countries to disregard intellectual-property protections on Covid vaccines and therapeutics. Proponents claim the move would increase patients’ access to vaccines, especially in the developing world, by enabling companies to mass-manufacture generic copies of those drugs. In reality, suspending intellectual-property rights would make things much worse. The proposal is cynical—designed to benefit India’s and South Africa’s domestic drug industries at the expense of patients around the world. India is the world’s largest manufacturer of generic drugs, and South Africa is another big producer. They lament that the U.S. and Europe have blocked intellectual-property rights suspension, even though a greater number of WTO member countries are in favor. I’ve heard this line of attack before, and it is fraught with danger. (James Pooley, 12/16)

Los Angeles Times: Saving 162,000 Women A Year From Dying From Childbirth
Every two minutes, a woman dies of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Most of these deaths are preventable — and the world has been working on a solution for decades. The problem is the funds dedicated to solving the problem never go far enough. There are inexpensive and effective solutions that could help bring down the number of mothers who die from childbirth. New analysis published last week by Copenhagen Consensus, the think tank I lead, shows how a modest investment of less than $3 billion a year could avert 162,000 maternal deaths, more than 1.2 million newborn deaths and almost as many stillbirths. (Bjorn Lomborg, 12/17)