The Washington Post: At First Coronavirus Briefing, White House Acknowledges Vaccinations Will Take Months
The week-old Biden White House acknowledged Wednesday that most Americans will need to wait months to get vaccinated, as top officials launched regular briefings on their coronavirus response by seeking to illustrate their fidelity to science and transparency. Andy Slavitt, one of five senior officials who held the briefing, said that the administration is working to increase the availability of vaccinations “with incredible urgency and purpose” but that “it will be months before everyone who wants a vaccine can get one.” (Goldstein and Sun, 1/27)

Modern Healthcare: Biden Administration Warns Fully Meeting Vaccine Demand Could Take 'Months'
Members of the White House COVID-19 task force on Wednesday said the administration has reached its initial target of averaging 1 million vaccinations a day but warned it could take months before everyone who wants a vaccine can get one. In the first of the Biden administration's promised regular updates on the nation's pandemic response, Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the task force, said 47 million doses have been distributed to states and long-term care facilities. But only 24 million have been administered, while an estimated 3.4 million people have received their second dose. (Ross Johnson, 1/27)

The Washington Examiner: 'Every American Is Not Going To Be Eligible By Spring': White House Resists Coronavirus Herd Immunity Date
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday contradicted President Biden's assessment of when every person in the United States would be inoculated against the coronavirus. "Every American is not going to be eligible by spring," she said, offering a different view than the one her boss offered less than 24 hours before. On Monday, Biden predicted after an event rolling out his "Made in America" proposal that anyone who wished to have a COVID-19 vaccine would "be able to do that this spring." (Lim, 1/26)

In related news about Biden's vaccination plans —

FierceHealthcare: HHS Moves To Enable Recently Retired Doctors And Nurses To Deliver COVID-19 Vaccine 
The Biden administration is moving to allow doctors and nurses that recently retired or are inactive to administer COVID-19 vaccinations as part of a broader strategy to ramp up vaccinations. The announcement was made Wednesday as part of a White House briefing on the state of the pandemic and efforts to increase the supplies of the vaccine. (King, 1/27)

FierceHealthcare: Docs Call On Biden To Include Medical Groups In COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution 
Medical practices are largely being left out of the COVID-19 vaccine efforts, a survey from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) found. The survey, which reflected responses from 403 medical group practices, showed 85% of independent practices actively seeking the COVID-19 vaccine for their patients received some as of Jan. 21-24. Nearly half (45%) of hospital- or health system-owned practices seeking vaccines still hadn't gotten any. (Reed, 1/27)

Also —

The Washington Examiner: US Hits Trump Goal Of 20M Vaccinated A Month Late
Over 20 million Americans have now been vaccinated for the coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That milestone was reached nearly a month late. On Dec. 9, then-Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said that 20 million people would be vaccinated by the end of 2020. (Hogberg, 1/27)

Fox News: Second California Patient Dies Soon After COVID-19 Vaccination, Investigations Underway
X-ray technician Tim Zook’s health went into a sharp decline after receiving the second shot and he was eventually transferred to the University of California, Irvine Medical Center where he died Jan. 9. ... An investigation was underway into Zook's death after he allegedly developed an onslaught of medical issues following the second dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. ... The news comes amid reports of a separate patient in Placer County who tested positive for COVID-19 in late December, was vaccinated Thursday and died several hours after receiving the shot, the Placer County Sheriff's office announced Saturday. That case also involves an active investigation into the cause of death. (Rivas, 1/27)

Orange County Register: Health Care Worker Dies After Second Dose Of COVID Vaccine, Investigations Underway 
Tim Zook’s last post on Facebook brimmed with optimism. “Never been so excited to get a shot before,” he wrote on Jan. 5, above a photo of the Band-Aid on his arm and his COVID-19 vaccination card. “I am now fully vaccinated after receiving my 2nd Pfizer dose.” Zook, 60, was an X-ray technologist at South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana. A couple of hours later, he had an upset stomach and trouble breathing. By 3:30 p.m. it was so bad his colleagues at work walked him to the emergency room. “Should I be worried?” his wife, Rochelle, texted when she got the news. “No, absolutely not,” he texted back. “Do you think this is a direct result of the vaccine?” she typed. “No, no,” he said. “I’m not sure what. But don’t worry.” (Sforza, 1/26)

SF Gate: Death Of Northern California Man Several Hours After COVID-19 Vaccine Probed
A Northern California man died Thursday several hours after receiving a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to Placer County Public Health and the Placer County Sheriff's Office. The man previously tested positive for the coronavirus in late December. "There are multiple local, state, and federal agencies actively investigating this case; any reports surrounding the cause of death are premature, pending the outcome of the investigation," a statement from the sheriff's office said. "Our thoughts are with the family of the deceased." (Graff, 1/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine Works Against Mutations Found In U.K, South Africa Variants, Lab Study Finds 
A Pfizer Inc. laboratory study found that coronavirus mutations identified in the U.K. and South Africa had only small impacts on the effectiveness of antibodies generated by the company’s Covid-19 vaccine. The antibodies were slightly less effective against mutations in the variant identified in South Africa, according to the study. It was posted Wednesday on the online server bioRxiv, which publishes scientific papers before they have been peer-reviewed. (Hernandez, 127)

FiercePharma: First Moderna, Now Pfizer-BioNTech Working On Booster Shot Amid Rise Of COVID-19 Variants 
Pfizer and partner BioNTech are developing booster shots so that their COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty can protect against new, highly contagious variants, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. “Every time a new variant comes up we should be able to test whether or not [our vaccine] is effective,” Bourla was quoted as saying. “Once we discover something that it is not as effective, we will very, very quickly be able to produce a booster dose that will be a small variation to the current vaccine.” (Liu, 1/27)

The Hill: Fauci Confident Vaccine Companies Ready For 'Mutant' Coronavirus Strains 
Federal health agencies are preparing for the possibility that the current COVID-19 vaccines might not be effective against future strains of the coronavirus, Anthony Fauci said Wednesday, but he has confidence that drug companies will be able to quickly change the formula. Speaking at an event hosted by The Hill, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the federally authorized vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are effective against multiple strains that have been identified so far. (Weixel, 1/27)

In related news about coronavirus variants —

The Hill: UK Coronavirus Variant Found In Two Children, One Adult In Alabama 
A new strain of COVID-19 first found in the United Kingdom has been identified in one adult and two children in Alabama, the state's Department of Public Health announced Wednesday. The variant, first identified in the U.K. in late 2020, was found in two different Alabama counties: two cases in Montgomery County and one in Jefferson County. (Polus, 1/27)

CNN: New Covid Variant And Children: CDC Doesn't Know If Variants Cause Rare Complication In Kids 
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday it does not know if the new Covid-19 variants are causing more cases of a rare complication in children called multisystem inflammatory syndrome. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in children is a troubling complication of Covid-19 infection that can cause heart damage and typically shows up about three weeks after a child has been infected. Many MIS-C cases follow a Covid-19 infection that had no symptoms. (Christensen, 1/27)

Stat: Those Covid-19 Variants? ‘Don’t Worry Yet,’ Vaccine Expert Says
On Tuesday, Paul Offit, the vaccine developer and a professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, dropped by, virtually, for a conversation with STAT+ subscribers. During the discussion, he addressed a question on everyone’s mind: How worried should we be about new variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19? (Herper, 1/27)

KHN: Can The US Keep Covid Variants In Check? Here’s What It Takes
The covid-19 variants that have emerged in the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Africa and now Southern California are eliciting two notably distinct responses from U.S. public health officials. First, broad concern. A variant that wreaked havoc in the U.K., leading to a spike in cases and hospitalizations, is surfacing in a growing number of places in the U.S. This week, another worrisome variant seen in Brazil surfaced in Minnesota. If these or other strains significantly change the way the virus transmits and attacks the body, as scientists fear they might, they could cause yet another prolonged surge in illness and death in the U.S., even as cases have begun to plateau and vaccines are rolling out. (Barry-Jester, 1/28)

USA Today: 'COVID Arm': Moderna Vaccine Rash A Harmless Side Effect, Doctors Say
An angry red rash being called “COVID arm” is a harmless but annoying response in some people who get the Moderna vaccine. Aside from sometimes being itchy, it doesn't appear to be dangerous and people who get it should not hesitate to get their second dose of the vaccine, doctors say. There is no indication the reaction is anything but a topical – and brief – response as the body’s immune system goes to work, said Dr. Esther Freeman, director of global health dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital. (Weise, 1/27)

And the World Health Organization updates its stance on pregnancy and the vaccine —

The Wall Street Journal: WHO Recommends Against Moderna, Pfizer Vaccines For Most Pregnant Women 
The World Health Organization released new guidance about Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine this week, recommending generally against the use of the vaccine during pregnancy except in those at high risk of exposure or having a severe case. “In the interim, WHO recommends not to use mRNA-1273 in pregnancy, unless the benefit of vaccinating a pregnant woman outweighs the potential vaccine risks, such as in health workers at high risk of exposure and pregnant women with co-morbidities placing them in a high-risk group for severe Covid-19,” the guidance said. The agency said its recommendations would be updated as more data become available. (Toy, 1/27)

The Seattle Times: Overlake Medical Center Donors Got Special Access To COVID-19 Vaccine; Inslee Rebukes Hospital System
Last Friday, Molly Stearns, chief development officer at Overlake Medical Center & Clinics, emailed about 110 donors who gave more than $10,000 to the Eastside hospital system, informing them that highly coveted vaccine slots were available. ... The email — and the appearance of favoritism that an Overlake leader acknowledged was a mistake — raised eyebrows. Overlake shut down online access to the invite-only clinic after getting a call from Gov. Jay Inslee’s staff. (Bush, Reicher and Brownstone, 1/27)

The Hill: Inslee Rebukes Hospital Over Vaccine Appointments For Donors 
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) castigated a Bellevue-based hospital system over an email in which leadership offered appointments for coronavirus vaccinations to major donors. “We’re pleased to share that we have 500 new open appointments in the Overlake COVID-19 vaccine clinic, beginning this afternoon and tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 23) and next week,” Molly Stearns, chief development officer at Overlake Medical Center & Clinics, said in the email, according to The Seattle Times. (Budryk, 1/27)

CNN: Georgia Medical Center Suspended From Vaccination Program After Inoculating School District Staff 
A rural Georgia medical center has been suspended from the state's Covid-19 vaccination program for six months after the facility administered vaccines to staff of the local school district. The Georgia Department of Public Health was notified Tuesday that the Medical Center of Elberton had been vaccinating Elbert County School District staff members who were outside of the Phase 1A+ category of people eligible for the vaccine. After an investigation, the DPH confirmed the information and suspended the medical center, a release from the department said. (Holcombe and Sutton, 1/28)

ABC News: County Apologizes For Seniors Having To Wait Outside In Cold For COVID-19 Vaccine 
County officials in Kansas apologized after seniors had to wait for hours in freezing temperatures to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The county expanded vaccine eligibility to residents ages 80 and above this week. Many of those waiting in line outside the Johnson County Health Department-run vaccine clinic in Shawnee on Tuesday could be seen requiring assistance or the use of a walker. (Deliso, 1/27)

In other news about the vaccine rollout —

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Can't Get Enough COVID-19 Vaccine To Fill The Demand
Utah ran out of doses of COVID-19 vaccine last week, and it’s about to run out again, Gov. Spencer Cox said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” That’s both “good news and bad news,” Cox said — good news because the state has done a better job of getting vaccines administered and “bad news, obviously, that we need more. We’ll run out very early this week because of the procedures that we put in place.” Cox said Utah is “doing much better” than “when I became governor three weeks ago” — moving from “about 36th” to “about ninth” in the nation for doses delivered. “We’re certainly trending in the right direction.” (Pierce, 1/27)

Stat: Twitter Thread Offers Window Into Chaotic Search For Covid-19 Shots 
As an intensive care physician in Phoenix, Arghavan Salles has spent the past several months desperately trying to keep Covid-19 patients alive. She knows all too well how terrifying it is for them to be alone in a hospital room, away from their family and dependent on a machine for their every breath. That’s why earlier this month she was feverishly searching online and poring over state public health websites in an attempt to book a vaccination appointment for her mother in California. (St. Fleur, 1/28)

Boston Globe: While Some Struggle To Get Vaccine, Colleges And Hospitals Face A Different Problem: What To Do With Surplus Doses
Northeastern University had nearly 2,000 doses of precious COVID vaccine sitting in freezers last week after most of its front-line and emergency workers already had been immunized. So college officials informed the state that they planned to use the leftovers on other employees, including older adults and those with multiple medical conditions, who would soon be eligible under the state plan. On Monday, the university started immunizing those workers and planned to give shots to some 730 people throughout the week. But by Tuesday, the school’s vaccination clinic had come to an abrupt halt. The state wanted the college to limit immunizations to people who were 75 or older, a relatively tiny group on a college campus, and wait until sometime in February before expanding vaccinations. (Fernandes and Lazar, 1/27)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Is Struggling To Gauge Racial Disparities In COVID-19 Vaccine Access
More than 92,000 Mainers have received at least first doses of the vaccine as of Wednesday, while 28,700 have received both doses, according to data from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The first phase targeted health care workers, residents of long term care facilities, first responders and certain other workers considered critical to the state’s virus response. Vaccinations were extended to Mainers age 70 and up last week. While the new data provide insight into how the vaccine has been allocated in Maine so far, gaps in the data with respect to race and ethnicity leave questions as to whether the distribution has been equitable. Other states have seen similar data problems. (Piper, 1/28)

KHN: At Colorado’s Rural Edges, Vaccines Help Assisted Living Homes Crack Open The Doors
Bingo is back in the dining room. In-person visits have returned, too, though with masks and plexiglass. The Haven Assisted Living Facility’s residents are even planning a field trip for a private movie screening once they’ve all gotten their second round of covid-19 vaccines. Such changes are small but meaningful to residents in the Hayden, Colorado, long-term care home, and they’re due mostly to the arrival of the vaccine. (Bichell, 1/28)

KHN: Huge Gaps In Vaccine Data Make It Next To Impossible To Know Who Got The Shots 
As they rush to vaccinate millions of Americans, health officials are struggling to collect critically important information — such as race, ethnicity and occupation — of every person they jab. The data being collected is so scattered that there’s little insight into which health care workers, or first responders, have been among the people getting the initial vaccines, as intended — or how many doses instead have gone to people who should be much further down the list. (Pradhan and Schulte, 1/28)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Hospitalizations Down For 15th Day In A Row 
The U.S. saw further declines in the number of people hospitalized because of Covid-19, while newly reported cases hovered around 150,000 for the third day in a row. Hospitalizations, which totaled 107,444 as of Wednesday, have been on the decline since Jan. 12 when the figure was at 131,326, according to the Covid Tracking Project. The number of people in intensive care units also fell slightly to 20,497. (Hall, 1/28)

Axios: Coronavirus Cases Fall In 41 States
New coronavirus infections fell by 16% over the past week — the third straight week of significant improvement. Yes, but: The U.S. is still averaging roughly 165,000 new cases per day, meaning the virus is still spreading largely unchecked. And the rise of more contagious variants will ensure that Americans’ risk remains high. (Baker and Witherspoon, 1/28)

Bloomberg: Covid Cases Drop Most In U.S. West, But Relief May Be Brief
In the span of two weeks, states in the U.S. West pushed down coronavirus case averages by 43%, outstripping the decline in other regions, which all have seen numbers retreat from peaks this month. Almost every state in the West reported cases falling or flat Tuesday, and every region in the country has seen its seven-day average drop at least 20% since Jan. 12, according to data from the Covid Tracking Project. Some states, like California and Oregon, had numbers drop by more than a third in the course of a week. Such improvements inspired California Governor Gavin Newsom to ease social-distancing measures earlier this week. The relaxed policies, combined with more-contagious strains gaining traction in the state, could lay the groundwork for numbers to spike again. (Querolo, 1/27)

KHN: New Covid Cases Plunge 25% Or More As Behavior Changes 
A dozen states are reporting drops of 25% or more in new covid-19 cases and more than 1,200 counties have seen the same, federal data released Wednesday shows. Experts say the plunge may relate to growing fear of the virus after it reached record-high levels, as well as soaring hopes of getting vaccinated soon. Nationally, new cases have dropped 21% from the prior week, according to Department of Health and Human Services data, reflecting slightly more than 3,000 counties. Corresponding declines in hospitalization and death may take days or weeks to arrive, and the battle against the deadly virus rages on at record levels in many places. (Jewett, 1/28)

In related news —

The Guardian: 'Have We Learned Nothing?' California Faces Backlash For Lifting Stay-Home Order 
California’s decision to lift its stay-at-home order is drawing backlash from health experts and frontline workers who warn that a premature reopening could prolong the crisis and further devastate hard-hit communities. Citing projections that hospital capacity would improve in coming weeks, the governor, Gavin Newsom, announced Monday that he was rescinding the statewide shutdown order. The move returned counties to a tiered system of localized reopenings and allowed certain sectors to partially resume business, including salons, restaurants and churches. (Levin, 1/27)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Cases Among L.A. Firefighters Drop Sharply
The number of Los Angeles firefighters testing positive for the coronavirus has dropped significantly since the city fire agency began offering its members vaccinations, Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said in a memo to firefighters this week. In the memo dated Tuesday and obtained by The Times, Terrazas said the Los Angeles Fire Department has seen a “sharp decline” in cases since firefighters started getting the shots Dec. 28. A chart included with the memo shows that the LAFD was averaging more than 15 new cases a day before the vaccination program. The number soon plummeted. In the most recent week, the department has averaged fewer than five new cases a day. (Smith and Welsh, 1/27)

Scientific American: COVID-Overwhelmed Hospitals Strain Staff And Hope To Avoid Rationing Care 
The first Monday of 2021, Nancy Blake says, "was the worst day I've ever seen." Blake is the chief nursing officer at Harbor–University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center. She looked at the intensive care unit, which had twice the number of patients as standard critical care beds. Noncritical patients were lined up in gurneys in the hallways. At other hospitals in the area, ambulances were waiting for eight to 12 hours to move patients into beds. Most of those people had COVID. And still today, Blake continues, “patients keep coming and keep coming and keep coming.” The staff is keeping up quality care, but she worries there may not be enough hands to take care of all of those who are seriously ill. “It’s been pretty stressful,” she says. Every day she looks at her coworkers and sees “the moral distress in the faces.” (Harmon Courage, 1/27)

The Hill: CDC Projects US Could See Up To 514K Coronavirus Deaths By Feb. 20 
The United States is projected to record as many as 514,000 deaths from the coronavirus by Feb. 20 based on the country's current trajectory, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday. Speaking at the Biden administration's first formal public health briefing on the pandemic, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the agency predicts the country is on pace for between 479,000 and 514,000 COVID-19 deaths by Feb. 20. (Samuels, 1/27)

Becker's Hospital Review: Cedars-Sinai Opens COVID-19 Recovery Program
Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Group launched a COVID-19 Recovery Program to treat patients cleared of the novel virus who still have lingering symptoms weeks or months later, according to a Jan. 26 news release.  To be eligible for treatment in the program, patients must be referred by a physician, have had a confirmed COVID-19 infection and be experiencing persistent symptoms.  (Carbajal, 1/27)

ABC News: COVID-19 'Long-Haulers' Trying To Decode Lasting Symptoms A Year After Falling Ill 
Shayna Zweiback is a survivor of the coronavirus. After contracting the viral infection in March last year, she was sick for weeks. Then, just as she thought she was starting to feel better in May, she says she began experiencing new symptoms. (Torres, Park, Lake and Rivas, 1/27)

Becker's Hospital Review: Cardiologists To Lead First US Study Of Rare Inflammatory Condition In Children
Two pediatric cardiologists will co-lead the nation's first long-term clinical trial for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, a rare inflammatory condition potentially linked to COVID-19, reports The Salt Lake Tribune. Ngan Truong, MD, a pediatric cardiologist at University of Utah Health and Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, and Jane Newburger, MD, a pediatric cardiologist at Boston Children's Hospital, will oversee the five-year study. (Bean, 1/27)

In global developments —

Bloomberg: South Africa Allows Use of Parasite Drug to Treat Covid Patients
South African authorities approved the use of a drug used to control parasites in humans and livestock to treat coronavirus patients. The medicine, known as ivermectin, will be allowed for use on compassionate grounds in a controlled-access program, the head of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority said Wednesday. Medical practitioners who apply to the regulator to use the drug will be considered on a case-by-case basis, Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela said. Ivermectin has been used for decades to treat livestock infested with parasitic worms, while in humans it’s used as a topical ointment for diseases including skin infections and inflammation. The World Health Organization has suggested the drug has encouraging effects on coronavirus, though like other regulators it’s also said the medication hasn’t been properly evaluated. (Kew, 1/27)

The Washington Post: China Expands Anal Swab Coronavirus Tests, Saying It's More Accurate Than Throat Method 
Months-long lockdowns. Entire city populations herded through the streets for mandatory testing. The people of China could be forgiven for thinking they had seen it all during the coronavirus pandemic. But now they face a new indignity: the addition of anal swabs — yes, you read that right — to the testing regimen for those in quarantine. (Dou, 1/27)

ABC News: Biden Administration Developing School Safety Standards For Reopening During COVID-19 Pandemic 
As officials nationwide grapple with how to reopen schools, the White House said on Wednesday it plans to develop school safety standards as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing that there are "a number of steps that will need to be taken" to meet President Joe Biden's goal of reopening the majority of K-8 schools within 100 days. (Tatum, 1/27)

Politico: Biden's First Big Covid Test: Keeping Parents Of School Kids From Losing It 
President Joe Biden’s vow to reopen most schools during his first 100 days is crashing into demands of one of his party’s most powerful constituencies: teachers’ unions. And the friction is creating an early test for the Democratic Party’s commitment to following the advice of scientists when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic. Tensions began bubbling up this week as Chicago teachers and city officials clashed over a plan to reopen. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot insists that classrooms are safe, but teachers in the city are pushing for an expansion in vaccinations first. Now, a version of that fight is playing out nationally, as the White House tries to navigate between a growing body of science indicating that long-held fears of reopening schools may be overblown with demands from teachers for more funding and health supplies before returning to the classroom. (Cadelago and Stratford, 1/27)

In other administration updates —

The Washington Post: Biden Kills Trump Plan On Opioid-Treatment Prescriptions 
The Biden administration said Wednesday that it is canceling a last-minute plan by the Trump administration to let more physicians prescribe an opioid-treatment drug, despite exhortations from lawmakers and physician groups to keep it. “On January 14, 2021, HHS announced forthcoming Practice Guidelines for the Administration of Buprenorphine for Treating Opioid Use Disorder,” the White House’s drug policy office said in a message obtained by The Washington Post. “Unfortunately, the announcement was made prematurely. Therefore, the Guidelines previously announced cannot be issued at this time.” (Diamond, 1/27)

The Hill: White House Goes Full-Throttle On COVID-19 Relief Talks 
The White House is moving forward with a range of meetings with lawmakers and other stakeholders as President Biden urges the passage of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal. Press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday that Biden and Vice President Harris are “engaged directly” with members of Congress on COVID-19 relief and described conversations as productive, though she did not provide specific details on any of their meetings. (Chalfant, 1/27)

The Guardian and Agence France-Presse: White House: 'Great Concern' Over Covid Origin 'Misinformation' From China
The US wants a “robust and clear” international probe into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, has said. Speaking to reporters, she said it was “imperative we get to the bottom” of how the virus appeared and spread. She highlighted “great concern” over “misinformation” from “some sources in China”. (1/27)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Publishes Strategy To Align AI Efforts
HHS has published an artificial-intelligence strategy outlining the department's approach to using and regulating AI, which includes setting up an HHS AI Council to spearhead its efforts. The AI strategy, developed over the last year and designed to align AI priorities across the department, is the latest sign of HHS ramping up its AI focus. The Food and Drug Administration recently released a five-pronged action plan to underpin its approach to regulating medical software with AI or machine learning components and HHS last month named Oki Mek, formerly a senior adviser to the HHS chief information officer, its first-ever chief artificial intelligence officer. (Kim Cohen, 1/27)

Stat: Advocacy Groups Urge Against Woodcock As FDA Commissioner
As the Biden White House attempts to fashion its health policies, a coalition of consumer and patient advocacy groups is urging the administration not to tap Janet Woodcock, a long-standing Food and Drug Administration official, to head the embattled agency. (Silverman, 1/27)

ABC News: Federal Officials Misappropriated Millions Earmarked For Biomedical Research: Investigation 
Over the last decade, federal officials misappropriated millions of dollars designated for biomedical research, including vaccine research, emergency preparedness for public health threats like Ebola, Zika -- and now, COVID-19 -- according to the findings from an investigation into a whistleblower complaint to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, shared with ABC News. (Pezenik, 1/27)

The New York Times: Millions Meant For Public Health Threats Were Diverted Elsewhere, Watchdog Says
A federal watchdog has found that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which drew national attention last year when the Trump administration fired its director, has been used for the past 10 years as a “slush fund” to cover expenses unrelated to its core mission of fighting health threats like Ebola, Zika and the coronavirus. The 223-page report, issued Wednesday by the Office of Special Counsel, found that the Department of Health and Human Services diverted millions of taxpayer dollars intended for BARDA to finance vaccine research and pandemic preparedness into other government activities, and failed to inform Congress — a potential violation of federal law. (Stolberg, 1/27)

The Hill: Vaccine Research Funding Misused For Decade, Says Special Counsel Office 
Federal officials have misused a fund intended for vaccine research to pay for unrelated expenses since at least 2010, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel alleged in letters to President Biden and Congress on Wednesday. Millions of dollars that Congress appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for vaccine research and emergency preparedness for public health threats was instead spent on administrative expenses, legal services, unrelated salaries and in one case, the removal of office furniture. (Hellmann, 1/27)

And lawmakers are investigating the purchase of $70 million worth of ventilators —

The Washington Post: House Opens Investigation Of Pandemic Ventilator Purchases Overseen By White House
A House subcommittee is investigating a government deal to buy $70 million worth of ventilators for the coronavirus pandemic response that a Washington Post investigation found were inadequate for treating most covid-19 patients. Last spring, as part of its effort to increase the number of ventilators amid the crisis, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Logistics Agency purchased 11,200 AutoMedx SAVe II+ ventilators from Combat Medical Systems, which distributes the devices. But the ventilators were inadequate for treating covid-19 patients and remain in warehouses, according to Stephanie Bialek, a spokeswoman for the Strategic National Stockpile. (Albergotti and Gregg, 1/27)

Becker's Hospital Review: House Investigates HHS Ventilator Deal
HHS and the Defense Logistics Agency purchased 11,200 ventilators, called the AutoMedx SAVe II+, from AutoMedx and distributor Combat Medical Systems last spring, according to the Post. An investigation by the Post found the ventilators were inadequate for treating most COVID-19 patients, and they've sat unused in warehouses. Adrian Urias, co-founder of AutoMedx and current shareholder, advised the Trump administration's coronavirus task force on ventilator purchases, according to the Post. The House has requested documents and communications from AutoMedx and Combat Medical related to the deal and a description of the negotiations with the government. (Anderson, 1/27)

Politico: Biden Starts Rolling Back Trump Anti-Abortion Rules 
President Joe Biden is due to sign executive orders on Thursday aimed at rolling back some of the Trump administration’s most far-reaching abortion restrictions, including one denying U.S. aid to health groups abroad that provide information about the procedure, according to a White House document and three sources familiar with the plans. The actions will begin restoring federal support to abortion providers and organizations that offer abortion counseling while promoting the new administration's reproductive rights agenda on the global stage. (Ollstein, 1/28)

CNN: Biden To Sign Memorandum Reversing Trump Abortion Access Restrictions 
Biden will be fulfilling a campaign promise in the memorandum, rescinding the so-called Mexico City Policy, a ban on US government funding for foreign nonprofits that perform or promote abortions. The Trump administration reinstated the restriction in 2017 by presidential memorandum and then extended it to cover all applicable US global health funding. That made some $9.5 billion in aid for everything from HIV treatment to clean water projects and child immunizations contingent on groups agreeing not to discuss or perform abortions. (Kelly and Gaouette, 1/28)

In abortion developments from Utah, Iowa, Illinois and South Carolina —

The Hill: Utah Republican Proposes State Bill Requiring Watching Video Before Abortion 
A Utah Republican lawmaker proposed a bill in the state House of Representatives on Wednesday that would require women to watch a video that includes ultrasounds of a developing fetus before undergoing an abortion. State Rep. Steve Christiansen (R) introduced a bill in the Utah House that would mandate women to sign a document in front of a health care witness saying they’ve watched the Utah Department of Health video, under the penalty of perjury, before an abortion procedure. (Coleman, 1/27)

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah’s Pre-Abortion Course Would Feature Heartbeat Audio, Procedure Images Under New State Bill
Completing this online module is already a mandatory step before an abortion in Utah — although right-wing advocates argue the current informed process is too porous and believe women might be skimming over or skipping the course. But abortion rights groups see these new proposed restrictions as yet another episode in a long campaign to block access to pregnancy-ending procedures in Utah. (Rodgers, 1/28)

The Gazette: Iowa House OKs Constitutional Amendment Declaring No Right To Abortion
Iowa voters are a step closer to being able to vote on whether the Iowa Constitution guarantees a right to an abortion. The Iowa House approved House Joint Resolution 5 that would add language to make clear there is no constitutional right to an abortion or requirement for public funding of abortions. Shortly after 9 p.m., the House approved the resolution 55-44, with three Republicans joining House Democrats in casting “no” votes. (1/27)

KCCI Des Moines: Iowa House Passes Constitutional Amendment About Abortion Rights
The amendment now heads to a Senate subcommittee, which is expected to take it up next week. In order for the Iowa Constitution to be amended, the bill must be passed through the legislature twice and be approved by Iowa voters in an election. (1/27)

Capital News Illinois: HHS Launches Probe Into Illinois Abortion Law
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched an investigation to determine whether Illinois has violated federal law by enacting and enforcing the 2019 Reproductive Health Act which, among other things, requires certain health insurance plans to cover abortion services. In a letter dated Jan. 19, which was the last full day of the Trump administration, HHS’s Office of Civil Rights notified the Chicago-based Thomas More Society that it had received a complaint the group filed in October 2019 and had agreed to open an investigation to determine if certain portions of the act violate federal law. (Hancock, 1/27)

Fox News: HHS Probing Whether Illinois Discriminated Against Insurers That Limited Abortion Coverage 
Illinois' Reproductive Health Act requires private insurers to cover abortion. It's unclear how the investigation will proceed under Biden's leadership, but it resembled a similar investigation HHS undertook that ultimately resulted in threatening to revoke Medicaid funding for California. (Dorman, 1/27)

Post and Courier: As Abortion Ban Bill Advances, SC Democrats Accuse Republicans Of Not Focusing On Pandemic 
A bill to ban most abortions in South Carolina took another step closer to passage Wednesday over the fierce protests of Democratic lawmakers who excoriated the Republican majority for devoting hours of legislative time on that issue while the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the state. In a key procedural step, the S.C. Senate voted 29-17 in favor of moving forward with the legislation, which would prohibit abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which typically occurs around six to eight weeks into pregnancies. (Lovegrove, 1/27)

Post and Courier: Charleston Sheriff Decries SC Abortion Bill Giving Rape Victims' Names To Authorities
Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano took to Twitter on Wednesday to decry a Statehouse proposal that would give her department the names of any rape or incest victims who get abortions. The amendment, part of the so-called “fetal heartbeat” bill, would require any doctor who performs an abortion for an adult patient who reports that the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest to give the patient’s contact information to the local sheriff within 24 hours. Currently, doctors may refer victims to law enforcement or recovery services, but wouldn’t do so without the patient’s consent. (Coello, 1/27)

In global developments —

The New York Times: Near-Total Abortion Ban Takes Effect in Poland, and Thousands Protest
A contentious near-total ban on abortion in Poland went into effect late Wednesday, despite rampant opposition from hundreds of thousands of Poles who began protesting in the fall in the largest demonstrations in the country since the 1989 collapse of communism. Thousands of outraged women, teenagers and allies returned to the streets Wednesday night bundled up against the cold after word that a ruling that halts the termination of pregnancies for fetal abnormalities — virtually the only kind of abortion performed in Poland — would come into force. (Kwai, Pronczuk and Magdziarz, 1/27)

The New York Times: Thailand Legalizes Early-Term Abortions But Keeps Other Restrictions
Thailand’s Parliament has voted to make abortion legal in the first trimester, while keeping penalties in place for women who undergo it later in their pregnancies. Lawmakers in the Senate voted 166 to 7 on Monday to amend a law that had imposed prison terms of up to three years for anyone having an abortion, and up to five years for those who perform one. The new version allows any woman to end a pregnancy in the first 12 weeks. (Suhartono and Ives, 1/28)

Politico: Lawmakers Demand Answers On Covid Outbreak, Guard Deployments 
Frustrated lawmakers on Wednesday demanded a better accounting of the scope of a Covid outbreak among the National Guard members deployed to the Capitol, and answers on why thousands of troops are being forced to remain on duty in Washington, D.C., through March for an unspecified threat. “That is a really dense force packed into just a few blocks — that’s more than we have in Iraq and Afghanistan combined,” said Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.). “If there is not a very clear threat and a very clear mission then send them home.” (Seligman and Desiderio, 1/27)

Politico: Second Police Officer Died By Suicide Following Capitol Attack 
A second police officer who responded to the violent insurrection that rocked the Capitol Building on Jan. 6 has died by suicide, according to testimony obtained by POLITICO. Acting Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee told House appropriators during a closed-door session on Tuesday that Jeffrey Smith, a D.C. Police officer, and Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood both “took their own lives in the aftermath of that battle.” (Emma and Ferris, 1/27)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The Hill: House Democrat Says The COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution Is 'Not An Issue That Should Be Tainted With Politics' 
The U.S. needs strong leadership to educate Americans about the coronavirus vaccine and get it distributed, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) said on Wednesday. Speaking at The Hill’s “The Challenge of Our Time: The COVID-19 Vaccine” event, Johnson told moderator Steve Clemons that the past administration’s distribution of and discussion about the COVID-19 vaccine was “disjointed and had an appearance of being very partisan.” (Oakes, 1/27)

Politico: Leahy’s Hospitalization Shows Dems’ Majority Hangs By Thread 
Here’s how fragile Democrats’ Senate majority is: The brief Tuesday hospitalization of Senate pro tem Patrick Leahy prompted nearly everyone in the Capitol to research Vermont’s Senate vacancy laws, just in case. Leahy (D-Vt.), who has served in the Senate since 1975, returned to work on Wednesday seemingly unscathed. The most senior Democratic senator said he was given a “clean bill of health” after being briefly hospitalized on Tuesday evening after suffering muscle spasms. The 80-year-old Democrat also indicated he's cleared to perform his normal duties. (Everett, 1/27)

KHN: 4 Vital Health Issues — Not Tied To Covid — That Congress Addressed In Massive Spending Bill 
Late last month, before President Joe Biden took office and proposed his pandemic relief plan, Congress passed a nearly 5,600-page legislative package that provided some pandemic relief along with its more general allocations to fund the government in 2021.While the $900 billion that lawmakers included for urgent pandemic relief got most of the attention, some even bigger changes for health care were buried in the other parts of that huge legislative package. (Huetteman, 1/28)

The New York Times: Aetna To Expand Coverage For Gender-Affirming Surgeries 
Allison Escolastico, a 30-year-old transgender woman, has wanted breast augmentation surgery for a decade. By 2019, she finally thought her insurance company, Aetna, would pay for it, only to find that it considered the procedure cosmetic, not medically necessary, and refused to cover it. “I knew from my case, it wasn’t cosmetic,” said Ms. Escolastico, who contacted a lawyer after she lost her appeal last year. “I knew I had to fight for this,” she said. (Abelson, 1/26)

FierceHealthcare: Aetna Grows Coverage For Gender-Affirming Surgeries For Transgender Women 
Aetna is expanding coverage for gender-affirming surgeries for transgender women. The insurer will now cover gender-affirming breast augmentation in most of its commercial plans, the CVS Health subsidiary announced this week. The change came as a result of a collaboration between Aetna, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF), Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll law firm and several transgender Aetna members. (Minemyer, 1/27)

In other health care industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Push CMS To Pause 'Most Favored Nation' Drug-Pricing Rule
Hospitals want CMS to pull the plug on its contentious "most favored nation" drug-pricing rule, a Trump-era demonstration that would tie Medicare outpatient drug pay to drug prices in other wealthy countries. Providers argued the policy is illegal and wouldn't lower drug prices or patients' out-of-pocket costs in comments on the interim final rule due Tuesday. The American Hospital Association said it would "harm patients' access to critical, lifesaving drugs" and create more financial problems for hospitals because "the rule places the entire onus of reducing drug prices on hospitals, rather than on drug companies or on Medicare." Experts have said the Trump administration's last-minute plan depends on providers negotiating drugmakers' prices down to meet reduced payment levels. (Brady, 1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Roz Brewer To Bring Pandemic Experience To Walgreens At Pivotal Time 
When Rosalind Brewer, then the CEO of Sam’s Club, called out the lack of diversity in American corporations in a 2015 interview, she received death threats and a torrent of criticism. Five years later, Ms. Brewer, now Starbucks Corp.’s No. 2 executive, is set to become the only Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company as she takes over as chief executive of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. amid a national debate about systemic racism. (Terlep, Haddon and Nassauer, 1/27)

FierceHealthcare: Nearly Half Of Adults Older Than 65 Don't Have Online Medical Accounts That Could Connect Them With COVID-19 Vaccines 
Older adults are being prioritized for COVID-19 vaccines because they are among the most vulnerable to complications from the novel coronavirus. But they are also less likely to be using the tech tools such as online patient portals that would help notify them about vaccine availability and appointment scheduling, according to newly analyzed data from National Poll on Healthy Aging, based at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. Nearly half (45%) of individuals between the ages of 65 and 80 said they had not set up an account with their health provider’s online portal system, the analysis found. (Reed, 1/27)

Becker's Hospital Review: 12 States With The Most Rural Hospitals At Risk Of Closure
Across the U.S., more than 800 hospitals — 40 percent of all rural hospitals in the country — are either at immediate or high risk of closure, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. More than 500 rural hospitals in the U.S. were at immediate risk of closure before the COVID-19 pandemic because of financial losses and lack of reserves to maintain operations. The hospitals identified as being at immediate risk of closure had a cumulative negative total margin over the most recent three-year period, and their financial situation has likely deteriorated because of the pandemic. (Ellison, 1/27)

Crain's Cleveland Business: Cleveland Clinic, Doctors Hospital Form Advisory Council To Expand Health Care In The Bahamas
Cleveland Clinic has formed a strategic advisory council with Doctors Hospital Health System, a tertiary healthcare institution in the Bahamas, where the two organizations aim to expand and improve the delivery of healthcare services. A two-year strategic advisory agreement — through which the two agreed to form the council — will provide Doctors Hospital access to Cleveland Clinic's network of internal experts for strategic planning, clinical education and leadership development, according to a news release. The Clinic is paid a fee under the agreement, but specific financial terms weren't disclosed. (Coutre, 1/27)

An obituary —

Becker's Hospital Review: Former St. Jude Director Dies
Joseph V. Simone, MD, a former St. Jude Children's Research Hospital director who helped lead the first curative treatment for childhood leukemia, died Jan. 21, the Memphis, Tenn.-based hospital said. He was 85. "Dr. Simone was an extraordinary leader and a giant in the field of oncology," James Downing, MD, president and CEO of St. Jude, said in a news release. "Our hospital — in truth, the world — owes a great debt of gratitude to him for his many accomplishments. A visionary and a world-class clinician, he was, most importantly, a man of principle." (Gooch, 1/27)

Becker's Hospital Review: N95 Mask Demand Will Remain High This Year, 3M CEO Predicts
Mike Roman, CEO and chairman of 3M, told CNBC Jan. 26 that the company expects demand for N95 masks to be strong throughout 2021. N95 masks are considered the best option to protect against COVID-19, CNBC reports. ... NPR reported Jan. 27 that hospital workers are still being asked to ration and reuse their supplies of N95s. The administration of President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to prioritize manufacturing of N95 masks and other medical supplies. (Anderson, 1/27)

In related news —

The New York Times: With All Eyes On Covid-19, Drug-Resistant Infections Crept In 
As Covid-19 took hold over the last year, hospitals and nursing homes used and reused scarce protective equipment — masks, gloves, gowns. This desperate frugality helped prevent the airborne transfer of the virus. But it also appears to have helped spread a different set of germs — drug-resistant bacteria and fungi — that have used the chaos of the pandemic to grow opportunistically in health care settings around the globe. (Richtel, 1/27)

Stat: U.S. Drug Prices More Than Twice As High Than In 32 Other Countries
As debate intensifies over the cost of medicines, a new analysis found that prescription drug prices were on average 2.5 times more expensive in the U.S. than in 32 other countries. That gap widened to 3.4 times costlier when looking specifically at brand-name medications. (Silverman, 1/28)

Stat: Pharma Is Making Slow Progress On Access In Low-Income Countries
Like the proverbial tortoise, a new analysis finds that while the pharmaceutical industry is taking steps to provide access to its medicines, it is doing so at a slower pace than is needed for lower-income countries. The most notable sign of progress is in the R&D planning stages, as more drug makers are thinking ahead about access issues. (Silverman, 1/27)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

FiercePharma: Nostrum Labs Adds Another NDMA-Tainted Metformin Lot To Its Growing Recall
2020's metformin recalls have bled into the new year. Just this week, Nostrum Laboratories, which already extended a product pull earlier this month, put another lot on the chopping block thanks to familiar contamination fears. Monday, Nostrum said it had recalled another lot of its 750-mg extended release metformin tablets due, once again, to higher-than-allowed levels of the possible carcinogen N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). The move extends a metformin recall Nostrum issued in November, which the company first expanded in early January when it yanked another single lot of the popular diabetes med. (Kansteiner, 1/26)

Stat: Coalition Calls For Opioid Settlement Funds To Go To Evidence-Based Efforts
As state and local governments consider how to spend proceeds from settlements with opioid makers, a coalition of medical societies and advocacy groups is urging public officials to create dedicated funds to help people with substance use disorders, rather than fix holes in their budgets. (Silverman, 1/27)

Also —

Stat: A Thermostat For Blood Pressure Could Help Patients With Spinal Cord Injuries
Paralysis or the loss of mobility are among the most pressing and clear consequences of a spinal cord injury. But many patients also face lesser-known complications that can disrupt their daily lives in other ways. One of the most common problems is orthostatic hypotension, or not being able to maintain a stable blood pressure when switching positions between sitting, standing, or lying down. (Gaffney, 1/27)

Politico: Food Stamp Spending Jumped Nearly 50 Percent In 2020 
Federal spending on the country’s largest nutrition assistance program increased by nearly 50 percent in 2020 amid the economic shock of the pandemic, according to newly released data from the Agriculture Department. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, still known to many as food stamps, cost nearly $90 billion in fiscal year 2020, USDA said Wednesday. That’s a major jump from just over $60 billion in 2019. (Bottemiller Evich, 1/27)

USA Today: Federal Government Wants Americans To Buy Groceries Online, But Most People On SNAP Can’t
The federal government has said Americans should stay home and buy groceries online, leading to a 300% explosion in online food shopping. But a majority of Americans who depend on food stamps have no choice but to shop in person because the federal government allows online shopping with SNAP benefits only in limited circumstances in 47 states. For those who are able to shop on the web, the costs can be shocking for families who barely have enough to eat in part because SNAP benefits cannot be used to pay for delivery fees or tips. (Ruiz-Goiriena, 1/24)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Hunger Crisis: For These Families, Every Meal Is Now A Struggle 
Hunger is a hidden hardship that the pandemic has made visible, a persistent crisis that the pandemic has made worse. Across America, people are lining up for food — on foot and in cars, at churches and recreation centers and in school parking lots, in wealthy states and poorer ones. They are parents and grandparents, students and veterans, employed and underemployed and jobless. ... In Pennsylvania and New Mexico, Maryland and California, The Post spent time with people living with hunger, and the people trying to help them. (1/27)

Texas Tribune: Texans Receiving Federal Food Assistance Could Soon Get More Aid Under Joe Biden's Executive Order
Texas families receiving pandemic-era federal food assistance for students who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals will soon see a 15% increase in their benefits. That additional aid is one of three food access issues President Joe Biden addressed in an executive order last week. The moves come as 16.5% of the state’s 29 million residents said they did not always have enough food to eat in the last seven days, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. (Agnew, 1/26)

USA Today: Rate Of Traffic Deaths Rises During COVID As Open Roads Tempt Drivers To Speed Up
The rate of traffic deaths jumped in the first half of 2020, and safety experts blame drivers who sped up on roads left open when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down businesses and limited commuting. The new research also showed that even small increases in speed led to much deadlier outcomes in vehicle crashes. A crash that is easily survivable at 40 miles per hour can be fatal at 50 mph or more, according to the study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The results are particularly disquieting due to widespread reports of excessive speeding during the pandemic. (Bomey, 1/28)

Fox News: Lyme Disease Cases In US Could Be 10 Times Higher Than Currently Reported, CDC Study Finds
Between 30,000 and 40,000 cases of this disease are reported to the federal agency each year, current estimates show. But in a report released earlier this month, the CDC estimated that some 476,000 Americans were diagnosed with Lyme disease annually between 2010 and 2018 — about 10 times higher than what’s currently reported. To reach this conclusion, the CDC reviewed billing codes on health insurance claims between 2010 and 2018. To start, they counted the number of cases that were officially diagnosed with the disease and were prescribed antibiotics to treat it. Using certain statistical tools, they then estimated the number of cases among the rest of the population, including those without insurance and those over the age of 65. (Farber, 1/27)

Becker's Hospital Review: Heart Disease Remains No.1 Cause Of Death Worldwide, AHA Says
Heart disease is still the leading cause of death worldwide, with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic likely to extend that ranking for years to come, according to the American Heart Association's Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics — 2021 Update published Jan. 27. The data, published in the AHA's Circulation journal, reports more than 523.2 million cases of heart disease in 2019 worldwide, with nearly 18.6 million deaths. Each of those numbers rose significantly since 2010, according to the update. (Carbajal, 1/27) 

The Washington Post: Subway’s Tuna Is Not Tuna, But A ‘Mixture Of Various Concoctions,’ A Lawsuit Alleges 
Subway describes its tuna sandwich as “freshly baked bread” layered with “flaked tuna blended with creamy mayo then topped with your choice of crisp, fresh veggies.” It’s a description designed to activate the saliva glands — and separate you from your money. It’s also fiction, at least partially, according to a recent lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges the ingredient billed as “tuna” for the chain’s sandwiches and wraps contains absolutely no tuna. A representative of Subway said the claims are without merit. Not only is its tuna the real deal, the company says, but it’s wild-caught, too. The star ingredient, according to the lawsuit, is “made from anything but tuna.” (Carman, 1/27)

KHN: Baby Blues: First-Time Parents Blindsided By ‘The Birthday Rule’ And A $207,455 NICU Bill
In the nine months leading up to her due date, Kayla Kjelshus and her husband, Mikkel, meticulously planned for their daughter’s arrival. Their long to-do list included mapping out their family’s health insurance plan and registering for baby gear and supplies. They even nailed down child care ahead of her birth. (Anthony, 1/27)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Marijuana May Be Contaminated With Mold, New Report Shows
Marijuana for sale in Michigan is contaminated with mold and yeast, a group of cannabis testing labs is warning. Moreover, the state is no longer allowing a specific marijuana testing method. But the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association said Wednesday it disagrees with the lab group's findings, saying the state's move to pause one of the methods to test for contaminants was made "out of an abundance of caution," but "there's no evidence" the pot is actually tainted. "From our perspective, there has not been any indication there is contaminated product in the system," said Robin Schneider, the association's executive director. The issue, she added, is an "ongoing scientific debate" and not a public safety matter. (Witsil, 1/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Supreme Court Allows Broader Warning Labels For Bisphenol A
California will broaden its warning labels for bisphenol A, a chemical widely used in plastic cups and other food and drink containers, after the state Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the chemical industry Wednesday. Since 2015, the state has required labels on products containing bisphenol A stating that it can cause reproductive harm in women. The court order upholds state health officials’ decision to require additional warnings of “developmental toxicity,” or harm to fetuses and newborn and young children whose mothers are exposed to the chemical during pregnancy. (Egelko, 1/27)

Anchorage Daily News: Justice Department Opens Civil Rights Probe Into Alaska's Institutionalizes’ Children
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into whether the state of Alaska “unnecessarily institutionalizes” children with behavioral problems. In 2020, the Alaska Disability Law Center lodged a complaint about the rising number of Alaska children and teenagers being sent to Outside psychiatric treatment facilities as well as locked hospitals in-state because of a dearth of less-restrictive treatment options here, said the center’s attorney, Leslie Jaehning. On Jan. 21, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division notified the organization that it has launched an investigation. (Theriault Boots, 1/28)

The Washington Post: Terminally Ill Doctor Killed Pediatrician And Himself After Hours-Long Hostage Standoff In Austin, Police Say
A terminally ill doctor carrying “numerous” guns held an Austin medical office hostage for hours on Tuesday before fatally shooting a local physician and himself, police said, shaking the Texas capital city and leaving investigators hunting for a possible motive. Following a standoff that lasted more than six hours, officers entered the Children’s Medical Group building in central Austin on Tuesday night and found the suspect, Bharat Narumanchi, a 43-year-old pediatrician from southern California, dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. Nearby, officers said they found Katherine Dodson, also 43 and a pediatrician. She, too, had been fatally shot, police said. (Salcedo and Hawkins, 1/27)

In Medicaid updates from Oklahoma and Arkansas —

Oklahoman: Despite Opposition, Health Care Authority Moves Forward With $2B Plan To Privatize Medicaid
A split Oklahoma Health Care Authority board on Tuesday signed off on plans for the agency to spend up to $2.2 billion to privatize the state’s Medicaid program. After a lengthy debate where efforts to table the controversial agenda items failed, the board did not approve specific contracts with for-profit companies to manage the program’s spending, but gave the agency approval to move forward with overhauling Medicaid. At Gov. Kevin Stitt's behest, the Health Care Authority is seeking to contract with outside entities to manage medical care for roughly 700,000 of Oklahoma’s Medicaid recipients through what is often referred to as a managed-care model. (Forman, 1/27)

Arkansasonline.com: 18 States Back Arkansas On Medicaid Work Rule
Arkansas should be able to set work requirements for some of its Medicaid recipients, 18 states told the U.S. Supreme Court this week. The granting of federal waivers, which allowed these "demonstration projects" to proceed, was not "arbitrary and capricious," they said. Seventeen states signed an amicus curiae -- or friend of the court -- brief arguing that a lower court's ruling is "flatly inconsistent with historical and current practice" and could lead to "potentially disastrous consequences." The Supreme Court announced in December that it would hear appeals involving the Arkansas and New Hampshire work requirements; both had been struck down by lower courts. (Lockwood and Wickline, 1/28)

The New York Times: E.U. Vaccine Shortages Snowball Into A Crisis 
The European Union has been besieged by problems since it approved its first coronavirus vaccine in December and rushed to begin a vast immunization campaign, but now its woes have snowballed into a full-blown crisis. With the pain of supply shortages being felt across Europe, Spain on Wednesday became the first E.U. country to partly suspend immunizations for lack of doses. It announced that it would suspend the vaccination program in Madrid for two weeks, and warned that Catalonia may follow suit. (1/27)

Politico: EU Slams AstraZeneca But Fails In Push For Vaccine 
EU officials lashed out at the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca on Wednesday but failed to secure commitments to address a “massive” shortfall in coronavirus vaccine production that will leave the bloc at least some 75 million doses short of expectations in the first three months of 2021. “We regret the continued lack of clarity on the delivery schedule and request a clear plan from AstraZeneca for the fast delivery of the quantity of vaccines that we reserved for Q1,” the EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, tweeted after a meeting Wednesday evening that included an unexpected appearance by the AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot. (Herszenhorn and Deutsch, 1/28)

Politico: UK Restricts COVID Medicine Exports Amid AstraZeneca Vaccine Fight 
The U.K. placed a series of export restrictions last year on around 100 medicines that could be used to treat COVID-19 patients despite criticizing others for considering similar limits on vaccines. In response to a question from POLITICO, Prime Minister Boris Johnson chastised the EU at a press conference in Downing Street Tuesday for considering putting restrictions on the export of coronavirus vaccines — calling such curbs "nonsensical." (Isaac and Furlong, 1/27)

The Washington Post: Boris Johnson Takes Heat For Saying U.K. Did Everything It Could About Covid 
After Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government had truly done "everything we could" to save the 100,000 lives taken by the coronavirus so far in Britain, a broad swath of scientists, public health experts, opposition politicians and ordinary citizens heaped scorn on the prideful assertion. Johnson rightly boasted in Parliament on Wednesday that Britain is a world leader at rolling out vaccines — and is the envy of Europe and the United States, having given a first vaccine dose to more than 10 percent of its adult population. (Adam and Booth, 1/27)

In updates on the Tokyo Olympics —

The Wall Street Journal: Olympic Official Seeks Biden’s Help To Save Tokyo Games: ‘It’s Up To The U.S.’ 
The organizers of this year’s Summer Olympics, scheduled to start July 23 in Tokyo, have pushed back hard on recent speculation that the Games will have to be scrapped because of the pandemic. There is one more person they’d like on the team to press the message: President Biden. “Mr. Biden is dealing with a tough situation with the coronavirus,” said Haruyuki Takahashi, a member of the executive board of Japan’s Olympic organizing committee. “But if he makes a positive statement about the Olympics going ahead, we’d gain strong momentum.” (Gale, 1/27)

Politico: Biden Administration Stays Quiet On 2021 Tokyo Olympics 
Organizers calling for President Joe Biden’s support for the Tokyo Olympics have largely gotten silence from his administration, amid speculation that the summer games could be called off because of the coronavirus pandemic. White House press secretary Jen Psaki has been asked multiple times about whether the president thinks the Olympics, slated to start in July, would be safe, but she hasn’t given an answer. After saying on Friday that she hadn’t talked to Biden about it, Psaki said the same again on Wednesday. (Leonard, 1/27)

The Guardian: Japan Faces Olympian Task With Slow Start To Covid Vaccinations 
The first round of jabs is not expected to begin in Japan until the end of February, months after the US and UK – which have recorded far higher death tolls and caseloads – began their vaccination programmes. On explaining the apparent lack of urgency, officials have pointed to Japan’s relative success in averting a catastrophic outbreak, with 373,000 cases and 5,300 deaths recorded to date. (McCurry, 1/27)

Also —

The Guardian: Backlash Grows For ‘Selfish Millionaire’ Who Got Vaccine Meant For Indigenous People
A millionaire Canadian couple who traveled to a remote community to receive a coronavirus vaccine intended for vulnerable and elderly Indigenous people are facing growing calls for a tougher punishment after they were initially fined C$2,300 (US$1,800) for breaking public health rules. Casino executive Rodney Baker and his wife Ekaterina Baker, an actor, travelled by chartered plane to Beaver Creek, a community of 100 in Canada’s Yukon territory, where a mobile team was administering the Moderna vaccine to locals, including elderly members of the White River First Nation. (Cecco, 1/27)

The Guardian: WHO Team Exits Wuhan Quarantine To Start Covid Fact-Finding Mission 
A World Health Organization team has emerged from quarantine in the Chinese city of Wuhan to start field work in a fact-finding mission on the origins of the virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic. The researchers, who were required to complete 14 days in quarantine after arriving in China, could be seen leaving their hotel and boarding a bus on Thursday afternoon. It was not immediately clear where they were headed. (1/28)

CIDRAP: Study Links Antibiotic Use In Newborns With Reduced Growth In Boys 
A new study by an international team of scientists has found an association between antibiotic use in the first few days of life and reduced height and weight in boys in early childhood. In the study, published yesterday in Nature Communications, a team led by scientists from Finland and Israel looked at the impacts of neonatal antibiotic use on two large cohorts of children and found in both that boys exposed to antibiotics within the first 14 days of life gained less weight and height during the first 6 years of life compared with boys who were not exposed to antibiotics. The findings were not observed in girls, however. (Dall, 1/27)

In covid research news —

CIDRAP: Schizophrenia, But Not Mood Or Anxiety Disorders, Tied To COVID-19 Death
COVID-19 patients diagnosed as having schizophrenia spectrum disorder—but not those with mood or anxiety disorders—were linked to an increased risk of death, according to an observational cohort study published today in JAMA Psychiatry. Researchers at New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center led the study, which involved monitoring adult COVID-19 patients with psychiatric conditions at their center from Mar 3 to May 31, 2020. Of the 7,348 patients, 75 (1.0%) had a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, 564 (7.7%) had a mood disorder, and 360 (4.9%) had an anxiety disorder. (1/27)

The Guardian: Covid Linked To Risk Of Mental Illness And Brain Disorder, Study Suggests
One in eight people who have had Covid-19 are diagnosed with their first psychiatric or neurological illness within six months of testing positive for the virus, a new analysis suggests, adding heft to an emerging body of evidence that stresses the toll of the virus on mental health and brain disorders cannot be ignored. The analysis – which is still to be peer-reviewed – also found that those figures rose to one in three when patients with a previous history of psychiatric or neurological illnesses were included. It found that one in nine patients were also diagnosed with things such as depression or stroke despite not having gone to hospital when they had Covid-19, which was surprising, said the lead author, Dr Max Taquet of the department of psychiatry at the University of Oxford. (Grover, 1/25)

CIDRAP: Cumulative Smoking Especially Associated With More Severe COVID-19
People who have smoked for more than 30 pack-years—a unit for cumulative smoking—are about twice as likely to be hospitalized and to die after testing positive for COVID-19 as nonsmokers, according to a research letter published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine. The researchers looked at health records from 7,102 patients who were in Cleveland Clinic's COVID-19 registry from Mar 8 through Aug 25, 2020. Of those, 84.8% had never smoked, 2.4% were current smokers, and 12.8% formerly smoked. (1/26)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Outbreaks Associated With Summer Camp, High School Wrestling
COVID-19 outbreaks at an overnight camp in Georgia and a high school wrestling tournament in Florida last year involved attack rates of at least 56% and 30%, respectively. Yesterday researchers in Pediatrics detailed the summer camp outbreak, noting that, of 627 staff, trainees (who left before camp officially began), and campers, 12 community-associated COVID infections (1.9%) led to 339 camp-associated infections (54.1%). The mean effective case reproduction number, or the number of secondary people infected per case, was as high as 4.0 during orientation, and instantaneous reproduction peaked at 10.0 the first day all the campers arrived. (1/27)

The Washington Post: Covid-19 Has Wreaked Havoc On Young People’s Lives. We Owe It To Them To See This Through.
While adults make up most covid-19 cases, over 2 million children and adolescents in the United States have been diagnosed with the disease. Serious illness is rare among young people, but the impact of the coronavirus on adolescents’ well-being should not go overlooked. It has wreaked havoc on their lives. Closed schools. Interrupted access to free lunch and essential technology. Canceled activities. Forced an inability to hang out with friends. In the United States’ desire to return to “normal” last year, we deprioritized young people. (Rebekah Fenton, 1/27)

Stat: Stop Ignoring Long-Haulers Who Were Never Tested For Covid-19 
Long-haulers are truckers who are on the road for a long time. But in the end they reach a destination, deliver their shipment, and go home. For me, there’s no end. ”That’s how my husband, Michael, feels about his 10 months as a long-hauler — the term coined for people with long-lasting responses to infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. (Shayna Skarf, 1/28)

The Washington Post: The Covid-19 Pandemic Has Taught Us Some Brutal Lessons About Governance
The covid-19 tragedy teaches this: Government is more apt to achieve adequacy when it does not try to achieve purity. Commenting on the widely varying results of the states’ different approaches to getting vaccines into arms, a Wall Street Journal editorial notes two things. One is the benefits of federalism: Among 50 governors, at least a few are apt to be wiser and nimbler than the federal bureaucracy. The other is: “The most successful state rollouts have departed from overly prescriptive federal rules,” and “The states with the highest per capita vaccination rates are all rule-breakers.” Philip K. Howard is not surprised. (George F. Will, 1/27)

USA Today: COVID-19, Climate Change: Denialism Is Deadly. Joe Biden Knows This.
If there were any lingering doubts about the undermining of science as the COVID-19 crisis erupted last year, Dr. Anthony Fauci has horror stories to prove otherwise. In a series of recent interviews, most notably with The New York Times, the nation's leading infectious disease expert revealed how his informed advice for grappling with a growing pandemic was all but dismissed by a White House flirting with denialism. "We would say things like, 'This is an outbreak. Infectious diseases run their own course unless one does something to intervene,' " Fauci recalled. "(President Donald Trump) would get up and start talking about, 'It's going to go away, it's magical, it's going to disappear.' " (1/27)

NPR: COVID-19 Vaccines Are Not Being Distributed In A Just Way
I was elated when the first COVID-19 vaccine was shown to be effective late last year. Knowing how effective vaccines can be in ending epidemics, I was hopeful that the end of the pandemic was in sight. However, my joy was cut short when richer Western nations began buying up the vaccine doses. As a result, COVID-19 vaccines will not likely be widely available in Africa until 2022 or 2023.I am shocked that these wealthier nations think this is the best way to protect their people from a global pandemic that does not respect borders. The Igbo people of Nigeria — my ethnic group — are always practical. An Igbo proverb comes to mind, as popularized by the late author Chinua Achebe: Onye ji onye n'ani ji onwe ya. "He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down." (Ifeanyi Nsofor, 1/26)

Boston Globe: Baker Must Make Adjustments To The State’s Vaccination Plan
Governor Baker had a good vaccine distribution plan. Under his leadership, Massachusetts reasonably tiered its population by level of risk and prioritized groups accordingly. The first phase, for example, included health care workers and other COVID response teams, emergency staff, and, notably, prisoners — a decision that this editorial board commended. But drafting a plan and implementing it are two different steps, and Massachusetts has, unfortunately, failed in the latter so far. As of this week, the Commonwealth is lagging behind the rest of New England when it comes to vaccinating its residents, and it ranks among the slowest states in the country relative to its population. Even more alarming was Massachusetts’ effort to get the vaccine to long-term care facilities, home to some of the state’s most vulnerable people, which started a week later than in neighboring states. (1/27)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Missouri's GOP Seems Unsure About Who Should Be Charge Of Pandemic Response
At the same time Gov. Mike Parson is doing his best to avoid meddling in local government responses to the pandemic, his fellow Republicans in the Legislature are proposing bills to strip local authorities of power to impose the public health restrictions required to prevent more disastrous spikes in cases. If Missourians are confused about which Republican line of thinking they’re supposed to follow, perhaps it’s because the state’s GOP leadership doesn’t seem to know what it wants. Since the coronavirus arrived here nearly a year ago, Parson has deliberately relinquished responsibility to local authorities and public health officials, essentially avoiding any of the politically controversial public-health decisions that restricted people’s activities and freedoms. (1/27)

Dallas Morning News: COVID Vaccine Skepticism Threatens To Handicap Texas’ Economic Recovery
With Texas’ economy still struggling under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic, Texans’ COVID-19 vaccine skepticism has the potential to handicap the state’s recovery before it can truly take hold. This is apparent in January polling conducted by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Texas Lyceum in the run-up to their public conference on the Texas Economy: “Wrecked, in Reckoning or Recovery Amidst COVID-19?” (Joshua Blank, 1/28)

The Hill: Combating Pandemic Scams 
COVID-19 has touched nearly every person on the planet. In response to the virus, Americans transitioned to work from home, cities effectively shut down, and millions of people lost their jobs. Unfortunately, as this was all happening, criminals saw this as an opportunity to exploit those most vulnerable through new and innovative scams. (Rep. Earl L. "Buddy" Carter, 1/27)

The New York Times: The New Virus Strains Make The Next 6 Weeks Crucial
I hope, in the end, that this article reads as alarmism. I hope that a year from now it’s a piece people point to as an overreaction. I hope. Coronavirus cases are falling. Vaccination numbers are rising. We are already jabbing more than a million people a day, which means President Biden’s initial goal of 100 million vaccinations in 100 days was far too conservative. In California, where I live, Governor Gavin Newsom lifted the statewide stay-at-home order. It feels like dawn is breaking. And that is what makes this moment dangerous. The B.1.1.7 variant of coronavirus, first seen in Britain, and now spreading throughout Europe, appears to be 30 to 70 percent more contagious, and it may be more lethal, too. (Ezra Klein, 1/28)

Stat: New Coronavirus Variants Call For More Surveillance, Control 
The Covid-19 virus is evolving rapidly. That should come as no surprise: RNA-based viruses generate mutations constantly as a result of their error-prone replication. Wherever there are more infections, there are more opportunities for the virus to mutate. For a virus new to a species, as this coronavirus is to humans, some mutations are likely to make it more transmissible. (Neil Ferguson, Katharina Hauck and Christl Donnelly, 1/28)

The New York Times: Inside The U.K.'s Second Covid Wave
Nearly a year into the pandemic, the situation in Britain is dire. A vicious first wave has given way to an even more deadly second one. On Tuesday, the country passed a milestone of 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus — which amounts to one of the worst fatality rates in the world. A national lockdown, in place since Jan. 4, has only recently begun to lower the eye-wateringly high number of cases, fueled in part by the emergence of a new, apparently more contagious strain of the virus. The toll on the National Health Service is close to unbearable: Nearly 40,000 Covid-19 patients are in hospitals, almost double the peak last year. (Lynsey Addario, 1/28)

The Guardian: The Guardian View On Britain's Pandemic Record: A Monument To Failure
When international reports urged fear of the new disease, Mr. Johnson was boasting about shaking hands with everyone in a hospital. People were discharged from wards into care homes, where the virus ran amok. Borders were unmonitored. It was clear that lockdowns were a first line of defence and the prime minister was late to accept the necessity, then impatient to lift restrictions. He and his chancellor treated partial success last summer as total victory. They urged people to repopulate high streets, subsidised dining out, and discouraged working from home. When the second wave came, all the mistakes of the first one were repeated. Mr Johnson rejected scientists’ calls for a “circuit-breaker” lockdown. Mixed messages confused the reintroduction of restrictions. Infrastructure for testing and contact tracing failed to match grandiose promises. The system has been patchy, slow and mired in allegations of cronyism – a profligate sideshow offering false hope. (1/27)

CNN: Covid-19 Will Change How The World Thinks About Health Forever 
At this time last year, the world was just starting to understand how serious a novel coronavirus pandemic could get. Only a few weeks after we first heard the word "Covid-19," we were closing our foundation's offices and joining billions of people worldwide in adjusting to radically different ways of living. (Bill and Melinda Gates, 1/27)

New York Post: Hey, WHO! Do A Real Wuhan Probe 
If the WHO team does not investigate the Wuhan Institute, it is party to a cover-up. We know the institute obtained samples of bat coronaviruses sourced in 2013 from the Mojiang Mine some 600 miles away, where three miners who had prolonged contact with bat feces became ill and died from a COVID-like illness. We also know the institute obtained blood and tissue samples from the ailing miners. We know Daszak was co-author with Shi of a November 2017 paper in the PLOS Pathogens journal about SARS-related viruses collected from that mineshaft. (Miranda Devine, 1/27)

Los Angeles Times: Biden Mercifully Takes Gag Off Healthcare Providers Overseas
It’s a relief to see the Biden administration swiftly begin to dismantle the crippling rules and regulations put in place by the Trump administration to prevent healthcare providers not just from offering abortions but from even offering information about the procedure to patients. On Thursday, Biden is expected to repeal the global gag rule that forces foreign nongovernmental healthcare providers who receive U.S. financial aid to agree not to offer abortions — even when they do so with funds from other sources. (1/27)