NBC News: Covid Vaccines For Children Under 5 Endorsed By FDA Panel
Food and Drug Administration advisers voted Wednesday to recommend authorizing both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccines for young children, clearing one of the final hurdles to getting the youngest Americans vaccinated. The Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee held a vote for each vaccine during its Wednesday meeting. Both recommendations were unanimous: 21-0. Moderna’s vaccine is for children ages 6 months to 5 years, while Pfizer’s is for children ages 6 months to 4 years. (Lovelace Jr., 6/15)

CIDRAP: FDA Advisers OK COVID-19 Vaccines For Youngest Kids 
The group voted separately on whether benefits outweigh the risks for the two vaccines, but results were unanimous for approval for both. Moderna's EUA applies to kids ages 6 months through 5 years, given in two 25-microgram doses, which is one fourth of the adult dose. Pfizer's EUA applies to kids ages 6 months through 4 years, given in three 3-microgram doses, one tenth of the adult dose. (Schnirring, 6/15)

Stat: FDA Panel Backs Use Of Pfizer, Moderna Covid Shots In Young Kids
Before families can start to avail themselves of the vaccines, though, an advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention needs to recommend the shots, too, and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky must accept the recommendation. The group meets Friday and Saturday, when the votes will be held. (Herper and Branswell, 6/15)

USA Today: FDA Panel Recommends COVID Vaccines For Kids As Young As 6 Months Old
Although young children have largely been spared the worst of COVID-19, they can become seriously ill, and more than 200 have died from infections, according to data presented by the FDA. Half of the young children hospitalized with COVID-19 did not have any preexisting conditions before they fell ill, the FDA said. (Weintraub, 6/15)

And Moderna will test its vaccine in babies as young as 3 months old —

The Wall Street Journal: Moderna To Study Its Covid-19 Vaccine In Babies As Young As 3 Months 
Moderna Inc. is planning to test its Covid-19 vaccine in babies 3 months to 6 months old, the youngest age group studied to date. The Cambridge, Mass., company said Wednesday it is in the final stages of planning the study, to be called BabyCove and expected to begin enrolling as many as 700 babies in September. BabyCove would be the first study of Moderna’s vaccine in infants younger than 6 months. (Loftus, 6/15)

In related news about vaccine research —

AP: Dolly Parton Gives $1M To Infectious Disease Research, Again 
Dolly Parton is donating $1 million to pediatric infectious disease research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, the organization announced on Wednesday. The new gift is one of several Parton has made to the center over the years, including a $1 million gift in April 2020 for COVID vaccine research. ... Parton’s new gift will support a variety of ongoing research at the medical center, including understanding how viruses and bacteria cause disease, understanding and preventing antibiotic resistance, preventing and treating infections, diagnosing and treating infections in children with cancer, and gauging the impact of childhood infections throughout the world, according to the news release. (6/15)

Politico: Florida Is The Only State To Skip Pre-Ordering Covid-19 Vaccines For Kids
Florida is the only state in the nation that has not placed an order with the federal government for doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for young children, saying the distribution process is “convoluted.” The Florida Department of Health, through a statement, said Wednesday that it did not place an order with the federal government for vaccine doses for kids five and under in part because it doesn’t advise all children get vaccinated. The deadline for placing a pre-order was Tuesday and 49 other states met the cutoff date. (Sarkissian, 6/15)

Health News Florida: Ladapo Opposes COVID Vaccines For Children Younger Than 5 
As the Food and Drug Administration weighs approval of COVID-19 vaccinations for very young children, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is opposed to the potential change. The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is slated to meet Wednesday to discuss amending emergency use authorizations for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for children as young as 6 months old. Ladapo, who has long criticized vaccination requirements for adults, said Tuesday he would not support vaccinating young children against the coronavirus. (6/15)

Also —

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Preorders COVID-19 Vaccines For Kids Ages 6 Months To Age 5
If a vaccine advisory committee for the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agrees, and the agency's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, signs off, it would make COVID-19 vaccines available to "essentially every American, from our oldest to our youngest," said Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator. Rollout plans in Michigan are already in motion in anticipation that the CDC could grant final authorization as early as Saturday. "We have waited a long time for this moment. More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic ... we are on the cusp of having safe, highly effective vaccines for kids under 5," Jha said. (Hall and Jordan Shamus, 6/15)

Salt Lake Tribune: COVID-19 Vaccines May Be Available For Utah Children Under 5 As Soon As Next Week
Utah children under 5 may be able to get vaccinated for COVID-19 as early as Monday, a state health official said Wednesday, shortly after a panel of Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisers approved Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations for the last remaining age group. First, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention need to rubber-stamp the shot, which the Utah Department of Health expects will happen in the coming days — the FDA sometime this week, and the CDC potentially on Friday, UDOH spokesperson Jenny Johnson said. “We’ve been anticipating this coming,” Johnson said. “Once the CDC director has [approved] that, and the statements come out from CDC, that’s what gives the states their authorization to order vaccine, administer vaccine.” (Miller, 6/15)

WITN.com: State Preparing For COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout For Children Under 5
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services says it is preparing to distribute COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 in the case that the vaccine is approved for that age group. The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could authorize and recommend the vaccine for children ages 6 months to 5 years as soon as this weekend. Vaccinations in our state could begin the week of June 20th. “We have never stopped working to ensure that vaccines are fast, fair, and everywhere for North Carolinians,” NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley said. “It is exciting that our best tool against COVID-19 – safe and effective vaccines – could soon be available to our youngest North Carolinians, and because of our preparation, on day one in all 100 counties.” (6/14)

Roll Call: Access, Hesitancy Loom Over COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout For Toddlers
While the federal government gave adults multiple opportunities to get their COVID-19 vaccines through pharmacies and on-site vaccination clinics at workplaces, it’ll be less convenient for the under-5 age group thanks to complications presented by federal law, vaccine hesitancy and the logistics surrounding dosages for the pediatric age group. "The likelihood of [kids under 5] encountering that vaccine opportunity is going to be smaller," said Kaiser Family Foundation Senior Vice President and Director of Global Health and HIV Policy Jen Kates. Federal law bars pharmacies from vaccinating kids under 3, so many are opting not to carry the vaccine, which has a unique dosage, for kids under 5. (Cohen, 6/15)

WHAM: Pediatricians Await Pending Approval Of COVID Vaccines For Children Under Age 5
Pediatricians are awaiting the approval to start rolling out the vaccine to the last eligible group. For some doctors, they may need to make adjustments to meet demand. Dr. Edward Lewis of Lewis Pediatrics said the pending approval will add to an already busy summer for his office. As doctors wait on vaccine shipments, Dr. Lewis said it may result in longer hours for staff to meet patients needs. "We’re going to have to figure out how we’re going to fit it into an already busy schedule," said Dr. Lewis. "I think larger groups have more staff and have some flexibility there. I know in the past, a lot of pediatricians have even sought to get part-time help to come in and help with immunizations." (Kucko, 6/15)

IDPH: IDPH Teams Up With ICAAP To Educate Pediatricians And Public On Vaccines For Children Under 5 Ahead Of CDC Approval
“It is truly wonderful news that vaccinations are on the horizon for this youngest group of Illinoisans. We encourage every parent or guardian of children six months and older to consult with their pediatricians and make plans to get their children vaccinated and protected from COVID-19,” said IDPH Acting Director Amaal Tokars. “Vaccination remains the strongest way to protect your children and your extended family from COVID-19.” While children have generally not experienced the worst outcomes for COVID-19 compared to older people, more than 42,000 children have been hospitalized and more than 1,000 have died due to COVID-19.  Both newly approved vaccines were proven to be safe and effective in clinical trials. They will be especially beneficial for children with underlying conditions who are more susceptible to serious outcomes. Vaccinations for young children will not only protect the children, but also inhibit transmission of the COVID-19 virus and protect everyone in the family, including older relatives in multi-generation households. (6/15)

AP: High Court Rules Against Government On Drug Reimbursement
The Supreme Court said Wednesday that the federal government improperly lowered drug reimbursement payments to hospitals and clinics that serve low-income communities, a reduction that cost the facilities billions of dollars. The high court ruled unanimously in a case involving payments for drugs, largely for cancer, that are used by Medicare patients in hospital outpatient departments. The Biden administration had stood by a Trump administration decision to reduce the payments. (Gresko, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Hospitals May Recoup Billions Of Dollars In Drug Payments Under Supreme Court Ruling
The unanimous decision on Wednesday reverses two years of the cuts, which were made starting in 2018 as a centerpiece of the Trump administration’s health-policy agenda. The cuts sharply reduced federal subsidies under a program, known as 340B, created to help buoy hospitals that care for larger numbers of uninsured patients. The decision means 340B hospitals may be able to recoup billions of dollars in drug subsidies. The amount affected by the cuts totaled about $1.6 billion annually, and the sums were redistributed broadly among hospitals. (Evans and Mathews, 6/15)

Stat: Supreme Court Sides With Hospitals On Medicare Drug Pay Dispute 
The decision isn’t good news for all hospitals, however. The issue divides the industry, as payment changes are zero-sum. If the Trump administration’s 340B pay cuts are reversed, other hospitals could see pay cuts — particularly for-profit hospitals that aren’t eligible for the discounts. It’s unclear how the pay dispute will be resolved, as the reduced pay rates for 340B hospitals have been in effect for several years. The hospital groups that brought the suit called for backpay to make up for the cuts, but also asked that for-profit hospitals be held harmless. (Cohrs, 6/15)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Win 340B Lawsuit At Supreme Court 
The unanimous opinion, authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, reverses a 2020 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. "Absent a survey of hospitals' acquisition costs, HHS may not vary the reimbursement rates only for 340B hospitals; HHS's 2018 and 2019 reimbursement rates for 340B hospitals were therefore unlawful," Kavanaugh wrote. "Under the text and structure of the statute, this case is therefore straightforward." The high court also rejected HHS's contention that the regulations aren't subject to judicial review. (Goldman, 6/15)

Fierce Healthcare: Supreme Court Overturns 340B Pay Cut To Hospitals
In the ruling (PDF), the justices noted that the Department of Health and Human Services did not survey hospital costs before adjusting payments for 340B in a 2018 rule, which cut payments to hospitals in the program by nearly 30%. The agency repeated that approach in 2019 rulemaking, and attorneys for HHS argued before the court that the surveys were not required. SCOTUS disagreed. (Minemyer, 6/15)

USA Today: EPA Finds No Safe Level For Toxic PFAS In Thousands Of Water Systems
The Environmental Protection Agency stunned scientists and local officials across the country on Wednesday by releasing new health advisories for toxic "forever chemicals" known to be in thousands of U.S. drinking water systems, impacting potentially millions of people. The new advisories cut the safe level of chemical PFOA by more than 17,000 times what the agency had previously said was protective of public health, to now just four "parts per quadrillion." The safe level of a sister chemical, PFOS, was reduced by a factor of 3,500. The chemicals are part of a class of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as forever chemicals due to their extreme resistance to disintegration. They have been linked to different types of cancer, low birthweights, thyroid disease and other health ailments. In effect, the agency now says, any detectable amounts of PFOA and PFOS are unsafe to consume. (Bagenstose, 6/15)

The Washington Post: EPA Warns PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ More Dangerous Than Once Thought
The Environmental Protection Agency warned Wednesday that a group of human-made chemicals found in the drinking water, cosmetics and food packaging used by millions of Americans poses a greater danger to human health than regulators previously thought. The new health advisories for a ubiquitous class of compounds known as polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, underscore the risk facing dozens of communities across the country. Linked to infertility, thyroid problems and several types of cancer, these “forever chemicals” can persist in the environment for years without breaking down. (Grandoni, 6/15)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: EPA Recommendations For PFAS In Drinking Water Far Below Wisconsin's
The federal government on Wednesday released a host of new recommended health limits for "forever chemicals," with numbers drastically lower than standards Wisconsin passed this week. In its announcement, the Environmental Protection Agency invited states and territories to apply for the $1 billion in funding made available to address PFAS by the Bipartisan Infrastructure package passed earlier this year. The new interim standards are 0.004 parts per trillion for PFOA, 0.02 parts per trillion for PFOS, 10 ppt for GenX chemicals and 2,000 ppt for PFBS. (Schulte, 6/15)

In news about air pollution —

Axios: Most Americans Live With Unsafe Air Pollution Levels
More than 92% of Americans live in a region with unsafe air pollution, which could lead to reduced life expectancy, according to the latest University of Chicago Air Quality Life Index. Some Americans could add more than a year to their lives if they lived in a place with cleaner air. Air pollution can affect not only the lungs but also the heart, upper airways and many other organs. (Dreher, 6/15)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Atlanta Air Quality Improved, But Still Gets An F In Annual Survey
Metro Atlanta’s air quality has improved significantly over the past two decades, but the area still received a failing grade this year from the American Lung Association for harmful smog. And experts warn climate change threatens to derail hard-earned progress. Atlanta ranked as the 51st most polluted city for smog and 37th for year-round soot in the association’s State of the Air report. Atlanta improved 16 places for smog and six places for year-round soot compared to a year ago. The ALA and state officials attribute the Atlanta area’s improvement to long-term trends related to the federal Clean Air Act, which, among other things, sets standards for air quality and emissions from vehicles and industry. (Lutz, 6/15)

Dangerous heat continues to pummel the U.S. —

The New York Times: Dangerously Hot Weather Descends on 60 Million Americans
Millions of people were expected to suffer through blistering conditions again on Thursday with heat-related warnings and advisories in effect, mostly in the Midwest and Southeast, the National Weather Service said, adding that it may take weeks to see relief. More than 60 million people from Southern California to West Virginia and as far south as Florida were under an excessive heat warning or heat advisory, meteorologists said. Residents in several states on Wednesday saw temperatures rise well into the 90s, and in some cases into the 100s, according to forecasters at the National Weather Service. They said hot temperatures were likely to persist across large sections of the country for several days. (Albeck-Ripka and Bryson Taylor, 6/15)

NBC News: Water Partially Restored In Odessa, Texas, After Main Break Cut Off Service During Heat Wave
Residents of a West Texas town slowly regained some water service Wednesday, officials said, after a main break on Tuesday left the community dry during an early summer heat wave. When a pipe under the famed oil boom city of Odessa broke, an estimated 165,000 people in the region suddenly lost the ability to open their taps for basic household functions such as drinking, cooking, cleaning and toilet use. (Li, 6/15)

Fox Business: Baby Formula Production Halted At Abbott's Michigan Plant Due To Flooding After Severe Storms
The Abbott Laboratories plant in Michigan that was at the center of the nation's baby formula crisis has stopped production again. Production of its EleCare specialty formula was stopped after severe storms in southwestern Michigan flooded areas of its Sturgis, Michigan plant. This is the same plant that forced Abbott to issue a recall of some of its formulas in February due to contamination issues. The closure of the Sturgis facility, the largest in the U.S. and source of leading brands like Similac, exacerbated the industry-wide baby formula shortage. For several months, parents and caregivers have been scrambling as shelves increasingly become more barren. Meanwhile, retailers were forced to put purchasing limits on the product to try and curtail stockpiling. (Martin, 6/16)

CNN: Formula Production At Abbott's Michigan Plant Delayed After Flooding From Severe Storms 
In tweets Wednesday night, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said, "We know Abbott is working quickly to assess the damage and will be reporting its progress to us in the days ahead. Once the company establishes a plan, FDA will be back in the facility working to ensure that they can restart producing safe and quality formula products quickly." (Gumbrecht, 6/15)

More updates on the baby formula shortage —

10TV.com: Large Baby Formula Shipment Expected In Columbus From Australia Thursday
A large shipment of baby formula is expected to be flown into Columbus from Australia late Thursday evening as part of Operation Fly Formula. An airplane containing 85,000 tins, or approximately 1.85 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents, of Bubs Australia infant formula is being flown into Rickenbacker International Airport from Melbourne, Australia, according to the airport. (Houmard, 6/16)

Fox Business: Baby Formula Shortage: White House To Ship More Than 44,000 Pounds 
The Biden administration announced a seventh mission for "Operation Fly Formula," amid the nationwide shortage of infant formula. In a release, the administration said it would facilitate the shipment of approximately 548,000 eight-ounce bottle equivalents of Nestlé Alfamino® and Alfamino®Junior specialty infant formula this week, or more than 44,000 pounds. The Nestlé formula will be transported from Switzerland to Louisville, Kentucky, on Thursday. (Musto, 6/15)

Reuters: Baby Formula Makers Raced For FDA Approval. They May Be Waiting A While 
To ease the U.S. shortage of baby formula, Nature's One and Holle are poised to ship hundreds of thousands of pounds, if not millions of pounds, of additional formula into stores, company executives told Reuters. They may be waiting a while. (DiNapoli, 6/15)

CNBC: What Led To The Baby Formula Shortage − How Lawmakers Are Trying To Prevent Another
More than 40% of baby formula in the U.S. was out of stock at the beginning of May and the problem has continued, according to Datasembly, a retail tracking group. And it wasn’t just a factory shutdown that led to the crisis. America’s strict formula import regulations and a nutritional program for low-income families may have contributed to the disaster. (Baldwin, 6/15)

National Geographic: The Microbe Behind The Baby Formula Recall Can Be Benign—Or Deadly
Cronobacter sakazakii, a little-known microbe, has evolved traits that make it difficult to destroy, posing a threat to our food safety. (Chang, 6/15)

In other news about infant safety —

The New York Times: Infants Died In Fisher-Price Seats That Are Not For Sleep, Safety Commission Said 
After at least 13 infant deaths in rockers manufactured by Fisher-Price, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned customers about the risks of inclined products for children in the first months of life. The deaths occurred in the past 12 years and were associated with the Infant-to-Toddler Rocker or Newborn-to-Toddler Rocker, according to an announcement Tuesday by Commissioner Richard L. Trumka Jr. Expert guidance from doctors and the agency says that infants should sleep only on flat surfaces. “No inclined product, made by Fisher-Price or any other company, is safe for infant sleep,” Mr. Trumka said. “Only a flat, firm surface is safe.” (Rubin, 6/15)

Axios: Monkeypox Outbreak "Poses A Real Risk" To Public Health, WHO Says
The monkeypox outbreak "poses a real risk" to public health, said the World Health Organization's European chief Wednesday. "The magnitude of this outbreak poses a real risk; the longer the virus circulates, the more it will extend its reach, and the stronger the disease’s foothold will get in non-endemic countries," said Dr. Hans Henri Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, in a statement. Kluge said governments, health officials and general society "need to act with urgency" in order to control the outbreak. (Scribner, 6/15)

AP: WHO To Share Vaccines To Stop Monkeypox Amid Inequity Fears 
The World Health Organization said it’s creating a new vaccine-sharing mechanism to stop the outbreak of monkeypox in more than 30 countries beyond Africa. The move could result in the U.N. health agency distributing scarce vaccine doses to rich countries that can otherwise afford them. To some health experts, the initiative potentially misses the opportunity to control monkeypox virus in the African countries where it’s infected people for decades, serving as another example of the inequity in vaccine distribution seen during the coronavirus pandemic. (Cheng, 6/15)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Monkeypox Case Reported In Las Vegas Area
The U.S. outbreak of monkeypox has touched Clark County, with a presumptive positive case reported in a local man who recently traveled within the country, the Southern Nevada Health District said on Wednesday. The man, who is in his 20s, was not hospitalized and is isolating at home. The health district is coordinating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to perform confirmatory testing of the case, which was detected through the presentation of lesions and testing by the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory. The district has not identified any additional cases through its investigation and contact tracing. (Hynes, 6/15)

The Boston Globe: Health Officials Identify Two New Cases Of Monkeypox In Mass., Bringing Total To Six
Two more men in Massachusetts have tested positive for the monkeypox virus, state health officials announced Wednesday, raising the total number to six cases identified in the state since the first one was reported in May amid an international outbreak. Testing on the two new cases was completed Tuesday at the State Public Health Laboratory in Jamaica Plain, the state Department of Public Health said in a statement Wednesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will conduct further testing to confirm the cases, the statement said. Officials said the two new cases are not connected, and both men are isolating to prevent further spread of the virus as officials work to identify anyone who may have come in contact with the patients, the statement said. (Stoico, 6/15)

Fox News: Chicago Urges Monkeypox Caution At Gatherings As US Cases Top 70
Monkeypox and orthopoxvirus cases in the U.S. topped 70 on Wednesday, as officials in Illinois' city of Chicago warned residents to take caution regarding transmission. In a statement, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) said Monday that it continues to investigate reports of cases in residents and is asking people to take proper precautions when in spaces or situations were the virus could be spread through close or intimate contact. The state of Illinois has confirmed eight cases, seven of which are in Chicago. Some of the cases involve individuals who recently traveled from Europe. (Musto, 6/15)

Politico: Biden Launches Plan To Protect Transgender Youths’ Health Care 
President Joe Biden on Wednesday will order his health agency to begin efforts to ban conversion therapy and expand access to gender-affirming treatment after a slew of state attempts to limit transgender health care, particularly for children. The president’s executive order will call on the Department of Health and Human Services to clarify that federally funded programs cannot offer conversion therapy, a widely discredited practice that attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and work on a public information campaign about the practice. Biden is also directing HHS to take “steps to address the barriers and exclusionary policies” to different types of health care and treatment. (Owermohle and Daniels, 6/15)

Bloomberg: Biden Blocks Funding For LGBTQ Conversion Therapy With Order Marking Pride 2022
President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to develop guidance blocking federal funding for organizations that subject LGBTQ youth to harmful and discredited practices known as conversion therapy. In an effort to counter a series of state-level anti-LGBTQ legislation and policies, Biden on Wednesday signed the order as a show of support for LGBTQ people and children in particular, senior administration officials said. (Ceron and Fabian, 6/15)

Also —

AP: Trans Kids' Treatment Can Start Younger, New Guidelines Say
A leading transgender health association has lowered its recommended minimum age for starting gender transition treatment, including sex hormones and surgeries. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health said hormones could be started at age 14, two years earlier than the group’s previous advice, and some surgeries done at age 15 or 17, a year or so earlier than previous guidance. The group acknowledged potential risks but said it is unethical and harmful to withhold early treatment. (Tanner, 6/15)

In related news from Arkansas and Texas —

AP: Court Hears Arguments On Arkansas Trans Youth Treatment Ban
An attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union urged a federal appeals court Wednesday to continue blocking Arkansas’ ban on gender confirming treatments or surgery for children, saying reinstating the restriction would create uncertainty for families around the state. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the state’s appeal of the preliminary injunction issued last year against ban, which was enacted by the majority-Republican Legislature. ACLU attorney Chase Strangio said allowing the law to be enforced would cause unnecessary disruption since a trial over it is scheduled to begin in October before the judge who issued the injunction. (DeMillo, 6/15)

Dallas Morning News: Texas AG Paxton Seeks To Halt Resumption Of Trans Medical Care At Children’s Dallas
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants to reverse a court order restoring gender-affirming medical treatments for new patients at Children’s Medical Center Dallas. In briefs this week, Paxton told Dallas County Court Judge Melissa Bellan that the state of Texas was not consulted and disagreed with the injunction she issued last month allowing physicians at Children’s to restart certain treatments for new transgender patients through next April. Paxton said he will appeal the injunction. He also repeated his request that the state be allowed to intervene in the ongoing lawsuit with Dr. Ximena Lopez, who took Children’s to court in the hopes of permanently restoring gender-affirming medical treatments for all transgender patients. (McGaughy, 6/15)

The New York Times: Bracing For The End Of Roe V. Wade, The White House Weighs Executive Actions 
President Biden’s top aides are weighing whether he can or should take a series of executive actions to help women in Republican-controlled states obtain abortions if the Supreme Court eliminates a woman’s right to end her pregnancy, according to senior administration officials. Some of the ideas under consideration include declaring a national public health emergency, readying the Justice Department to fight any attempt by states to criminalize travel for the purpose of obtaining an abortion, and asserting that Food and Drug Administration regulations granting approval to abortion medications pre-empt any state bans, the officials said. (Savage, 6/16)

The 19th: Democratic Senators Suggest Actions Biden Can Take To Protect Abortion Rights
A public health campaign. A new reproductive health ombudsman. Abortion clinics on federal land. These are just a few of the steps Senate Democrats want the White House to take if the Supreme Court, as expected, strikes down Roe v. Wade in the coming weeks — and there are signs that President Joe Biden is listening. “We’ll fight the Republicans on the ground here, in the Senate, but the administration has its own tools,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, told The 19th during a conversation for its annual 19th Represents summit that starts Wednesday. (Luthra and Becker, 6/15)

When will the ruling be issued? —

Los Angeles Times: When Will The Supreme Court Make A Decision On The Fate Of Roe Vs. Wade? 
The justices meet each week and review pending cases. All nine of them have to agree they are finished and have nothing further to add. Then the decision is ready to go and set to be released the next week. But all of that happens privately. The court usually announces “decision days” only a few days in advance. And they never say which cases will be decided on those days. So it’s a guessing game. Many legal experts expect the abortion case will come in the term’s final week. (6/15)

The New York Times: Some Clinics Aren’t Waiting For Roe Decision To Stop Abortions 
Although Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land, women can no longer get a legal abortion in two states, Oklahoma and South Dakota. In at least one other, Missouri, the only clinic is booked and not accepting new appointments. And in a fourth state, Wisconsin, clinics will not schedule abortions for after the end of the Supreme Court’s term in late June. Before May 2, when a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe was leaked, there had been at least one abortion clinic in every state. But in some states, health care providers aren’t waiting for the actual decision to be issued to start operating as if Roe were overturned. (Miller and Sanger-Katz, 6/15)

In legal news —

The Washington Post: Man Accused Of Kavanaugh Murder Plot Indicted By Federal Grand Jury 
A California man accused of flying across the country with plans to break into Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s home to assassinate him was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury, officials said. The single count of attempting to kill a U.S. judge added new details about what authorities say Nicholas Roske, 26, had with him when he arrived via taxi cab to the conservative justice’s home just after 1 a.m. in Chevy Chase, Md., last week. (Morse, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: House Republicans Request Investigation Into Reports Of Vandalism, Arson At Antiabortion Offices 
A group of 122 Republicans in the House of Representatives sent a letter Wednesday asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate more than a dozen acts of vandalism and arson at locations run by organizations that seek to persuade women not to have abortions. According to local media reports in locations including Madison, Wis., and Buffalo, N.Y., the acts of vandalism have taken place at numerous so-called pregnancy crisis centers over the past two months as well as the offices of antiabortion organizations. (Kesling, 6/15)

Also —

Politico: Global Abortion-Rights Advocates Worry Their Countries Are Next If Roe Falls 
Abortion-rights advocates from around the world have met with congressional, USAID, HHS and State Department leaders to discuss worries that their countries will be next to see more restrictions if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade .In meetings last week, the activists said they spoke to officials not only about their fears of the international impact if Roe were to fall but also proposed changes to U.S. policy that has long restricted funding for abortions abroad. (Payne, 6/15)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Tour Stop Allows Abortion-Rights Supporters To Share Their Stories Ahead Of Court Ruling
Erika Forbes stood in the evening heat in Third Ward and told her story. She was was 14 when she had an abortion. And it saved her life, she said. “I would have been dead,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d be able to go on.” She and scores of others showed up Wednesday evening at Peggy Park in Third Ward in support of abortion rights. Other women shared similar stories - and their anger at recent moves by both the U.S. Supreme Court and lawmakers across the American South to gut abortion rights. (Barned-Smith, 6/15)

The Guardian: ‘I Got In The Car And He Blindfolded Me. I Was Willing To Risk Death’: Five Women On Abortions Before Roe
One advocacy group, Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights, is made up of older women who fight to protect the reproductive rights they campaigned to secure pre-Roe v Wade. “Often abortions are talked about as endings,” says executive director Kelli Wescott McCannell. “The women in our program have decades of life since their abortions that show what was made possible for them because of that abortion.” Here we speak to five women from across the US about their experiences of abortion in the pre-Roe v Wade era. Some were nervous, others defiant. But all shared their story in the hope that their past could shape America’s future. (Pires and Considine, 6/16)

The Star Tribune: What Doe V. Gomez Means For Future Of Abortion In Minnesota
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to issue its ruling expected to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision on abortion, Minnesotans will hear a lot about a different court case. In 1995, the Minnesota Supreme Court went even further than Roe in the case of Doe v. Gomez, issuing a ruling that not only affirmed women's constitutional right to abortion on the state level but also allowed low-income women to use the state's Medical Assistance program to cover the costs of the procedure. Here's what you need to know about this 27-year-old case and what the Doe v. Gomez ruling means for the future of abortion access in Minnesota. (Bierschbach, 6/15)

The Hill: Cornyn Warns Gun Safety Framework May Have To Be Slimmed Down
Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the lead Republican negotiator of a bipartisan gun safety framework, said Wednesday that some issues still need to be ironed out and warned the package may have to be slimmed down in order to get a bill passed. Cornyn said he’s “starting to get a little concerned” about the impasse over “a couple of issues that need to be settled before we can reach an agreement.”  (Bolton, 6/15)

Roll Call: Mental Health Becomes Focal Point Of Senate Gun Framework 
Mental health advocates are walking a fine line on the Senate’s bipartisan gun violence package framework — happy that it contains long sought-after provisions to expand access to treatment while stressing that there is little connection between gun homicides and mental illness. A framework released Sunday calls for expanding access to mental health care across the country, with gun control opponents framing those provisions as part of the solution to reducing mass shootings. (Hellmann, 6/15)

More on the gun violence epidemic —

Reuters: VP Harris To Launch Task Force On Online Harassment After Shootings
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will inaugurate a task force on Thursday to curb online harassment, fulfilling one of the Biden campaign's promises in the wake of a mass shooting that highlights a link between online abuse and violence. The group will be tasked with producing within six months a blueprint detailing actions to address the problem, including more support for victims, prevention and greater accountability for aggressors and platforms hosting them. (6/16)

The Washington Post: Suspect In Buffalo Grocery Massacre Charged With Federal Hate Crimes 
Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old White man, was charged Wednesday with federal hate-crime violations and a federal gun offense in the mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store that left 10 Black people dead last month, making him potentially eligible for the death penalty. Authorities announced the 27-count indictment as Attorney General Merrick Garland met in Buffalo with dozens of survivors of the May 14 shooting and family members of those who were slain. He spoke in broad terms about the federal government’s efforts to address rising white nationalism. (Nakamura, 6/15)

The Texas Tribune: Uvalde Lacked Mental Health Resources Before The Robb School Shooting 
B.R. was 12 when she tried to overdose on Midol in her rural Uvalde junior high bathroom last year after the bullying at school had become too much to bear. The girl’s first appointment with a counselor at the government-funded mental health authority finally came in May — a year and a month after that suicide attempt. Now her family worries that the limits of the small-town system they rely on make it ill-equipped to meet the needs of children like her — suicidal, isolated and with few things standing between her and another attempt at taking her own life. (Harper and Beeferman, 6/16)

ABC News: Some Texas School Districts To Require Clear Backpacks In Wake Of Uvalde Shooting 
Several Texas school districts are requiring students to use clear backpacks in the wake of last month's deadly shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde. Ingleside Independent School District, near Corpus Christi, became one of the latest to announce the new policy this week, after its board of trustees unanimously approved updating the district's dress code policy to require clear backpacks starting in the 2022-2023 school year. (Deliso, 6/15)

Politico: Matthew McConaughey Lobbies Up For Gun Push 
Matthew McConaughey is not leaving his emotional pleas for tighter gun laws up to chance and the appeal of his celebrity. He’s turning to K Street too.Following a spate of recent mass shootings including the massacre last month in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 schoolchildren and two teachers, the award-winning actor has retained a team of lobbyists at D.C. firm Avisa Partners to represent him in the nation’s capital. The registration, filed on Wednesday, is under the name of an Encino, Calif., holding company registered to McConaughey, Barefoot Money Inc. The form also shows that the group of Washington veterans at Avisa Partners will lobby on issues relating to “responsible gun ownership.” (Oprysko, 6/15)

Also —

The New York Times: Venue Cancels Concert Of John Hinckley Jr., Who Shot President Reagan 
The John Hinckley Jr. concert in Brooklyn, an oddity that was scheduled to feature the music of a man best known for trying to kill a U.S. president, was canceled on Wednesday by the venue, which cited fears of a backlash in a “dangerously radicalized, reactionary climate.” ... The statement went on to say that although they believed ex-cons and people with mental illnesses should be able to earn a chance to “fully rejoin society,” they made the decision after reflecting on “very real and worsening threats and hate facing our vulnerable communities.” (Jacobs and Guarino, 6/15)

NPR: Dr. Anthony Fauci Tests Positive For COVID-19, But Is Experiencing Mild Symptoms
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Biden and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has tested positive for COVID-19. The 81-year-old is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and has been boosted twice, according to the National Institutes of Health. He is experiencing mild symptoms and will continue to isolate and work from home. He was also prescribed Paxlovid, the anti-COVID drug, according to a representative for the agency. Fauci has helped lead the U.S. government's response to the coronavirus pandemic since the initial outbreak. (Diaz, 6/15)

In other news about the spread of covid —

Axios: CDC: New Omicron Variants Gaining Ground
New Omicron strains capable of evading immune protections and causing breakthrough infections now account for more than 21% of total COVID cases in the U.S., according to updated CDC figures. The virus continues to evolve, with the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages accounting for a bigger proportion of the approximately 105,000 new daily cases. (Bettelheim, 6/15)

NBC News: 'Part Of A New Normal:' Covid Reinfections Are Here To Stay
In 2020, Covid reinfections were considered rare. In 2021, breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals could occur, but again, the risk was low. In 2022, that's no longer the case for either. As more immune-dodging coronavirus variants emerge, reinfections and breakthrough infections appear increasingly normal. The United States isn't currently tracking Covid reinfections. However, U.K. researchers have found that the risk of reinfection was eight times higher during the omicron wave than it was in last year's delta wave. (Syal and Miller, 6/16)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: This COVID Wave Is Worse Than We Know. But The Peak May Be Here
The St. Louis region is in the midst of another COVID-19 surge. And doctors and health officials say the numbers are likely far worse than records show. But, due in large part to a build up of immunity, this wave is not making as many residents as sick as did previous waves. The surge, in terms of infection rates, is as bad as any, said Dr. Charles Crecelius, medical director for two area nursing homes and an elder care specialist for BJC Medical Group. “But thank goodness, milder,” he said. “If it were as severe as other ones, we’d be in another disaster, with hospitals very full.” (Merrilees, 6/15)

Los Angeles Times: Being ‘Fully Vaccinated’ But Not Boosted Won't Stop Omicron
Two shots of COVID-19 vaccine without an additional booster offer essentially no lasting protection against infection with Omicron, and a coronavirus infection is as effective as a recent booster shot in preventing a new Omicron-fueled illness, researchers reported Wednesday. At the same time, any immunity to the highly contagious variant, either from infection or vaccination, appears to offer significant and lasting protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death, the researchers found. And if you haven’t had either the virus or the vaccine, doctors urged, it’s better to get the jab. (Purtill, 6/15)

On testing —

ABC News: Low Levels Of Testing May Be Hiding A COVID Wave In Texas: Experts 
Looking at data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would give the impression that COVID-19 is generally under control in Texas. The federal agency's map of levels of COVID-19 spread in the community shows most counties in the state are classified as "low" or "medium." But public health experts said this doesn't tell the true story and that case counts are artificially low in Texas due to low levels of testing reported to public health officials. (Kekatos, 6/15)

NBC News: Rapid Covid Tests Give Many False Negatives, But That Might Mean You're Not Contagious
Dr. Calvin Hwang, a clinical assistant professor at Stanford, and two other disease experts said rapid tests (also known as antigen tests) are good indicators of when a person might be contagious. "Only the people shedding the most virus are going to be positive with a rapid test, but those are the people you especially want to identify because they’re the most infectious," said Dr. Sheldon Campbell, an associate professor of laboratory medicine at the Yale School of Medicine who wasn't involved in the research. (Bendix, 6/15)

CIDRAP: Study Shows Antigen Tests Similar For Omicron As For Previous Variants
A new study based on COVID-19 tests performed on 723 Stanford University student-athletes showed rapid antigen tests (RAT) were highly specific when detecting infections caused by the Omicron variant, but displayed poor sensitivity compared to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests—similar to the results of previous SAR-CoV-2 variants. The study was also published today in JAMA Network Open. (6/15)

KHN: At A Bay Area ‘Test-To-Treat’ Site, Few Takers For Free Antivirals
After avoiding movie theaters, restaurants, and gyms for more than two years, Helen Ho decided to take her first big risk since the start of the pandemic to attend her graduation. In late May, Ho, 32, flew to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to collect her Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University. A few days after returning home to the Bay Area, she tested positive for covid-19. At first, the Ivy League-educated researcher found herself at a loss for what to do. (Scheier, 6/16)

On long covid —

San Francisco Chronicle: Virus Update: COVID Can Cloud The Brain For Half A Year, Study Finds
The neurological impact of a COVID-19 infection often persists after other symptoms have cleared up, according to an initial round of research published Wednesday by scientists at UCSD. A majority of patients in the study, published in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, reported symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, memory impairment, and decreased concentration for up to six months after a mild or moderate case of COVID-19. Some also had coordination and cognitive issues. While the symptoms generally improved after half a year, only one-third of the participants said they were completely resolved at that point. None of the individuals in the study had any history of pre-existing neurological conditions prior to their infections. (Vaziri and Ho, 6/15)

The Atlantic: Long COVID Could Be A ‘Mass Deterioration Event’
In late summer 2021, during the Delta wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation issued a disturbing wake-up call: According to its calculations, more than 11 million Americans were already experiencing long COVID. The academy’s dashboard has been updated daily ever since, and now pegs that number at 25 million. Even this may be a major undercount. The dashboard calculation assumes that 30 percent of COVID patients will develop lasting symptoms, then applies that rate to the 85 million confirmed cases on the books. Many infections are not reported, though, and blood antibody tests suggest that 187 million Americans had gotten the virus by February 2022. (Many more have been infected since.) If the same proportion of chronic illness holds, the country should now have at least 56 million long-COVID patients. That’s one for every six Americans. (Mazer, 6/15)

Bloomberg: US Elderly Skimp On Food, Clothes To Pay For Health Care: Survey
Older Americans are sacrificing basic necessities to afford costly health services, according to a survey that shows how many elderly people cut personal expenses to take care of medical needs. Out-of-pocket health costs for elders in the US rose 41% from 2009 to 2019, according to findings from analytics firm Gallup Inc. and West Health, a nonprofit that focuses on senior care. About 9% of Americans 65 and older spent less on food, 6% cut spending on utilities and 19% trimmed clothing expenditures to help cover health costs, according to the survey. (Taylor, 6/15)

Axios: Health Care Consumers Feeling The Economic Sting
Inflation is changing the way we eat, shop and spend our leisure time. And the cost spiral is influencing how Americans weigh health care against other necessities. During the pandemic, Americans aged 50 to 64 said they've been skipping medications, cutting back on food and utilities to cover their medical needs. And they're increasingly worried about covering their future bills, according to newly released Gallup polling. Volatile economic conditions — high gas prices! stagnant growth! — could make that worse, Gallup said in its report. (Bettelheim and Reed, 6/15)

WJCT News: Jacksonville Retiree Group Lobbies Senators For Lower Drug Prices 
Jacksonville seniors are calling on Florida's senators to back legislation that would lower the cost of prescription drugs and health care. The Jacksonville chapter of the Florida Alliance of Retired Americans met with a staff member for Sen. Marco Rubio on Friday and anticipate a meeting with members of Sen. Rick Scott's staff in the coming weeks. The group shared stories of their personal struggles with high prescription costs. (Troncoso, 6/15)

In related news about the high cost of medical care —

Stat: CVS Whistleblower Details How Patients Were Charged Higher Drug Prices
The conversation reflected frustration and disbelief. A woman had called SilverScript, which runs one of the largest Medicare prescription drug plans, to complain that she was unable to get a generic version of a brand-name asthma medication known as Advair. She couldn’t understand why a less-expensive generic was not on the list of covered medicines, because paying for it anyway would cost her about $100 more. (Silverman, 6/16)

USA Today: Employees Fight Health Insurance Screenings That Cost Some Workers
Like many large employers, Yale University gave its clerical, food service and maintenance workers a choice: Get a routine health check or pay a $25 weekly fee. But workers alleged in a federal lawsuit the university's participate-or-pay employee wellness program violated two federal laws. In a preliminary settlement approved Tuesday by U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the university agreed to pay nearly $1.3 million to workers and attorneys and won’t assess the $25 weekly fee for four years, or until federal law or regulations change to allow such a program. (Alltucker, 6/16)

KHN and NPR take a deep dive into medical debt and how it has affected Americans' lives —

KHN: 100 Million People In America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt 
Elizabeth Woodruff drained her retirement account and took on three jobs after she and her husband were sued for nearly $10,000 by the New York hospital where his infected leg was amputated. Ariane Buck, a young father in Arizona who sells health insurance, couldn’t make an appointment with his doctor for a dangerous intestinal infection because the office said he had outstanding bills. (Levey, 6/16)

KHN: Upended: How Medical Debt Changed Their Lives
Some lost their homes. Some emptied their retirement accounts. Some struggled to feed and clothe their families. Medical debt now touches more than 100 million people in America, as the U.S. health care system pushes patients into debt on a mass scale. Debtors are from all walks of life and all corners of the country. Here are their stories ― how they got into debt, what they’ve given up for it, and how they’re living with the burden. (Levey and Pattani, 6/16)

KHN: Tell Us About Your Medical Debt 
Have you been forced into debt because of a medical or dental bill? Have you had to make any changes in your life because of such debt? Have you been pursued by debt collectors for a medical bill? We want to hear about it. (6/16)

Modern Healthcare: Anthem Revives Wellpoint Name In Rebranding Effort
Anthem is continuing its corporate makeover. The nation's second largest insurer, which will change its name to Elevance Health on June 28, is extending its rebranding campaign, Anthem announced Wednesday. The company's healthcare services arm will be dubbed Carelon and some of its health plans will take on the Wellpoint brand, which was the parent company's name before it became Anthem in 2014. The divisional renaming will take place over the next few years. In markets where Anthem does not own Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, its Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurance products will take on the Wellpoint moniker. The name change will not impact the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans the company operates in 14 states. (Tepper, 6/15)

Stat: New Jersey Hospitals Scrap Merger After FTC Challenge
Two New Jersey hospital systems have called off their proposed merger less than two weeks after the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the deal. Saint Peter’s Healthcare System said in a statement Tuesday that it “will not move forward” with its proposed transaction with RWJBarnabas Health and is now “assessing the best way to move forward.” RWJ CEO Barry Ostrowsky said in a separate statement that it is “disappointed in the termination of the proposed transaction, which we believe would have transformed quality, increased access, and decreased the overall cost of care for the people of this state.” The FTC took the exact opposite position when it sued, saying the merger would lead to higher prices and worse quality of care. (Herman, 6/14)

Stat: Verily Co-Founder Details How Real-World Data Can Transform Health Care
The real world’s a messy place, but there’s a lot you can learn out there.If you want to be confident a treatment works, your best bet remains a randomized control trial. But such studies are often picky about the participants they’ll enroll. And these trials generally focus on just a few clinical measurements taken at a handful of time points. There’s a growing push, however, to look at more data, in more people, more often. (Wosen, 6/16)

Also —

The Washington Post: Glenn Youngkin’s Health Chief Doubts Racial Disparities In Health Care 
In five months on the job, Virginia’s chief public health official, Colin Greene, has rejected the state-recognized declaration that racism is a public health crisis and downplayed the role of racism in health disparities, leaving some fearful for their jobs. The head of the office that helps vulnerable mothers and their babies said a run-in with Greene left her and her team traumatized, ashamed and uncertain the programs they shepherded through a pandemic could continue under the new administration. She said he gaslighted staffers and reduced one to tears. (Portnoy, 6/15)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Children's, Baylor Neurologist Zoghbi Wins Kavli Prize
When Dr. Huda Zoghbi began researching Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder that primarily affects girls, a mentor told her that identifying its genetic cause was the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack. It was painstaking work that took 16 years to accomplish. But Zoghbi, the director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital and a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, was kept motivated by the girls afflicted with a disorder that affects their ability to walk, speak, eat and breathe. (MacDonald, 6/15)

In pharmaceutical news —

Oklahoman: Trial For Cancer Drug Made In Oklahoma, Called OK-1, Set To Begin
The OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center on Wednesday announced a first for the state: a cancer drug, developed entirely in Oklahoma and without the help of a pharmaceutical company, is set to be tested in humans for the first time. The drug, dubbed OK-1, is more than 25 years in the making and was created by Dr. Doris Benbrook, a professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the OU College of Medicine. Now, a clinical trial is set to begin at the Stephenson Cancer Center, which involves giving the drug to women with advanced-stage ovarian, endometrial and cervical cancer. (Branham, 6/15)

Dallas Morning News: Fort Worth Biopharma Nacuity Lands $16.5 Million In Eye Disease Research Funding
Fort Worth biopharmaceutical company Nacuity Pharmaceuticals Inc. will put $16.5 million in new capital into furthering its research of treatments for degenerative eye diseases. Nacuity is in the clinical stages of developing treatments for retinitis pigmentosa, a group of genetic eye diseases, and other eye diseases caused by oxidative stress. This stress can be created by an imbalance of antioxidants in the eye, making it difficult to repair damaged cells and leading to vision loss. (Wright, 6/15)

St. Louis Public Radio: Tick-Related Meat Allergy On The Rise In Missouri 
A red meat allergy is on the rise in the St. Louis region as tick season becomes longer and hotter in the Midwest. Doctors say more people in the area are being diagnosed with “alpha-gal” syndrome, which can cause a severe allergic reaction to red meat. The syndrome appears to be common in those who have had tick bites, although researchers are still studying exactly what causes the allergy, said Dr. Maya Jareth, an allergist and immunologist at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Some people, after being bit by a tick, report a sudden aversion to meat from cows, pigs and other mammals. (Fentem, 6/15)

In mental health news —

The Boston Globe: Mass. House Set To Pass Mental Health Bill
A focus on youth behavioral health underpins the mental health bill that House lawmakers plan to vote on Thursday, top Democrats said. Speaker Ronald Mariano has said representatives would pass their own mental health bill to “complement” one the Senate approved last November, and the House bill received an initial approval vote Wednesday after it emerged from the House Ways and Means Committee. House lawmakers are set to take up their bill (H 4879) on Thursday, and its passage would give the two branches a little more than six weeks to reconcile a pair of wide-ranging bills that have some overlap before formal legislative sessions end for the year on July 31. (Lannan, 6/15)

Bangor Daily News: Maine State Police Will Add New Behavioral Health Team And Body Cameras
Word that change was on the horizon emerged nearly a month ago, but details were scarce. In a press briefing Tuesday, the Maine State Police described its plans to roll out a series of organizational changes starting early next year, along with a new body camera program and team of behavioral health specialists. Col. John Cote said the changes are necessary after years of budget and staffing challenges. The department has 34 trooper vacancies today, he said, and more are expected to retire. “As we take this snapshot right now and look forward for the next several years, we know we are not going to get this large influx of frontline personnel,” Cote said. “So it really drove us to realize we needed to come up with a non-traditional solution.” (Ogrysko, 6/15)

AP: Camp Counselors Receive Mental Health Training In NH 
Counselors are being trained to recognize signs of mental health struggles in campers under a new initiative in New Hampshire to make summer camp more accessible, New Hampshire officials said. The state’s education commissioner, Frank Edelblut said the new program, funded by federal COVID-19 relief aid, has partnered with 10 staff members from mental health facilities across the state to work with camps in the community, WMUR-TV reported Tuesday. (6/15)

In other news from across the U.S. —

AP: Alaska Kids Served Sealant Instead Of Milk At School Program 
A dozen children and two adults were served floor sealant instead of milk at a day care summer program at an Alaska elementary school after containers were apparently mixed up, the school district superintendent said Wednesday. Several students complained of burning sensations in their mouth and throats, and at least one child was treated at a hospital after the Tuesday morning incident in Juneau, Superintendent Bridget Weiss said. (Thiessen, 6/15)

AP: West Virginia To Offer Food Benefits To Non-School Age Kids
West Virginia families with eligible children under the age of 6 will be receiving funding from the federal government for groceries. Children are eligible if they live in a household that receives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, state Department of Health and Human Resources officials said in a news release. They must also live in a county where one or more schools have been closed or operated at reduced attendance due to COVID-19. (6/16)

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Ohio-Based Adult-Care Firm, Including Medina Location, Accused Of ‘Grossly Substandard Services’ 
A nursing home in Medina is among three adult-care facilities, along with their parent company, being targeted by the U.S. Justice Department for “providing grossly substandard skilled nursing services.” The Justice Department has filed a complaint under the False Claims Act against Dublin, Ohio-based American Health Foundation (AHF), its affiliate AHF Management Corp., and three of its nursing homes: Samaritan Care Center and Villa, a 56-bed facility in Medina; Cheltenham Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, a 255-bed facility in Philadelphia, Pa.; and The Sanctuary at Wilmington Place, a 63-bed nursing home in Dayton. (Pinckard, 6/15)

North Carolina Health News: Study Finds Inequities Among Disability Service Recipients 
For North Carolinians with intellectual and developmental disabilities, getting mental health treatment and other services that enable someone to live at home can be challenging. Many parents and caregivers add their children with disabilities to a statewide waiting list to receive services under something called the Innovations Waiver, a North Carolina Medicaid program for people with disabilities who need regular assistance to continue living independently. Receiving these services can prevent people with disabilities from having no choice other than to live in a group home or other institutional setting. (Knopf, 6/16)

AP: Black Death's Ancient Origins Traced To Lake In Central Asia 
Scientists in Europe say they have pinpointed the origins of the Black Death, a bacterial plague that wiped out half of the continent’s population in the 14th century. The findings counter other theories that the disease — which caused repeated outbreaks into the early 19th century and also left its mark across the Middle East and North Africa — might have first emerged in China. (6/15)

CNN: Black Death: DNA Analysis Reveals Source Of Plague 
Tombstones in what's now Kyrgyzstan have revealed tantalizing details about the origins of the Black Death, the world's most devastating plague outbreak that is estimated to have killed half of Europe's population in the space of seven years during the Middle Ages. The source of that pandemic has been debated by historians for centuries, but the inscribed tombstones -- some of which referred to a mysterious pestilence -- and genetic material from bodies exhumed from two grave sites that date back to the 13th century have provided some concrete answers to this long-standing question. (Hunt, 6/15)

In other global news —

The Washington Post: Tokyo Recognizes Same-Sex Partnerships, But Gay Marriage Is Not Yet Legalized In Japan
The Tokyo metropolitan government on Wednesday adopted legislation recognizing same-sex partnerships, which will extend some rights that apply to married heterosexual couples but falls short of allowing same-sex unions as legal marriages. (Lee and Inuma, 6/15)

Bloomberg: Cannabis Legalization: Thailand To Limit Marijuana, Hemp Use After Complaints
Thailand’s government will issue rules to limit marijuana and hemp access to people at least 20 years of age, after the decriminalization of cannabis since June 9 sparked many complaints. Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he will sign the regulations on Thursday to designate marijuana and hemp as controlled plants. Those under the age of 20 won’t be to own and use them unless they have permission from doctors, he said. (Yuvejwattana, 6/16)

Bloomberg: England To Roll Out Antibiotics From Pfizer, Shionogi To Fight Superbugs
England is rolling out a pair of antibiotics from Pfizer Inc. and Shionogi & Co. as part of a pioneering program aimed at stimulating a broken market and taking on the rising threat of superbugs. Under the deal announced Wednesday by the National Health Service, the drug companies will receive a fixed annual fee for their antibiotics. The payments in the program, the first of its kind, will be as much as £10 million ($12 million) a year for up to 10 years. (Paton, 6/15)

Bloomberg: UK, Norway To Look At Easing Health Rule Burden For Fish Trade
The UK and Norway agreed that they will work to reduce the burden that may result from the introduction of health certificates for seafood imported into the UK. The UK has warned it will require health certificates for seafood imported from European Economic Area countries, a move that may lead to more administrative work, logistics challenges and increased costs for Norwegian exporters, the Scandinavian country’s fisheries ministry said in a statement. (Treloar, 6/15)

CIDRAP: Stress During Pandemic May Have Altered Ovulation In Women
The stress and disruptions of COVID-19 led to lower progesterone levels in women, altering ovulation in otherwise healthy women, according to research presented yesterday at ENDO 2022, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Atlanta. (6/13)

CIDRAP: Unvaccinated Heart-Failure Patients At 3 Times The Risk For COVID-19 Death
Unvaccinated heart-failure patients who contract COVID-19 are three times more likely to die of their infections than their vaccinated and boosted counterparts, concludes a study published yesterday in the Journal of Cardiac Failure. (6/10)

CIDRAP: Report Profiles Aerosol Spread In Hospital COVID-19 Outbreak 
SARS-CoV-2 RNA in air samples collected at a nurses station at a Boston hospital were identified in all particle sizes and were genetically identical to human samples from a healthcare-associated outbreak, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. (Wappes, 6/10)

CIDRAP: Data Highlight Greater Impact Of COVID-19 Vs Flu In Young Children
A study today in JAMA Network Open comparing COVID-19 versus flu in kids 5 years old and younger finds that the novel coronavirus led to twice the rate of admissions to pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and rates of intubation one-third higher during the first 15 months of the pandemic. (6/15)

ScienceDaily: Dried Samples Of Saliva And Fingertip Blood Are Useful In Monitoring Responses To Coronavirus Vaccines 
Based on an antibody study, dried samples of easily self-collected saliva and of blood drawn from the fingertip could be useful for monitoring people's immune responses to vaccination. (University of Helsinki, 6/14)

Also —

NPR: CTE Is Rare In Brains Of Deceased Service Members 
Despite a high risk of brain injury, military personnel rarely develop chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disabling condition often found in former boxers and football players. Fewer than 5% of 225 brains from deceased service members showed evidence of CTE, a team reports in the June 9 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. (Hamilton, 6/13)

Newsweek: The Emergency Shortage We Aren't Talking About 
Parents and caregivers throughout the United States are struggling to feed their babies as three-quarters of the nation's retailers have been out of baby formula. For babies with allergies or other health conditions that require a specific product for food, this has been an extremely difficult, nerve-wracking situation. While this challenge is real and generating high-profile attention, another shortage getting much less attention is impacting children worldwide. (Imelda Awino, 6/15)

The Washington Post: Finally, Young Children Will No Longer Be Left Behind In The Pandemic 
Finally, relief for parents of young children is here: Children under 5 years old will almost certainly be able to get their coronavirus vaccines starting next week. This will make a huge difference to many families — mine included — who have been desperate to protect their kids against the coronavirus. (Leana S. Wen, 6/15)

CNN: Why I'll Be Vaccinating My 2-Year-Old For Covid-19 As Soon As It's Possible 
A year and a half ago, Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for adults was loaded onto trucks and airplanes and shipped out for distribution across the United States -- the beginning of what would be one of the largest vaccination campaigns in this nation's history. The excitement surrounding the shipment brought out groups of cheering spectators. Former US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield stated "This is the next step in our efforts to protect Americans, reduce the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and help restore some normalcy to our lives and our country." We appear to be approaching the same pivotal moment, this time for the roughly 18 million children under the age of 5. (Syra Madad, 6/15)

The New York Times: Why Kids Under 5 Should Get A Covid Vaccine 
The rapid development of approaches to combating Covid-19 has changed how the pandemic affects our lives. While there are now a number of safe and effective layers of protection for adults to reduce their risk of the worst impacts of Covid-19, young children remain relatively unshielded. (Nicole E. Basta and Rachel Widome, 6/15)

Scientific American: Bad COVID Public Health Messaging Is Blocking Our Path To A "New Normal" 
The U.S. has no clear vision of how to reach a postpandemic world. Over the past two years, we have developed extraordinary scientific tools for the mitigation, treatment and prevention of COVID. But we’ve stumbled badly in implementing them. Many of these failures happened because our public health messages were not clear about how to use those tools, which include vaccines, masks, tests, antiviral drugs and temporary activity restrictions. The result is confusion among the public that has left us vulnerable to the disease and unable to respond to new and more transmissible variants such as BA.2 and its sublineages, which are infecting a rising number of people across the nation. America has already lost one million people during this pandemic. There may be future mutations that could be more lethal and highly contagious, and we are still woefully unprepared for them. (Thoai D. Ngo, 6/15)

Also —

The Washington Post: Access To Contraception Will Be All The More Vital In A Post-Roe World 
In 2004, I flew to Washington for the March for Women’s Lives. It was exciting to march with others for a cause I believed in. But watching the marchers and counterdemonstrators verbally clash over the right to abortion access, I felt far from my home in Chattanooga, Tenn., and the desperate need for essential services there. (Rachel Schulson, 6/15)

The Washington Post: Condom ‘Stealthing’ Is Sexual Violence, Bill Says. Here’s What To Know.
A one-sided burden. A betrayal. A violation. “Rape-adjacent.” These are some of the ways women have described “stealthing,” a term used to describe the act of removing a condom during intercourse without the other partner’s consent. While victims of stealthing tend to be clear about its harms, what has been less clear is how to define it. Is it assault? And could — or rather, would — the law do anything about it? (Anne Branigin, 6/15)

Stat: Ensuring Equitable Global Access To Virtual Health Care 
Virtual health capabilities are evolving far beyond video consultations with a doctor. They now encompass a vast array of applications, from bots that screen people for common illnesses to artificial intelligence that can read X-ray images as well as a human radiologist. Many experts see virtual technology as a promising tool for eliminating barriers to health care and addressing long-standing global health inequities. But that promise is far from assured. Many people have no internet access or lack the digital literacy needed to engage remotely with care practitioners or benefit from health-promoting services. (WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Ann Aerts, 6/16)

Stat: Gains In Patient Safety Have Stalled Over The Past Decade 
Hospital care helps patients recover from serious illness and injury but, all too often, patients can also be harmed by it. In 2010, our office, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG), reported that 27% of Medicare beneficiaries experienced harm during hospital stays. These harms were uncovered through an extensive medical record review by nurses and physicians trained in patient safety. They included temporary events such as low blood pressure that can cause falls and other problems, as well as serious events such as strokes and sepsis, which prolong hospital stays, cause permanent injuries, and, in some cases, contribute to death. Almost half of the harm events identified could have been prevented by better care. (Christi A. Grimm, Ruth Ann Dorrill and Julie K. Taitsman, 6/16)

The Tennessean: HEALS Is The Mental Health Crisis Response Model Nashville Needs
Three years ago, Mayor John Cooper appointed a Policing Commission to make recommendations as to how to proceed with criminal justice issues in Nashville. Two committees on that commission came back with different ways to respond to mental health crisis response situations: A police officer and mental health worker respond in a police car. An E.M.T. and a mental health crisis worker respond in a van. (Joe Ingle, 6/15)

Dallas Morning News: Texas Leaders Want To Boost Mental Health Care. What About A ‘Red Flag’ Law?
Progress can be slow to reach the halls of the state Capitol, so we are glad to see Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan treat mental health care as a priority in the aftermath of the Uvalde massacre. Any sincere legislative effort to prevent more school mass shootings has to address gun violence. But mental health is also a factor, and expanded access to care should be an easy consensus builder. (6/16)

The Boston Globe: How To Spur Scientific Breakthroughs
If you’ve ever used an insulin pump, an over-the-counter pregnancy test, or a dose of remdesivir for COVID, you’ve benefited from interdisciplinary science. And that’s only in medicine — cross-pollination also gave us smartphones and AI-driven software. As we face multiple world crises, from climate destruction to the coronavirus pandemic, cross-collaboration is needed now more than ever — but the way scientists are trained actually makes this type of collaboration harder, if not impossible. (Eric and Wendy Schmidt, 6/16)

Newsweek: Plans To Help Underserved Communities Will Fail Without New Forms Of Community Engagement 
The American health care system, battered by two-plus years of COVID-19, staff burnout and declining public trust, could be forgiven for a period of retrenchment and nostalgia for "the way things used to be." If that happens, however, we will miss the best opportunity in a generation to apply the innovations of the moment to build a better and more just system of care and delivery. (Nancy E. Oriol, 6/15)