The New York Times: U.S. Officials Press Pfizer For More Evidence Of Need For Booster Shot
Representatives of Pfizer met privately with senior U.S. scientists and regulators on Monday to press their case for swift authorization of coronavirus booster vaccines, amid growing public confusion about whether they will be needed and pushback from federal health officials who say the extra doses are not necessary now. The high-level online meeting, which lasted an hour and involved Pfizer’s chief scientific officer briefing virtually every top doctor in the federal government, came on the same day Israel started administering third doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to heart transplant patients and others with compromised immune systems. Officials said after the meeting that more data — and possibly several more months — would be needed before regulators could determine whether booster shots were necessary. (Gay Stolberg and LaFraniere, 7/12)

Reuters: U.S. Officials Say Fully Vaccinated Don't Need Booster
HHS officials had a briefing from Pfizer on Monday regarding their latest, preliminary data on vaccinations and will continue to discuss when and if booster shots will be needed in the future, the spokesperson said. Pfizer said it planned to publish "more definitive data" in a peer-reviewed journal. "Both Pfizer and the U.S. government share a sense of urgency in staying ahead of the virus that causes COVID-19, and we also agree that the scientific data will dictate next steps in the rigorous regulatory process that we always follow," said Pfizer spokesperson Sharon Castillo. (7/13)

Politico: Top U.S. Officials See Booster Shots As Inevitable
Biden administration health officials believe the most vulnerable Americans will eventually need coronavirus booster shots — but they are still debating how quickly that should happen, two administration officials said. The internal deliberations have stretched on for months as health officials watch for signs of waning immunity among the vaccinated. The talks have included extensive behind-the-scenes coordination between the administration and drug companies manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines. (Cancryn, Owermohle and Banco, 7/12)

Axios: The Debate Begins Over The Timeline For Boosters 
Conflicting statements from Pfizer and the Biden administration were just the beginning of what will likely be a contentious debate over if and when vaccinated Americans need another shot to protect them against the coronavirus. Making decisions based on emerging science is difficult on a good day. But until global supply outpaces global demand for the vaccine, how to allocate doses will remain a life-or-death decision. (Owens, 7/13)

CNBC: Dr. Kavita Patel Says Need For A Covid Booster Shot Seems Inevitable
Former Obama administration official Dr. Kavita Patel told CNBC on Monday she expects a Covid vaccine booster will, eventually, be authorized by U.S. regulators due to new, more transmissible coronavirus variants. “With the threat of the delta variant and potentially other looming variants in the future, it seems like it’s an inevitability that we’re going to need a booster shot,” Patel said on “Squawk Box.” “But that trillion-dollar question is, when? It seems like six months might be too soon.” (Singh, 7/12)

Stat: When And How Will We Know If We Need Covid-19 Booster Shots?
There’s a lot we don’t yet know about the data behind Pfizer and BioNTech’s renewed push to change its two-shot Covid vaccination series to a three-shot regimen. But as the sides bicker about whether a third shot is going to be needed, one thing is certain: The final decision will not rest with the company. Public health officials, not pharmaceutical executives, will be making the final call on when and whether booster shots will be needed. (7/12)

Stat: WHO Director-General Slams Notion Of Covid-19 Vaccine Booster Doses
The director-general of the World Health Organization on Monday issued a stinging rebuke to Pfizer and other vaccine manufacturers focused on developing — and selling — Covid-19 vaccine booster shots to high-income countries, saying they should focus instead on providing vaccine to nations that have had little access to first doses. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ statement came four days after Pfizer said it has data to support its repeated claim that a third dose of its vaccine will be needed to keep protection levels high. He also singled out Moderna, which, like Pfizer, is developing updated vaccines targeted at variants. (Branswell, 7/12)

AP: WHO: Rich Countries Should Donate Vaccines, Not Use Boosters
At a press briefing, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world’s grotesque vaccine disparity was driven by “greed,” as he called on drugmakers to prioritize supplying their COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries instead of lobbying rich countries to use even more doses. His plea comes just as pharmaceutical companies are seeking authorization for third doses to be used as boosters in some Western countries, including the U.S. “We are making conscious choices right now not to protect those in need,” Tedros said, adding the immediate priority must be to vaccinate people who have yet to receive a single dose. (Cheng, 7/13)

Reuters: WHO Warns Against Mixing And Matching COVID Vaccines
The World Health Organization's chief scientist on Monday advised against people mixing and matching COVID-19 vaccines from different manufacturers, calling it a "dangerous trend" since there was little data available about the health impact. "It's a little bit of a dangerous trend here. We are in a data-free, evidence-free zone as far as mix and match," Soumya Swaminathan told an online briefing. "It will be a chaotic situation in countries if citizens start deciding when and who will be taking a second, a third and a fourth dose." (7/13)

CNBC: Most Fully Vaccinated People Who Get Covid Delta Infections Are Asymptomatic, WHO Says
People who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 are still getting infected with the delta variant, but global health officials said the shots have protected most people from getting severely sick or dying. “There are reports coming in that vaccinated populations have cases of infection, particularly with the delta variant,” Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, said at a press briefing Monday. “The majority of these are mild or asymptomatic infections.” (Mendez, 7/12)

While Israel begins administering boosters —

Axios: Israel Becomes First Country To Offer COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shot 
Israel on Monday will begin offering a third dose of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine as a booster shot for people with weakened immune systems, according to the Times of Israel. It's the first country to offer booster shots to bolster protection against the rapidly spreading Delta variant. The Israeli Health Ministry is still determining whether an extra shot should be offered to the general public. (Knutson, 7/12)

And on U.S. donations —

Axios: White House Sends Vaccines To Laos, Fiji And Costa Rica 
The Biden administration will ship over 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines Monday to Laos, Fiji and Costa Rica, Axios has learned. This allotment is part of the pledge by President Biden to deliver 80 million doses of the vaccine globally as the U.S. seeks to be a leader in distribution on the world stage. (Mucha, 7/12)

The Washington Post: FDA Adds New Warning On Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Related To Rare Autoimmune Disorder
The Food and Drug Administration announced a new warning for the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine on Monday, saying the shot has been linked to a serious but rare side effect called Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the immune system attacks the nerves. About 100 preliminary reports of Guillain-Barré have been detected in vaccine recipients after the administration of 12.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States, according to a companion statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which monitors vaccine safety systems with the FDA. Of these reports, 95 were serious and required hospitalization, the FDA statement said. There was one death. Neither agency provided details about the death. (McGinley and Sun, 7/12)

CNBC: J&J Covid Vaccine: FDA To Announce New Warning Related To A Rare Autoimmune Disorder, Report Says
Guillain-Barre is a rare neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks part of the nervous system. It is estimated to affect about one person in 100,000 each year, and most people eventually recover from the disorder, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The cases reported after receiving the J&J shot largely occurred about two weeks after vaccination and mostly in males, many aged 50 years and older, according to the CDC. Available data do not show a similar pattern with Pfizer’s or Moderna’s vaccine, the agency said. (Lovelace Jr., 7/12)

Stat: J&J Covid-19 Vaccine May Trigger Neurological Condition In Rare Cases
Most are older males, which fits with the known pattern of GBS, said John Moore, an immunologist at Weill Cornell Medicine. “A rare, but very probably real consequence of the vaccine,” said Paul Offit, a vaccine expert from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “Again, the benefits of the vaccine clearly and definitely outweigh its very rare risks.” The FDA’s statement comes after a similar signal of GBS was identified with AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine. (Branswell, 7/12)

The New York Times: Guillain-Barré Syndrome And The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine: What To Know
The risk appears to be very small. So far, there have been 100 reports of the syndrome in people who had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Nearly 13 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the United States. Here are answers to some common questions about the syndrome and its connection to vaccination. (Anthes, 7/12)

Politico: ‘Potentially A Death Sentence’: White House Goes Off On Vaccine Fearmongers 
The Biden administration is casting conservative opponents of its Covid-19 vaccine campaign as dangerous and extreme, adopting a more aggressive political posture in an attempt to maneuver through the public health conundrum. The White House has decided to hit back harder on misinformation and scare tactics after Republican lawmakers and conservative activists pledged to fight the administration’s stated plans to go “door-to-door” to increase vaccination rates. The pushback will include directly calling out social media platforms and conservative news shows that promote such tactics. (Korecki and Daniels, 7/12)

The Hill: Fauci Defends Biden's Support For Recommending Vaccines 'One On One'
Anthony Fauci on Monday defended the Biden administration's support of door-to-door vaccination efforts, amid Republican attacks. "When you get down to now a core, lesser group, you've got to go one on one, and that's really what the president was talking about on trying to get some of these advisers, not federal officials, but community people to go out there and try and convince people why it's so important for their own health, for that of their family and for that of the community, to go out and get vaccinated," Fauci said on "CBS This Morning." (Sullivan, 7/12)

Salon: Dr. Fauci Reacts To CPAC Crowd Celebrating Low Vaccination Rates: "It's Horrifying"
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, expressed horror on Sunday over a crowd at a conservative gathering this past week celebrating the federal government's inability to meet its vaccination goals. "It's horrifying," Fauci told host CNN's Jake Tapper in an interview. "I mean, they are cheering about someone saying that it's a good thing for people not to try and save their lives." (Skolnik, 7/12)

In state vaccination news —

Houston Chronicle: Men Die From COVID At A Higher Rate. Why Are Women More Likely To Get A Vaccine?
In Texas, nearly 1 million more women and girls are vaccinated from COVID than men and boys, according to the Department of State Health Services. Women between the ages of 16 and 49 account for more than a quarter of the 12 million Texans who are fully vaccinated, the agency reported Thursday. And it’s not just in Texas. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 53 percent of Americans who have received at least one dose identify as female. (Garcia, 7/12)

CNN: Tennessee's Vaccine Manager Fired Over Vaccinating Kids Against Covid 
The top vaccine official for the state of Tennessee said Monday she was fired after an argument over vaccinating children against coronavirus. Now Dr. Michelle Fiscus, a pediatrician who has served as the state's medical director of the vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization for two years, said she is afraid for the people of her state -- which is already lagging in vaccination against the virus. "It is just astounding to me how absolutely political and self-centered our elected people are here and how very little they care for the people of Tennessee," Fiscus told CNN in a telephone interview. "The people of Tennessee are going to pay a price." (7/13)

Politico: Utah Governor Admits Mistake On Vaccination Milestone
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Monday that the state's Covid data team “screwed up” and that Utah has not yet hit the 70 percent goal for adult vaccinations, admitting the error just days after celebrating the milestone. “Welp. We screwed up. Because of a reporting error we have not yet hit 70% on our adult vaccinations,” Cox, a Republican, posted on Twitter Monday. “I promised to admit our mistakes and hold us accountable. I hope you will forgive us — and know we have made changes to ensure it won’t happen again." (Ward, 7/12)

Georgia Health News: Vaccine Mandates: Some Georgia Hospitals Move Ahead 
The Piedmont Healthcare system will require doctors, hospital leaders and new employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19 by Sept. 1, the Atlanta-based nonprofit organization said Monday. Other employees at Piedmont facilities will be required to get COVID shots “in the near future,’’ Piedmont said in a statement. “It’s important to consider that vaccination is a leading factor in patients and team members feeling safe within a health care setting, as shown by research we conducted,’’ said the statement from Piedmont, a fast-growing system with 11 hospitals in the state. “Moreover, it is in keeping with our peers from other leading health systems throughout the United States.’’ (Miller, 7/12)

CNN: Americans Need To Make A Choice In Order To Avoid A Covid Surge, Expert Says 
With Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations increasing in communities with low vaccination rates, an expert says Americans face a choice: get vaccinated or continue dealing with the impacts of the pandemic. "We can't have it both ways; we can't be both unmasked and non-socially distant and unvaccinated. That won't work," Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a CNN medical analyst and professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, said Monday. (Holcombe, 7/13)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Southwest Missouri Hospitals Begin To Surpass Winter COVID-19 Surge. St. Louis County Warns Of Rising Cases 
Hospitals in southwest Missouri are beginning to surpass the level of COVID-19 patients seen in the winter of 2020, and St. Louis-area officials are bracing for infection rates to continue to rise here, too. On Monday, Mercy Hospital Springfield had more COVID-19 patients than at the peak in December, and Greene County’s infection rates showed no signs of retreat. “Not only are cases continuing to rise, but they’re rising faster,” said Aaron Schekorra, public health information administrator for the Springfield-Greene County Health Department. (Merrilees, 7/12)

The Hill: COVID-19 Case Count Spikes Hit Almost Every State
Most areas of the country are seeing a new surge in COVID-19 cases as variants of the virus serve as a painful reminder that the pandemic is not over despite eased restrictions. Forty-one states and the District of Columbia have documented an increase in average daily cases over the past two weeks. But nine in particular, including seven in the South, have seen cases at least double in that time period, according to data from The New York Times. (Coleman, 7/12)

CNN: States With Low Vaccination Numbers Have Covid-19 Case Rates That Are Significantly Higher Than Others 
When you compare states with high vaccination rates to states that are lagging, the difference in the number of people getting Covid-19 is staggering. Over the past week, states that have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents have reported an average Covid-19 case rate that is about a third of that in states which have fully vaccinated less than half of their residents, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (McPhillips, Almasy and Holcombe, 7/12)

The Baltimore Sun: FAQ: What To Know About The Delta Variant, Its Spread In Maryland And What It Might Mean For Vaccine Boosters 
Cases of COVID-19 in Maryland and around the country are way down from their winter peak, as are hospitalizations and deaths. That’s all thanks to the vaccines, which have proved highly effective in preventing severe disease, public health officials say. But the pandemic isn’t over, and the level of threat depends on where you live, your vaccination status, and now, a much more transmissible version known as the delta variant. (Cohn, 7/12)

From the states —

Mississippi Free Press: Delta Variant Surge Prompts New Mississippi Mask Guidance
Mississippi public-health officials are urging some vaccinated residents to begin wearing masks again and to avoid large crowds as the more contagious COVID-19 Delta variant spreads across the state. “We’re kind of in a tough spot right now. We’re seeing a pretty nasty surge of the Delta variant. We’re seeing a marked increase in cases, hospitalizations. Deaths are sure to follow,” Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said during a livecast Mississippi State Medical Association discussion on Friday. (Pittman, 7/12)

AP: Summer Camps Hit With COVID Outbreaks — Are Schools Next?
The U.S. has seen a string of COVID-19 outbreaks tied to summer camps in recent weeks in places such as Texas, Illinois, Florida, Missouri and Kansas, in what some fear could be a preview of the upcoming school year. In some cases the outbreaks have spread from the camp to the broader community. The clusters have come as the number of newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. has reversed course, surging more than 60% over the past two weeks from an average of about 12,000 a day to around 19,500, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. (Hollingsworth, Franko and Tanner, 7/13)

AP: Kansas Sees COVID Surge As Delta Variant Cases Keep Rising
Kansas is seeing increasingly larger numbers of new COVID-19 cases and a surge in cases of the faster-spreading delta variant as one Kansas City-area county prepares to launch a new phase of its vaccine lottery. (7/12)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Sees New Significant Rise In COVID-19 Cases, 99% Involved The Unvaccinated 
Los Angeles County officials reported the fourth straight day of more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, more troubling evidence that the disease is increasing its spread among the unvaccinated. The county Department of Public Health reported 1,059 new cases Monday. On Friday, 1,044 coronavirus cases were reported countywide, followed by 1,069 more on Saturday and an additional 1,113 Sunday, according to data compiled by The Times. (Money and Lin II, 7/12)

Axios: Ohio Church Retreat Sparks COVID Outbreak 
A Baptist church retreat in Ohio attended by 800 people from June 27 to July 3 has resulted in 30 COVID-19 cases so far, Dayton & Montgomery County public health officials said Monday. This is the second COVID-19 outbreak triggered by a multi-day church event in the past week. Last week it was revealed that a Texas church summer camp had resulted in at least 125 coronavirus infections and left "hundreds more" exposed to the virus. (Saric, 7/12)

Undark: A Curious Union: Clorox, Cleveland Clinic, And The CDC Foundation
As a second wave of Covid-19 infections tore through the United States in the summer of 2020, a partnership was forged between the Cleveland Clinic, one of the nation’s premiere medical centers, and the Clorox Company, the California-based ­­­­­­­maker of surface disinfectants. Sales of Clorox products had been soaring since the beginning of the pandemic, when public health agencies were still warning that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, could lurk on surfaces, sickening people who touched them. The company’s stock was also soaring, and at times it struggled to keep up with demand. Under the partnership, the company and the clinic would co-produce public health guidelines to help the public navigate the Covid-19 pandemic. The arrangement continued into March of this year, when the CDC Foundation — an independent nonprofit chartered by Congress to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — joined the group. (Schulson, 7/13)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Vaccines Shown To Protect At-Risk Patients
The Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccines are as effective at preventing symptomatic illness in people with underlying medical conditions as in the rest of the population, finds a real-world study of more than 1 million at-risk UK residents. In the observational study, published late last week on the khub preprint server, a team led by Public Health England (PHE) researchers mined the electronic medical records of more than 700 general-practice clinics across the country, representing 10% of the population. They also conducted sentinel antibody testing from December 2020 to May 2021. (Van Beusekom, 7/12)

CIDRAP: Azithromycin Doesn't Help Mild-To-Moderate COVID-19, Study Finds
A randomized clinical trial conducted in the United Kingdom found that use of the antibiotic azithromycin in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 did not reduce the risk of subsequent hospital admission or death. The results were presented last week at ECCMID and published simultaneously in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. In the open-label, randomized trial conducted at 19 UK hospitals from Jun 3, 2020, to Jan 29, 2021, adult COVID-19 patients considered suitable for initial ambulatory management were assigned to receive either standard care plus 500 milligrams of azithromycin once a day for 14 days or standard care alone. The primary outcome was hospital admission or death from any cause within 28 days of randomization. (7/12)

CIDRAP: Flu Vaccine Linked To Better COVID-19 Symptoms
People who received the flu vaccine prior to having COVID-19 had less risk of sepsis, stroke, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and disease requiring emergency or intensive care, according to a study presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) this year. The researchers looked at 74,754 patients in the international TriNetX research database: All had been diagnosed as having COVID-19, but half had received flu shots 2 weeks to 6 months prior to the infection. Patients were matched across COVID risk factors (eg, age, ethnicity, health conditions) and followed up at 30, 60, 90, and 120 days post-diagnosis. (7/12)

And on long covid —

Bloomberg: Long Covid Treatments Crop Up At Luxury Wellness Resorts 
To beat long Covid, the version of the virus where symptoms persist for more than 12 weeks, you can employ the same tried-and-true tactics that help overcome the flu: Stay well-rested, guzzle clear fluids, and hope for the best. Or you can channel your inner Gwyneth Paltrow and pay $3,500 to have a therapist cake a paste of turmeric, galangal, and kaffir lime on your chest, cover it with an alcohol-doused towel, and set it all on fire. The latter technique—a traditional Ya-Pao detoxification therapy used for centuries in Thailand—is believed to balance the wind, water, and fire elements in the body. According to the practitioners who prescribe it, it’s also a great way to alleviate long Covid symptoms such as inflammations and coughs. (Schalkx, 7/13)

AP: Medicare Evaluating Coverage For $56,000 Alzheimer's Drug
Medicare on Monday launched a formal process to decide whether to cover Aduhelm, the new Alzheimer’s drug whose $56,000-a-year price tag and unproven benefits have prompted widespread criticism and a congressional investigation. A final decision isn’t likely until next spring, said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, although an initial ruling could come in six months. Currently Medicare is making case-by-case determinations on whether to cover the medication, which is administered intravenously in a doctor’s office. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Perrone, 7/12)

Stat: Medicare Starts Process That Could Limit Access To New Alzheimer’s Drug
The process, called a National Coverage Determination analysis, ensures that coverage for the drug is uniform across the country instead of leaving decisions to regional contractors. The tool is rarely used for drugs, and Medicare announced its decision to use it much more quickly than is typical — in just 12 days after receiving a formal request instead of the previous record of 36 days, according to Washington Analysis. Notably, if Medicare were going to pay for any Alzheimer’s patient’s treatment with Aduhelm, it likely would not need to use the tool. But its decision has enormous consequences since most of the patient population for the $56,000 therapy is covered by the federal health care program. (Cohrs and Silverman, 7/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Medicare To Review Coverage For New Alzheimer’s Drug Aduhelm
There are a range of possibilities for what a national coverage decision could look like, including unrestricted coverage, non-coverage, or deferring to Medicare contractors, CMS said. The FDA’s approval of Aduhelm has drawn criticism from some doctors and health economists who contend the drug’s benefit is unproven and its estimated annual $56,000 per patient cost could add billions of dollars in government spending. (Walker, 7/12)

Stat: Democrats Demand Docs About Biogen, FDA Coordination On Aduhelm
Two powerful House Democrats on Monday demanded documents from Biogen about the approval process, marketing, and pricing of its controversial new Alzheimer’s drug. The letter is the latest move in a congressional investigation into Aduhelm’s approval and pricing spearheaded by House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.). The request prominently references a STAT investigation that revealed Biogen had an off-the-books meeting with a prominent FDA regulator ahead of the drug’s unprecedented approval, and that the back-channel relationship between the two started earlier and was far more extensive than disclosed. (Cohrs, 7/12)

The Hill: HHS Spending Bill Advances Without Hyde Amendment
A key House subcommittee on Monday cleared a spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) without including a decades-old rider prohibiting funding for abortions, kicking off what is likely to be a long and bruising fight. For the first time in 40 years, the Hyde Amendment was excluded from the spending bill introduced and then cleared by the House Appropriations labor and health and human services subcommittee. The HHS bill also does not include the Weldon Amendment, which has been in place since 2005 and prohibits denying federal funding to entities that do not want to cover or provide abortion services. (Weixel, 7/12)

Axios: House Democrats Advance Spending Bill Without Hyde Amendment 
It is expected to be approved by the full House panel before going to a vote. It sets up abortion access as a key focus of negotiations on government funding between Democrats and Republicans, who could block the bill in the Senate if there are no changes to the measure.. (7/12)

Politico: Free Lunch, Immigration, More Medicare: What's In The Mix For Democrats' 'Go-Big' Bill
Top Democrats are finalizing the bones of a multitrillion-dollar partisan spending plan designed to ride alongside a bipartisan infrastructure deal — and attempting to squeeze as many priorities as they can into their GOP-free shopping cart. Masterminded by Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the public blueprint is expected as early as this week, setting an ambitious spending ceiling for passing the dream policies that won’t make it in any bipartisan infrastructure package. Because Democrats only get one more crack this year at passing a bill that doesn’t require any support from Senate Republicans, every lawmaker in the majority party is lobbying to push their priorities into the final package passed using the filibuster protections of so-called budget reconciliation. (Scholtes, Miranda Ollstein and McCrimmon, 7/13)

AP: Senators Seek Medicaid-Like Plan To Cover Holdout States
Three Democratic U.S. senators from states that have refused to expand Medicaid want the federal government to set up a mirror plan to provide health insurance coverage to people in those states. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin are introducing the bill Monday, they told The Associated Press. Congressional Democrats are pushing for a coverage expansion in upcoming legislation. (Amy, 7/12)

Stat: Biden Order Would Pause Rule Forbidding March-In Rights To Lower Drug Costs
In a little-noticed move, the Biden administration has hit the pause button on a rule that would prevent the federal government from using a controversial legal provision for combating the high prices of products developed with taxpayer dollars. The move amounts to an about-face after the White House left the rule, which was proposed earlier this year by the Trump administration, on its regulatory agenda last month. However, the latest decision suggests the Biden administration is responding to pressure to widen access to medicines and vaccines, especially those funded in part by the U.S. treasury, in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Silverman, 7/12)

Becker's Hospital Review: 'Best Of Intentions Can Be Misguided': Hospitals Criticize Biden Executive Order
Hospital groups pushed back against President Joe Biden's latest executive order that targets hospital consolidation. The order, signed July 9, asked the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to review and revise their guidelines on hospital mergers to limit harm to patients. "Thanks to unchecked mergers, the ten largest healthcare systems now control a quarter of the market," the executive order said, pointing to the closure of rural hospitals as particularly concerning. (Haefner, 7/12)

Roll Call: US Effort To Combat China’s Tech Rise ‘Not Nearly Enough’
The United States faces a monumental task in keeping its focus on the long-term challenge posed by China’s quest for technology leadership. (Ratnam, 7/12)

Stat: WHO Advisers Urge Global Effort To Regulate Genome Editing
On Monday, a World Health Organization advisory committee called on the world’s largest public health authority to stand by the 2019 statement of its director-general urging a halt to any experiments that might lead to the births of more gene-edited humans. The committee — established in December 2018, weeks after news broke of the birth of twin girls whose genomes were edited by Chinese scientist He Jiankui — said in a pair of long-awaited reports that the germline editing technology that led to the “CRISPR babies” scandal is still too scientifically and ethically fraught for use. But for other, less controversial forms of gene-editing, the reports offer a path to how governments might establish the technology as a tool for improving public health. (Molteni, 7/12)

The Wall Street Journal: WHO Panel Issues Gene-Editing Standards Aimed At Averting DNA Dystopia
A World Health Organization expert advisory panel Monday issued two new reports recommending the implementation of global standards aimed at preventing unscrupulous, inequitable and potentially dangerous uses of Crispr and other gene-editing technologies. The reports call for efforts to develop global standards, the establishment of an international registry of gene-editing experiments and a way for whistleblowers to report concerns. Their release comes more than two years after a Chinese researcher triggered international outrage when he revealed that he had used Crispr to produce the first gene-edited babies. (Dockser Marcus, 7/12)

More pharma news —

Stat: Dozens Of Generic Makers Won't Face Zantac Cancer Risk Lawsuits
A federal court judge dismissed all claims against dozens of generic manufacturers and retailers in sprawling litigation over allegations that the Zantac heartburn pill may contain a carcinogen, although brand-name drug makers will continue to face more than 1,400 lawsuits over the issue. The ruling is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga over the safety of the widely used heartburn medicine, which is also known as ranitidine. The pills were recalled by numerous manufacturers in 2019 after the Food and Drug Administration found some contained higher than acceptable levels of NDMA,  an organic chemical that is part of a carcinogenic group of compounds called N-nitrosamines. (Silverman, 7/12)

And on drug resistance —

CIDRAP: Non-Antibiotic Drugs May Be A Risk For Resistant Bacteria
A study of hospital patients in Israel found a link between multidrug-resistant gut bacteria and exposure to commonly used non-antimicrobial drugs (NAMDs), researchers reported last week at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID). Out of 1,807 patients admitted to Tel Aviv Medical Center from Jan 1, 2017, to Apr 18, 2019, who had upper urinary tract infection, positive urine or blood culture growing Enterobacterales, and exposure to any of 19 NAMDs prior to admission, 994 patient samples (52.2%) contained drug resistant organisms and 431 (23.8%) had multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). Univariate analysis found that exposure to seven drug classes was associated with a resistant organism, and three drug classes—proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), beta-blockers, and antimetabolites—were significantly associated with MDROs. (7/12)

CIDRAP: Resistant Bacteria Found In More Than Half Of Dog Food Samples
In another study presented at ECCMID last week, researchers from Portugal reported that samples of commercially available dog food contained MDR Enterococci, including isolates that were genetically identical to bacteria isolated from hospital patients. The researchers analyzed 55 samples of dog food (22 wet, 8 dry, 4 semi-wet, 7 treats, and 14 raw-frozen) and found that 30 samples (54%) contained Enterococci that expressed resistance to erythromycin (73%), tetracycline (63%), quinupristin-dalfopristin (60%), streptomycin (53%), chloramphenicol (50%), ampicillin or ciprofloxacin (47% each), gentamycin (40%), linezolid (23%), or vancomycin and teicplanin (2% each). MDR isolates were found in all the raw-frozen samples and three of the non-raw samples. (7/12)

Stat: States And Insurers Resurrect Barriers To Telehealth, Straining Patients
Telemedicine is here to stay. But its free-for-all era may be coming to an end. State-issued emergency declarations and insurer policies that were issued at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and that were meant to encourage the use of telemedicine are being phased out across U.S. states, one by one. And as they fade away, rules that make telemedicine more complicated — and costly — are setting back in. (Palmer, 7/13)

Houston Chronicle: Make Telemedicine Permanent? Tech Should Also Enable More In-Person Care
The use of technology has promised to change most jobs. This change has been greatly accelerated by COVID in health care with the use of telemedicine. The American Medical Association has predicted that after COVID, telehealth will account for a shift of $250 billion or about 20 percent of what Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers spend on outpatient, office and home health visits. In this bright future, physicians sit in their offices, patients sit at home and … done! (Arthur Garson Jr., 7/9)

Modern Healthcare: Safety-Net Hospitals Hit Hard By Pandemic Could Lose Access To 340B Drugs
Some hospitals serving large volumes of low-income patients are at risk of getting kicked out of a popular federal discount drug program as the fallout from the pandemic's unprecedented impact on healthcare providers continues. The 340B program, which allows qualifying hospitals and providers to buy deeply discounted drugs from manufacturers, has strict eligibility requirements and an annual recertification process. Providers must show that a certain percentage of patients they served in the year prior were low-income or on Medicaid. (Hellman, Brady, and Broderick, 7/12)

Axios: Pay Gaps Persist In Academic Internal Medicine Specialties 
Women who teach internal medicine specialties still get paid less and have less representation in leadership, according to a new study from JAMA Internal Medicine. In their analysis across 154 medical schools in the U.S. between 2018 and 2019, researchers found women were paid at least 90% of men's median annual salary in 10 of 13 internal medicine specialties. (Fernandez, 7/13)

Axios: Hospitals Launch Antitrust Lawsuit Against Intuitive Surgical 
Several hospitals have mounted a legal battle against the company that makes the da Vinci surgical robot, alleging its monopoly position forces hospitals to buy its maintenance services and replacement parts at inflated prices even though cheaper options exist. In one allegation, a hospital says Intuitive Surgical remotely shut down a hospital's surgical robot "in the middle of a procedure" which forced the surgeon "to convert the procedure to open surgery with the patient on the operating table," after the hospital said it was considering a service contract with a third party. (Herman, 7/13)

The Oregonian: Former OHSU Medical Resident Says School Breached Settlement Agreement 
A former medical resident at Oregon Health & Science University who had sued the school in 2018 alleging retaliation for her complaints about sexual harassment and discrimination now accuses the school of breaching the settlement reached in that case. After mediation three years ago, OHSU was to pay $100,000 to the resident, identified only as " I.J.,” and she agreed to resign from her residency job at the medical school as of Oct. 31, 2018. Her new lawsuit contends the school shared disparaging and negative information about her with prospective employers and other residency programs, commented on the existence of the agreement in violation of the settlement and failed to provide a reference letter for her as required. (Bernstein, 7/12)

Modern Healthcare: Atlantic Health, NYU Langone Health Form Transplant Alliance
Atlantic Health System and NYU Langone Health will coordinate heart and liver transplant care via a clinical affiliation, the New Jersey and New York not-for-profit health systems announced Monday. Atlantic clinicians will provide pre- and post-transplant care at Morristown Medical Center's Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute and Overlook Medical Center while physicians at the NYU Langone Transplant Institute will perform the surgeries. (Kacik, 7/12)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth Claims Policy Won't Dent 2021 Finances
MultiPlan Corporation said Monday that it doesn't expect a UnitedHealth Group policy change to have a "material impact" on the New York-based cost management company's financial performance for 2021. The company still expects to generate up to $1.1 billion in revenue for the full year, despite its stock price diving 25% over the past week due to "ongoing discussions in the media and among the investor community" over the Minnetonka, Minn.-based health giant's insurance subsidiary plan to no longer pay some out-of-network claims. Starting July 1, UnitedHealthcare will no longer pay out-of-network claims when fully insured customers seek non-emergency care outside of their local coverage area. (Tepper, 7/12)

Modern Healthcare: Intermountain Closes Most Of Its Retail Pharmacies After CVS Deal
Intermountain Healthcare plans to close 25 of its 26 retail pharmacies in Utah by August, citing declining business and a new deal with CVS Health.The health system will only keep its pharmacy at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City open as a home delivery, retail, and specialty pharmacy for the area's residents. (Gellman, 7/12)

Becker's Hospital Review: Only 1 In 4 Nursing Homes Confident They Will Stay Open A Year, Survey Finds
Only a quarter of nursing homes and assisted living communities are confident they can remain open for another year or more, reports The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living. The findings come from the organization's most recent survey of U.S. skilled nursing centers, assisted living communities, and sub-acute centers and homes. (Masson, 7/12)

Columbus Dispatch: Every Five Years, Ohio Nursing Homes Get New Medicaid Reimbursement Rates. Amid COVID-19, It's Even More Critical
Like other skilled nursing facilities, those under Ohio Living were financially ravaged by COVID-19. Almost 45% of Ohio Living residents pay with Medicaid, one of the largest payers in the long-term care market. But Medicaid's government-set rates often don't cover the full costs. ... Now, overdue money for homes like Westminster-Thurber will soon be flowing in to help alleviate the situation. With the state budget signed into law earlier this month, the Ohio Department of Medicaid is currently going through its process to set new Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing homes. (Wu, 7/12)

KHN: Teen Volunteers Get A Foot In The Door For Nursing Home Careers
Jasmine De Moya, 17, has dreamed for years of working in the medical field, and she yearned to spend time with older people, missing her grandparents, who live in the Dominican Republic. A program sponsored by the New Jewish Home health system in New York City that combines volunteering and free training for entry-level health jobs, career coaching and assistance on her college prep is helping make her hopes come alive. Over the past three years, Jasmine has learned a lot about caring for older people, from the importance of speaking slowly and being gentle with frail residents who may have hearing or comprehension problems to how to brush their teeth or bathe them. (Andrews, 7/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Related Cos., CareMax Partner Up To Develop Senior Health Centers In Underserved Communities
Related Cos., one of the largest owners of affordable housing in the U.S., is acquiring as much as a 9% stake in healthcare provider CareMax Inc. as part of its plan to develop scores of senior health centers in underserved urban communities throughout the U.S. Related, a developer of office buildings, malls and upscale apartments as well as affordable housing, will act as an investor, adviser, developer and, in some cases, landlord of CareMax health centers. As part of the deal, Related will buy $5 million in CareMax stock and receive warrants to purchase up to 8 million shares at $11.50 a share. (Grant, 7/13)

Seattle Times: 6,000 People Have Died From COVID-19 In Washington State
The number of Washington residents who have died from COVID-19 has now reached 6,000, according to data from the state Department of Health. About 44% of the state’s deaths are among residents, staff and visitors of long-term-care facilities, which have borne the brunt of the deadly virus. As of July 6, 2,666 people associated with the state’s nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and adult family homes have died, according to the DOH. (Zhou, 7/12)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Pandemic-Driven Hunger, Food Price Surge Deepening Inequality
Up a narrow hillside populated by thin, snarling dogs and the grief-stricken mourners of the coronavirus pandemic, another plague has befallen the slum where 5-year-old Milinka and 8-year-old Luis Miguel sleep in one room with their parents. Hunger. Worsening inequality, as poorer people and nations lose years of gains in the battle against hunger and poverty, is likely to be one of the lasting legacies of the pandemic. New data released by the United Nations on Monday illustrates the unequal impact as measured by access to a basic human necessity: Food. (Faiola, 7/12)

The New York Times: Child Tax Credit Monthly Payments To Begin Soon
If all goes as planned, the Treasury Department will begin making a series of monthly payments in coming days to families with children, setting a milestone in social policy and intensifying a debate over whether to make the subsidies a permanent part of the American safety net.vWith all but the most affluent families eligible to receive up to $300 a month per child, the United States will join many other rich countries that provide a guaranteed income for children, a goal that has long animated progressives. Experts estimate the payments will cut child poverty by nearly half, an achievement with no precedent. (DeParle, 7/12)

Los Angeles Times: California Budget Includes Financial Help, Eviction Protections 
As California emerges from the pandemic, state leaders have approved a $100-billion plan to spur the recovery, with checks going out for rent relief, state stimulus payments and grants to businesses. On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom capped a series of recent actions on what he is calling his California Comeback plan by signing budget legislation that will trigger a massive distribution of cash to struggling residents and businesses. (McGreevy, 7/12)

AP: Judge Nears Decision On Future Of State Mental Health System
When Michael Hogan was appointed by a federal judge to help craft a road map for the future of Mississippi’s embattled mental health care system, he planned to tour community mental health centers in-person to see the state’s services in action. He hoped to speak to patients and employees — perspectives he said would be vital in charting the Department of Mental Health’s path forward. That was in early 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Hogan, a mental health care veteran with 40 years of experience working across the country, said Monday in federal court his ability to work on the ground has been severely limited in the past year and half. “I don’t know anything about the situation on the ground, which troubles me some,” he said. (Willingham, 7/13)

North Carolina Health News: Medical Marijuana Legislation Could Put NC In The Green
A bipartisan bill in the North Carolina Senate would make medical marijuana legal for people with a set group of diseases. But for Principal Chief Richard Sneed of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, it’s a race against time to beat the state in joining the budding industry. The bill is set to face its next hurdle before becoming law in a Senate Committee on Finance meeting Tuesday, July 20, one of several committees it needs to pass before going to the Senate floor. (Thompson, 7/13)

AP: What Are California's New Virus Rules For Public Schools?
The California Department of Public Health has updated its coronavirus rules for public schools. The new rules apply recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with some modifications. All teachers and students must wear masks while indoors. But they don’t have to stay at least 3 feet (0.9 meters) away from each other. The rules’ stated goal is to make sure as many students can attend full-time, in-person instruction as possible. State officials worried some schools would have had trouble accommodating all of their students with the physical distancing rule. So they got rid of it, in exchange for everyone wearing a mask. (7/13)

AP: California's Mask Rule For Schools Prompts Controversy
California announced new coronavirus rules for public schools on Monday that let students and teachers sit as close to each other as they want while making sure no one will miss class time even if they are exposed to someone with the virus. But those changes from the last school year were overshadowed by news the state would continue to require all students and staff to wear masks while indoors, reigniting criticism of Gov. Gavin Newsom as he faces a recall election in September. (Beam, 7/13)

Los Angeles Times: California School Districts To Handle Mask Rule Enforcement 
The complications of managing COVID-era education took a dramatic turn Monday, when state officials issued a rule barring unmasked students from campuses, and then, hours later, rescinded that rule — while keeping in place a mask mandate for all at K-12 schools. Instead, the latest revision allows local school officials to decide how to deal with students who refuse to wear masks, a spokesman for Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday night. (Blume and Gomez, 7/12)

WGCU: Two New Mosquito Species Found In Collier County 
Two new mosquito species - one capable of transmitting yellow fever and Venezeuelan equine encephalitis - have been found in Collier County, officials said. The Aedes scapularis, an invasive species, and Aedes tortili bring the total known species in Collier to 48. The aggressive Aedes scapularis is capable of transmitting yellow fever and Venezuelan equine encephalitis. It is native to South America and the Caribbean and was most recently detected last year in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. (Panne, 7/12)

KHN: California Takes A Nibble At Offering Food Stamps To Undocumented Immigrants
One week the food pantry had frozen crabmeat; other weeks, deli meat or plant-based “meat.” The week before the Fourth of July, there was no meat at all, and a reminder that the pantry would be closed the next two weeks. Even though she never knows exactly what she’ll get, Lesli Pastrana is grateful for the Mercado El Sol food pantry. She has frequented it ever since she lost her job in January. On a recent Friday, she walked away with produce, eggs and staples like ramen noodles, pasta and oats. (Almendrala, 7/13)

AP: Judge OKs $73M Payout To Alleged UCLA Doctor Sex Victims
A federal judge on Monday gave final approval to a $73 million settlement of a lawsuit that alleged some 6,000 women were sexually abused by a former University of California, Los Angeles gynecologist. The 2019 class-action suit involved allegations that from 1983 to 2018, Dr. James Heaps groped women, simulated intercourse with an ultrasound probe or made inappropriate comments during examinations at the UCLA student health center, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center or his on-campus office. (Jablon, 7/13)

AP: Pesticide Caused Kids' Brain Damage, California Lawsuits Say
Lawsuits filed Monday in California seek potential class-action damages from Dow Chemical and its successor company over a widely used bug killer linked to brain damage in children. Chlorpyrifos is approved for use on more than 80 crops, including oranges, berries, grapes, soybeans, almonds and walnuts, though California banned sales of the pesticide last year and spraying of it this year. Some other states, including New York, have moved to ban it. (Thompson, 7/12)

The Washington Post: France And Greece Announce Mandatory Vaccinations For Health Workers Amid Delta Variant Surge
France and Greece have both announced plans to mandate coronavirus vaccinations for health-care workers as the more virulent delta variant gains ground across Europe, threatening nations that had gotten a grasp of the virus through vaccination. French President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address Monday that France was “facing a strong resumption of the epidemic” and that a slowing vaccination campaign could lead to rising hospitalizations later this summer. (Cunningham, 7/13)

Reuters: Rush For COVID Vaccines As French Government Tightens Screws
Hundreds of thousands of people in France rushed to set up appointments to get vaccinated against the coronavirus after the president warned that the unvaccinated would face restrictions aimed at curbing the quick spread of the Delta variant. Unveiling sweeping measures to combat a surge in infections, Emmanuel Macron said on Monday night that vaccination would not be compulsory for the general public for now but stressed that restrictions would focus on those who are not vaccinated. (7/13)

CNBC: Europe Struggles To Break Free Of Covid Restrictions As Delta Variant Surges
Europe is struggling to contain a surge in Covid-19 cases caused by the delta variant, but while several countries reimpose measures to control the spread, the U.K. is taking the plunge and lifting restrictions. From residual vaccine skepticism in some countries, to surges in infections linked to nightlife resuming, Europe is having to contend with competing needs: the reopening of crucial economic sectors this summer, while at the same time, curbing surging cases. (Ellyatt, 7/13)

AP: Immunized But Banned: EU Says Not All COVID Vaccines Equal
After Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor and his wife received two doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine in Nigeria, they assumed they would be free to travel this summer to a European destination of their choice. They were wrong. The couple — and millions of other people who have been vaccinated through a U.N.-backed effort — could find themselves barred from entering many European and other countries because those nations don’t recognize the Indian-made version of the vaccine for travel. Although AstraZeneca vaccine produced in Europe has been authorized by the continent’s drug regulatory agency, the same shot manufactured in India hasn’t been given the green light. (Cheng, 7/13)

AP: Germany To Base COVID Restrictions On More Than Case Numbers
With COVID-19 cases again on the rise, German officials said on Monday said that authorities need a “broader focus” beyond the country’s infection rate to fully gauge the impact the pandemic is having on the health system and the kind of measures that should be taken. For much of the past year the incidence rate — how many COVID-19 cases are confirmed per 100,000 people each week — has been key to the government’s decisions over what restrictive measures to impose. The relevance of that figure is increasingly being called into question by those who argue that a sharp rise in new cases — already seen in other European countries such as Britain and the Netherlands — doesn’t necessarily mean many more seriously ill patients. (Jordans, 7/13)

CNN: Sinovac, Sinopharm: COVAX Signs Deal For 550 Million Chinese Covid-19 Vaccines, Even As Efficacy Questions Grow 
COVAX has signed agreements with two Chinese pharmaceutical companies to buy more than half a billion of their Covid-19 vaccines by the first half of next year, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi) announced Monday. Under the agreements, Chinese vaccine makers Sinopharm and Sinovac will begin to make 110 million doses immediately available, according to a news release from Gavi, a public-private global health partnership that is co-leading COVAX, a worldwide initiative aimed at distributing vaccines to countries regardless of wealth. (Hollingsworth, 7/13)

Reuters: EXCLUSIVE European Efforts To Assess Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine Stymied By Data Gaps
The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine have repeatedly failed to provide data that regulators deem to be standard requirements of the drug approval process, according to five people with knowledge of European efforts to assess the drug, providing new insight into the country’s struggle to win foreign acceptance of its product. Reuters reported last month that the European Medicines Agency (EMA)’s review of the drug’s safety and efficacy was delayed because a June 10 deadline to submit data on the vaccine's clinical trials was missed, according to one of those people, who is close to the agency, and another person familiar with the matter. The EMA is the European Union’s medicines watchdog. (Rose, Ivanova and Parodi, 7/13)

Reuters: Delta Variant Cases In Turkey Nearly Triple In A Week - Minister
The number of Delta variant COVID-19 cases in Turkey has risen to some 750 from 284 seven days ago and overall cases climbed 20% at the weekend compared to a week earlier, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. Turkey eased most coronavirus-related restrictions on July 1 after daily cases tumbled from a peak above 60,000 in April to around 5,000, but Koca said new figures pointed to a rise. "These increases have emerged more in places where the level of inoculations is low," Koca told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Monday, noting rising cases in provinces of southeast Turkey. (7/13)

Reuters: Living With COVID-19: Israel Changes Strategy As Delta Variant Hits
After a rapid vaccination drive that had driven down coronavirus infections and deaths, Israelis had stopped wearing face masks and abandoned all social-distancing rules. Then came the more infectious Delta variant, and a surge in cases that has forced Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to reimpose some COVID-19 restrictions and rethink strategy. Under what he calls a policy of "soft suppression", the government wants Israelis to learn to live with the virus - involving the fewest possible restrictions and avoiding a fourth national lockdown that could do further harm to the economy. (Lubell, 7/13)

Bloomberg: Shipping Chaos Here To Stay With Most Seafarers Unvaccinated 
Global vaccinations of seafarers are going too slowly to prevent outbreaks on ships from causing more trade disruptions, endangering maritime workers and potentially slowing economies trying to pull out of pandemic slowdowns. Infections on vessels could further harm already strained global supply chains, just as the U.S. and Europe recover and companies start stocking up for Christmas. The shipping industry is sounding the alarm as infections increase and some ports continue to restrict access to seafarers from developing countries that supply the majority of maritime workers but can’t vaccinate them. (Ha, Koh, and Jiao, 7/12)

NPR: A Woman Died Of COVID After Contracting 2 Variants At The Same Time : Coronavirus Updates 
The patient came to the hospital because she was repeatedly falling down. She was breathing fine, and her blood oxygen levels were good. But tests showed that the 90-year-old Belgian woman had COVID-19 — and not just one strain, but two variants of the virus. She died at the hospital in just five days after her respiratory system rapidly deteriorated. "To our knowledge, this is one of the first reports of a double infection" with two coronavirus variants of concern, the researchers said. The woman had both the alpha and beta variants of the coronavirus (which were detected first in the U.K. and South Africa, respectively), according to a paper that was presented over the weekend at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases. (Chappell, 7/12)

The Boston Globe: CholeraMap: Using NASA Satellite Data To Help Warn People When Their Water Is Unsafe 
Cholera, an infectious bacterial disease often contracted through contaminated water, is a major threat to public health, particularly in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The bacteria can kill within hours if it’s left untreated, and causes severe vomiting and diarrhea. Dr. Ali Shafqat Akanda, an engineer whose expertise is in the intersections of water security, climate change, and global health, recently helped a team of researchers at various universities in the U.S. to develop CholeraMap. The app creates early-warning risk maps based on environmental conditions obtained from NASA satellite observations. The risks are then communicated to users. (Gagosz, 7/12)

Miami Herald: Americans Learned More About Who We Are, Who We Want To Be 
It’s getting harder and harder to remember the height of the pandemic, when some 4,000 Americans were dying every day. At the time, the overwhelmed hospitals, the lockdown, the unemployment, the closed schools, the grounded planes seemed unforgettable. It was staggering, surreal; it would stay with us forever.But in this “vaccine summer,” we seem to be celebrating our relative freedom with amnesia. (Virginia Heffernan, 7/12)

The Washington Post: GOP Anti-Vaxxers Are Sacrificing Citizens’ Lives For Political Gain 
Here is perhaps the most important medical and political fact of our time: 99.5 percent of all covid-19-related deaths in the United States occur among unvaccinated people; 0.5 percent of covid deaths occur among vaccinated people. If you tell people not to be vaccinated, you add to the former category. In this light, the recent outbreak of applause at the Conservative Political Action Conference for the United States’ failure to meet its vaccination target was macabre. Here were political activists — many of whom would call themselves “pro-life” — cheering for the advance of death. How did we get to such a strange, desperate place? (Michael Gerson, 7/12)

USA Today: Anti-Vaxxers And Antisemites Form Dangerous Alliance On Social Media
First, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., compared mask requirements to “gold stars” from the Holocaust. Then Gigi Gaskins, a store owner in Nashville, Tennessee, advertised anti-vaccination patches modeled on the yellow Stars of David that Nazis forced Jews to wear. And then Washington State Rep. Jim Walsh wore a yellow star as an anti-vaxxer stunt just before Independence Day. Now, just weeks after she visited the U.S. Holocaust Museum, Greene, a QAnon conspiracy theorist, has doubled down on the antisemitism by calling those leading the federal effort for COVID vaccinations “medical brown shirts,” a reference to the paramilitary operation that helped Adolf Hitler take power. (Imran Ahmed, 7/12)

The New York Times: Why The Most Unusual Covid Cases Matter 
Like many people around the world and in Brazil where she lives, Parouhi Darakjian Kouyoumdjian became infected with the coronavirus last year; she had mild symptoms and recovered. But her case is remarkable: Ms. Kouyoumdjian is a centenarian. Still, while the elderly are more likely to suffer severe and fatal cases of Covid-19, Ms. Kouyoumdjian is not alone. She is part of a study led by Mayana Zatz, director of the Human Genome Research Center at the University of São Paulo, to understand how very old people who became infected with SARS-CoV-2 can emerge unscathed. (Roxanne Khamsi, 7/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: The Bay Area Has Become A COVID Hot Spot. Here's What To Make Of That
The coronavirus has reliably disregarded all hopes that it would observe human holidays, deadlines or elections. Across California, evidence is once again accumulating that it responds only to caution and consistency. Despite high vaccination rates and low case numbers, the Bay Area saw infections rise quickly enough in recent weeks to rank on a federal list of viral hot spots. Alameda County has seen new cases more than double to over 70 a day during the past month. Los Angeles County’s cases grew at a rate of more than 1,000 a day over the weekend. (7/12)

Stat: Managed Care's Role In Preventing Childbirth-Related Complications 
The coronavirus pandemic brought the importance of public health to the forefront of national attention. While the Covid-19-related shutdowns at first significantly slowed the number of births in the U.S., the birth rate is expected to surge later this year. There will likely be close to 4 million births in the U.S. in 2021, the vast majority of which will be safe for both mother and child. More than 700 mothers, however, die each year in the U.S. from pregnancy- and birth-related complications — and an astonishing two-thirds of these deaths are preventable. (Alissa Erogbogbo, 7/13)

The Wall Street Journal: A Cancer Patient’s Brutal Commute 
Maki Inada is juggling a lot these days. She’s a biology professor at upstate New York’s Ithaca College, where she balances teaching and research on messenger RNA (suddenly a topic of global interest). She is a mother of a vivacious 10-year-old who just finished fourth grade, and that means lots of driving back and forth to gymnastics and swimming practice. And she has lung cancer. In April, after years of clean scans, the cancer was back. She just had major surgery and is starting chemotherapy again. She has a lot of appointments with her local oncologist and her oncology team at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. One silver lining of the pandemic for Ms. Inada was that she didn’t have to drive to Boston for her appointments. She began having video calls with her doctors and planned to conduct many of her postoperative and oncology appointments via telemedicine. But regulatory changes in the past month have thrown a wrench in those plans. Dana-Farber told Ms. Inada she’ll have to be physically located in Massachusetts for a visit. She doesn’t have to go all the way to the doctor’s office, a 5½-hour drive each way. She can drive 3½ hours, cross the border into Massachusetts, pull over, and have a telemedicine visit in the car. (Ateev Mehrotra and Barak Richman, 7/12)

Chicago Tribune: Tax E-Cigarettes? Yes, To Deter Youths From Vaping
When my eldest son started high school, our whole family looked forward to the new experiences he had ahead of him. Imagine our disappointment and concern when he told us that his first three weeks of high school had been marked by numerous invitations to vape with some of his new classmates. Unfortunately, this experience is not uncommon across our country. E-cigarettes, or “vapes” as they are known, are the most commonly used tobacco products among young people. Currently, nearly 4 million of them are vaping, including 1 out of every 5 U.S. high school students. (Raja Krishnamoorthi, 7/12)

NBC News: Wimbledon Finals Lack Rafael Nadal And Naomi Osaka Because They Put Their Well-Being First
The sporting experience can be pernicious for the mental health of an athlete. A toxic synergy of rigorous training methods, intensity of competition, injury, isolation, travel and pressure to excel commonly breed dangerous psychiatric diseases like anxiety and depression. As a British Journal of Sports Medicine analysis in 2019 showed, between roughly a quarter and a third of current and former elite athletes grapple with mental health symptoms and disorders. (Dr. Jalal Baig, 7/11)