The Washington Post: Additional Medicare, Medicaid Benefits May Be Whittled Or Cut As Democrats Woo Moderates
Democrats’ sweeping plans to bolster Medicare and Medicaid benefits have been scaled back amid an assault from industry groups and opposition from centrists like Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), with popular coverage expansions likely to be narrowed in hopes of reaching a deal this week. A proposal to expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision benefits is in danger of falling from the tax-and-spending package rapidly taking shape in Congress. A framework to expand Medicaid to cover Americans in a dozen mostly Southern states has also been reworked. (Diamond, Roubein, Goldstein and Romm, 10/26)

The Hill: Manchin Shutting Down Sanders On Medicare Expansion
But Manchin on Monday threw cold water on Sanders’s push to expand Medicare, warning the program faces insolvency in 2026. “My big concern right now is the 2026 deadline [for] Medicare insolvency and if no one’s concerned about that, I’ve got people — that’s a lifeline. Medicare and Social Security is a lifeline for people back in West Virginia, most people around the country,” Manchin warned. “You’ve got to stabilize that first before you look at basically expansion. So if we’re not being fiscally responsible, that’s a concern,” he added. (Bolton, 10/25)

The Hill: 5 Sticking Points Holding Back Democrats' Spending Package
Democrats say they’re in striking distance of reaching a long-sought deal on expanding social safety net programs, but still need to resolve a handful of key sticking points. Progressives and key centrist holdouts remain at odds over some top liberal priorities, such as ending America’s status as the only wealthy nation without a national paid parental leave policy and expanding Medicare coverage. (Marcos and Wong, 10/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Democrats Negotiate Tax, Healthcare Provisions As Biden Seeks Deal This Week
Democrats are sprinting to wrap up negotiations over their social-spending and climate bill, hoping by this weekend to resolve disagreements on issues including tax policy and healthcare. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Monday there were three to four open issues. Lawmakers and aides said major policy areas, including the tax increases to pay for the package, Medicare and Medicaid provisions and a paid leave program, remain unresolved. The bill, initially drafted at $3.5 trillion, is now expected to cost between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion. (Duehren and Peterson, 10/25)

The New York Times: How 4 Weeks Of U.S. Paid Leave Would Compare With The Rest Of The World
Congress is now considering four weeks of paid family and medical leave, down from the 12 weeks that were initially proposed in the Democrats’ spending plan. If the plan becomes law, the United States will no longer be one of six countries in the world — and the only rich country — without any form of national paid leave. But it would still be an outlier. Of the 185 countries that offer paid leave for new mothers, only one, Eswatini (once called Swaziland), offers fewer than four weeks. Of the 174 countries that offer paid leave for a personal health problem, just 26 offer four weeks or fewer, according to data from the World Policy Analysis Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. (Cain Miller, 10/25)

Reuters: Moderna Says Its Covid Vaccine Has Strong Results In Children Ages 6 To 11
Moderna Inc. said on Monday its Covid-19 vaccine generated a strong immune response and was generally well-tolerated in children ages 6 to 11, citing interim data from a study. The company said it planned to submit the data to U.S., European and other regulators soon. (10/25)

The New York Times: Moderna Says Vaccine Produces Powerful Immune Response In Those 6 Through 11
The coronavirus vaccine made by Moderna is safe and produces a powerful immune response in children 6 through 11, the company said on Monday. One month after immunization was complete, the children in Moderna’s trial had antibody levels that were 1.5 times higher than those seen in young adults, the company said. Moderna did not release the full data, nor are the results published in a peer-reviewed journal. The results were announced one day before an advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to review data for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children 5 through 11. (Mandavilli, 10/25)

Stat: Tracking The FDA Advisory Panel Meeting On Covid-19 Vaccines For Kids
The moment some parents have been anxiously awaiting for months is almost here: The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 will likely be authorized for use in the next week, after completion of a four-step process that begins today.It is also a moment some portion of parents has been dreading for months. And over the weekend, they made their concerns known to experts on the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccines advisory committee, which meets today to review the evidence on the Pfizer vaccine’s safety and efficacy in kids ages 5 to 11. Members of the the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) were deluged by an organized email campaign urging them not to recommend the vaccine. (Branswell and Herper, 10/26)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Pre-Orders 1.3 Million Doses Of COVID Vaccine For 5- To 11-Year-Olds
More than 1.3 million doses of the pediatric Pfizer COVID vaccine likely will head to Texas providers over the next few weeks, as federal health officials are expected to greenlight the shots for 5- to 11-year-olds within days. The state has started pre-ordering the shots, which will start to ship as soon as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants emergency use authorization for the vaccine. An advisory panel will meet Tuesday on the matter, with full consideration following shortly after. (Harris, 10/25)

CNN: Supreme Court Justices May Have Met A Vaccine Mandate Some Of Them Don't Like
A group of unvaccinated Maine health care workers are asking the Supreme Court to block a state rule that mandates certain health care facilities require their employees to be fully vaccinated, arguing that the requirement violates their religious liberty rights. So far, the justices have declined invitations to strike down vaccine mandates at Indiana University and New York City schools, but the Maine dispute could be different. That's because the workers are making religious claims that could attract some of the justices. (de Vogue, 10/26)

AP: Federal Judge Rejects Bid To Stop Washington Vaccine Mandate
A federal judge in Eastern Washington on Monday denied a bid by firefighters, state troopers and others to halt Washington’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state workers and emergency responders. A group of workers is suing Gov. Jay Inslee, Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste and others. The workers say their civil rights are being violated by the requirement they get vaccinated to continue in their jobs. The plaintiffs filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, but KXLY reports U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice denied the motion. (10/26)

On mandates from states and companies —

CNN: Alabama Governor Instructs State Agencies To Fight Federal Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday signed an executive order directing state executive branch agencies to cooperate with the Alabama attorney general's office as it challenges the Biden administration's Covid-19 vaccine mandates and, when possible, to not comply with the federal effort. "I am adamantly opposed to federal mandates related to the Covid-19 vaccine and adamantly opposed to state mandates related to the Covid-19 vaccine, plain and simple," the Republican governor said in a statement. "As long as I am your governor, the state of Alabama will not force anyone to take a Covid-19 vaccine." (Riess, Sayers and Mizelle, 10/25)

CNBC: Businesses Ask White House To Delay Biden Covid Vaccine Mandate Until After Holidays
Worried that President Joe Biden’s Covid vaccine mandate for private companies could cause a mass exodus of employees, business groups are pleading with the White House to delay the rule until after the holiday season. White House officials at the Office of Management and Budget held dozens of meetings with labor unions, industry lobbyists and private individuals last week as the administration conducts its final review of the mandate, which will require businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure they are vaccinated against Covid or tested weekly for the virus. It is estimated to cover roughly two-thirds of the private sector workforce. (Kimball, 10/25)

The New York Times: New York City Police Union Sues Over Vaccine Mandate
The largest police union in New York City asked a judge on Monday to allow unvaccinated police officers to continue working, despite the city’s recently imposed vaccine mandate, which requires all municipal workers to have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose by Nov. 1. In a lawsuit filed in Staten Island, which is home to many police officers and has a vaccination rate that lags behind the citywide average, the Police Benevolent Association of New York said it opposed a vaccine mandate for police officers that does not allow the option of being tested weekly instead of being vaccinated. (Otterman and Goldenstein, 10/26)

Chicago Tribune: Pritzker Talks With AFSCME Over Vaccine Mandate At An Impasse
Negotiations between Illinois’ largest public employee union and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration will resume through an outside arbitrator after the two sides couldn’t come to terms on an order requiring workers at congregate care facilities to either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or be tested regularly, Pritzker’s office said Monday. The impasse affects more than 10,000 employees who work in state prisons and juvenile justice facilities and are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. An independent arbitrator has been brought in to decide on labor issues stemming from Pritzker’s mandate. (Gorner and Petrella, 10/25)

USA Today: After Auburn Announces Vaccine Requirement, Alabama Gov. Says She Won't Enforce Federal Mandate
In response to Auburn University's recently announced vaccine mandate for all employees, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued an executive order of her own Monday, instructing all state agencies to not enforce the federal vaccine mandate issued by President Joe Biden that applies to companies employing 100 or more people. In a tweet, Ivey said: "The federal government's overreach has given us no other option."  Auburn announced Friday that all university employees have to be vaccinated by Dec. 8. (Durando, 10/26)

The San Diego Union-Times: Student Sues San Diego Unified, Objects To Vaccine Mandate For Religious Reasons
A Scripps Ranch High School student has sued San Diego Unified School District in federal court, arguing that the new student vaccine mandate constitutes religious discrimination. The student, a 16-year-old junior at Scripps Ranch High School, said her religious beliefs prohibit her from taking the vaccine. (Sullivan Brennan, 10/25)

CNBC: Adobe Mandates Vaccines For U.S. Employees By December 8
Software company Adobe told U.S. employees Friday that they have to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by Dec. 8 or they will be placed on unpaid leave. In an email to employees viewed by CNBC, Adobe said the policy was due to President Biden’s executive order for federal contractors to have all employees vaccinated. (Kovach, 10/22)

What about incentives? —

Bloomberg: Vaccine Cash Incentives Don't Work, U.S. Study Shows
Financial incentives and other nudges by local governments and employers have failed to increase Covid-19 vaccinations among Americans who are hesitant about getting the shot, a new study shows. What’s more, financial incentives and “negative messages” actually decreased vaccination rates among some groups, underscoring fears about a public backlash, according to the paper circulated by the National Bureau of Economic Research. (Pickert, 10/25)

Raleigh News & Observer: What’s The Best Incentive For A COVID-19 Vaccine?
Guaranteed cash incentives for COVID-19 vaccination slowed the decline in vaccine rates by half at the clinics they were offered, North Carolina researchers concluded in a study published Monday. The study, authored by researchers from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, North Carolina Central University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, analyzed vaccination rates at select sites in Mecklenburg, Guilford, Rowan and Rockingham counties. (Sessoms, 10/25)

The New York Times: Are Vaccine Boosters Widely Needed? Some Federal Advisers Have Misgivings
Following a series of endorsements over the last month by scientific panels advising federal agencies, tens of millions of Americans are now eligible for booster shots of coronavirus vaccines. But the recommendations — even those approved unanimously — mask significant dissent and disquiet among those advisers about the need for booster shots in the United States. In interviews last week, several advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to the Food and Drug Administration said data show that, with the exception of adults over age 65, the vast majority of Americans are already well protected against severe illness and do not need booster shots. (Mandavilli, 10/25)

Los Angeles Times: Should I Mix And Match My COVID-19 Booster Shoot?
Topping up your protection against severe COVID-19 while avoiding the risk of rare vaccine side effects should not be rocket science. But just ask the experts who advised federal regulators to authorize additional shots: There’s no simple formula to guide Americans’ decisions about booster shots. Whether you should get a booster shot and which one you should get depends on who you are, what medical vulnerabilities you have, and what vaccine you got first. The people you live with or the kind of work you do might also influence your choice. (Healy, 10/25)

Des Moines Register: Iowans Don't Need To Prove Eligibility For COVID Booster Shots: 'A Lot Of It Is On The Honor System'
Iowans seeking booster shots of COVID-19 vaccine don't need to prove they have health conditions or workplace risks that make them eligible, public health officials say. "Really, a lot of it is on the honor system," Nola Aigner Davis, spokesperson for the Polk County Health Department, said Monday. "If you feel you need the vaccine, we give you the vaccine." (Leys, 10/25)

In other vaccine development news —

The New York Times: AstraZeneca’s Vaccine Comes With A Slightly Higher Risk Of A Nerve Syndrome But Not Worse Than From Covid, A Study Finds
A study of more than 32 million Covid vaccine recipients in England published on Monday found that people given the AstraZeneca vaccine were at slightly increased risk of Guillain–Barré syndrome, a rare but potentially serious neurological condition.Even so, the coronavirus vaccine posed a far smaller risk of the disorder than did Covid itself, the researchers said.“The neurological complications of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are much rarer than the neurological complications of Covid-19,” said Dr. Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London. (Mueller, 10/26)

NBC News: Biden Administration Unveils New Covid Vaccine, Testing Requirements For Travel Into U.S.
The Biden administration on Monday released updated guidelines for traveling into the United States, including stricter requirements on U.S. citizens who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 as well as some exceptions for foreign travelers. Beginning Nov. 8, unvaccinated U.S. citizens and long-term residents will have to present a negative Covid test taken a day before re-entering the country, and unvaccinated foreign nationals will be able to enter only in limited circumstances, an administration official said Monday. Fully vaccinated Americans will have to be tested three days before travel. (Pettypiece, 10/25)

The New York Times: Unvaccinated Children And Some People From Countries With Low Rates Will Be Exempted From New U.S. Travel Rules
Children under the age of 18 who are unvaccinated against the coronavirus, and a limited category of foreigners arriving from countries with low vaccination rates, are among the travelers exempted from forthcoming requirements that will determine who can enter the United States, Biden administration officials said on Monday. The Biden administration has announced that it would lift travel restrictions on Nov. 8 and reopen the United States to fully vaccinated international travelers who had been barred for nearly a year and a half from entering the country by air or crossing the land borders. (Kanno-Youngs, 10/26)

The Washington Post: Cruises Will No Longer Be Required To Follow CDC Rules Starting In January
Authorities replaced an earlier ban on cruise travel with a “conditional sailing order” in October 2020, which laid out steps cruise companies had to take to sail with passengers from U.S. ports. That order — which required ships to sail with at least 95 percent of people vaccinated or perform a test cruise to demonstrate safety procedures — was set to expire on Nov. 1.Instead, the CDC will extend the order, with some tweaks, through Jan. 15. Those changes include new procedures for ships that come to U.S. waters after operating in other jurisdictions, new instructions for ships that want to switch from 95 percent of passengers vaccinated to a lower number and the end of required CDC travel advisories or warnings about cruising in marketing material. (Sampson, 10/26)

CNN: CDC Moves Ukraine To Its Highest Level Of Covid-19 Travel Risk
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added just one new location to its list of "very high" risk travel destinations this week. On Monday afternoon, architecturally rich Ukraine, the second-largest nation in Europe in land area, was moved up from Level 3, or "high" risk for Covid-19, to Level 4, the agency's highest risk category. (Brown, 10/26)

The Washington Post: Biden Administration Looks To Speed Authorization Of Rapid Coronavirus Tests
The Biden administration announced additional steps on Monday to increase the availability of rapid at-home coronavirus tests and bring down their cost. The biggest change is a $70 million investment by the National Institutes of Health — using funds from the American Rescue Plan, which was passed earlier this year — to help manufacturers navigate the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory process. The NIH program aims to speed up the authorization process for new tests by helping manufacturers produce the data regulators need. It will also identify rapid tests that have the potential to be produced and distributed on a large scale. (Abutaleb, 10/25)

NBC Connecticut: Push For Home-Based Tests Offers Benefits But Makes Tracking Cases Difficult
More people may soon be testing for Covid-19 right from their very own homes. The Biden administration announced ramped-up efforts Monday to make rapid at-home tests more widely available, while also lowering costs. Covid-19 has been a part of life in the U.S. for more than a year and a half, but the co-founder of one testing company says right now demand for at-home Covid tests is up. “At-home testing is at an all-time peak,” Jason Feldman, co-founder and CEO of Vault Health, said. “It's largely been because employers are bringing their employees back into the office, or they want to, and then we have schools and universities that are trying to keep kids in class.” (Caffrey, 10/25)

NBC News: The Government Is Fixing The Federal Rental Aid Program, But Funds Are Still Slow To Reach Renters
The Biden administration is greasing the wheels of the struggling federal rental aid program, but many renters are still being left out. The Emergency Rental Assistance Program was born out of the Covid relief bill that Congress passed in December to help low- and moderate-income households behind on their rent and utilities. In the early months of the program, the money was slow to flow; federal data show that the pace of emergency rental aid going to tenants has increased in recent months. However, experts said, renters continue to face major hurdles, including technology barriers, overcomplicated rules in different states and cities, long wait times and burdensome processes. (Clark, 10/26)

Dallas Morning News: White House Meets With LGBTQ Youth, Advocates And Elected Officials On Texas Anti-Trans Bills
As Texas and other states pass new limits on transgender students in schools that advocates say are harmful, Texas Democrats say federal legislation could be warranted to help protect them. With Gov. Greg Abbott signing a bill into law Monday that restricts transgender student athletes from playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identity, Texas now joins at least five other states that have passed similar measures in recent months, according to the Associated Press. “Without having some kind of federal intervention that’s going to protect the LGBTQ community, but especially trans kids… I just foresee that our rights and trans kids are going to continue being attacked,” State Rep. Jessica González of Dallas said Monday. (Caldwell, 10/25)

AP: Jill Biden: Cancer 'Touches Every American Family'
First lady Jill Biden on Monday toured a cancer center in the state that played a pivotal role in her husband’s victory in the 2020 Democratic nominating process, telling South Carolinians that cancer “touches every American family. ”In the closing days of October — a month dedicated to breast cancer awareness — the first lady said she was making the trip as part of a continued commitment to pushing for research efforts toward a cure. (Kinnard, 10/25)

Politico: State Department Tested Diplomats For 'Directed Energy Exposure' Years Before Telling Congress
The State Department was zeroing in on directed-energy weapons as a possible source of U.S. diplomats’ mysterious brain injuries more than two years before detailing those suspicions to members of Congress, according to documents obtained by POLITICO. As early as mid-2018, the State Department was administering its own internal medical tests specifically designed to evaluate patients who experienced “directed energy exposure” on foreign soil, according to two victims’ disclosure forms for the examinations. Both of their test results led to their immediate return to the U.S. (Desiderio and Seligman, 10/25)

AP: COVID Cases Falling, But Trouble Signs Arise As Winter Looms
Tumbling COVID-19 case counts have some schools around the U.S. considering relaxing their mask rules, but deaths nationally have been ticking up over the past few weeks, some rural hospitals are showing signs of strain, and cold weather is setting in. The number of new cases nationally has been plummeting since the delta surge peaked in mid-September. The U.S. is averaging about 73,000 new cases per day, dramatically lower than the 173,000 recorded on Sept. 13. And the number of Americans in the hospital with COVID-19 has plummeted by about half to around 47,000 since early September. (Whitehurst, 10/25)

The Washington Post: Arizona, Catching Up With New York In Coronavirus Deaths Per Capita, Worries Experts
Arizona has caught up to New York when it comes to reported deaths per capita — even though the latter was ravaged by the coronavirus early in the pandemic before treatments or vaccines were developed. Some health experts worry Arizona could be headed for a deepening crisis as winter approaches. Although average daily deaths from covid-19 remain much lower than during the state’s second wave in January, Arizona experienced a 138 percent increase in the seven-day rolling average of daily new deaths per 100,000 people last week, according to data collected by The Washington Post. (Timsit, 10/25)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Inches Toward Covid-19 Becoming Endemic
Each wave of Covid-19 patients that has crashed through the doors of Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens has been more manageable than the last. In the spring of 2020 and the following winter, the hospital needed extra spaces to care for Covid-19 patients in need of oxygen and struggling to breathe. At the height of the Delta surge this summer and fall, Covid-19 patients didn’t fill its ICU. “We’re seeing it more as a chronic problem than as an immediate, huge pandemic problem like we were before,” said Mangala Narasimhan, a critical-care pulmonologist and director of critical-care services at Northwell Health, a large health system in the New York region that includes Long Island Jewish Medical Center. (Abbott, 10/25)

Denver Post: Colorado Prepares For Possible Mask, Vaccine Mandate As COVID Hospitalizations Grow
The state health department wants businesses and restaurants to implement mask or vaccine mandates to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but is preparing for the possibility that statewide action will be needed as Colorado’s hospitals continue to fill with COVID-19 patients, Dr. Eric France, chief medical officer for the agency, said Monday. Coronavirus hospitalizations are at their highest point since Christmas and officials with the state Department of Public Health and Environment believe Colorado could hit capacity by the end of November. (Seaman, 10/25)

Los Angeles Times: California Isn't Testing State Workers For COVID As Required
Three months after Gov. Gavin Newsom required state workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing, his pledge that California government would lead by example has not been fulfilled: Many public agencies face low vaccination rates, and most state-run workplaces have failed to test unvaccinated employees. (Gutierrez, 10/25)

AP: Louisiana Governor To Announce If He'll Lift Mask Mandate
Gov. John Bel Edwards on Tuesday will announce whether he’ll keep Louisiana’s indoor mask mandate for another month or let it expire since the state has emerged from its latest coronavirus spike and is seeing lower rates of COVID-19 infection. The Democratic governor seems poised to let the face covering requirement he reenacted in August fall off the books for most public indoor locations when it’s set to expire Wednesday, letting individual businesses decide whether they want their customers masked up. (Deslatte, 10/26)

AP: Health Officials Criticize Rejection Of Vaccine Funding
New Hampshire’s rejection of federal funding for vaccine outreach and other programs will further strain the state’s hospitals and delay the administration of COVID-19 vaccines to children, health care officials said Monday. The Republican-led Executive Council, a five-member panel that approves state contracts, rejected $27 million in federal vaccination funding this month, although a legislative committee later approved accepting $4.7 million. (Ramer, 10/25)

Politico: Florida's Surgeon General Nominee Won't Share Covid-19 Vaccine Status
Florida surgeon general nominee Joseph Ladapo, who has publicly questioned the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, will not say if he’s been vaccinated against coronavirus after he was booted last week from the office of a cancer-stricken state senator. Gov. Ron DeSantis picked the controversial Ladapo last month because of his reticence toward Covid-19 pandemic safety measures such as wearing face masks and relying on vaccines to slow down spread, which are in line with the Republican governor. Yet when asked on Monday if Ladapo himself was vaccinated, Florida Department of Health spokesperson Weesam Khoury said that information is private. (Sarkissian, 10/25)

CIDRAP: First Responders May Have Higher COVID-19 Risk Than Healthcare Workers
First responders' risk for COVID-19 infection is about 60% more than other essential workers, including healthcare workers (HCWs), according to a study published late last week in JAMA Health Forum. In Arizona, 1,766 HCWs, first responders, and other essential workers took weekly COVID-19 tests from July 2020 to March 2021 (23,393 person-weeks). First responder infection incidence was 13.2 per 1,000 person-weeks, versus 6.7 in HCWs and 7.4 in other essential workers. Compared with HCWs, first responders' adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) was 1.60 (95% CI, 1.07 to 2.83), with similar results when compared with other essential workers. (10/25)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: COVID-19 Killed 4 Times As Many Georgia Cops As Violence, Accidents
The deadliest threat facing law enforcement officers in Georgia isn’t being shot, stabbed or run over by assailants — it’s COVID-19. Since the pandemic began, at least 58 Georgia police officers, deputies and jailers have died from the virus, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s review of death certificates and the Officer Down Memorial Page’s database. That vastly outnumbers other law enforcement deaths since 2020. Officers and deputies are essential workers who often interact with the public, so they’re at a higher risk of catching COVID-19 or spreading it. Yet law enforcement agencies in Georgia and across the nation have wrestled with the decision of whether to require officers to be vaccinated, amid pushback from some officers. (Hansen, Peebles and Bruce, 10/25)

AP: Oklahoma Supreme Court Blocks 3 New Anti-Abortion Laws
Oklahoma’s Supreme Court on Monday blocked three anti-abortion laws that were scheduled to take effect Nov. 1 that abortion rights supporters say would have devastated abortion access in the state. In a 5-3 ruling , the court granted a temporary injunction that keeps the laws from taking effect. All three appointees of Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt dissented, and one judge didn’t vote. One law would have required all doctors who perform abortions in Oklahoma to be board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, which would have forced about half the abortion providers in Oklahoma to stop providing abortions. The other two would create new restrictions on medication-induced abortions. (Murphy, 10/25)

Fox News: Oklahoma Supreme Court Blocks Three Anti-Abortion Laws Scheduled To Go Into Effect Nov. 1
"The Oklahoma Supreme Court recognized that these laws would cause irreparable harm to Oklahomans," Center for Reproductive Rights President and CEO Nancy Northup said Monday . "All of these laws have the same goal: to make it harder to get an abortion in Oklahoma. We will continue to fight in court to ensure these laws are struck down for good. Politicians should not be meddling in the private health decisions of Oklahomans." (Lee, 10/25)

Axios: Ohio Sues Biden Over Reversal Of Trump-Era Abortion Referral Ban
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration Monday over a Trump-era ban on abortion referrals that President Biden overturned earlier this month. The lawsuit aims to reinstate two measures included in the 2019 legislation that required federally funded family planning clinics to be "financially independent of abortion clinics," and refrain from referring patients for abortions. (Reyes, 10/25)

Kentucky Health News: Abortion Bill Adds Requirements For Physicians
Opponents of abortion gave state legislators an overview Wednesday of a proposed bill that would strengthen parental-consent requirements, increase abortion-medication rules, require individual cremation of aborted fetuses and let medical providers refuse to do procedures that “violate their conscience.” Rep. Nancy Tate, R-Brandenburg, told the Interim Joint Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection that her “pro-life omnibus bill” will not include exemptions for rape or incest. (Patrick, 10/26)

HuffPost: Mark Zuckerberg Let False Anti-Abortion Video Back On Facebook To Mollify GOP: Report
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg intervened to reinstate a false anti-abortion video to assuage conservative Republican politicians, according to internal company documents Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen provided to Congress that The Financial Times examined. ... In one such instance, Zuckerberg was “personally involved” in a 2019 decision to reinstate an anti-abortion video that a moderator had removed from Facebook because of notable — and potentially dangerous — misinformation, according to the documents. (Papenfuss, 10/25)

CNN: Lower Premiums, More Choices On Obamacare Exchanges For 2022 As Democrats Battle To Extend Generous Subsidies
Consumers shopping for health coverage on the federal Affordable Care Act exchanges can likely find lower premiums and more choices for 2022 -- as well as generous government assistance, according to a Biden administration report released Monday. The upcoming open enrollment period, which begins November 1 and runs through January 15, is the first for President Joe Biden, who is seeking to restore the landmark health reform law after the Trump administration spent four years trying to undermine it. (Luhby, 10/25)

Indianapolis Business Journal: Anthem Jumps Back Into Indiana ACA Marketplace Three Years After Departing
Hoosiers looking for health insurance on the Obamacare marketplace will have another big option next year. Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc., which quit the program three years ago after racking up huge losses, is jumping back in under a partnership with three hospital systems covering 45 of Indiana’s 92 counties. (Russell, 10/25)

More news on health care costs and access —

KHN: Analysis: A Procedure That Cost $1,775 In New York Was $350 In Maryland. Here’s Why
For the past 18 months, while I was undergoing intensive physical therapy and many neurological tests after a complicated head injury, my friends would point to a silver lining: “Now you’ll be able to write about your own bills.” After all, I’d spent the past decade as a journalist covering the often-bankrupting cost of U.S. medical care. But my bills were, in fact, mostly totally reasonable. That’s largely because I live in Washington, D.C., and received the majority of my care in next-door Maryland, the one state in the nation that controls what hospitals can charge for services and has a cap on spending growth. (Rosenthal, 10/26)

KHN: Direct Primary Care, With A Touch Of Robin Hood
Britta Foster and Minerva Tiznado are in different leagues as far as health care is concerned. Foster, who married into the family that owns the $2.5 billion Foster Farms chicken company, has Blue Shield coverage as well as a high-octane primary care plan that gives her 24/7 digital access to her doctor for a $5,900 annual fee that also covers her husband and two of their children. Tiznado is from Nayarit, Mexico, and has no insurance. She gets free primary care visits and steep discounts on prescription drugs, lab tests and imaging. (Wolfson, 10/26)

The Washington Post: International Body For Pandemic Preparedness Issues Stark Warning In Latest Report
An international body that tracks preparedness for international health crises says in a new report that the current global system does not have the capacity to end the current covid-19 pandemic – let alone prevent the next pandemic – unless there are major changes. The report released by Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) on Tuesday states that as many as 17 million people may have died due to covid-19, but that “there is scant evidence that we are learning the right lessons from this pandemic” and that the pandemic has “exposed a world that is unequal, divided, and unaccountable.” (Taylor, 10/26)

Reuters: Indonesia, U.S. Call On G20 To Plan Pandemic Prevention System
The United States and Indonesia on Tuesday called for the launch of a forum to prepare for future pandemics, urging members of the Group of 20 leading economies to seize an opportunity this month to plan for an international response system. (10/26)

Stat: Congress’s Efforts To Prepare For The Next Pandemic Are Falling Behind
Addressing the federal government’s failures during the Covid-19 pandemic has fallen off the priority list in Congress this year, according to three lobbyists and a congressional aide following the talks. Though Congress looked poised for progress this spring — with rare, bipartisan interest in shoring up the nation’s pandemic infrastructure — that action has been delayed as Democrats tussle over massive bills containing President Biden’s domestic agenda and averting a government shutdown and financial crisis. If this Congress does eventually take action to improve public health response, it isn’t likely to happen until next year. (Cohrs, 10/26)

In news about bird flu —

Reuters: Rise In Human Bird Flu Cases In China Shows Risk Of Fast-Changing Variants: Experts
A jump in the number of people in China infected with bird flu this year is raising concern among experts, who say a previously circulating strain appears to have changed and may be more infectious to people. China has reported 21 human infections with the H5N6 subtype of avian influenza in 2021 to the World Health Organization (WHO), compared with only five last year, it said. Though the numbers are much lower than the hundreds infected with H7N9 in 2017, the infections are serious, leaving many critically ill, and at least six dead. (Patton, 10/26)

NPR: ERs Are Now Swamped With Seriously Ill Patients — But Most Don't Even Have COVID
Inside the Emergency Department at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan, staff are struggling to care for patients who are showing up much sicker than they've ever seen. Tiffani Dusang, the ER's nursing director, practically vibrates with pent-up anxiety, looking at all the patients lying on a long line of stretchers pushed up against the beige walls of the hospital hallways. "It's hard to watch," she says in her warm Texan twang. But there's nothing she can do. The ER's 72 rooms are already filled. (Wells, 10/26)

CIDRAP: US Hospitals Took Huge, Unequal Financial Hit During COVID, Studies Show
Three new studies describe how the COVID-19 pandemic cratered the finances of many US hospitals, one finding that most federal relief funds went to the already best-resourced facilities and the other two showing the devastating monetary effects of delaying or canceling surgeries. In a study published late last week in JAMA Health Forum, RAND Corp. researchers traced High-Impact Distribution Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to 952 hospitals. Data, which were taken from hospital cost reports in the Healthcare Cost Report Information System, were analyzed from December 2020 through June 2021. (Van Beusekom, 10/25)

Modern Healthcare: Federal Court Rules Against Nursing Homes In COVID-19 Cases
A ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week against two nursing homes in New Jersey is the first step in determining how COVID-19 cases will be handled by courts, lawyers say. In the ruling, the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit determined that negligence and wrongful death cases like those alleged against the Andover Subacute & Rehabilitation I & II nursing homes should be handled by the states and are not covered by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, known as the PREP Act, which offers immunity to liability for COVID-19 countermeasures. (Christ, 10/25)

More reporting on care facilities and health systems —

The Wall Street Journal: CVS Health Launches $25 Million Ad Campaign Focused On ‘Healthy’
CVS Health Corp. is introducing its first major ad campaign aiming to show the breadth of its health services and the role that the company played during the Covid-19 pandemic. “It’s important to make a statement as a brand on where we think healthcare is going and how we are positioning ourselves,” said Michelle Peluso, executive vice president and chief customer officer at CVS Health, which owns CVS Pharmacy, insurance giant Aetna and other products and services like CVS Kidney Care. “What the pandemic did for us is it forced us to reimagine a lot of things in a really fast timeline,” she said. “We never stepped back to say, what has CVS Health become?” (Bruell, 10/25)

Modern Healthcare: Cedars-Sinai, Houston Methodist To Deploy New Tools From Amazon
Amazon on Monday unveiled a new voice offering for hospitals and health systems, representing yet another step in the Seattle tech giant's push into healthcare. Amazon's Alexa voice assistant next month will offer applications designed for patients to use during a hospital stay as part of Alexa Smart Properties, a division that sells Alexa devices and voice tools to property owners to deploy and centrally manage throughout their organizations. That includes apartments, hotels and senior-living facilities. BayCare in Tampa, Florida; Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles; and Houston Methodist are among health systems that are implementing tools from Alexa Smart Properties. (Kim Cohen, 10/25)

Modern Healthcare: HCA Names New Chief Clinical Officer
Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare on Monday announced the system had promoted Dr. Michael Cuffe to chief clinical officer and executive vice president. Beginning Jan. 1, Cuffe—who joined HCA Healthcare as president and CEO of physician services in 2011—will lead the clinical agenda for the for-profit hospital chain's 183 hospitals and roughly 2,000 ambulatory care sites. That includes leading the system's clinical quality, nursing, care transformation and clinical informatics teams, as well as continuing his oversight of physician services. (Kim Cohen, 10/25)

Miami Herald/ProPublica: Audit Rips Apart Florida Program Created To Aid Brain-Damaged Kids
Case managers at Florida’s $1.5 billion compensation program for catastrophically brain-damaged children didn’t consult specialists to determine whether medications, therapy, medical supplies and surgical procedures were “medically necessary” to the health of children in the plan. They relied on Google instead. That was one of the findings of a state audit released this week of the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association, or NICA. The audit was ordered after the Miami Herald and ProPublica detailed how NICA has amassed nearly $1.5 billion in assets while sometimes arbitrarily denying or slow-walking care to severely brain-damaged children. (Marbin Miller and Chang, 10/25)

And in pharma and biotech news —

Stat: Licensing Biotech Breakthroughs Is A Mess. Can It Be Fixed?
Students, employees, and professors at a research institution generally pledge that in the event they make some interesting, potentially money-making discovery, they’ll notify their institution’s tech transfer office. This office can go by many different names; some are “technology licensing offices,” others will throw an “innovation” or “knowledge” in there for good measure. But they all serve similar purposes: to ensure the institution and the public will benefit from the intellectual property created under its auspices. (Sheridan, 10/26)

Bloomberg: Novartis May Spin Off Or Sell Ailing Sandoz Generics Unit
Novartis AG may spin off or sell its Sandoz generic-drug unit after it consistently failed to meet expectations, with U.S. sales plummeting this year amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Swiss pharma giant gave itself until the end of next year to decide what to do with the business, which has suffered from price erosion and tough competition. The move comes more than two years after Novartis started making the generics unit more independent, splitting off manufacturing and support functions. (Kresge, 10/26)

Stat: Latest Psilocybin Patent Highlights The Swirling Battle Over Psychedelics Intellectual Property
One of the leading companies racing to develop psychedelics as legal medicines was granted a patent last week for a formulation of psilocybin — the hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms — a decision that highlights the increasingly intense battle around intellectual property for potential medicines in this rapidly growing sector. (Goldhill, 10/26)

NBC News: Stress From The Pandemic Has Made Even Basic Decision-Making Difficult, Poll Finds
Stress from the pandemic has people struggling to make decisions large and small, with nearly a third of adults questioning even basic day-to-day choices, according to a new report. The American Psychological Association's "Stress in America" survey, conducted by the Harris Poll, found that 32 percent of adults are so stressed by the pandemic, they sometimes wrestle with daily tasks, such as choosing what to eat or what to wear. (Chuck, 10/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Three California Teens Developed Severe Psychiatric Symptoms After COVID. Here's What Scientists Say About The Cases
Three California teenagers who developed psychiatric symptoms seemingly overnight are helping researchers at University of California San Francisco better understand how COVID-19 can affect the brain, even in young people. A study of the three, published Monday in the journal JAMA Neurology, is the first to examine how rogue antibodies can attack the brains of pediatric patients who previously tested positive for COVID. Though too small a study to offer broad conclusions, the profiles of the three teens shed light on COVID as a potential cause of psychiatric symptoms in young people, and suggest directions for treatment and further study. (Asimov, 10/25)

KHN: Understaffed State Psychiatric Facilities Leave Mental Health Patients In Limbo
Many patients dealing with mental health crises are having to wait several days in an ER until a bed becomes available at one of Georgia’s five state psychiatric hospitals, as public facilities nationwide feel the pinch of the pandemic. “We’re in crisis mode,’’ said Dr. John Sy, an emergency medicine physician in Savannah. “Two weeks ago, we were probably holding eight to 10 patients. Some of them had been there for days.” (Miller, 10/26)

The Washington Post: Three Teen Suicides In Eight Months Have Devastated This Midwest Village
In June, the death of 16-year-old DeAnte Bland jolted the rural village of Kingsley — population 1,600 in northwest Michigan. Four months later, 14-year-old Kayden Stone’s death sent shock waves again through the close-knit community. Then, Shealynn Pobuda, also 14, died in early February and the community met its breaking point. Eight months, three teenagers, three suicides. “Everyone was devastated,” said Keith Smith, the superintendent of Kingsley Area Schools. “This is a small community, and not only do we all know each other, we all know each others’ kids.” (Thebault, 2/13)

AP: Facebook Froze As Anti-Vaccine Comments Swarmed Users
In March, as claims about the dangers and ineffectiveness of coronavirus vaccines spun across social media and undermined attempts to stop the spread of the virus, some Facebook employees thought they had found a way to help. By subtly altering how posts about vaccines are ranked in people’s newsfeeds, researchers at the company realized they could curtail the misleading information individuals saw about COVID-19 vaccines and offer users posts from legitimate sources like the World Health Organization. “Given these results, I’m assuming we’re hoping to launch ASAP,” one Facebook employee wrote in March, responding to the internal memo about the study. Instead, Facebook shelved some suggestions from the study. Other changes weren’t made until April. (Klepper and Seitz, 10/26)

USA Today: Facebook Says It’s Stopping Hate And Violence Against Black Americans. Its Own Research Shows Otherwise
Even as civil rights leaders and the Black community registered complaint after complaint about Facebook, internal documents reviewed by USA TODAY show that the company continued to combat a relentless wave of racially motivated hate speech with automated moderation tools that are not sophisticated enough to catch most harmful content and are prone to making mistakes. One Facebook employee estimated that 1 out of every 1,000 pieces of content on the platform are hate speech. With all of the company's enforcement efforts combined, less than 5% of all the hate speech posted to Facebook is deleted, the person said. (Guynn, 10/25)

AP: People Or Profit? Facebook Papers Show Deep Conflict Within
Facebook the company is losing control of Facebook the product — not to mention the last shreds of its carefully crafted, decade-old image as a benevolent company just wanting to connect the world. Thousands of pages of internal documents provided to Congress by a former employee depict an internally conflicted company where data on the harms it causes is abundant, but solutions, much less the will to act on them, are halting at best. The crisis exposed by the documents shows how Facebook, despite its regularly avowed good intentions, appears to have slow-walked or sidelined efforts to address real harms the social network has magnified and sometimes created. They reveal numerous instances where researchers and rank-and-file workers uncovered deep-seated problems that the company then overlooked or ignored. (Ortutay, 10/25)

On teen use of cannabis —

NPR: Cannabis Vaping Among Teens Has Grown Sharply In Recent Years
Teen vaping of marijuana doubled between 2013 and 2020, indicating that young people may be swapping out joints, pipes or bongs for vape pens, according to a new study. Researchers also found that adolescents who say they vaped cannabis within the last 30 days increased 7-fold — from 1.6% to 8.4% — during the same period. The report was published in JAMA Pediatrics on Monday by researchers who analyzed 17 studies involving nearly 200,000 adolescents in the U.S. and Canada. Overall, they say, the cumulative data points to what may be a shift in preference from dried herb to cannabis oil products, which is how marijuana is ingested via vaping. (Romo, 10/25)

Also —

CIDRAP: New Multistate Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Salami Sticks
The CDC announced over the weekend a new Salmonella outbreak linked to salami sticks sold at Trader Joe's grocery stores. So far 20 people have been sickened in 8 states, including 3 who needed hospitalization. No deaths have been reported. Patients range in age from 2 to 75 years, with a median age of 11. Eight of nine people interviewed by the CDC as part of the outbreak investigation said they ate Citterio brand Premium Italian-Style Salame Sticks, which are sold at Trader Joe's and other grocery stores. (10/25)

The New York Times: What You Should Know About The Flu
We’ve had two light years in a row, which some experts worry could mean we’ll be in for a rough few months. (Wenner Moyer, 10/25)

Stateline: School Nurse Deficit Deepens As States Seek Relief
Last year was a nightmare for nearly everyone in health care. But for school nurses, 2021 has been worse. Since school doors opened this fall, school nurses have been working nonstop on COVID-19 contact tracing and quarantines. In most places, they’ve had to abandon many of their regular duties and add brutal weekend and evening hours to their schedules. Janis Hogan, a 22-year veteran of school nursing, is among them. Her job at Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, Maine, has been reduced to COVID-19 contact tracing all day every day, she told Stateline. (Vestal, 10/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Could Be First To Mandate Paid Sick Leave For House Cleaners, Nannies
Mirna Arana was pregnant and didn’t feel well. But if she didn’t clean houses, she wouldn’t get paid. So she went to work. She kept cleaning even as cramps racked her body. Then she began to bleed and eventually miscarried. House cleaners, nannies and others who work in private homes rarely get paid sick leave, sometimes forcing them to choose between their health and their paycheck. Now San Francisco is poised to become the first city in the nation to create a way for domestic workers to have paid sick days, via an ordinance being introduced Tuesday by Supervisor Hillary Ronen and co-sponsor Myrna Melgar. (Said, 10/25)

Dallas Morning News: Texas Judge Denies Order To Keep Delta-8 THC Products From Being Considered ‘Illegal’
A judge has denied a temporary restraining order against the Texas Department of State Health Services that was prompted by confusion in the cannabinoid industry. Court documents show that the judge denied the order from Hometown Hero, an Austin-based company that sells delta-8 and CBD products, because “the plaintiff has not met requirements of a temporary restraining order.” The health department responded to the emergency order by stating there was no emergency. Hometown Hero filed the suit on Thursday after the state health department issued a notice on its website on Oct. 15 that delta-8 products are illegal. Delta-8 is a less-potent alternative to the delta-9 product known as “marijuana.” (Addison, 10/25)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Offers $5k Grants To Help Disabled Kids Recover From Pandemic
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a first-of-its-kind grant program Monday that will help families with disabled children recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Transforming Opportunities for Toddlers and Students (TOTS) program will use $5 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to help those families meet everyday expenses. Recipients will receive $5,000, and applications for the grants are available now. “Never before have we invested this much money directly into our kids with disabilities,” Sisolak said at a news briefing in Henderson Monday morning. (Apgar, 10/25)

The Boston Globe: Mass. House Leaders Propose Up To $2,000 For Low-Income Workers Who Showed Up In Person During Pandemic State Of Emergency
Top Massachusetts lawmakers on Monday offered a sweeping plan for spending $3.65 billion in federal stimulus money and state surplus funds, including to set aside a half-billion dollars for bonuses to essential workers, funnel hundreds of millions of dollars toward struggling hospitals, and commit $600 million to help spur more housing. The proposal unveiled by House leaders uses, for now, about $2.5 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and another $1.15 billion from a state surplus to buttress an array of programs affected and priorities amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Stout, 10/25)

San Antonio Express-News: Texas Family Suing Torchy's Tacos After Boy Hospitalized For Salmonella
A family is suing Torchy’s Tacos after a child became ill weeks after eating at the chain's Sonterra Place location in San Antonio, according to court documents. The boy was rushed to a local pediatric intensive care unit for sepsis, organ failure and pneumonia treatments linked to a salmonella outbreak in onions that affected 37 states, the court documents say. Texas alone has reported almost 160 cases of salmonella. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked the outbreak to fresh whole red, white, and yellow onions imported from Chihuahua, Mexico. The onions were sold to American restaurants and grocery stores ending on Aug. 31. (Fanning, 10/25)

The Boston Globe: Thousands Of Additional Mass. Students Expected To Have Access To Free School Meals Under New Law
A new Massachusetts law is expected to give thousands of additional students access to free meals at school and will prohibit school employees from punishing students who have meal debt by publicly identifying them, denying them a meal, or serving them an alternative meal. The law, ceremonially signed by Governor Charlie Baker on Monday, requires schools and districts to offer all students free breakfast and lunch if a majority of its students meet low-income criteria, the governor’s office said in a statement. (Kovatch, 10/25)

The New York Times: Why Parents Aren't Vaccinating Their Kids Against Covid 
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, a mother I interviewed as part of my study on pandemic parenting said, she never had a problem with vaccines. Her 2-year-old son got all his recommended immunizations on schedule. When it comes to the Covid-19 vaccines, however, the mother, who is white and has a college degree, says she isn’t so sure. (Jessica Calarco, 10/25)

The Atlantic: The Booster-Shot Debate Was A Public-Health Debacle
At long last, the booster-shot debate has come to an end. On Wednesday, the FDA authorized boosters of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines as well as the “mix and match” approach to booster shots. Yesterday, a CDC advisory panel sanctioned that authorization and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky endorsed it. With a green light for all vaccines from both agencies, the booster plan first announced by the Biden administration in August can finally roll out in full. (Yasmin Tayag, 10/22)

Bloomberg: Boosters Are Low Risk But Pfizer And Moderna Vaccines Hold Up 
The messaging on vaccine boosters is muddled and confusing, yet the science is pretty straightforward and reassuring. Your vaccine is still cutting your risk of getting a severe case or dying from Covid-19, even if it has been a number of months since you got it. Whenever they received the first shots, an extra jab is recommended for people over 65 and those with any number of immunity-compromising health conditions, or conditions that vastly raise Covid-19 risk, which are listed by the Centers for Disease Control. But what about if you are young and healthy and vaccinated? (Faye Flam, 10/25)

Chicago Tribune: Is This Fall Downturn The End Of COVID-19? Why We Don’t Know For Sure. 
The Greek historian Herodotus lived through the plague of Athens, one of the world’s first great pandemics. He wrote, “Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.” So it is with COVID-19. In the U.S., we are currently in the middle of an autumn downturn in COVID-19 cases, and no one can say whether this will be the end. It is clear, however, that the U.S. is repeating a mystifying cycle of case rise and fall that has been seen in other countries. For reasons unknown, cases surge for six to 10 weeks and then fall predictably in a similar fashion for at least an equal period. (Cory Franklin and Robert A. Weinstein, 10/25)

Los Angeles Times: I Don't Understand The Rules Of Pandemic Halloween
Should I open my doors on Halloween or hide guiltily inside? Is it safe to face the crowds of hundreds of children who show up on my street? (Nicholas Goldberg, 10/25)

The Tennessean: Doctors Who Denigrate Vaccines Shirk Their Duty
Misinformation and disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic have enabled an alarming increase in the recent spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, especially among people who are unvaccinated. Misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic is a mistake or error accepted as true that contradicts the best available knowledge. In contrast, disinformation is purposeful distortion of the best available knowledge in order to promote an ideology or one’s status or personal finances. (Michael Zanolli, 10/22)

Newsweek: We Need To Depolice Mental Illness Health Care—Now 
On October 18, 2016, police officers shot and killed Deborah Danner, a woman with schizophrenia experiencing a mental health crisis, in her apartment. Ms. Danner was not alone in suffering this fate. Nearly 25 percent of all people killed by the police in America since 2015 have had mental illness, a total of almost 1,500 people. And they have been disproportionately Black, like Ms. Danner. But it's not only marginalized people of color with mental illness who are targeted by police. A dangerous policing mentality toward the mentally ill also routinely sabotages hospital treatment, even of the more privileged. It's why as a board-certified psychiatrist, I have come to believe that depolicing healthcare is essential for protecting all of us. (Carmen Black, 10/22)

USA Today: Black Women Don't Get The Cancer Screenings We Need. Too Many Die.
I was a single mother just starting law school when I found the lump in my breast. The lump itself was scary enough, but my fear was magnified because I didn’t have health insurance. There was no way I could afford costly medical treatment. Nor could I afford the peace of mind of having the lump biopsied – there was a chance it was benign, but if it was malignant, I’d be labeled as having a preexisting condition. (Vangela M. Wade, 10/24)

NBC News: Why Cancer Stigma For Asian Americans Is So Dangerous
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2017 that cancer is the leading cause of death among Asian or Pacific Islander Americans. Asian Americans have the lowest rate of cancer screening among all ethnic/racial groups in the country. It’s a complicated problem, with complicated cultural roots, like the shame and fear that stems from thousand-year-old East Asian traditional beliefs. Some believe that illness results from karma or bad choices. And Chinese Americans may be especially vulnerable to cancer self-stigma, according to research published through the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer and the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019. (Yvonne Liu, 10/23)

The Hill: Biden's Goal To End Cancer Undermined By His Own Administration
While the pandemic seemingly has been the health crisis receiving the most attention for nearly two years, other generational health care challenges remain — including, of course, cancer, a disease that in one way or another has impacted the lives of nearly all Americans. That’s why the recent announcement by the Biden administration proposing cuts to cancer therapy treatments came as a shock to many. (Mario H. Lopez, 10/25)

The Washington Post: The Special Torment Of Mysterious Chronic Illness 
It is bad enough to be sick, but worse still to stay that way for months and years on end. And some of the worst agony is reserved for the people with mystery ailments — or those who believe themselves to be suffering from a disease such as chronic Lyme, which most doctors doubt exists. (Megan McArdle, 10/25)

The Boston Globe: Let Medicare Negotiate Lower Drug Prices 
America is at a crossroads when it comes to paying for prescription drugs. Down one path, pharmaceutical companies will continue hiking drug prices much faster than wages grow for typical Americans. They’ll continue launching headline-grabbing drugs at outrageous list prices, even when there are questions about whether those drugs truly work. In this scenario, the result of drug companies’ unchecked power could be that many more Americans will borrow for life-saving treatments the way they borrow for homes and educations. Taking out a mortgage for survival is a grim prospect. (Ron Wyden, 10/25)