Politico: Francis Collins To Step Down As NIH Director 
National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins plans to announce his resignation on Tuesday after nearly three decades at the agency, including 12 years at the helm, three sources tell POLITICO. The 71-year-old physician-geneticist led the agency under three consecutive presidents — making him the first presidentially appointed NIH director to serve in more than one administration and the longest-serving NIH director. (Wilson, Owermohle and Banco, 10/4)

The Washington Post: NIH Director Francis S. Collins Will Step Down By Year’s End
After more than 12 years directing the nation’s premier biomedical research center, Collins, a 71-year-old physician-geneticist, will return to his lab at the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of NIH. He is the longest-tenured director of the Bethesda, Md.,-based NIH, which he ran through the Obama and Trump administrations and into the first year of the Biden presidency. No decision has been made on an interim director, an NIH official said. In the midst of the pandemic, President Biden will nominate a new director who must be confirmed by the evenly divided Senate. (Bernstein and Johnson, 10/4)

Stat: NIH Director Francis Collins To Step Down 
During Collins’ tenure at NIH, the agency’s budget grew by nearly a third and largely staved off major controversies. An evangelical Christian with a medical degree and Ph.D. in physical chemistry, Collins, 71, is among the most revered political figures in Washington — so much so that President Trump and President Biden, upon their elections, each chose to reappoint him to lead the agency. (Facher, 10/4)

AP: Biden Lifts Abortion Referral Ban On Family Planning Clinics
The Biden administration reversed a ban on abortion referrals by family planning clinics, lifting a Trump-era restriction as political and legal battles over abortion grow sharper from Texas to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Department of Health and Human Services said Monday its new regulation will restore the federal family planning program to the way it ran under the Obama administration, when clinics were able to refer women seeking abortions to a provider. The goal is to “strengthen and restore” services, said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: New Rule Ends Ban On Federal Funds For Clinics That Refer Abortions 
“This rule is a step forward for family planning care as it aims to strengthen and restore our nation’s Title X program,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Our nation’s family planning clinics play a critical role in delivering health care, and today more than ever, we are making clear that access to quality family planning care includes accurate information and referrals—based on a patient’s needs and direction.” (Parti, 10/4)

The New York Times: Biden Officials End Ban On Abortion Referrals At Federally Funded Clinics 
The new rule, set to take effect on Nov. 8, deals with what is known as the Title X family planning program, which was created in 1970 and subsidizes birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings and related preventive care for millions of predominantly low-income patients. ... President Biden signaled shortly after taking office that he intended to rescind the Trump-era rule, writing in a memorandum calling for action on women’s health issues that it put “women’s health at risk by making it harder for women to receive complete medical information.” (Weiland, 10/4)

The Washington Post: Biden Administration Reverses Trump Rule Barring Federally Funded Family Planning Clinics From Abortion Referrals
Critics of the Trump administration’s rewrite of Title X policy derided it as an “abortion gag rule” that constrained what doctors and other health practitioners could discuss with patients. Rather than heeding the restrictions, affiliates of Planned Parenthood, which serve about 4 in 10 of the program’s patients, as well as other health centers forfeited the Title X funds that had been a main support of their work. (Goldstein, 10/4)

In related news about abortion and the federal government —

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Takes The Bench After Long Absence, But Things Have Changed 
The Supreme Court’s justices returned to work Monday in their grand courtroom for the first time in 19 months, but little seemed the same as when the coronavirus pandemic forced their departure. In a first for an oral argument at the court, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh participated by telephone from home after testing positive for the coronavirus last week. The courtroom was largely empty, with about two dozen reporters scattered around the seating gallery, along with the justices’ clerks. All spectators, including the arguing attorneys, wore N95 masks. (Barnes, 10/4)

The Washington Post: Top Vatican Cardinal Says Biden Should Not Be Denied Communion 
A top Vatican cardinal says President Biden should not be denied Communion amid a push by U.S. Catholic bishops to withhold the sacrament from the president because of his support for abortion rights. Cardinal Peter Turkson, who works closely with Pope Francis, said the sacrament, also known as the Eucharist, should “not in any way become a weapon,” and denying it should only occur in “extreme cases.” (Cassata, 10/4)

Oklahoman: Judge Blocks Oklahoma Fetal Heartbeat Abortion Law, Lets Others Stand
A judge Monday blocked Oklahoma laws that would have banned abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected and would have deemed abortions as "unprofessional conduct" by doctors. The judge, however, refused to block enforcement of a new law that requires abortion doctors in Oklahoma to be board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology. "This court … believes that irreparable harm would occur if we don't put this requirement into effect," Oklahoma County District Judge Cindy Truong said. (Clay, 10/4)

AP: Oklahoma Judge Blocks 2 Abortion Laws, Allows 3 Others
Abortion clinics in Oklahoma already are being overwhelmed by patients from Texas, where the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a law to take effect on Sept. 1 that made it illegal to perform abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, which is usually around the sixth week of pregnancy. About 11 women from Texas received abortion services at the Trust Women clinic in Oklahoma City in August. That number increased to 110 last month, said Rebecca Tong, co-executive director of Trust Women. Similar increases are being reported at abortion clinics in Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana and New Mexico. (Murphy, 10/4)

In abortion news from Missouri —

AP: New Rules On Missouri Abortion Clinics Set To Take Effect
Republican Gov. Mike Parson’s administration has enacted more rules on Missouri abortion clinics. The new emergency regulations, which take effect Oct. 13, require abortion providers to cooperate with state health department investigators and ensure physicians perform pelvic exams 72 hours before abortions, if medically necessary. (10/4)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Missouri Governor Tries New Tactic In Ongoing Attempt To Shut Down Planned Parenthood 
Gov. Mike Parson’s administration has issued an emergency rule designed to give agencies under his control another tool to close down Missouri’s lone abortion provider. The rule, which goes into effect Oct. 13, will allow one agency to share health inspection reports with another, potentially making it easier for the state to withhold funding. It’s part of the ongoing push by the Republican administration and the GOP-controlled Legislature to put Planned Parenthood out of business. (Erickson, 10/4)

In updates on Texas' abortion law —

The Texas Tribune: Texas Supreme Court Refuses To Resume Lawsuit Challenging Abortion Law
The Texas Supreme Court denied a request Monday from Planned Parenthood to resume its lawsuit, filed in a state district court, that challenges the state’s near-total abortion ban. Planned Parenthood asked the all-Republican court last week to overturn the Texas Multidistrict Litigation Panel’s decision to indefinitely pause its suit alongside 13 other lawsuits filed in Travis County district court. The panel of five judges stopped the cases from continuing at the request of Texas Right to Life, a prominent anti-abortion organization that helped draft Texas’ abortion restrictions. (Oxner, 10/4)

Houston Chronicle: 'Flooded With Calls': Neighboring States See Surge In Texans Seeking Abortions Since Sept. 1 Ban
The new Texas abortion ban has spurred a flood of women traveling sometimes hundreds of miles to access the procedure in neighboring states. The law, which prohibits abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and calls for lets private citizens to enforce it by filing lawsuits, has been in effect for just over a month. But already, clinics in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado and New Mexico have said they’re being inundated with Texas patients. “We haven’t seen numbers like this ever,” Dr. Rebecca Cohen, a Denver OB/GYN, told CBS News last month. (Blackman, 10/4)

NPR: Poll: Most Republicans Oppose Texas Abortion Law Provisions
A clear majority of Americans, including most Republicans, opposes key provisions of the controversial new Texas abortion law, the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds. The law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, which is before many women know they're pregnant. It also allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion. The survey found that almost 6 in 10 Americans oppose a ban on abortions after cardiac activity is detected, at about six to eight weeks into a typical pregnancy. That includes 59% of Republicans, 61% of Democrats and 53% of independents. (Montanaro, 10/4)

PBS NewsHour: Where Americans Stand On Abortion Restrictions As A New Supreme Court Term Opens
74 percent of Americans said they oppose a law that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or others who provide any assistance. This majority holds across party lines: 90 percent of Democrats, 57 percent of Republicans and 74 percent of independents don’t support such a law. 18 percent of Americans support the rule, including 33 percent of Republicans, 18 percent of independents and 7 percent of Democrats. Women are more likely than men to oppose the law (79 percent vs. 68 percent), and the same is true of people younger than 45 compared to those 45 and older (77 percent versus 71 percent). (Jones, 10/4)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Has All But Banned Abortion. But A Mississippi Law Could Be What Ends Roe V. Wade.
As the battle over Texas’ law that effectively bans abortions six weeks into pregnancy plays out in the courts, advocates on both sides are closely watching a highly anticipated Mississippi case heading to the U.S. Supreme Court. Anti-abortion advocates see an opportunity for the conservative-leaning high court to overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing Texas to end the practice outright. But reproductive rights groups are holding out hope that the court affirms abortion rights in a way that overrides elements of Texas’ new law. Mississippi passed a law in 2018 attempting to prohibit all abortions after 15 weeks, challenging Roe v. Wade’s landmark 1973 decision that legalized the procedure nationwide before fetal viability, which is around 24 weeks of gestation. The state law never went into effect because a federal appellate court blocked its enforcement. (Bohra, 10/5)

AP: Trial Against Pharmacy Chains' Opioid Sales Begins
Retail pharmacy chains contributed to a deadly and expensive public nuisance in two Ohio counties where the opioid crisis continues to rage, an attorney for the counties said in an opening statement Monday in federal court in Cleveland. It was the first day of trial in the lawsuit filed in 2018 by Lake and Trumbull counties outside Cleveland against retail pharmacy companies CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Giant Eagle. (Gillispie, 10/4)

Bloomberg: Walmart, CVS, Walgreens Face Billions In Claims They Fueled Opioid Epidemic
Walmart Inc., CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. face billions of dollars in damages as they go to trial over the role their pharmacies played in the U.S. opioid epidemic. Two counties in Ohio will be among the first to try the companies in federal court over lawsuits filed by communities across the country. They say pharmacies created a public nuisance by failing to properly monitor doctor prescriptions and patient drug-use habits, forcing communities to spend taxpayer money to cope with addiction and fatal overdoses. Similar suits are pending against drug makers and distributors. (Feeley, 10/4)

In other news about the opioid crisis —

ProPublica: McKinsey Never Told The FDA It Was Working For Opioid Makers While Also Working For The Agency 
Since 2008, McKinsey & Company has regularly advised the Food and Drug Administration’s drug-regulation division, according to agency records. The consulting giant has had its hand in a range of important FDA projects, from revamping drug-approval processes to implementing new tools for monitoring the pharmaceutical industry. During that same decade-plus span, as emerged in 2019, McKinsey counted among its clients many of the country’s biggest drug companies — not least those responsible for making, distributing and selling the opioids that have ravaged communities across the United States, such as Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson. ... Yet McKinsey, which is famously secretive about its clientele, never disclosed its pharmaceutical company clients to the FDA, according to the agency. (MacDougall, 10/4)

San Francisco Chronicle: Opioid Overdose Epidemic Is Rapidly Spreading Across The Bay Area
In just the past week, three people died at three different stations inside the vast Bay Area Rapid Transit system from causes believed to be drug overdoses. Efforts to resuscitate them, including by administering the opioid reversal drug Narcan, were unsuccessful, reports said. The deaths occurred in Fremont, Daly City, and Pleasant Hill, cities in three different counties — Alameda, San Mateo, and Contra Costa, respectively — that are all miles from San Francisco’s toughest streets. (Jung, 10/4)

In other news about drug use —

Bloomberg: Seattle Votes To Decriminalize Psilocybin And Similar Substances
Seattle becomes at least the ninth U.S. city to take such action in recent years, joining Denver, Washington and Ann Arbor, Michigan, among others. In 2020, Oregon became the first state to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use. Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis, who sponsored the effort, said it was the first step in the city’s move to change its drug policies. “Our overall goal is to follow the lead of Oregon,” he said, speaking in a phone interview before the vote. (Kary, 10/4)

Bloomberg: Justin Bieber Launches Pre-Rolled Joints Called "Peaches" In Marijuana Push
Justin Bieber is entering the marijuana market with prerolled joints that’s he calling “Peaches,” the name of a song from his most recent album. The Canadian singer is working with a Los Angeles-based company, Palms, on the products. Palms specializes in prerolled cannabis products, with its seven-joint packs selling for $32 at locations in Nevada and California, according to its website. (Kary, 10/4)

CNN: Instagram Promoted Pages Glorifying Eating Disorders To Teen Accounts 
"I have to be thin," "Eternally starved," "I want to be perfect." These are the names of accounts Instagram's algorithms promoted to an account registered as belonging to a 13-year-old girl who expressed interest in weight loss and dieting. Proof that Instagram is not only failing to crack down on accounts promoting extreme dieting and eating disorders, but actively promotes those accounts, comes as Instagram and its parent company Facebook (FB) are facing intense scrutiny over the impact they have on young people's mental health. (O'Sullivan, Duffy and Jorgensen, 10/4)

Roll Call: Whistleblower Testifies As Lawmakers Take Aim At Facebook Again
Congress has had little success reining in Big Tech, whether it’s curbing the spread of misinformation, stopping foreign interference in elections or breaking up monopolies. But as social media companies take aim at America’s children, apoplectic lawmakers are vowing to act. On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is set to hear from Frances Haugen, a former Facebook manager turned whistleblower whose explosive leaks revealed the company’s attempts to target young children on Instagram — despite knowing the app leads some teen girls to consider suicide. Instagram is owned by Facebook. (Ratnam, 10/5)

Fox Business: Facebook Whistleblower To Appear Before Senate, Compare Company To Big Tobacco
The Facebook employee who stepped forward as the source in a Wall Street Journal investigation into the social media giant will testify in front of US lawmakers on Tuesday, just a day after accusing her former employer of "tearing our societies apart." Fox Business, citing a source, reported last month that the whistleblower, who was later identified as Frances Haugen, planned to reveal their identity as part of an agreement to cooperate with Congress. Haugen is expected to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee Consumer protection panel. (10/5)

In related news about children and their mental health —

CIDRAP: Screen Time, Physical Activity Linked To Youth Mental Health In Pandemic
More screen time and suboptimal physical activity during the pandemic were linked to more mental health difficulties in US children ages 6 to 17, according to a JAMA Network Open study late last week. ... About one in five children (20.9%) had at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day, but 8.4% didn't reach that benchmark any day of the week (average, 3.9 days). Children also reported an average of 4.4 hours per day of recreational screen time. (10/4)

Thv11.Com: ER Visits For Mental Health Increase Among Teens, Children 
Leading pediatric organizations are warning of a mental health crisis among teenagers and younger children during the pandemic. According to the CDC, emergency room visits for mental health issues increased 31 percent in 2020 for people ages 12 to 17. That is compared to 2019."Right now for our teens, we have a state of mental health emergency," said Dr. Buster Lackey, the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Arkansas. (Aaron, 10/4)

AP: Pentagon Mandates COVID-19 Vaccine For Civilian Workers
All civilians who work for the Defense Department and the military services must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by Nov. 22, under new guidelines released Monday. A memo signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks on Friday said the new mandate is in line with the presidential directive issued last month requiring federal agencies to implement vaccine requirements. (Baldor, 10/4)

AP: US Unveils Guidance For Federal Vaccine Mandate, Exemptions
With just weeks remaining before federal workers must be vaccinated against COVID-19, the federal government on Monday outlined procedures for employees to request medical or religious exemptions from President Joe Biden’s mandate. The Office of Management and Budget released the new guidance Monday afternoon ahead of the Nov. 22 deadline for workers to be fully vaccinated, outlining specific medical conditions that would warrant an exemption. Under the guidelines, agencies are to direct workers to get their first shot within two weeks of an exemption request being denied, or the resolution of a medical condition. They also make clear that federal agencies may deny medical or religious exemptions if they determine that no other safety protocol is adequate. (Miller, 10/4)

In other news about mandates —

The Hill: Largest New York Healthcare Provider Fires 1,400 Employee Over Vaccine Refusal
Northwell Health, the largest healthcare provider in New York state, on Monday fired 1,400 of its employees who did not comply with the state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The company's assistant Vice President of public relations Joe Kemp confirmed to The Hill that Northwell had terminated 1,400 employees who did not get vaccinated as was ordered by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). These employees represented less than one percent of Northwell's workforce of more than 76,000 who are all immunized against COVID-19. (Choi, 10/4)

Dallas Morning News: Children’s Health Says 99% Of Its Employees Got Vaccinated By Oct. 1 Deadline
Dallas-based Children’s Health says 99% of its 7,500 workers are vaccinated against COVID-19 as of the hospital system’s Oct. 1 deadline. Children’s Health was one of three North Texas health care systems to set last Friday as a deadline. Baylor Scott & White and Methodist Health System have yet to report the number of employees that did not comply with their respective mandates. Children’s Health did not specify the next steps for employees who haven’t shown proof of vaccination. (Wolf, 10/4)

The CT Mirror: Lamont: State Employees Responding To Vaccination Deadline
Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday that the number of state employees non-compliant with a COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate was falling with the approach of an 11:59 p.m. deadline to report their status. As of 5 p.m., 93% of executive-branch employees had submitted evidence of vaccinations or testing, with the administration predicting that most of the remaining 7% would file by day’s end. Failure to comply will lead to unpaid suspensions, but Lamont predicted minimal disruptions. (Pazniokas, 10/4)

Bloomberg: Colorado Steps Up Pressure On Unvaccinated State Employees
Get jabbed or face the consequence. That’s the word from Colorado Governor Jared Polis who issued an order allowing for expedited disciplinary measures against state workers who fail to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and work with “vulnerable populations and populations living in congregate living settings.” The executive action suspends portions of the state’s Personnel Board Rules, the governor’s office announced Sunday night. Such settings include corrections and human services facilities. (Del Giudice, 10/4)

Health News Florida: Enforcing The Vaccine Mandate For 80 Million Workers Is A Big Job For OSHA
In early September, just before President Biden ordered 80 million workers to get vaccinated or undergo regular testing, a question went viral on the internet. "Would y'all report your unvaccinated co-worker(s) for $200K?" asked @RevampedCP on Twitter. The responses came quickly. I would report my coworkers for a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. And not even a party size bag. I'd report them to get out of work five minutes early. I'd report them to get out of work two minutes early. I'd report them for a basket of Shake Shack fries. I'd report them for free. "I was not expecting this," says Arianny Mercedes, the career strategist and public policy student at the University of Virginia who dashed off the original tweet as she contemplated how far people would be willing to go to get back to "normal." (Hsu, 10/4)

Politico: DNC Says Unvaccinated Workers Could Be Fired
The Democratic National Committee told workers Monday evening that unvaccinated workers could “face termination” if they did not have a legally recognized exemption, according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO. “This is part of the President’s national strategy and is a critical tool to combat COVID-19 and save lives in the months ahead,” read the internal email from the DNC’s chief operations officer, Monica Guardiola. (Thompson, 10/4)

And another major airline will require vaccinations for its workers —

The Dallas Morning News: Southwest Airlines Will Require All Workers To Be Vaccinated 'To Continue Employment'
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines will require all 60,000 employees to be vaccinated or get an exemption to “continue employment with the airline”, following competitors such as United, American and JetBlue that have already announced plans to follow the White House mandates on the COVID-19 vaccines. Southwest has 60,000 employees nationwide and was the country’s largest airline in pandemic-stricken 2020. The company and other airlines are under pressure from the Biden Administration to make sure all employees receive at COVID-19 vaccine. The company confirmed that it spoke with a White House representative last week. (Arnold, 10/4)

Los Angeles Times: Pfizer Vaccine Wanes Over Time, And Not Due To Delta, Study Says
Research conducted in Southern California has confirmed the dramatic erosion of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine’s protection against “breakthrough” coronavirus infections. The new study, one of the largest and longest to track the effectiveness of a vaccine in Americans, found that the vaccine’s ability to protect against infection stood at 88% in its first month, then fell to 47% after just five months. (Healy, 10/4)

The Washington Post: Pfizer Vaccine 90% Effective Against Hospitalization, Death Six Months Later, Study Says 
The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine continues to be 90 percent effective in protecting against hospitalization and death from covid-19 up to six months after the second dose, even in the face of the widespread delta variant, a major study has found. The study was based on research from Pfizer and the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health system, and analyzed more than 3.4 million people who were members between December 2020 and August 2021. The findings were published in the Lancet medical journal on Monday and had been released in August but were not peer-reviewed until this week. (Pietsch and Suliman, 10/5)

But "natural" immunity wanes fast —

CIDRAP: Model Predicts Natural COVID-19 Immunity Wanes Fast, Re-Infection Likely
Reinfection from SARS-CoV-2 under endemic conditions will most likely occur at a median of 16 months, according to a modeling study published late last week in The Lancet Microbe. The researchers looked at the human-infecting coronaviruses SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, and HCoV-NL63 from Feb 12 to Jun 15, 2020, analyzing about 58 alphacoronavirus, 105 betacoronavirus, 11 deltacoronavirus, and 3 gammacoronavirus genome sequences. They compared peak-infection and reinfection data in endemic scenarios. The method also used antibody optical density data spanning 128 days to 28 years post-infection from 1984 to 2020. (10/4)

Also —

FiercePharma: Researchers Retract Preprint Study That Miscalculated Higher Heart Inflammation Risk For Moderna, Pfizer COVID Vaccines
In the past few weeks, anti-vaxxers have rallied behind a nonpeer-reviewed study by a group of Canadian researchers as evidence against COVID-19 vaccines. Turns out, the paper made a fatal mistake in reaching its conclusion. Scientists at The University of Ottawa Heart Institute have retracted the preprint study, which falsely calculated a 1 in 1,000 risk of heart inflammation for Moderna's and Pfizer-BioNTech's mRNA COVID vaccines. The study authors have withdrawn the manuscript “because of a major error pertaining to the quoted incidence data,” the team said in a retraction statement on Sept. 24. (Liu, 10/4)

The Wall Street Journal: To Prevent The Next Pandemic, Scientists Seek One Vaccine For Many Coronaviruses
Kayvon Modjarrad is out to win the war against this pandemic—and the next one. An emerging-infectious-diseases researcher with the U.S. Army, Dr. Modjarrad is pursuing a vaccine to protect against a range of coronaviruses that cause disease in humans—including Covid-19 variants that might elude today’s vaccines. The goal is to prevent the next new one from spreading around the globe. Such a shot might even stop coronaviruses that cause some common colds. (McKay, 10/4)

New York Daily News: COVID Vaccine Pioneers Miss Out On Nobel Prize In Medicine — For Now
Two scientists whose research contributed to the development of COVID-19 vaccines missed out on the latest Nobel Prize in medicine, which on Monday was given to two U.S.-based professors for their work on heat and touch. American Drew Weissman and Hungarian-born Katalin Kariko — who worked closely together to understand the benefits of messenger RNA, or mRNA — were among the front-runners for the prestigious award as many admirers saw them as the heroes behind two of the world’s most successful coronavirus vaccines. (Oliveira, 10/4)

The Hill: FDA Authorizes New Rapid COVID-19 Test, Says Capacity Will Double
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday authorized a new rapid, at-home COVID-19 test, in a move it said is expected to double the availability of such tests in the coming weeks. The FDA said it has authorized a coronavirus test from the company ACON Laboratories. It is not the first authorization of such a test, which can deliver results in as little as 15 minutes, but, amid supply shortages, the move could be key in boosting their availability. (Sullivan, 10/4)

The FDA also authorized a combination covid/flu test —

Genomeweb: FDA Approves Labcorp's Combo COVID-19/Flu Home Collection Kit
Laboratory Corporation of America has received Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for a combined home collection kit for molecular testing for COVID-19 and influenza A/B. The kit is intended for individuals two years of age and older and is available at no upfront cost to those who meet clinical guidelines, which include individuals experiencing symptoms, those who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, or those who have been recommended for testing by a healthcare provider. The kit will become available in early October and can be ordered by an individual's physician. (10/4)

In news about covid treatments —

Bloomberg: AstraZeneca Seeks U.S. Emergency Approval For Covid Antibody
AstraZeneca Plc submitted its antibody cocktail for U.S. emergency approval to prevent Covid-19 infection as therapeutic options for the pandemic broaden beyond vaccination. It’s the first regulatory filing for the medicine, which was 77% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid in a clinical trial that included patients with high-risk factors for severe infection. The cocktail can supplement vaccines for people who haven’t mounted a strong response to the shots -- or to protect those who couldn’t be immunized. The news comes just days after Merck & Co. fueled optimism that it will soon have the first Covid pill. Both treatments could offer a simple way to treat many patients before they ever reach the hospital. (Fourcade, 10/5)

Stat: Questions Emerge About Cost Of Merck Pill To Treat Covid-19
Behind the unvarnished enthusiasm over an experimental Covid-19 pill, questions are emerging about the cost of the treatment and the leverage the U.S. government may have to address excessive pricing. At issue is molnupiravir, which is being developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Last week, the companies released top-line data showing the pill reduced the risk that newly diagnosed patients would be hospitalized by about 50%. Moreover, no deaths were reported among those given the pill, compared with eight deaths among people who received a placebo. (Silverman, 10/4)

Axios: Taxpayers Funded Development Of COVID-19 Antiviral Pill Molnupiravir 
The antiviral pill that showed promising results against severe COVID-19 was originally developed at Emory University with $35 million of taxpayer grants. The federal government consequently owns rights to some of the molnupiravir's patents, which could factor into future purchasing agreements with Merck, which sells the drug. (Herman, 10/5)

Also —

AP: Nevada Adds Rapid Tests To COVID Tally, Joining Most States
Nevada health officials as of Monday are counting results from rapid antigen tests in the coronavirus data that they present to the public and use to determine whether the pandemic is prevalent enough to trigger mask and capacity mandates. The state updated its health response dashboard, adding more than 600,000 tests to its count. The dashboard started displaying “cumulative tests” on its testing page and divides the new infections into “confirmed cases” and “probable cases” on its page that reports total cases. (10/5)

Stateline: COVID Antibody Tests Won't Tell You What You Want To Know
Talk of the need for COVID-19 booster shots has prompted many Americans to seek antibody tests. In most cases, however, getting an antibody test to determine immunity is a fool’s errand, infectious disease doctors agree. The tests for antibodies, also known as serology tests, do not provide the answers that most people are seeking. Both the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration advise against using antibody tests to determine one’s level of immunity against COVID-19. So does the Infectious Disease Society of America, which represents infectious disease specialists. (Ollove, 10/1)

The Washington Post: 70 Years Ago, Henrietta Lacks’s Cells Were Taken Without Consent. Now, Her Family Wants Justice.
Descendants of Henrietta Lacks, the Black woman whose cells have been central to some of the most important scientific breakthroughs over the past 70 years, sued a pharmaceutical company Monday, alleging it profited off Lacks’s cells despite knowing that they were extracted and used for research without her consent. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Baltimore, accuses Thermo Fisher Scientific of using Lacks’s cells without approval from or payment to her family members — thus depriving them of billions of dollars and “the knowledge that a loved one’s body has been treated with respect.” (Davies, 10/4)

In other news about health and race —

AP: New California Law Aims To Reduce Deaths Among Black Moms
Black women in California are more likely to die within a year of pregnancy than women of other races, prompting a wave of policy changes this year in the nation’s most populous state that culminated on Monday with Gov. Gavin Newsom signing a new law aimed at reducing the disparity. The law, among other things, creates a new committee within the Department of Public Health to review maternal deaths throughout the state by interviewing family members and doctors while exploring records and other reports. (Beam, 10/4)

KHN: Racism A Strong Factor In Black Women’s High Rate Of Premature Births, Study Finds
The tipping point for Dr. Paula Braveman came when a longtime patient of hers at a community clinic in San Francisco’s Mission District slipped past the front desk and knocked on her office door to say goodbye. He wouldn’t be coming to the clinic anymore, he told her, because he could no longer afford it. It was a decisive moment for Braveman, who decided she wanted not only to heal ailing patients but also to advocate for policies that would help them be healthier when they arrived at her clinic. In the nearly four decades since, Braveman has dedicated herself to studying the “social determinants of health” — how the spaces where we live, work, play and learn, and the relationships we have in those places, influence how healthy we are. (Barry-Jester, 10/5)

Bloomberg: Half-Million Excess U.S. Deaths In 2020 Hit Minorities Worse
Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for a disproportionate number of the half million excess deaths last year, according to a new U.S. study that examines mortality both directly and indirectly related to Covid-19. Researchers compared the number of people who died from March to December 2020 with the number of deaths that had been projected to occur before the pandemic. They found 477,200 excess deaths, with more than twice as many occurring among Blacks, Latinos, American Indians and Alaskan Natives compared with Whites and Asians of similar age. About 74% of the excess deaths were attributed to Covid-19. (Dave, 10/4)

USA Today: Woman's Depression Cured By Targeted Electrical Brain Stimulation, A First, Pioneered By UCSF Researchers
Sarah, who asked to be identified by her first name, is the only person to ever be treated with electrodes implanted deep in her brain that send quick energy bursts when they detect activity in a brain circuit involved in her depression. Those 6-second zaps – as many as 300 a day – have transformed her life and provided new insights into the biological nature of depression. What she's been through is way too complicated to replicate for the millions of people who suffer from deep, unrelenting despair, but her success may suggest new ways to address one of the most hard-to-reach mental illnesses. (Weintraub, 10/4)

Stat: Jolts From Customized Brain Implant Gave Instant Relief To Depressed Patient
When Sarah, 36 years old and severely depressed, sat down in a lab with a head full of surgically implanted sensors last year, the last thing she expected was to spontaneously cackle. She hadn’t laughed like that — a real, unforced laugh — in five years. But something had happened: A subtle electrical shock deep in her brain had interfered with the dark anxious spirals her depression had sent her on since she was a child. Sarah laughed, and the whole room was taken aback, researchers recalled. (Cueto, 10/4)

In other public health news —

CBS News: Big Jump In E-Scooter, E-Bike Injuries The Last Four Years, CPSC Finds 
It's a good idea to wear a helmet when taking a spin on electric scooters, electric bikes, hoverboards and other so-called micro-mobility products. That's because injuries stemming from their use spiked 70% over the past four years, spurring nearly 200,000 emergency room visits, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Viewed as eco-friendly (studies have found that's not exactly the case) and cost-effective modes of transportation for short distances, the battery-powered products were part of the equation in more than 190,000 E.R. visits and at least 71 deaths from 2017 through 2020, according to the federal agency. (Gibson, 10/4)

The Atlantic: Why Are Americans Still Wearing Cloth Masks?
At this point, cloth masks are so ubiquitous in the United States that it can be easy to forget that they were originally supposed to be a stopgap measure. In April 2020, when surgical masks and highly coveted N95s were first in short supply, the CDC released its initial mask guidance and said cloth masks were the way to go for most people—noting that they could be sewn at home from old T-shirts. Even at that point, when the pandemic was full of unknowns, we knew that cloth masks, although far better than going maskless, weren’t as protective as other types. A growing amount of research supports the idea that our masking norms don’t make much sense. (Tayag, 10/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Is It Flu Or Covid-19? It’s Harder To Tell The Symptoms Apart This Year
Doctors expect the flu season to be rough this year, and with it comes another challenge: Figuring out whether your symptoms point to the flu, Covid-19 or something else. Many symptoms of flu and Covid-19 are similar. Fever, fatigue and achiness can occur with both. The often-milder symptoms of a Covid-19 breakthrough infection in vaccinated people—sometimes including a runny nose or sneezing—can make it even harder to distinguish between the two illnesses, or from a cold or allergies. (Dizik, 10/4)

The New York Times: Losing Your Hair? You Might Blame The Great Stem Cell Escape. 
Every person, every mouse, every dog, has one unmistakable sign of aging: hair loss. But why does that happen? Rui Yi, a professor of pathology at Northwestern University, set out to answer the question. A generally accepted hypothesis about stem cells says they replenish tissues and organs, including hair, but they will eventually be exhausted and then die in place. This process is seen as an integral part of aging. Instead Dr. Yi and his colleagues made a surprising discovery that, at least in the hair of aging animals, stem cells escape from the structures that house them. (Kolata, 10/4)

KHN: Solitary Confinement Condemns Many Prisoners To Long-Term Health Issues 
Sometimes, Pamela Winn isn’t sure how to connect with people, even those she loves, like her 9-month-old granddaughter. When the baby is in her arms, “I sit there quietly, and I don’t know what to say. What to do,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “My socializing skills are just not there anymore.” On days like these, Winn, who lives south of Atlanta, is haunted by the memory of her 6-by-9-foot prison cell, where she spent eight months in solitary confinement more than 10 years ago. She said she now feels “safest when I’m by myself.” It’s a common paradox of solitary confinement, said Craig Haney, a professor of social psychology at the University of California-Santa Cruz. Instead of craving the company of others after release from social isolation, many former prisoners want just the opposite. (Ridderbusch, 10/5)

KHN: The Pandemic Forced My Transgender Wife To Fight Our Insurer Over Hormones 
For the past eight years, my wife, Ky Hamilton, has undergone gender-affirming hormone therapy. As a transgender woman, she injects Depo-Estradiol liquid estrogen into her thigh once a week. This drug has allowed her to physically transition as a woman, and each vial, which lasts around five weeks, was completely covered by insurance. That was until she lost her job in April 2020 and we switched to a subsidized private health insurance plan in Colorado’s Affordable Care Act marketplace. We discovered that our new insurance from Anthem doesn’t cover Depo-Estradiol and it would cost $125 out-of-pocket per vial. With both of us — and our four pets — depending heavily on Ky’s weekly $649 unemployment check, such medical expenses proved difficult. And as of Sept. 6, those unemployment checks ran out. (Santoro, 10/5)

Also —

AP: US Resumes Afghan Refugee Flights After Measles Shots
Afghan refugees will soon be arriving again in the U.S. after a massive campaign to vaccinate them against measles following a small outbreak that caused a three-week pause in evacuations, officials said Monday. Authorities have administered the vaccination to about 49,000 evacuees staying temporarily on American military bases as well as to those still at transit points in Europe and the Middle East, according to the Department of Homeland Security. (Fox, 10/4)

Modern Healthcare: Digital Health Companies Raked In $8.1 Billion In Q3
Digital health companies around the globe raised a collective $8.1 billion in venture capital from investors in 2021's third quarter—a record for the sector, according to new data from market research firm Mercom Capital Group. Venture-capital funding was up 5% from $7.7 billion raised in 2021's second quarter, which previously held the record for the largest funding quarter among digital health companies. The $8.1 billion funding total for the quarter is also more than double the $3.9 billion that digital health companies raised in 2020's third quarter. (Kim Cohen and Broderick, 10/4)

Stat: Hospitals Launch New Venture To Build A Better Digital Health Marketplace
It’s one of the biggest market failures in modern medicine. The lack of a widely shared data language is effectively blocking adoption of innumerable software applications designed to make health care cheaper, more effective, and personal. On Tuesday, three large health systems formed a new nonprofit company to fill that gap. The venture, dubbed Graphite Health, is seeking to build an App-Store-like marketplace where digital health entrepreneurs can sell their software tools, and hospitals and consumers can more easily buy and implement them. (Ross, 10/5)

In other health care industry news —

Modern Healthcare: GAO Highlights Provider Complaints About MIPS
A new government watchdog report offers more doubt about the effectiveness of a heavily criticized Medicare provider payment program. The Merit-based Incentive Payment System scores physicians and other providers based on quality and cost measures uses those scores to adjust future Medicare payments. Congress and President Barack Obama established MIPS in a 2015 law intended to improve outcomes and reduce spending. MIPS lets providers cherry-pick the measures they report and doesn't yield enough of a payoff to be worth participating in, said most stakeholders the Government Accountability Office interviewed for an analysis published Friday. (Bannow, 10/4)

AP: Union Reaches Deal With Group Home Agency, Cancels Strike
Several hundred unionized group home and day program workers in Bridgeport and eastern Connecticut have reached a new contract with the latest provider, ending a strike that was threatened to begin Tuesday, their union announced Monday, The agreement with Whole Life Inc., which has more than 39 locations, is the second reached by the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, SEIU in less than a week. While the union withdrew its strike notice to Whole Life, unionized workers are still planning to walk out at Sunrise Northeast Inc. and Alternative Services-Connecticut Inc. on Oct. 12, affecting 160 and 100 workers respectively. (10/4)

Georgia Health News: Wellstar-United Contract Ends Without A Deal, Affecting Thousands
Tens of thousands of UnitedHealthcare members will now face higher out-of-pocket fees if they go to Wellstar Health System hospitals and doctors. The contract between the two organizations ended Sunday without a new agreement. An estimated 80,000 United members will be affected. Payment for medical services is the sticking point. United says the Wellstar demands for higher reimbursements are excessive, and the 11-hospital Wellstar says it’s seeking the same rates that other insurers are paying. (Miller, 10/4)

San Francisco Chronicle: Alameda County Reprimands Ambulance Provider, Demands Improvement In Response Times
Alameda County officials on Monday rebuked the county’s contracted ambulance provider, Falck, for failing to meet performance requirements in August and demanded that Falck implement a plan to correct its shortfalls. In a letter to local Falck administrators Monday, Lauri McFadden, director of the Alameda County Emergency Medical Services Agency, which coordinates first responder and ambulance service, said a review of Falck’s performance in August showed that the contractor responded to incidents on time less than 90% of the time — a violation of Falck’s contract with the county. (Picon, 10/4)

And in news about health care personnel —

Axios: Texas Observer: Medical Boards Allowed Abusive Doctors To Treat Patients 
A Texas doctor accused of inappropriately touching 17 female patients had then been told by a medical board to only treat men before being reported for assault by a male patient, an investigation by the Texas Observer found. Medical boards that oversee doctors across the U.S. have used this loophole of curbing the types of patients predatory doctors are allowed to see rather than revoking their licenses, experts in the report said. (Fernandez, 10/5)

USA Today: Miami Nurse Fired After Posting Photos Of Baby Born With Birth Defect
A nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami was fired after posting photos of a baby born with a birth defect over social media in early September, according to multiple local media outlets. Sierra Samuels, a nurse with the hospital since 2016, was working in the neonatal intensive care unit and shared two photographs over Instagram of a newborn with gastroschisis, a birth defect of the abdominal wall that causes the baby's intestines to protrude from the body. (Gleeson, 10/4)

Stat: New Jackson Heart Study Leader Commits To Putting Research Into Action
There’s a reason why the nation’s largest and longest-running study of cardiovascular disease in African Americans calls Jackson, Miss., home. That community, like others in the southeastern United States, has long experienced disproportionately high rates of cardiovascular disease. (Cooney, 10/5)

CNN: Missouri Medicaid Expansion: Coverage Begins For Low-Income Residents 
Medicaid expansion has finally begun in Missouri, nearly five months after Republican Gov. Mike Parson unsuccessfully tried to block it. Roughly 275,000 low-income adults in the state are now eligible for coverage. MO HealthNet, the state's Medicaid program, has already received more than 17,000 applications since the sign up process started in August. (Luhby, 10/4)

Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting: Mississippi Physicians' Group Pushes Medicaid Expansion Options
The largest physician group in Mississippi will pursue options to expand Medicaid in the state despite opposition from two statewide top political leaders. The Mississippi State Medical Association recently adopted a resolution to explore and pursue options including a Medicaid waiver program and or amending the state’s Medicaid plan to ensure more people have access to health care. (Gates, 10/4)

In news from California, Connecticut and Maine —

Los Angeles Times: California Will Impose New Vaping Tax To Help Curb Teen Use
Amid concern over widespread teen vaping, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday approved a new 12.5% excise tax on electronic cigarettes to be paid by California consumers to boost public health and education programs. The aim of the legislation is to discourage vaping by minors and bring taxes on e-cigarettes more in line with levies on other tobacco products, said state Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas), who authored Senate Bill 395. “Vaping has become increasingly popular despite the risks,” Caballero said. “This is especially evident among our youth, and made worse by the availability of youth-appealing flavors such as gummy bears and cotton candy.” (McGreevy, 10/4)

Los Angeles Times: Hospice Reforms To Become Law After Times Investigation
Decades of unchecked growth in the California hospice industry will come to a halt Jan. 1, when a moratorium on new licenses takes effect along with reforms aimed at curbing widespread fraud in end-of-life care. The licensing moratorium and a crackdown on kickbacks and patient-recruiting schemes are at the heart of legislative reforms outlined in two bills largely spurred by a Los Angeles Times investigation of the state’s booming hospice business last year. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bills into law Monday. An extensive examination by the state auditor also is underway to identify deficiencies and recommend improvements to hospice licensing and oversight. (Christensen and Poston, 10/4)

AP: Hollywood’s Behind-The-Scenes Crews Vote To Authorize Strike
Film and television production in North America is in jeopardy of coming to a standstill after its behind-the-scenes workers overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike for the first time in its 128-year history. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees said Monday that nearly 99% of registered members who participated, or 52,706 people, voted in support of a strike over the weekend. At issue is a contract standstill over requests for more reasonable conditions for the craftspeople, technicians and laborers working for streaming companies like Netflix, Apple and Amazon, including better pay, reasonable rest periods, safer hours and guaranteed meal breaks. (Bahr, 10/5)

Fox News: Connecticut Mosquitoes Test Positive For Potentially Deadly EEE Virus, Officials Say
Connecticut health officials are cautioning southeastern area state residents over the potentially deadly mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus after detecting virus-positive mosquitoes. According to the state health department, mosquitoes trapped in the Pachaug State Forest in Voluntown tested positive for the EEE virus, marking Connecticut’s first EEE-positive mosquitoes of the year, per a release posted Monday. (Rivas, 10/4)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Lawmakers Eye Aggressive Slate Of Child Welfare Overhauls In 2022
Maine lawmakers are looking to improve oversight of the state’s child welfare system after four child deaths in recent months brought renewed attention to problems that watchdogs have flagged as persistent. Maine’s ability to monitor children’s safety was questioned after two children who were under its protection, 4-year-old Kendall Chick and 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy, died in late 2017 and early 2018, respectively. Lawmakers launched probes and made immediate changes, including adding caseworkers after many reported feeling too overworked. (Andrews, 10/4)

Also —

Health News Florida: Florida's First Lady Casey DeSantis Is Battling Breast Cancer 
Florida first lady Casey DeSantis has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Governor Ron DeSantis made the announcement in a statement on Monday morning. The statement did not give a prognosis or details on treatment, but the governor said his wife is "a true fighter, and she will never, never, never give up." (10/4)

AP: Australia Won't Welcome International Tourists Until 2022
International tourists won’t be welcomed back to Australia until next year, with the return of skilled migrants and students given higher priority, the prime minister said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia was expected to reach the vaccination benchmark on Tuesday at which the country could begin to open up: 80% of the population aged 16 and older having a second shot. (McGuirk, 10/5)

Axios: EU Drug Regulator Recommends Pfizer Booster For People 18 And Older 
The European Union's drug watchdog on Monday endorsed a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for people 18 and older. The European Medicines Agency said booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine "may be considered at least 6 months after the second dose for people aged 18 years and older," per a press release from the agency. (Doherty, 10/4)

AP: Anti-Vaccine Villagers In Guatemala Hold Coronavirus Team
Anti-vaccine residents of a village in Guatemala seized and held a team of nurses who were trying to administer coronavirus shots Monday, authorities said. The team was held for about seven hours in the village of Nahuila, in the province of Alta Verapaz, north of Guatemala City. The villagers said they didn’t want the shots, and later blocked a road and let the air out of the nurses’ tires. A cooler and about 50 doses of vaccine were destroyed. Police and local officials later negotiated their release. (10/5)

Reuters: Japan's Dip In COVID-19 Cases Baffles Experts
Japan's COVID-19 case numbers have plummeted to the lowest in nearly a year just as other parts of Asia are struggling with surging infections, leaving health experts perplexed and raising concern of a winter rebound. New daily cases in Tokyo dropped to 87 on Monday, the lowest tally since Nov. 2 last year, and a precipitous decline from more than 5,000 a day in an August wave that hammered the capital's medical infrastructure. (Swift, 10/5)

Houston Chronicle: I Operate On Children With COVID. Trust Me, Get Your Child Vaccinated
Imagine you’re a kid in a hospital and you’ve just been told that you need surgery. All the doctors and nurses who enter your room are covered in blue, head-to-toe protective gear: mask, goggles, hat and gown. You can’t see their faces or their reassuring smiles. I bet you would be scared. My patients are scared, too — this is the reality for children with COVID-19. I always knew I wanted to care for kids. So, when I fell in love with surgery during medical school, the decision to become a pediatric surgeon was an easy one. Still, I never thought I would be a pediatric surgeon during a raging pandemic, unable to comfort my patients with a smile they could see. (Bindi Naik-Mathuria, 10/2)

Stat: Why U.S. Pandemic Management Has Failed 
Few U.S. journalists, politicians, or public health officials expressed any extraordinary concern when reports of a novel respiratory virus began to emerge out of China in late 2019 and early 2020. After all, the U.S. had just ranked number one among 195 countries in the 2019 Global Health Security Index — the first major comparative assessment of national capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. Experts believed the wealthiest large nation on earth to be well-prepared to weather whatever might come its way. (Eric Reinhart, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Montgomery County’s Vaccine-Or-Test Policy Has Run Its Course. A Real Mandate Is Needed 
Montgomery County is Maryland’s largest jurisdiction, and the coronavirus pandemic’s toll there has been devastating: nearly 1,700 lives taken amid 80,000 cases. In its rampage through nursing homes, schools and businesses, covid-19 has disrupted practically everything, including the functioning of county government. Roughly a third of its 10,000 employees — including police officers, firefighters, health workers and others — have at some point missed work because of contracting the virus or being exposed to it. Five county employees have died, and about 140 are currently quarantined, having tested positive or awaiting test results. (10/4)

The Tennessean: COVID-19: Separate Politics And Healthcare To Protect Human Rights
Working in public health and witnessing death and the decline of communities have deepened my cynicism in my future and the future of this country. I discovered my own cruelty in processing my disdain for cigarette smokers being able to receive the vaccine well before myself and people I personally deemed more deserving. However, this is wrong, because health is not a prize for making perfect decisions. It is a human right. (Sydney Felder, 10/1)

Modern Healthcare: What The Pandemic Has Taught Us About Service And Value 
Throughout this prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare leaders have been confronted with more systemic changes and challenges over a period of months than most had seen throughout their entire careers—all with little clear guidance, rampant misinformation and partisan squabbling, and no “playbook” to guide decision-making. (Mark Clement, 10/5)

Stat: Molnupiravir Was Made Possible By Government-Funded Innovation
Last week, Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced Phase 3 results of molnupiravir, an oral antiviral drug, in patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19. In a trial that included more than 750 patients, molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 50% compared with placebo. There were no deaths in the molnupiravir group compared to eight in the placebo group. Given these findings, this oral drug appears to offer a new way to treat patients with Covid-19 and is an easier option than intravenously administered antibodies or remdesivir. (Travis Whitfill, 10/5)

Los Angeles Times: My Postpartum Depression Was Not Hard To Predict — Yet No One Warned Me 
Being pregnant and middle-aged is like driving an old car with bald tires and worn-out brakes up a rocky mountain. In the rain. Frankly, it’ll be a miracle if you get to the top. I almost didn’t. I was 48 years old when my daughter was born. Her birth was the culmination of a brutal, seven-year odyssey of fertility treatments. After 11 failed rounds of in vitro fertilization, one of which ended in miscarriage, I finally got pregnant using a donor egg and carried the baby to term. (Devorah Herbert, 10/5)

Dallas Morning News: Military Should Require Uniform Mental Health Training
We’ve learned a lot after two decades of fighting the war on terror, but some of the most important lessons are not making their way into our basic military training. Our review of Department of Defense (DOD) procedures tells us that more needs to be done in terms of training service members on post-traumatic stress and other mental health issues that are too often the byproduct of modern conflict. In our view, the DOD should institute mandatory mental health training for all active-duty and reserve personnel. This is a simple and urgent suggestion that our vets deserve, and a pair of Texas filmmakers are highlighting the issue. (10/4)

Stat: A Stain Still Mars The Institute That Awards The Nobel In Medicine 
As the Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute announces the winners of the 2021 Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology, the institute has yet to fully acknowledge its culpability in lethal, experimental procedures conducted by transplant surgeon Paolo Macchiarini and is still trying to discredit the four whistleblowers who exposed them. Its actions represent a stain on the world’s most important medical research award. (Carl Elliott, 10/4)

Roll Call: An Open Letter To House Democrats: Do Not Forget The People Depending On You 
Dear Democratic members of the House, I am writing to you in the midst of debate on the most consequential piece of legislation in over half a century. The Build Back Better bill before you could be a victory for the ages, unleashing yet unseen possibilities for people in every area of American life. Home care is just one fraction of this sweeping bill, but I want to highlight the personal stakes of this particular part of the investment. (Ady Barkan, 10/1)

Dallas Morning News: $238 Million For Dallas Psychiatric Hospital Should Be Top State Priority
Texas’ public psychiatric hospital system struggles to meet the demand for care, saddled for years with aging facilities, staffing shortages and a bed deficit. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed even more people into a state of mental health crisis, further illuminating the inadequacies of our current system. It’s difficult to think of a public health need as enduring and compelling as Texans’ mental health, which is why we’re glad that state Senate and House bills filed in the latest special legislative session have earmarked $237.8 million in federal funds to build a state psychiatric hospital in Dallas. (10/5)

Newsweek: The West Must Work With The Taliban. Start With Healthcare 
In light of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, the World Bank recently halted development aid to the nation of 38 million people. In withholding the bulk of this year's $800 million development allocation, the World Bank cited concerns about the Taliban's "impact on the country's development prospects, especially for women. "Though foreign aid has undergirded Afghanistan's development and infrastructure over the past two decades, its provision has been on a decline, owing to U.S. reports of systemic corruption within the Afghan government and the misuse of aid funds. But this recent restriction of aid comes at an unfortunate time, as development aid to Afghanistan has made a remarkable difference in public health—albeit one that's often overlooked. For example, life expectancy rose by nearly nine years from 2001 to 2020. From 2003 to 2015, infant mortality plummeted 29 percent, as childhood vaccine coverage doubled. The construction of women's health clinics and increased antenatal care pointed towards a reduction in maternal mortality. (Henna Hundal and Sai Rajagopal, 10/4)