The Washington Post: Largest Private-Sector Nurses Strike In U.S. History Begins In Minnesota
About 15,000 nurses in Minnesota walked off the job Monday to protest understaffing and overwork — marking the largest strike of private-sector nurses in U.S. history. Slated to last three days, the strike spotlights nationwide nursing shortages exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic that often result in patients not receiving adequate care. Tensions remain high between nurses and health-care administrators across the country, and there are signs that work stoppages could spread to other states. (Gurley, 9/12)

AP: Thousands Of Minnesota Nurses Launch 3-Day Strike Over Pay
Scores of nurses began walking the picket line at 7 a.m. outside Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, one of 15 hospitals affected. Clad in the red T-shirts of the Minnesota Nurses Association and carrying signs with such slogans as, “Something has got to give,” several said their chief concern was patient safety. Tracey Dittrich, 50, a registered nurse at the hospital for nearly 24 years, said nurses are tired of “hospital administrators and managers that are telling us to do more.” The hospitals need more nurses and more support staff, and higher pay will help, she said. (Ahmed and Ehlke, 9/13)

Pioneer Press: MN Nurses Strike For More Pay, Better Staffing; Hospital Officials Say Demands Unrealistic
Hospital leaders have said they cannot afford nurses demands for a 30 percent pay hike and they want to maintain flexibility over staffing levels. They’ve offered roughly 12 percent in wage increases for the next three years. Hospital officials also say they want to address nurses’ concerns about retention and patient safety. The two sides negotiated over the weekend, but so far, there are no new talks expected until next week. (Magan, 9/12)

Reuters: 'Understaffed And Overworked': Thousands Of Minnesota Nurses Go On Strike 
Allina Health, which owns four hospitals with striking nurses, said on its website it was making every effort to minimize disruptions to patient care. It said it had been planning for a strike for months. The nurse strike has drawn support from U.S. lawmakers in Washington, including veteran Senator Bernie Sanders. "Nurses are the backbone of our health care system," Sanders wrote on Twitter, calling for fair scheduling and higher wages. (9/12)

Bloomberg: Biden Signs Order To Boost Biomanufacturing, Compete With China 
President Joe Biden signed an executive order laying out a strategy to bolster domestic biomanufacturing and reduce reliance on China for new medicines, chemicals and other products. Biden signed the order Monday morning before giving a speech in Boston. The White House will also hold a summit Sept. 14 to discuss the initiative and announce new investments in domestic research, development and production capabilities, according to a statement. (Griffin, 9/12)

AP: Biden To Announce New Support For US Biotech Production
The initiative will seek to boost biomanufacturing in pharmaceuticals but also in other industries such as agriculture, plastics and energy. A senior administration official wouldn’t say how much funding will be announced Wednesday. Biomanufacturing processes can program microbes to make specialty chemicals and compounds, the fact sheet said. Biomanufacturing can be used to make alternatives to oil-based chemicals, plastics and textiles. (Rugaber, 9/12)

On the "moonshot" —

The Washington Post: Biden Touts Cancer 'Moonshot' At JFK Library, But Challenges Remain 
Leaning into the symbolism of President John F. Kennedy’s aspirational effort to send a man to the moon, President Biden on Monday sought to give a renewed boost to his own “cancer moonshot” initiative, aimed at cutting the U.S. death toll from the disease in half over the next 25 years. Biden delivered the speech on the 60th anniversary of Kennedy’s moonshot speech, speaking from the late president’s museum and library. It was a less-than-subtle effort to convince Americans that the goal of eradicating cancer is not hopelessly out of reach. (Wootson Jr., McGinley and Viser, 9/12)

AP: Biden Hopes Ending Cancer Can Be A 'National Purpose' For US
President Joe Biden on Monday urged Americans to come together for a new “national purpose” — his administration’s effort to end cancer “as we know it.” At the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Biden channeled JFK’s famed moonshot speech 60 years ago, likening the space race to his own effort and hoping it, too, would galvanize Americans. “He established a national purpose that could rally the American people and a common cause,” Biden said of Kennedy’s space effort, adding that “we can usher in the same unwillingness to postpone.” (Miller and Johnson, 9/13)

NPR: Biden Reignites Cancer Moonshot On Anniversary Of Kennedy's 1962 Moon Speech
"This cancer moonshot is one of the reasons why I ran for president," Biden said. "Cancer does not discriminate red and blue. It doesn't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat. Beating cancer is something we can do together." (Shivaram, 9/12)

The Wall Street Journal: New Cancer Drug Beats Chemotherapy In Study 
New data from the first of a new type of cancer drug suggest its benefits and limitations, while leaving room for other candidates seeking to enter the lucrative market. Amgen Inc.’s lung-cancer pill Lumakras beat out a common chemotherapy in a late-stage study, helping patients survive without their tumors getting worse, though it failed to prove that it reduced overall deaths, the company said. (Walker, 9/12)

Stat: Data Likely Support Approval Of Amgen's KRAS-Targeted Drug Lumakras
Clinical trial results reported Monday by Amgen may be enough to confirm the U.S. approval of its KRAS-targeting lung cancer drug called Lumakras. But the new data also show lung cancer patients are not benefiting from Lumakras as much as previously hoped, and liver toxicity remains a safety concern. (Feuerstein, 9/12)

More on cancer research —

Bloomberg: AstraZeneca Looks To More Than Double New Cancer Drugs By 2030
AstraZeneca Plc is aiming to more than double its portfolio of new cancer drugs by the end of this decade, seeking the top spot in the world’s most lucrative category of medicines. The UK drugmaker has added seven new cancer medicines since 2014, after Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot made a risky bet on an oncology pipeline to revive growth and ward off a hostile takeover from Pfizer Inc. (Kresge and Lyu, 9/12)

Axios: Hospitals Mark Up Discounted Cancer Drugs At Much As 11 Times, Report Says
Safety net hospitals are marking up the cost of drugs they buy through the government's discount drug program by as much as 11 times the cost, according to a new report provided first to Axios by the Community Oncology Alliance (COA). (Reed, 9/13)

U.S. News & World Report: Blood Test Shows Promise At Catching Cancers Early
A single blood test that can screen for more than 50 cancers seems to work fairly well in the real world, a preliminary study reveals. Researchers found that of over 6,600 apparently healthy people aged 50 and older, the blood test detected a possible cancer "signal" in roughly 1%. When those individuals had more extensive testing, cancer was confirmed in 38%. Experts called the findings an "important first step" in seeing how the so-called multi-cancer early detection test could fit into real-world care. (9/12)

CNN: Walking Can Lower Risk Of Early Death, But There’s More To It Than Number Of Steps, Study Finds
Put on your walking shoes and don’t forget your step counter: You can reduce your risk for cancer, heart disease and early death by getting up to 10,000 steps a day, but any amount of walking helps, according to a new study.

The Hill: FDA Schedules Meeting On OTC Birth Control Pill Application
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has scheduled a joint meeting to discuss pharmaceutical company Perrigo’s application for what could be the first over-the-counter (OTC) daily birth control pill available in the U.S., the company announced Monday. The joint meeting will be held on Nov. 18 with the FDA’s Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Obstetrics, Reproductive, and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee, according to Perrigo. (Choi, 9/12)

Axios: Affordability Questions Linger Around Over-The-Counter Birth Control
The FDA's decision to consider the first birth control pill that could be sold without a prescription may solve some contraception access problems. But gaps in insurance coverage rules could make it unaffordable for some. (Gonzalez and Owens, 9/13)

In updates on abortion —

Bloomberg: GOP’s Graham To Again Propose National Abortion Restrictions
US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham plans to introduce legislation to restrict abortion nationally, as the politically explosive debate is emerging as one of the central issues in the midterm election campaign. (Litvan, 9/13)

AP: Indiana Court Hearing Set After Abortion Ban Takes Effect 
An Indiana judge won’t hear arguments until next week on a lawsuit seeking to block the state’s abortion ban, leaving that new law set to take effect on Thursday. The special judge overseeing the case issued an order Monday setting a court hearing for Sept. 19, which is four days after the ban’s effective date. (Davies, 9/12)

AP: S.Carolina House To Meet After Divergent Senate Abortion Ban 
South Carolina Republican lawmakers will keep trying to enact new abortion restrictions later this month. Speaker Murrell Smith announced Monday that the House will meet on Sept. 27, more than two weeks after the Senate sent back a markedly different proposal from the one passed earlier by the lower chamber. Contentious debates among Republicans over exceptions have emerged in a special session on abortion that convened after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. (Pollard, 9/12)

The Hill: Harris: ‘Probably By Design’ That Attacks On Abortion, Voting And LGBTQ Rights Come From Same ‘Sources’
Vice President Harris on Monday said it was “not by accident, but probably by design” that the same “sources” who threaten abortion rights also work against voting rights and LGBTQ rights. Harris made the remarks at a meeting she convened with civil rights and abortion rights activists. Attendees included Rev. Al Sharpton, Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson and Center for Reproductive Rights CEO Nancy Northup. (Choi, 9/12)

USA Today: Democratic Women Strive To Channel Abortion Outrage Into Senate Wins
“I was just home for the last couple of weeks and everywhere I went Nevadans approached me about their concerns about the repeal of Roe vs. Wade and that was both women and men, so it is an issue that people who are in Nevada are rightfully concerned about,” Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto told USA TODAY. (Chambers, Wells and Tran, 9/12)

On abortion clinics and pregnancy centers —

Reuters: Abortion Clinic Moves Up The Street To Escape Tennessee's Ban 
The women's health clinic in Bristol, Tennessee, had a seemingly simple solution to continue providing abortions after its home state banned the procedure this summer: It moved a mile up the road to Bristol, Virginia, where abortion remained legal. But relocating between the twin cities brought a host of challenges. (Borter, 9/12)

News Service of Florida: An Orlando Clinic Challenges A $193,000 Fine Over The State's 24-Hour Abortion Waiting Period
An Orlando women's clinic is challenging a potential $193,000 state fine, the third case to emerge in recent weeks about whether clinics properly complied with a law requiring 24-hour waiting periods before abortions can be performed. (Saunders, 9/12)

The Boston Globe: Crisis Pregnancy Centers Are On The Defensive But They’re Pushing Back
They have been vandalized in Worcester and Easthampton, vilified by Senator Elizabeth Warren, and put on notice by Attorney General Maura Healey, who warned consumers that most crisis pregnancy centers are not licensed medical clinics and may mislead patients about abortion. Now, they’re pushing back. (Ebbert, 9/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Get The New COVID Bivalent Booster Shot By Halloween, White House Urges
In an interview for Andy Slavitt’s “In the Bubble” podcast, Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said high-risk individuals should get the new shots right away and everyone else should get it in early fall. “I think it’s really important for people to get it by Halloween,” he said. “Why Halloween? Because three weeks after Halloween is Thanksgiving, and there’s a lot of travel, and you’re seeing family, and you’re seeing friends. And few weeks later, it’s the holidays.” (Fracassa and Vaziri, 9/12)

U.S. research on covid antibodies could have big implications —

The Boston Globe: Boston Children’s Hospital Researchers Find Antibody That Neutralizes All Major Coronavirus Variants In Tests On Mice
Using genetically modified mice, hospital researchers, collaborating with colleagues from Duke University, found the antibody SP1-77, which neutralizes the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and its variants including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron, the hospital said. SP1-77 “potently neutralized all major SARS-CoV-2 variants through the recently emergent BA.5 variant,” researchers said in the study, which was published in August in the journal Science Immunology. (Finucane, 9/12)

In long covid research —

CIDRAP: COVID Vaccine May Cut Long-Term Symptoms Up To 80%
COVID-19 patients who had received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine reported 8 of the 10 most common long-COVID symptoms 50% to 80% less often than their unvaccinated counterparts, finds an ongoing Israeli study published in the Nature journal npj Vaccines. (Van Beusekom, 9/12)

In other pandemic news —

The Hill: These 10 States Still Have COVID Emergency Orders In Place 
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Monday that she will end the state’s COVID-19 state of emergency amid falling case numbers and rising criticism. While the COVID-19 pandemic has faded as a major concern for much of the American public, there are still 10 states across the U.S. with emergency orders in place. (Dress, 9/12)

Anchorage Daily News: Anchorage’s Last COVID-Era Shelter Is In A Downtown Hotel. The Clock Is Ticking On Its Closure
Sulamai Seve has been homeless and living in a room at the Aviator Hotel in downtown Anchorage for about a year. On a recent sunny September afternoon, she sat on a concrete curb beneath the hotel’s portico. Seve held the ashy remains of a spent cigarette in her right hand, her left tucked into the pocket of her black hoodie.“ I like it here. They are treating me pretty good,” she said. (Goodykoontz, 9/11)

Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court To Reopen To Public After Long COVID Closure, Reports Say
The U.S. Supreme Court will allow the public to hear arguments in person for the first time in about 2-1/2 years following a closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Justice John Roberts said late on Friday, according to media reports. The court's nine justices - all of whom have been vaccinated against COVID-19 - will begin hearing a new round of cases when the court's next term kicks off on Oct. 3. (Chung, 9/12)

Reuters: Gilead Settles Patent Fight With Generic Drugmakers Over HIV Drugs 
Gilead Sciences Inc has settled patent disputes with five drugmakers over proposed generic versions of its blockbuster HIV drugs Descovy and Odefsey and hepatitis B drug Vemlidy, it said Monday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Generic drugmakers Apotex Inc, Lupin Ltd, Cipla Ltd, Macleods Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Hetero Labs Ltd will receive non-exclusive licenses to the patents, allowing them to sell generic versions of the HIV drugs starting in October 2031 and Vemlidy in January 2032, according to the filing. (Brittain, 9/12)

In health industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Star Ratings Declines Coming Post-COVID
Health insurance companies that sell Medicare Advantage plans enjoyed higher star ratings, and the extra dollars that come with them, during the COVID-19 pandemic. That's about to end. (Tepper, 9/12)

Reuters: GE Healthcare To Be Spun Off In January, Gets New Board
General Electric on Monday set the first week of 2023 to complete the spinoff of its healthcare unit and named a new board for the planned independent company. The new board members of the unit, which will be named GE HealthCare, include its chief executive officer, Peter Arduini, as well as executives from Honeywell International Inc and Amazon Web Services. (9/12)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: New Details: Financial Rescue Planned For Grady Health System In Atlanta
State officials are discussing a one-time aid package of nearly $200 million for Grady Health System, made up of federal relief dollars and tens of millions lined up through private philanthropies, according to three officials with knowledge of the talks. (Bluestein and Landergan, 9/12)

USA Today: Texas Doctor Warmed IV Bags, Causing Cardiac Issues And Death: Board
A Texas physician has been suspended and federal officials are investigating him after multiple patients suffered serious cardiac complications and one died, the Texas Medical Board said. The board found that if Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr. continues to practice medicine, he'd pose a threat to public health and safety. (Martin, 9/12)

Stat: States’ Efforts Show Drug Cost Isn't Biggest Obstacle To Eliminating Hep C
For nearly a decade, many experts assumed the biggest obstacle to eliminating hepatitis C was the sky-high cost of the new cures. (Florko, 9/13)

KHN: Medical Coding Creates Barriers To Care For Transgender Patients
Last year, Tim Chevalier received the first of many coverage denials from his insurance company for the hair removal procedure he needed as part of a phalloplasty, the creation of a penis. Electrolysis is a common procedure among transgender people like Chevalier, a software developer in Oakland, California. In some cases, it’s used to remove unwanted hair from the face or body. But it’s also required for a phalloplasty or a vaginoplasty, the creation of a vagina, because all hair must be removed from the tissue that will be relocated during surgery. (Santoro, 9/13)

KHN: As State Institutions Close, Families Of Longtime Residents Face Agonizing Choices 
Mike Lee’s way of life has faded away in most of the United States, and it soon will vanish from southwestern Iowa. Lee, 57, has spent 44 years at the Glenwood Resource Center, a state-run institution for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. He has autism and epilepsy, and his parents decided when he was 13 that he needed the structure and constant oversight offered by a large facility. Theirs was a common decision at the time. It no longer is. (Leys, 9/13)

Also —

Modern Healthcare: YouTube Partners With Morehouse, Others On Health Equity Videos
YouTube and Kaiser Family Foundation will provide video training and resources for staff at not-for-profits that support underrepresented and underserved communities. The program is designed to help organizations get health information to a broader audience through YouTube. The program is dubbed THE-IQ, for tackling health equity through information quality. (Kim Cohen, 9/12)

AP: US Support To Go For Mental Health Crisis Teams In Oregon 
Saying that a police response is often an improper solution to mental health crises, Biden administration officials announced Monday financial support for expansion of mobile crisis intervention teams in Oregon. This Pacific Northwest state, which has pioneered the use of unarmed intervention teams, became the first to receive the infusion of aid under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. (Selsky, 9/13)

In monkeypox updates from California —

Bay Area News Group: A Californian With Monkeypox Died -- Second Possible U.S. Death From Virus
Health officials Monday confirmed California’s first death from monkeypox, but there are encouraging signs that the outbreak appears to be slowing. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a statement that an investigation along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined monkeypox was responsible for the death of a Los Angeles County resident who was “severely immunocompromised and had been hospitalized.” (Woolfolk, 9/12)

In environmental health news from North Carolina and the Pacific Northwest —

Reuters: Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Claims Total About 5,000 So Far, U.S. Navy Says
About 5,000 claims over contaminated water at North Carolina Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune have been filed in the first month since new legislation removed roadblocks for the cases, according to the U.S. Navy, setting up the potential for one of the largest mass litigations in U.S. history. The claims, filed with the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy’s Tort Claims Unit in Norfolk, Virginia, are the first step for Marines and their family members to seek compensation for injuries sustained from contaminated drinking water on the base between 1953 and 1987 under a new process laid out in the PACT Act, a veterans’ healthcare and benefits bill signed by President Joe Biden on Aug. 10. (Jones, 9/12)

North Carolina Health News: Firefighters And Supporters Are Pushing Hard For PFAS-Free Turnout Gear
Firefighting is an occupation that comes with inherent risks. It turns out, though, that some of the equipment used to keep firefighters safe also puts them at risk. (Atwater, 9/13)

The Hill: Smoke From Raging Pacific Northwest Fires Spreads Far Inland, Worsening Air Quality
Wildfires gripping the Pacific Northwest are making the air far less breathable across the U.S. West, as windy weather transports hazardous particles and haze over multiple state lines. First responders were working on 16 large fires throughout the Pacific Northwest on Monday. (Udasin, 9/12)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

AP: Corrections Fined For Violating Tuberculosis Outbreak Rules
The Washington state Department of Corrections was fined more than $84,000 for reportedly failing to follow safety rules meant to stop the spread of disease at its Aberdeen prison. The state Department of Labor and Industries said Friday it cited and fined the agency, The Olympian reported. (9/13)

AP: TennCare: Update May Have Disclosed Personal Information 
Personal information for about 1,700 Medicaid recipients in Tennessee may have been disclosed during an update to a computer system, officials said. The update may have led to a limited number of people from one household to be able to view some information about individuals in another household that included some of the same people, a statement from TennCare said. The breach happened when a new application listed the name of a person who was already in another household, the statement said. (9/13)

The Boston Globe: University Is First New England Campus To Sign Charter Promoting Health Among Students And Staff
University of Massachusetts Lowell recently took action to highlight its commitment to promoting health and wellness. The university adopted the Okanagan Charter, a document in which post-secondary schools pledge to embed health promotion in all aspects of campus life and culture, and to help lead efforts to further it locally and globally. (Laidler, 9/13)

KUNR Public Radio: Native American Households In Nevada More Likely To Face ‘Plumbing Poverty’ 
In 2019, more than 20,000 Native American community members in Nevada lacked complete indoor plumbing, a condition known as “plumbing poverty.” That’s according to a new study by researchers at the Desert Research Institute and the Guinn Center for Policy Priorities. (Roedel, 9/12)

GeekWire: Gates Foundation Annual Report Shows Stalled Progress Due To Pandemic, Wars — But Also Reasons For Hope 
You know times are tough when a typically upbeat missive from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation starts sounding grim. Its sixth annual Goalkeepers Report is an opportunity for the foundation to take stock of efforts to reach six of the UN Sustainable Development Goals — and things aren’t going well. “As bad as the data makes it seem, the real situation might be even worse,” reads the introduction from Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates, who co-chair the multi-billion dollar foundation. (Stiffler, 9/12)

Quartz: Bill Gates Says Rich Countries Are Tackling Hunger In Africa All Wrong
After the Ukraine war scrambled trade networks for wheat and other key food commodities, the US and some other rich countries stepped up their food aid donations to countries in Africa and elsewhere hit hardest by skyrocketing prices. That should be a good news story. But to Bill Gates, it’s the latest example of how backward the approach to tackling global hunger has become. The problem, Gates said in an interview with Quartz, is that food aid is accelerating in response to war, economic turmoil, and climate change—but investment in agricultural research in low-income countries is far lower, and stagnating. (McDonnell, 9/13)

AP: Bill Gates: Technological Innovation Would Help Solve Hunger
Bill Gates says the global hunger crisis is so immense that food aid cannot fully address the problem. What’s also needed, Gates argues, are the kinds of innovations in farming technology that he has long funded to try to reverse the crisis documented in a report released Tuesday by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates points, in particular, to a breakthrough he calls “magic seeds,” crops engineered to adapt to climate change and resist agricultural pests. The Gates Foundation on Tuesday also released a map that models how climate change will likely affect growing conditions for crops in various countries to highlight the urgent need for action. (Beaty, 9/13)

The Guardian: ‘The Strain Is The Worst Of My Lifetime’: How Bill Gates Is Staying Optimistic
As the UN general assembly prepares to meet in New York next week, the report makes clear that most of the 17 sustainable development goals agreed by member countries in 2015, a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet”, will miss their 2030 deadline. “When we set the goals, we definitely did not expect something like the pandemic,” said Gates. “If we keep funding development aid properly we’ll get back where we were before the pandemic within a couple of years and build from there. But at best you can say it was a three- or four-year setback. In some areas, even worse. (McVeigh, 9/13)

Also —

Bloomberg: Melinda French Gates Remains Committed To Foundation After Split 
Melinda French Gates said she’s “completely committed” to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and to working with her ex-husband a year after the pair’s divorce threw into question her role at the $70 billion philanthropic behemoth. “We met for the first time with our board of trustees last week in person,” French Gates said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Emily Chang. “What I think they would all tell you is that Bill and Melinda remain completely committed to this institution and to working effectively together. And that’s what we’re doing today.” (Alexander and Chang, 9/13)

CIDRAP: Programs To Fight HIV, TB, And Malaria Partially Recover From COVID Punch
Programs to fight HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria in 2021 rebounded from a 2020 drop in key efforts due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Fund said today in its latest annual assessment. It said in 2020 that the pandemic had a devastating impact on the fight against the three diseases, which led to the first decline in results in the Global Fund's 20-year history. (9/12)

Reuters: AstraZeneca Beats U.S. Shareholder Lawsuit Over COVID Vaccine Disclosures 
AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) on Monday won the dismissal of a U.S. shareholder lawsuit claiming that it concealed problems in developing its COVID-19 vaccine, making it unlikely the treatment would win regulatory approval in the United States. (Stempel, 9/12)

More on the global fight against covid —

AP: EU Regulator Clears Pfizer-BioNTech's Tweaked COVID Booster 
The European Medicines Agency has recommended the authorization of a tweaked booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine that includes protection against two of the latest versions of omicron, as countries look to bolster their immunization programs ahead of winter. (9/12)

Bloomberg: Afrigen Biologics Covid Vaccine Candidate Human Trials To Start By May
Afrigen Biologics & Vaccines plans to start human trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate by May, part of a World Health Organization-backed plan to develop locally-made inoculations in the developing world. (Sguazzin, 9/13)

The Washington Post: Stuck In China's Covid Lockdown, People Plead For Food, Medical Care 
Frantic appeals for food and medical care are spreading across China in a grim deja vu, as tens of millions of people are put under weeks-long coronavirus lockdowns ahead of a key meeting of the ruling Communist Party. While much of the world is moving past the pandemic, China remains stuck, with leader Xi Jinping continuing orders to maintain “zero covid.” These lockdowns are keeping localized outbreaks from spreading but are taking an enormous economic and psychological toll on the population. (Dou and Chiang, 9/12)

In other health news from Ukraine and Syria —

Houston Chronicle: Houston Doctors Helping Ukraine Diagnose, Treat Brain Injuries
Dr. Kenneth Podell, a neuropsychologist who is the director of the Houston Methodist Concussion Center, and Dr. Mary Rose Newsome, a cognitive neuroscientist and associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine, are among a half-dozen American doctors who are providing medical and financial aid to their counterparts in Ukraine. (MacDonald, 9/12)

Reuters: Cholera Outbreak In Syria Poses Serious Threat 
A cholera outbreak in several regions of Syria presents "a serious threat to people in Syria and the region", the United Nations representative in the country said, calling for an urgent response to contain its spread. (9/13)

Reuters: Class Action Claiming Walgreens Opioid Policy Harms Pain Patients Tossed
A federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit accusing pharmacy giant Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc of discriminating against people with disabilities by discouraging pharmacists from filling high dose opioid prescriptions. The decision by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco Friday comes as Walgreens and other pharmacy operators face thousands of lawsuits nationwide accusing them of failing to stop illegal opioid distribution, contributing to an epidemic of addiction that has killed more than half a million people over two decades. (Pierson, 9/12)

More on the opioid crisis —

AP: 5 Doctors Plead Guilty In West Virginia In Pain Pill Scheme 
Five doctors pleaded guilty in a pain pill prescription scheme involving clinics in West Virginia and Virginia, federal prosecutors said Monday. The scheme was tied to the Hope Clinic and involved prescribing oxycodone and other controlled substances that weren’t for legitimate medical purposes from 2010 to 2015. Some prescriptions provided up to seven pills per day, and several Hope locations averaged 65 or more daily customers during a 10-hour workday with only one practitioner working, prosecutors said in a news release. (Raby, 9/12)

The New York Times: Man Gets Life In Prison For Selling Fentanyl That Killed 11
A Minnesota man was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for selling fentanyl that caused the deaths of 11 people who had bought it believing it was a less dangerous drug, the Justice Department said. (Medina, 9/12)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas Considers Mapping Drug Overdoses In Real Time To Save Lives
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot advocated for the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program at the city’s public safety committee meeting Monday because of the nation’s addiction and overdose crisis, which health experts say has been driven in recent years by the growing presence of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. (Smith, 9/12)

In health and wellness news —

NBC News: Ground Beef In HelloFresh Meal Kits May Have Had E. Coli Contamination
Some HelloFresh meal kits shipped in July may contain ground beef contaminated with E. coli. The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued an alert Saturday telling consumers who received the kit to throw the beef away if it's still in their freezers. (Bendix, 9/12)

NBC News: Marijuana Use During Pregnancy May Harm Children's Mental Health
An analysis of data from more than 10,000 children aged 11 and 12 revealed that exposure to cannabis in utero was associated with a higher risk of developing disorders such as ADHD, aggressive behavior, conduct disorder and rule-breaking behavior, according to the report published in JAMA Pediatrics. (Carroll, 9/12)

On gun violence —

AP: Psychologist: School Shooter Suffered Fetal Alcohol Damage
Attorneys for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz began building their argument Monday that his birth mother’s alcohol abuse left him with severe behavioral problems that eventually led to his 2018 murder of 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Paul Connor, a Seattle-area neuropsychologist, said medical records and testimony by prior witnesses show that Brenda Woodard drank and used cocaine throughout much of her pregnancy before Cruz’s birth in 1998. Woodard, a Fort Lauderdale prostitute, gave up the baby immediately after to his adoptive parents, Lynda and Roger Cruz. Woodard died last year. (Spencer, 9/12)

Chicago Tribune: Could Studying Another Chronic Condition Demystify Long COVID-19?
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 1.5 million people in the U.S. were estimated to have myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS, with an annual economic impact of $36 billion to $51 billion. Due to COVID-19, the total ME/CFS prevalence could rise to between 5 million and 9 million people. This would cause the annual U.S. economic impact to rise to $149 billion to $362 billion in medical expenses and lost income. (Leonard Jason, Hector Bonilla, Benjamin Natelson and Monica Verduzo Gutierrez, 9/12)

NPR: So You Haven't Yet Caught COVID. Does That Make You A Superdodger?
Back in the early 1990s, Nathaniel Landau was a young virologist just starting his career in HIV research. But he and his colleagues were already on the verge of a landmark breakthrough. Several labs around the world were hot on his team's tail. (Michaleen Doucleff, 9/12)

The Boston Globe: The Landmines Long COVID Leaves Behind 
Schell, 21, recently found his way to one of our Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction and Survivorship Center’s free long COVID support groups at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He explained to me that in the nearly two years since he had mild COVID in the prevaccine era, “Not only can I not run anymore, I’ve also lost everything I hoped for. Who I envisioned myself to be is largely a past idea. It’s just a monumental loss of a dream.” (Wes Ely, 9/12)

Stat: Vaccine Guarantees Can Help Prevent The Resurgence Of Polio
Health officials are advocating for improving domestic vaccination rates to prevent a resurgence of polio, as they should. But this is only part of the solution. Expanding the vaccine supply is the other part. Without a reliable vaccine supply, there’s no way to ensure all children are vaccinated. (Awi Federgruen, 9/13)

The Colorado Sun: No, Abortion Restrictions Will Not Outlaw Miscarriage Care
In overruling Roe and Casey, the U.S. Supreme Court challenged the people of the country and their elected state representatives to democratically address abortion jurisprudence. This is predicated on an honest discussion of abortion and the implications of abortion restrictions. (Catherine J. Wheeler, M.D. and Thomas J. Perille, M.D., 9/13)

The Washington Post: California’s Anti-Misinformation Bill Is A Bad Idea 
One of the many lessons from the covid-19 pandemic is that misinformation can be deadly. It can lead people to forgo lifesaving precautions and turn instead to potentially harmful therapies. If it’s egregious for politicians and celebrities to purvey misinformation, it’s far worse when the lie peddler is a physician. Surely, such an individual would be in violation of their oath and should be stripped of their medical license. (Leana S. Wen, 9/12)

The Hill: Addiction Often Goes Hand-In-Hand With Mental Illnesses — Both Must Be Addressed
Using substances to treat mental illness can begin a difficult cycle.  Substance use to manage mental illness can lead to addiction and can in turn worsen the original mental illness. Regularly taking drugs or alcohol causes the brain to adapt to that substance—known as dependence. Effectively, the brain dials down its own neurotransmitter systems upon which the drugs act. A person trying to relieve anxiety through substance use will feel worse anxiety most of the time, because their brain now depends on the drug for relief. (Nora D. Volkow, 9/12)

Stat: Why Health Care Needs A Black Friday Sale 
The best time to buy a car is at model year-end sales, and Black Friday deals can’t be beat for major appliances. Ever wonder why you don’t see a President’s Day sale on colonoscopies? Or ads for buy-one-get-one free knee replacements? (Stacy Bratcher, 9/13)

Stat: Medicare: Update Wheelchair Coverage For The 21st Century 
Both of us have spent much of our lives in wheelchairs. But not just any wheelchairs. Ours are equipped with power seat elevation and standing technologies individually configured to meet our needs. (Paul Amadeus Lane and Jim Meade, 9/12)