USA Today: CDC Guidelines Say Vaccinated People Don't Need To Wear Masks Outside
Fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to wear a mask outside, except in crowded settings, under new guidelines released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During a White House briefing, public health officials said fully vaccinated individuals can unmask while walking, running, hiking, or biking outdoors alone or with members of their household. (Rodriguez, 4/27)

NPR: Fully Vaccinated People Don't Need To Wear Masks Outdoors Unless In A Crowd
"If you are vaccinated, things are much safer for you," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday at a White House briefing. "If you are fully vaccinated and want to attend a small outdoor gathering — with people who are vaccinated and unvaccinated — or dine at an outdoor restaurant with friends from multiple households, the science shows you can do so safely, unmasked." (Aubrey, 4/27)

CNBC: CDC: Fully Vaccinated People Can Exercise, Hold Small Gatherings Outdoors Without Masks
Walensky declined to define a “small gathering.” She said it was difficult to provide an exact number because it depends on the size of the space for gathering, the space between people and the amount of ventilation. (Lovelace Jr., 4/27)

Also —

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County To Follow New Federal Mask Guidance
In a news release, L.A. County’s Department of Public Health called the changes “appropriate and science-based” and said it would be adjusting its health orders to meet them. But officials cautioned that more than half the residents of L.A. County are not yet fully vaccinated and that the new recommendations still support the need for both fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people to wear masks in crowds where social distancing isn’t possible and in indoor settings where unvaccinated people may be present. (Miller, 4/27)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan GOP Leader Shares Misinformation On Mask Effectiveness
A leader of the Michigan Republican Party shared an inaccurate message on social media early Tuesday that suggested masks do not keep people safe and employees should sue their bosses at workplaces where masks are required. The retweet from MIGOP Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock comes as Michigan remains one of the worst COVID-19 hot spots in the country amid some Republican skepticism about masks, vaccines and other mitigation efforts. (Boucher, 4/27)

CNN: Some Experts Say New CDC Guidelines Are Too Cautious. Here's Why That Matters With Vaccine Hesitancy 
In its gradual return to normal, the US took another step forward this week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance Tuesday on the activities fully vaccinated Americans can safely enjoy without a mask. The agency said fully vaccinated people can unmask at small outdoor gatherings or when dining outside with friends from multiple households -- activities the CDC said require unvaccinated people to still wear a mask. But some experts say the new guidance is too cautious and doesn't offer a strong enough incentive for Americans who still are on the fence about getting a shot or who may have already been unmasking in those settings. (Maxouris, 4/28)

AP: Outdoor Mask Guidance Echoes What Many Americans Already Do
In the small Nebraska town of Oxford, the school district dropped its mask mandate last month in what was a fairly straight-forward decision: Cases were down dramatically, and it didn’t bother local officials that their move flouted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Those federal mask guidelines just didn’t seem to fit local conditions well in the town of about 800 people where hardly anyone wears a mask. “We haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to what is going on at the federal level — mainly what is coming out through the state,” Southern Valley Superintendent Bryce Jorgensen said. “You just can’t compare Chicago to Oxford, Nebraska. Things are just different.” (Johnson, Funk and Stobbe, 4/28)

CNN: 15 Of The Safest Activities For Fully Vaccinated People 
Are you one of the growing numbers of Americans who are fully vaccinated? If so, you can now get more of your pre-Covid life back, according to new guidelines released Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Remember: You're not considered "fully vaccinated" until two weeks after you got a single-dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. (LaMotte, 4/28)

The Advocate: Louisiana Lifts Statewide Mask Mandate; Schools, Hospitals, Local Governments Can Still Require
With coronavirus vaccines now widely available, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Tuesday the end to Louisiana's statewide mask mandate, returning power to businesses and local governments to set their own face covering restrictions. Masks will still be required at K-12 schools, early childhood education centers, colleges and universities, hospitals, nursing homes, on public transit and at some state government buildings, according to an order issued by the Louisiana Department of Health. (Paterson, 4/27)

The Boston Globe: Baker Relaxes Outdoor Mask Mandate In Mass., Announces Timeline For Reopening Bars, Other Businesses
More than 13 months after COVID-19 first gripped Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker on Tuesday mapped a return to something resembling normal life, saying he will ease the state’s outdoor mask mandate by week’s ends, allow bars and street festivals to return by Memorial Day, and potentially release businesses from all pandemic-era restrictions by mid-summer. Baker’s timeline to lift limits on gatherings and daily life by Aug. 1 will rely heavily on the state avoiding another surge in cases. The second-term Republican — who was scheduled to receive his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine Tuesday — also said the state must keep up the robust vaccination rate that’s made it a national pace-setter across several metrics. (Stout, Chesto and Freyer, 4/27)

CNN: Tennessee Governor Declares That Covid-19 Is No Longer A Health Emergency With Only 25% Of State's Residents Fully Vaccinated 
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signaled Tuesday that he will not renew any public health orders, saying "Covid-19 is no longer a health emergency in our state," though only 25% of the state's population is fully vaccinated. "A widely available vaccine changes everything and it's a new season in Tennessee," Lee said in a tweet. (Waldrop and Lemos, 4/27)

AP: Walz To Consider Scaling Back More COVID-19 Restrictions
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday that new federal guidance allowing vaccinated people to go mask-free in many outdoor settings is a sign of progress and could help result in scaling back more COVID-19 restrictions next week. “Masks coupled with vaccines is really the path out of this thing,” said Walz, who hoped that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcement would convince more people to get shots and encourage them to wear masks when necessary. (4/27)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Reviewing CDC’s Loosened Guidelines On Outdoor Masks, But Restrictions Remain The Same For Now 
Health officials in Maryland are reviewing mask wearing policies after federal health authorities on Tuesday eased guidelines for facial coverings outdoors. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says that fully vaccinated people don’t have to wear masks outside unless they’re in large crowds of strangers and that unvaccinated people can exercise outdoors on their own or with members of their household sans face coverings. (Mann and Wood, 4/27)

NBC News: CDC Director Sees 'A Really Hopeful Decline' As Covid Cases In The U.S. Fall
After a worrisome uptick in Covid-19 cases in the United States in recent weeks, there are encouraging signs that the situation is beginning to stabilize, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a briefing Tuesday that there have been declines across the board, with new cases, hospitalizations and daily deaths all falling over the past seven days. (Chow, 4/27)

In covid updates from Maine, New Mexico, California and Hawaii —

Bangor Daily News: Vaccinations Are High, And So Are New COVID Cases. Here’s A Look At What’s Driving That
Even as Maine has weathered the pandemic better than many states and been a leader in vaccinations, a complicated set of factors has kept its new case counts steadily high in recent weeks. It is among 14 states that have seen rising case counts in the last two weeks, according to the New York Times. It is also seeing some of the biggest hospitalization increases, with the state averaging 29 percent more admittances now than it did two weeks ago, according to that tracker. These factors all present a challenge for state health officials in the days leading up to a major shift in Maine’s reopening plan. Starting Saturday, all Americans will be able to travel to Maine without having to quarantine. Businesses will soon be allowed to operate at a higher capacity as long as they follow certain public safety guidelines. (Andrews, 4/28)

Albuquerque Journal: Virus Patients In NM On The Rise
New Mexico reported upticks Tuesday in the number of daily COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations. In their daily report, state health officials said 130 virus patients are in New Mexico hospitals – a figure that’s climbed 35% since April 1, according to state data. It’s still well below the peak in November and December, when New Mexico routinely exceeded 900 COVID-19 patients in its hospitals. (4/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Has Recorded About 1,400 'Breakthrough' Coronavirus Cases In Fully Vaccinated People
This year, California has recorded 1,379 cases of coronavirus infection in people who were fully vaccinated, the state Department of Public Health said Tuesday. These so-called breakthrough cases — recorded from Jan. 1 to April 21 — make up about 0.1% of the roughly 1.4 million cases reported in California in that period. The state had not previously made this data available, though Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news briefing earlier this month that public health officials were tracking breakthrough reports and would release more information to the public. (Allday, 4/27)

AP: Young Boy Dies With COVID-19 After Family Travels To Hawaii
A child who traveled to Hawaii with his vaccinated parents has died after contracting COVID-19.The Hawaii Department of Health said Tuesday the boy is under 11 and had a known underlying condition. It was the first coronavirus-related death of a child in that age range in Hawaii. ... The child’s parents were fully vaccinated and were tested for COVID-19 before traveling to Hawaii. (Jones, 4/28)

CBS News: Biden Urges All Americans To "Go Get The Shot" As CDC Relaxes Mask Guidance 
President Biden urged all Americans to "go get the shot" on Tuesday, citing new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that said individuals who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can resume some outdoor activities without wearing masks. All U.S. residents 16 and older are now eligible for the vaccine, and the president has set July 4 as a target date for resuming some version of life as normal. (Watson and Quinn, 4/27)

Bloomberg: Biden Talks Up Benefits of Vaccines After New Mask Guidance
President Joe Biden urged Americans hesitant to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to reconsider, pointing to new U.S. guidance that inoculated people can socialize outdoors without masks. “Beginning today, gathering with a group of friends in a park, going for a picnic, as long as you are vaccinated and outdoors, you can do it without a mask,” Biden said Tuesday at the White House. “If you’re vaccinated, you can do more things, more safely, both outdoors as well as indoors.” (Rutherford, Chen and Fabian, 4/27)

Politico: HHS Secretary: ‘A Lot Of Folks Would Listen’ If Trump Made Vaccine PSA 
President Joe Biden’s top health official on Tuesday encouraged former President Donald Trump to make a public service announcement promoting coronavirus vaccines to his supporters — many of whom remain skeptical of the shots at a critical moment in the U.S. vaccination effort. “Any time someone who you trust tells you something will work, you pay more attention. And so we would love all those who have the respect of the constituencies out there in America to get out there and help us,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told MSNBC. (Forgey, 4/27)

In other vaccine news from the Biden administration —

CBS News: Prince Harry, Meghan And The Bidens To Appear At Vaccine Benefit Concert 
Prince Harry and Meghan will serve as the campaign chairs of Global Citizen's effort to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to medical workers in the world's poorest countries. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will appear at "Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World," to be taped Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and air on ABC, CBS, FOX, YouTube and iHeartMedia broadcast radio stations on May 8, Global Citizen, the anti-poverty nonprofit, announced Tuesday. (4/28)

Politico: Biden’s Covid Team Split Over Decision To Send Vaccine Doses Abroad 
The White House’s decision to send millions of doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine overseas has split top Biden administration officials — with many arguing that the government cannot reduce its stockpile of doses on hand given recent disruptions in U.S. vaccine production. The announcement Monday followed a call between President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose nation has been overwhelmed by a second wave of cases. The news sent several top administration officials scrambling to figure out who had determined that the U.S. would not need the AstraZeneca shots over the next several months, according to three senior officials with knowledge of the situation. (Banco and Cancryn, 4/27)

The Washington Post: Social Distancing Indoors May Provide ‘False Sense Of Security,’ Covid Transmission Study Finds
The common six-foot social distancing guidance on its own may not be enough to protect people from contracting the coronavirus while spending time indoors, according to a report that examined the virus’s airborne transmission risk. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology argued that not all indoor settings are the same, varying by size, ventilation, air filtration, occupancy and the nature of the activity. While the core premise of the study isn’t new, the research offers more details (and a handy online risk-assessment calculator) to help people better understand what factors in a given indoor setting may increase their risk for catching the coronavirus. (Bellware, 4/27)

CNN: Six-Foot Social Distancing Rule Misses Bigger Risks, MIT Experts Say 
When it comes to being indoors, the six feet rule of social distancing misses the bigger point of how coronavirus spreads, according to two Massachusetts Institute of Technology experts. While staying six feet apart can help prevent the spread of large droplets of saliva or mucus that carry coronavirus and other germs, that distance does nothing to protect people from tiny airborne particles of virus called aerosols, MIT engineer Martin Bazant and mathematician John Bush write in a report published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Fox, 4/27)

In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —

Bloomberg: Covid Risk Greater If Passengers Board Plane Back To Front
Boarding passengers seated at the back of the aircraft first -- a Covid-era change by Delta Air Lines Inc. and others to cut the risk of infection -- actually increases the chance of catching the virus by 50%, a scientific study showed. So-called back-to-front boarding is also twice as risky as letting passengers on at random, even though it does reduce exposure between seated passengers and those walking down the plane, according to the study published Wednesday in the Royal Society Open Science journal. The higher risk comes from closer contact between passengers in the same rows clustering in the aisle as they stow their luggage. (Whitley, 4/28)

CIDRAP: Shift Work May Increase Risk Of COVID-19
People who work irregular or permanent shifts were associated with double the risk of COVID-19, according to findings from a Thorax study published yesterday. .. The researchers reported that shift workers experienced increased risk for COVID-19 diagnosis regardless of job type (nonessential, essential, healthcare) and physical proximity to coworkers and the public. Instead, they write, the disparity may be driven by the amount of people in the workspace within a 24-hour period, reduced cleaning time, fatigue leading to less mitigation adherence, and the possibility that shift work may alter immune response. (4/27)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Variants Spread Faster But Grew Milder Over Time In Ohio 
Cleveland Clinic researchers identified 484 unique mutations among six strains of SARS-CoV-2 isolates early in the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the first variants were more deadly than subsequent strains and suggesting that monitoring circulating strains may help predict patient outcomes. (Van Beusekom, 4/27)

Houston Chronicle: COVID Variants Pose 'Sneaky And Detrimental Threats' To Kids, Houston Doctors Find
A growing body of research indicates that children exposed to COVID-19 face significant and long-term health threats. Earlier this month, researchers in the United Kingdom released a report showing that about half of the kids who have developed a mysterious, COVID-related complication called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) later experienced neurological symptoms ranging from hallucinations to impaired brain functions. It’s the latest bit of research challenging the notion that the virus poses a low risk to children. Pfizer and Moderna are currently running clinical trials on children younger than 16, the current age cutoff for vaccinations, per the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Downen, 4/27)

CNBC: Pfizer At-Home Covid Pill Could Be Available By Year-End, CEO Albert Bourla Says
Pfizer’s experimental oral drug to treat Covid-19 at the first sign of illness could be available by the end of the year, CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC on Tuesday. The company, which developed the first authorized Covid-19 vaccine in the U.S. with German drugmaker BioNTech, began in March an early stage clinical trial testing a new antiviral therapy for the disease. The drug is part of a class of medicines called protease inhibitors and works by inhibiting an enzyme that the virus needs to replicate in human cells. (Lovelace Jr., 4/27)

Fox News: Pfizer CEO Predicts Coronavirus Oral Antiviral Pill Ready ‘By End Of Year’
Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, said Tuesday he hopes the company's coronavirus oral antiviral therapeutic in early-stage trials will be ready by the end of the year. "...If all goes well and we implement the same speed that we did so far and we are and if regulators also do the same and they are, I hope by the end of the year," Bourla told CNBC co-hosts, per a transcript, when questioned over a timeline. Fox News requested confirmation on the timeline from Pfizer this week, though a spokeswoman wouldn’t pinpoint an answer without data in hand. (Rivas, 4/27)

In other news about vaccine development and research —

CNBC: One Dose Of A Covid Vaccine Can Almost Halve Transmission, Study Finds
A single dose of a coronavirus vaccine can reduce transmission within a household by up to half, a study by Public Health England has found. People who do become infected with the coronavirus three weeks after receiving a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca-University of Oxford vaccine were between 38% and 49% less likely to pass the virus on to their household contacts than those who were unvaccinated, the PHE study found. (Ellyatt, 4/28)

CIDRAP: Study: Common Irritable Bowel Drug Blunts COVID-19 Vaccine Response
A UK study yesterday in the journal Gut found that the common inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) drug infliximab blunts COVID-19 vaccine response after one dose. The findings come from the CLARITY study, which assessed COVID-19 infection and vaccination in 6,935 patients who have IBD, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, from 92 hospitals from September to December 2020. (4/27)

WJCT 89.9 FM Jacksonville: COVID Vaccines May Not Be Effective For Organ Transplant Patients, Research Suggests 
Preliminary research conducted on a small sample size suggests that certain COVID-19 vaccines, including Pfizer and Moderna, may not be effective for solid organ transplant patients and others with compromised immune systems. A team of Mayo Clinic researchers studied seven organ transplant recipients diagnosed with COVID-19 at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville six to 44 days after receiving the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. Two patients had received just one dose and the remaining five had received both doses. (Rivers, 4/27)

ABC News: Children As Young As 6 Months Old Now In COVID-19 Vaccine Trials
As nearly 140 million American adults have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and we inch closer to herd immunity, vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna have moved on to the next phase of the fight against the virus: studying to see if the vaccine will be safe and effective for children. “Children under 18 make up 85 million people in [the] U.S. – about 20% of the population,” Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, professor of pediatrics, epidemiology and population health at Stanford University, told ABC News. “Getting them vaccinated is a major contribution to reducing transmission of virus.” (Kuang, Delawala and Yang, 4/27)

CBS News: CDC Reiterates Guidance On Safety Of COVID-19 Vaccines For Pregnant People 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday there is "growing evidence" about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy, and it reiterated its guidance on vaccinations for pregnant people, after it was asked to clarify a remark the CDC director made Friday about the recommendation. "If facing decisions about whether to receive a COVID-19 vaccine while pregnant, people should consider risk of exposure to COVID-19, the increased risk of severe infection while pregnant, the known benefits of vaccination, and the limited but growing evidence about the safety of COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy," a CDC spokesperson said in a statement emailed to CBS News. (Smith, 4/27)

The New York Times: How Pfizer Makes Its Covid-19 Vaccine 
Inside this facility in Chesterfield, Missouri, trillions of bacteria are producing tiny loops of DNA containing coronavirus genes — the raw material for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It’s the start of a complex manufacturing and testing process that takes 60 days and involves Pfizer facilities in three states. The result will be millions of doses of the vaccine, frozen and ready to ship. (4/28)

Fox News: 2 New Clot Cases In Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Recipients Reported, CDC Investigating
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating two new cases of a rare, severe blood clot that occurred alongside low platelets in Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine recipients, bringing the total number of instances to 17. A CDC spokesperson told Fox News that one case of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) under investigation occurred in a male vaccine recipient, and the other in a female, both under age 60. It was not clear if the male patient was the same individual in California who is receiving treatment at the University of California San Francisco medical center. (Hein, 4/27)

In other news about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine —

WUSF Public Media: Demand For J&J Vaccine On Par With Pfizer At Most Florida FEMA Sites 
Faced with a choice between the Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines, Floridians who visited the state's federally supported sites on Monday were about evenly split. It was the second day the FEMA sites offered the J&J vaccine since the federal government lifted a pause, put in place to determine risk of a rare blood clot. All this week, patients can still choose to get the one-and-done J&J shot or get a first dose of Pfizer and return for a second shot in three weeks. (Colombini, 4/27)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Vaccine Providers Slowly Bring Back J&J Vaccine After CDC Lifts 'Pause'
After the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was entered back into use by the Louisiana Department of Health on Saturday, local providers have now begun ramping up plans to start distributing it. Ochsner Health, the state’s largest hospital system, has about 13,500 doses of the J&J vaccine, according to Dr. Sandra Kemmerly, an infectious disease specialist. They’ll start giving it out next week. LCMC Health has not yet started giving out the J&J vaccine, but plans to put it back into use during the first half of May, said Dr. Jeffrey Elder, an emergency medicine physician who oversees the LCMC mass vaccination effort at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. (Woodruff, 4/27)

The Boston Globe: R.I. Vaccine Subcommittee Was ‘Blindsided’ By News Of State Lifting Pause On Johnson & Johnson Shot
When Rhode Island state health officials announced late Monday that they would resume administering the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, members of the state’s COVID-19 Vaccine Subcommittee were “blindsided by the news.” “I thought we would be talking about it” during Tuesday morning’s scheduled biweekly meeting, said Dr. Karen Tashima, director of clinical trials at the Immunology Center at Lifespan Corporation, and member of the subcommittee. Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, a physician and subcommittee member, said members were surprised the news came out the night before, without input from the subcommittee. (Gagosz, 4/27)

Capital & Main: California Faces Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Dilemma 
From Gov. Gavin Newsom on down, there’s general agreement about the status of COVID-19 vaccination efforts in California. Unless the state’s most vulnerable populations are inoculated at rates that fit their risk profiles, the thinking holds, broad attempts at stamping out the virus are going to fall short. Some of the state’s own numbers suggest the scope of that challenge. Through April 21, the most recent day of data available, 30.1% of California’s doses of vaccine had been administered in what the state says are communities that already enjoy the healthiest living conditions. Among communities with the least healthy conditions, only 21% of the state’s supply has been administered. (Kreidler, 4/27)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore County To Deploy Mobile Unit In Areas With Low COVID-19 Vaccination Rates 
Baltimore County officials announced Tuesday the county will use a new way to reach neighborhoods with low vaccination rates: a mobile vaccine center. The mobile outreach unit will be staffed by Baltimore County Department of Health employees and will deliver shots — and information about the vaccines — in ZIP codes where data shows residents have been affected disproportionately by COVID-19 and have lower vaccination rates, said county Health Officer Dr. Gregory Wm. Branch. (Deville, 4/27)

The Wall Street Journal: New York Opens Vaccine Appointments To Walk-Ins As Demand Wanes 
New York state mass-vaccination sites will open to walk-ins beginning Thursday, removing another barrier to vaccination efforts. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said demand for Covid-19 vaccines across the state was waning and people are no longer chasing appointments. About 115,000 New York residents are vaccinated every 24 hours now, down from 175,000, he said Tuesday during a press briefing. (West, 4/27)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Skipped Or Late Vaccine Doses In Nevada Total More Than 100K
More than 143,000 Nevadans are behind on getting their second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, state health officials report. Close to 13 percent of the 1.1 million state residents who had intiated the vaccination process as of Monday were more than four days past due for their second dose, Nevada Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Shannon Litz wrote in an email. Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine require two doses given weeks apart to be fully effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one dose. (Scott Davidson, 4/27)

WLRN 91.3 FM: Herd Immunity And Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy In South Florida 
Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Florida is trailing close behind the national numbers, with 40 percent of the population having received at least one dose. Everyone 16 or older is eligible to receive the vaccine in every state. But demand and interest in the vaccine is wavering, and that could put herd immunity at risk. WLRN's "Sundial" assembled a panel of experts and people knowledgeable on vaccine rollout to discuss the hesitancy. (Ovalle and Remington, 4/27)

Roll Call: Republican Doctors In Congress Try To Boost Vaccine Confidence 
A group of Republican doctors and health care providers in Congress, led by Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, launched a public service campaign Tuesday to encourage COVID-19 vaccine participation among constituents. Polling shows that Republican voters have some of the highest rates of vaccine skepticism of any demographic in the country. (Cohen, 4/27)

In other updates on the vaccine rollout —

AP: U Of Portland, Willamette U To Require COVID-19 Vaccinations
University of Portland officials announced on Tuesday that the school will require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations for all students, faculty and staff when the fall semester starts. The Catholic university said in a news release that employees must provide proof of vaccination by Aug. 1 and students must provide proof by Sept. 1.The news release says more than 100 colleges and universities nationally have announced vaccination requirements for students and/or employees, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. (4/28)

Philadelphia Inquirer: People With Intellectual Disabilities Are Helping Providers Improve The Vaccination Experience
When Natasha Black learned that she was eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine, she said she was excited — and hopeful that daily life might finally get back to normal .Black, a member of a self-advocacy group for people with intellectual disabilities, had spent the year away from family, friends, and work. Isolated in her group home in the Pennsylvania suburbs, she missed being able to take walks, chat with neighbors, play a game of pickup soccer. “I was staying at home every day — we couldn’t do nothing,” said Black, who knew she needed to be especially careful not to get coronavirus. “I was worried. I was bored. I had some hard times,” she said. (Whelan, 4/28)

CNN: The Covid-19 Vaccine: How To Add It To Your Medical Record 
Getting vaccinated against Covid-19 and receiving a vaccination card has become a rite of passage for many Americans who have endured the pandemic for the last year. Securing a vaccination card, however, doesn't necessarily mean your Covid-19 vaccine status is in your medical records. (Marples, 4/26)

WLRN 91.3 FM: North Miami Beach Apologizes After Mayor’s Vaccine Invite Ripples Across Latin America 
North Miami Beach Mayor Anthony DeFillipo caused a stir that shot across Latin America this weekend after he said in an interview Friday that international tourists could come to his city to get the COVID-19 vaccine, adding that “thousands and thousands” had already done so.State rules restrict the vaccines to Florida residents. (4/27)

KHN: Ohio’s Amish Suffered A Lot From Covid, But Vaccines Are Still A Hard Sell 
The Amish communities of northeastern Ohio engage in textbook communal living. Families eat, work and go to church together, and through the pandemic, mask-wearing and physical distancing have been spotty. That has meant that these communities bore a high rate of infection and death. Despite this, health officials are struggling to encourage residents to get vaccinated against covid-19. Holmes County, where half the population is Amish, has the lowest vaccination rate in Ohio, with just 10% of the population fully vaccinated. (Huntsman, 4/28)

KHN: You Don’t Have To Suffer To Benefit From Covid Vaccination — But Some Prefer It 
If you think vaccination is an ordeal now, consider the 18th-century version. After having pus from a smallpox boil scratched into your arm, you would be subject to three weeks of fever, sweats, chills, bleeding and purging with dangerous medicines, accompanied by hymns, prayers and hell-fire sermons by dour preachers. That was smallpox vaccination, back then. The process generally worked and was preferred to enduring “natural” smallpox, which killed around a third of those who got it. Patients were often grateful for trial-by-immunization — once it was over, anyway. (Allen, 4/28)

Stat: Biden Administration Will Let Nearly All Providers To Prescribe Buprenorphine
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced it would move forward with a dramatic deregulation of addiction medicine first proposed by the Trump administration in January. The change would allow almost any prescriber to treat patients using the drug buprenorphine, the most effective medication for opioid addiction. Currently, doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners must undergo a separate training and apply for a waiver before they’re allowed to prescribe the drug to patients. (Facher, 4/27)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Waives Provider Training Requirements For Buprenorphine Prescribing
HHS announced Tuesday it will make it easier for providers to prescribe buprenorphine, potentially expanding access to the addiction treatment and better integrating it with primary care. Under new practice guidelines, several types of providers, including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and others, will no longer have to complete an eight-hour training before prescribing buprenorphine for opioid use disorder to up to 30 patients. (Hellmann, 4/27)

NPR: As Opioid Deaths Surge, Biden Team Moves To Make Buprenorphine Treatment Mainstream
The Biden administration says new federal guidelines released Tuesday will allow far more medical practitioners to prescribe buprenorphine, a drug proven to reduce opioid relapses and overdose deaths. The change lowers regulatory hurdles that critics believe sharply limit use of the life-saving medication at a time when drug deaths are surging. "We have made this much easier for physicians but also for other medical practitioners," said Dr. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary of health, speaking with NPR. (Mann, 4/27)

NPR: National Institute On Drug Abuse Director On Biden's Opioid Treatment Guidelines
More medical practitioners are being allowed to prescribe buprenorphine under new guidelines from the Biden administration. The change means that the drug shown to reduce opioid relapses and overdose deaths can be more widely prescribed. It comes after a year of overdose deaths spiking across the United States. Early estimates indicate about 90,000 people died of drug overdoses in the 12 months ending in September, higher than has ever been recorded. It's about an increase of 20,000 deaths from the previous 12-month period. The majority of drug overdose deaths involved opioids. (Cornish, 4/27)

In other updates on the opioid crisis —

Charleston Gazette-Mail: Plan Calls For WV To Receive 1% Of Settlement Reached With OxyContin Maker
Despite being one of the areas most affected by the opioid crisis, West Virginia is set to receive about 1% of the proposed national settlement being reached with the drug company accused of creating the problem. The disclosure for the settlement was made over the weekend after West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, with support from 82 counties and municipalities and others, filed an objection to Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement and its failure to disclose how the $7 billion proposal would be split. According to the newly released settlement document, known as the Denver Plan, West Virginia is set to receive about 1.16% of the settlement, about $81 million. (Hessler, 4/27)

WLRN 91.3 FM: How A Palm Beach County Needle-Exchange Program Is Addressing Rise In Overdose Deaths 
There is a nationwide spike in drug overdose deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that, as of May 2020, the number is the highest amount of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month span. A nonprofit needle-exchange program, approved unanimously by Palm Beach County commissioners last year, says “the pandemic has played a role in the spike.” (Brutus, 4/27)

KHN: Doctors More Likely To Prescribe Opioids To Covid ‘Long Haulers,’ Raising Addiction Fears
Covid survivors are at risk from a possible second pandemic, this time of opioid addiction, given the high rate of painkillers being prescribed to these patients, health experts say. A new study in Nature found alarmingly high rates of opioid use among covid survivors with lingering symptoms at Veterans Health Administration facilities. About 10% of covid survivors develop “long covid,” struggling with often disabling health problems even six months or longer after a diagnosis. (Szabo, 4/28)

Modern Healthcare: Biden Backs ACA Expansion In Next Relief Package, But No Drug Pricing Reform
In his first joint address to Congress, President Joe Biden will call on lawmakers to make permanent the largest expansion of the Affordable Care Act seen since the law was passed ten years ago. But he won't endorse including action on drug prices in the next economic relief package to be considered by Congress. The American Families Plan—to be unveiled by the president Wednesday night—largely focuses on childcare, education and tax issues, but is not the healthcare-focused package that was expected up until one week ago. (Hellmann, 4/28)

AP: What To Watch During Biden's 1st Big Speech To Congress
President Joe Biden is putting the finishing touches on his first address to a joint session of Congress, a prime-time speech on Wednesday night on the eve of his 100th day in office. Biden will use the speech before lawmakers and a broader viewing audience to talk about what he’s accomplished in the opening months of his presidency, and lay out his other domestic and foreign policy priorities. ... Biden is expected to outline details of his American Families Plan, another big piece of legislation he wants Congress to pass. The plan is expected to focus on so-called human infrastructure — child care, health care, education and other ways to support households. Biden wants to pay for it by hiking taxes on very high-income households. (Superville, 4/28)

Politico: Biden’s 100 Days Has Gone Smoothly. Does The Summer Curse Await? 
[Joe] Biden is hoping for a different fate than his most recent predecessors. In his first address to Congress Wednesday, he will tout his accomplishments, largely defined by Covid-19, including a vaccination rollout and the passage of a relief package, the American Rescue Plan. Then he’ll pivot to what’s next: the need to negotiate with Congress on both the American Jobs Plan and American Family Plan — a combined $4 trillion in spending on everything from roads and bridges to pre-kindergarten and childcare that would usher in a government overhaul of the economy. (Anita Kumar, 4/27)

NBC News: At 100 Days, Americans See Biden As More Moderate Than Obama
Americans perceive Joe Biden as more moderate than Barack Obama at the same stage of his presidency, a new survey shows, even as progressive activists say the incumbent is governing to the left of the former president. The perception of Biden as a moderate may be helping him win support from congressional Democrats in competitive parts of the country who might otherwise feel pressure to oppose his agenda. (Kapur, 4/27)

Politico: No Designated Survivor For Biden's First Joint Address To Congress
There won’t be a designated survivor for President Joe Biden’s first joint address to Congress Wednesday night, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. Typically, presidents designate a top official to camp out in a secure location in the case of a disaster that kills the president and cabinet officials. But this time, amid the coronavirus pandemic, things are different, with attendance for Biden’s speech limited to 200 lawmakers, Biden administration officials and staff. (Leonard, 4/27)

USA Today: Community Health Centers To Get $1 Billion To Become 'State-Of-The-Art' Facilities, Improve Equity
Hundreds of community health centers across the country can begin applying for a share of $1 billion in new funding for major construction and renovation projects, the Biden administration announced Tuesday. The Department of Health and Human Services, which provided the information first to USA TODAY, said the money will help meet President Joe Biden's goal of improving equity in battling COVID-19 and in providing health care services generally. (Groppe, 4/27)

In other health care industry news —

Modern Healthcare: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Launches $11.5 Billion Expansion
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital will invest $11.5 billion over the next six years to accelerate research, grow its staff and boost capacity, the organization announced Tuesday. The Memphis, Tenn.-based hospital will expand patient care and research related to pediatric cancer, blood disorders, neurological diseases and infectious diseases. It plans to add 1,400 jobs, extend its global outreach and spend $1.9 billion on new construction and renovations. (Kacik, 4/27)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Cyber Attack Disrupts Cancer Care
Some cancer patients across the U.S. saw their high-tech radiation treatment delayed or disrupted in recent days after a medical systems company with U.S. headquarters in Dunwoody suffered a cyberattack. Elekta, a Swedish company with global headquarters in Stockholm, provides precision cancer radiation treatment software to some of the most prestigious health care facilities in the country. Yale New Haven Health System was among those whose cancer care machines went down over the last week due to the breach, only coming back online this Monday, a Yale spokesman said. (Hart, 4/27)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Government Website Displayed Mental Health Patients’ Confidential Information
A state agency displayed confidential information about patients of Maine mental health and addiction treatment agencies and group home residents on a public website, a Bangor Daily News review found. At least 20 documents on the Maine government website contained names and, in some cases, addresses, dates of birth and phone numbers, for those receiving mental health and substance use treatment. The website is a public database where anyone can review licensing information for health care agencies overseen by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. The documents, all from 2013, 2014 and 2015, included reports of patients’ violent and suicidal behavior, descriptions of situations that landed patients in the hospital, and some patients’ and family members’ complaints about health care providers. (Stone, 4/28)

Modern Healthcare: Mental Health Staff Shortages 'Single Biggest Headwind' To UHS' Volume Recovery
Staff shortages across Universal Health Services' behavioral health hospitals are the "single biggest headwind" the company faces to returning to pre-pandemic volumes, its finance chief said Tuesday. The King of Prussia, Pa.-based acute-care and behavioral health provider simply can't pay enough to get sufficient personnel into some of its hospitals, Chief Financial Officer Steve Filton said on the company's first-quarter earnings call. "It's certainly the single biggest focus of our operators as we turn our attention to what we need to do to both recruit and retain the proper amount of nurses," he said. (Bannow, 4/27)

Health News Florida: Big Investors Push Nursing Homes To Upgrade Care And Working Conditions 
Nursing homes and long-term care facilities, where 182,000 Americans perished during the COVID pandemic, have taken heat from government regulators, residents and their families. Now the industry is hearing it from an unexpected source: its investors. Investors who own large shares of nursing home companies now are demanding that the operators improve staff working conditions and the quality of care. (Meyer, 4/27)

Houston Chronicle: AHA Panel Discusses Texas' Maternal Mortality Crisis; Non-Hispanic Black Women Disproportionately Affected
The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, the leading cause for which, according to the American Heart Association, is cardiovascular disease. “It’s important for use to recognize the three very important risk factors for cardiovascular disease — obesity, hypertension, and diabetes,” said Dr. Lisa Hollier from Texas Children’s Health Plan. “All three are increasing for women of all races and ethnicities across the state of Texas, but the highest prevalence is for non-Hispanic black women.” (Varma, 4/27)

ABC News: Universities, Other Institutions Suing Insurers For Not Covering COVID-19 Losses 
As the novel coronavirus pandemic spread across the country last year, Rockhurst University in Kansas City faced an unprecedented financial crisis. With students suddenly being sent home and major school events canceled, the virus halted the major revenue stream that kept the university afloat. After the university refunded more than $2 million in room and board expenses for last year's spring semester, the school continued to suffer significant financial losses and added expenses related to the virus. (Romero, 4/27)

Modern Healthcare: Humana Pays $5.7 Billion For Remaining Share Of Kindred At Home, Could Take Business Public
Humana will pay $5.7 billion to buy the remaining shares of Kindred at Home, bringing its total investment in the nation's largest home care and hospice provider to $8.1 billion. While the proposed acquisition covers the totality of Kindred's business, Humana eventually plans to integrate just the home health side into its Home Solutions business line, with the aim that it will eventually provide care to those insured outside Humana, and be rebranded to CenterWell Home Health, taking on the name of Humana's recently-launched healthcare services company. (Tepper, 4/27)

Modern Healthcare: Inpatient Pay Rule Would Give Hospitals $2.5 Billion Boost
CMS on Tuesday proposed eliminating its plan for providers to disclose their contract terms with Medicare Advantage insurers, one of a slew of high ticket changes in its Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System rule. In the proposed rule, CMS said hospitals would no longer be expected to report the median payer-specific negotiated charge with MA insurers on its Medicare cost reports retroactive to Jan. 1, 2021. The change would eliminate more than 63,000 burden hours for providers. Hospitals have long challenged the agency's attempts to impose price transparency requirements, maintaining they wouldn't help consumers or lower healthcare costs. (Brady, 4/27)

Georgia Health News: How Are Hospitals Dealing With Price Transparency Rule? 
Jan. 1 marked the launch of a federal rule on medical prices that the hospital industry fought hard to stop. For the first time, each hospital was required to publish a website file showing the payment rates it had negotiated with insurers, and another post that would let consumers search for hundreds of “shoppable’’ medical services. The Trump administration rule drew a lawsuit from the American Hospital Association, a suit that was rejected by a federal appeals court. (Miller, 4/27)

KHN: Watch: What Happens When Car And Health Insurance Collide
“CBS This Morning,” in collaboration with KHN and NPR, tells the story of Mark Gottlieb, a marketing consultant in Little Ferry, New Jersey, who faced more than $700,000 in medical bills after surgery on his spine. Gottlieb was injured in a car accident, and, despite having the maximum amount of personal injury protection in his car insurance policy, his medical bills exceeded it. His health insurance could not help much, because his surgeon was out-of-network. In an interview with Anthony Mason of CBS, KHN Editor-in-Chief Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal describes some of the pitfalls accident victims can try to avoid as they seek care. (4/27)

Stat: A Shortage Of Tiny Pipette Tips Is Creating Huge Problems For Science
The humble pipette tip is tiny, cheap, and utterly essential to science. It powers research into new medicines, Covid-19 diagnostics, and every blood test ever run. It is also, ordinarily, abundant — a typical bench scientist might grab dozens every day. But now, a series of ill-timed breaks along the pipette tip supply chain — spurred by blackouts, fires, and pandemic-related demand — have created a global shortage that is threatening nearly every corner of the scientific world. (Sheridan, 4/28)

Stat: How One Major Distributor Is Prioritizing Scarce Pipette Tips 
Scientists across the spectrum — at universities, at public health labs, at biotechs — are facing a global shortage of pipette tips that threatens to upend their work. Adding insult to that injury: Many of them don’t actually understand their distributors’ process for determining which orders will be filled first, or how much of their order they’ll actually get. (Sheridan, 4/28)

In other biotech news —

Modern Healthcare: Henry Ford, Google Cloud Launch Tech Competition To Tackle Health Disparities
Henry Ford Health System is seeking out new ways to address health disparities with digital technology, including a focus on the digital divide, the Detroit-based system said Tuesday. The system's Henry Ford Innovations arm on Tuesday unveiled the digital inclusion challenge, a competition it's hosting in partnership with Google Cloud and Novi, Mich.-based information-technology firm Miracle Software Systems. Entrepreneurs and engineers from across the globe are encouraged to propose ideas for how to use digital technologies to reduce racial, gender and other health disparities. (Kim Cohen, 4/27)

Stat: Flagship-Backed Fertility Company Ohana Biosciences Shutters
Flagship Pioneering-backed fertility company Ohana Biosciences is winding down. Employees were told Tuesday during an all-hands Zoom town hall meeting that the Cambridge, Mass.-based company’s board had decided to lay off most of Ohana’s staff, according to a former employee. The company had more than 50 employees, according to LinkedIn. (Sheridan, 4/27)

In pharmaceutical industry news —

Stat: Eli Lilly’s Earnings Fall Short After Company's Dramatic Run 
Eli Lilly posted earnings Tuesday that surprised and disappointed investors, as both sales and profit figures fell below Wall Street expectations. The company also cut its forecasts for earnings for the year. The company reported first-quarter sales of $6.81 billion, compared to $7 billion forecast by analysts. Earnings per share excluding one-time items, used by analysts to track business performance, were $1.87, compared to a consensus forecast of $2.12. Earnings this year, the company said, will also be below what analysts expect. (Herper, 4/27)

Stat: Biogen To Expand Access To ALS Drug, But Move May Be Too Late For Some
After weeks of controversy, Biogen (BIIB) has agreed to provide an experimental drug for combating ALS to a small group of very sick patients under a so-called expanded access program. But the move may come too late for the woman who pushed the company to take this step. The decision follows sustained pressure by ALS patients, notably Lisa Stockman Mauriello, a health care communications executive who has a rare and fast-moving form of the neurological disease. This subset of patients typically has a very short life span, but no treatment options. So with help from supporters, she mounted a high-profile campaign to convince Biogen to provide access to its drug as quickly as possible. (Silverman, 4/27)

The New York Times: John C. Martin, 69, Dies; Led Drugmaker In Breakthroughs
John C. Martin, who became a billionaire by developing and marketing a daily single-dose pill that transformed H.I.V. into a manageable disease and who popularized another drug that cures hepatitis C, died on March 30 in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 69. His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by Gilead Sciences, based in Foster City, Calif., where he was chief executive from 1996 to 2016 and executive chairman from 2016 until he retired two years later. The cause was head injuries suffered the day before, when he fell on a sidewalk while walking home in Old Palo Alto, according to the Santa Clara County medical examiner. (Roberts, 4/27)

Fox News: Study On Unexpected Infant Deaths Finds Soft Bedding Still A Leading Factor
A study of nearly 5,000 sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) found that soft bedding is still to blame for a majority of fatalities. In the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-tracked data, which included deaths that occurred in children under age 1 from 2011-2017, 72% of cases involved "unsafe bedding." The study, which was published in the American Academy of Pediatrics journal, Pediatrics, May edition, found that only 1-2% of SUID noted no unsafe sleep factors. The study also noted that there hasn’t been a significant decline in SUID since the 1990s, despite increased messaging and guidelines about safe sleeping habits for infants. (Hein, 4/27)

In other public health news —

AP: Burning Man Cancels 2021 Festival In Northern Nevada Desert
Burning Man organizers announced Tuesday they are canceling this summer’s annual counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert for the second year in a row because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The San Francisco-based group posted a video on its website that said there are too many uncertainties to resolve in time to hold the event as scheduled Aug. 26 to Sept. 3 in the Black Rock Desert 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Reno. (Sonner, 4/27)

Bloomberg: Heading Back To The Office? Ask For Air Filters, Not Bleach
More than a year into the pandemic, scientists are increasingly focusing on airborne transmission as the biggest culprit. For the office-bound, that raises the importance of better ventilation and air filtration, and undercuts the rationale for the ceaseless scrubbing of surfaces with disinfectants that many employers have adopted. “I don’t want to hear about your surface cleaning procedures, because that is a waste of time and money,” said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech who studies the interaction of viruses with the atmosphere. “But tell me about your ventilation. How often is the air changing out in the space? And tell me about your filtration.” (Loh, 4/28)

The Washington Post: Athletes With Long-Haul Covid Struggle To Return From The Sidelines
Justin Foster might get the urge to pick up the pace in the grocery store and whisk from aisle to aisle, but his body will force him to slow down. The chest pains will hit. He’ll have difficulty breathing. And before he has purchased his items, Foster either will have to find a seat or leave altogether, unable to complete what was once a simple task. A little more than a year ago, Foster was a star defensive end at Clemson, terrorizing LSU in the College Football Playoff championship game. And yet 10 months after he tested positive for the coronavirus, menial activities have the potential to level him. (Lee, 4/19)

The Washington Post: Worried Your Child Has An Eating Disorder? This Pediatrician Has Advice. 
With the increase in coronavirus vaccinations, the relaxation of strict guidelines and the return to school in some communities, it’s easy to think that the worst of this pandemic is behind us. But the pandemic has given rise to a mental health crisis of monumental proportions among our youth. “The number of new referrals, along with the amount of hospitalizations for eating disorders, has doubled at the hospital over the last year,” says Lisa Tuchman, chief of adolescent medicine at Children’s National Hospital in D.C. (Abraham, 4/27)

The Washington Post: Poll: A Quarter Of Women Say They Are Financially Worse Off A Year Into Pandemic 
Women and people of color are the most likely to say they are financially worse off today than before the pandemic began, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, underscoring the struggles many Americans are still facing even as the broader economy shows signs of improvement. A quarter of women say their family’s financial situation is worse today than before the coronavirus-related shutdowns began in March 2020, compared to 18 percent of men, the poll finds. And 27 percent of non-Whites say they are worse off now vs. 18 percent of Whites. (Long and Guskin, 4/27)

AP: Arizona Governor Signs Abortion Ban For Genetic Issues
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday signed a sweeping anti-abortion bill that bans the procedure if the woman is seeking it solely because a fetus has a genetic abnormality such as Down syndrome. Doctors who perform an abortion solely because the child has a survivable genetic issue can face felony charges. The proposal also contains a raft of other provisions sought by abortion opponents. (Christie, 4/28)

WFSU: Fate Of 'Disability Abortions' Proposal Unclear As Session Winds Down 
Florida could ban abortions based on a diagnosis of a disability. The proposal recently cleared the House following emotional testimony. But its fate is unclear in the Senate. Suppose a physician knows or should know a patient is ending a pregnancy on the sole basis of a disability and the physician goes through with the abortion? In that case, the physician could face a third-degree felony under the bill. Rep. Nicholas Duran, D-Miami, says the measure will create a divide between patient and doctor. (Gaffney, 4/27)

In other news from West Virginia, Wyoming, Pennsylvania and Florida —

AP: West Virginia To Get $393K From Feds For Hepatitis Detection
West Virginia will receive $393,100 from the federal government to detect the spread of hepatitis. The funding comes as the state deals with one of the nation’s highest spikes in HIV cases related to intravenous drug use. Nearly $78,700 of the total funding is devoted to infectious diseases stemming from opioid use. The state has had the nation’s highest rate of opioid drug addictions and drug overdose deaths. (4/28)

Billings Gazette: Data Breach Exposed Information Of 1 In 4 Wyomingites, Health Department Reports
A data breach at the Wyoming Department of Health publicly exposed COVID-19, influenza and blood alcohol test data from more than a quarter of Wyomingites, the department announced Tuesday. The breach occurred when an employee erroneously uploaded files containing that data to the public code-hosting platform GitHub. Data for more than 164,000 Wyomingites was uploaded to the site, according to the health department. Wyoming has about 577,000 residents, according to census data released Monday. (Hughes Casper, 4/27)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly ‘Eds And Meds’ Boards Slowly Bringing On More Women
Philadelphia’s higher education and health institutions, known as “eds and meds,” have made some progress with increasing the number of women board members, a new study shows. Among those institutions that had less than 30% female board members in 2019, most have added women, according to 2021 figures compiled by the Women’s Nonprofit Leadership Initiative and La Salle University’s Nonprofit Center. (Arvedlund, 4/28)

WUSF 89.7: Florida Finalizes Budget, Including $1,000 Bonuses For First Responders 
House and Senate leaders Monday night finished nailing down details of a roughly $100 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, after agreeing that first responders statewide should get $1,000 bonuses for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers also agreed to pump an additional $80 million in state and federal money into a program that provides services to help keep people with intellectual and developmental disabilities out of institutions. The infusion of money will lead to serving more people in the so-called iBudget program, though lawmakers did not immediately have an estimate of how many people would be removed from a waiting list. (Turner, 4/27)

WJCT 89.9 Jacksonville: Vaping Regulation Bill Backed In Florida Senate
The Florida Senate on Monday passed a plan that would regulate the sale of electronic cigarettes and raise the state’s legal age to use tobacco and vaping products from 18 to 21. The 29-9 vote, which sends the bill to the House, came despite opposition from some major health groups. That opposition stems, at least in part, from the bill seeking to prevent local regulations on such things as the marketing and sale of tobacco and vaping products. (4/27)

Bloomberg: Biden Says He Intends To Aid India With Vaccines To Combat Surge
President Joe Biden said he intends to send vaccines from the U.S. to India as the country battles the worst coronavirus surge in the world, but did not specify timing for a decision or shipments. Biden said Tuesday that in a call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he discussed “when we’ll be able to send actual vaccines to India, which would be my intention to do.” (Fabian, 4/27)

The Washington Post: Fauci Urges Greater Help For India And Other Pandemic Struck Nations 
The top U.S. infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci said Wednesday that the world has failed so far in tackling the global nature of the pandemic with a suitably global response, leading to tragedies like the current outbreak in India. ... “The only way that you’re going to adequately respond to a global pandemic is by having a global response, and a global response means equity throughout the world,” Fauci told the Guardian Australia. (Schemm, 4/28)

CNN: China Offered Covid Aid To India While US Dragged Its Feet, But Delhi Isn't That Keen
When India asked the United States this month to lift a ban on exporting vaccine raw materials to help with the South Asian country's Covid crisis, Washington appeared to drag its feet, citing the need to "vaccinate the American people" first. This tepid response disappointed and angered many in India, which is grappling with the world's worst outbreak: daily infection numbers are hitting new records, hospitals and cremation sites are overflowing and patients are dying due to shortage in medical supplies. A backlash at home, as well as widespread international criticism, quickly led the US to reverse course, promising to provide aid to India. (Gan and Yeung, 4/28)

Also —

The Washington Post: India Breaks Global Record For New Coronavirus Cases For Sixth Day In A Row As More Countries Pledge Support 
India reported more than 300,000 new confirmed covid-19 cases for the sixth day in a row Tuesday as the country battles a brutal wave of illnesses that’s overwhelmed its health-care system. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, called the situation in India “beyond heartbreaking.” He warned that many countries in the world “are still experiencing intense transmission,” with more new cases globally in the past week than in the first five months of the pandemic. (Berger, Hassan and Schemm, 4/27)

The New York Times: ‘This Is A Catastrophe.’ In India, Illness Is Everywhere
Crematories are so full of bodies, it’s as if a war just happened. Fires burn around the clock. Many places are holding mass cremations, dozens at a time, and at night, in certain areas of New Delhi, the sky glows. Sickness and death are everywhere. Dozens of houses in my neighborhood have sick people. One of my colleagues is sick. One of my son’s teachers is sick. The neighbor two doors down, to the right of us: sick. Two doors to the left: sick. “I have no idea how I got it,” said a good friend who is now in the hospital. “You catch just a whiff of this…..” and then his voice trailed off, too sick to finish. (Gettleman, 4/27)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Has Crushed India’s Health System. Patients Are On Their Own
When Rehmat Ahsan began to have trouble breathing last week, his family went from hospital to hospital in India’s capital looking for a bed in a covid-19 ward. Everywhere they tried was full. Then they started a new search — for the oxygen that might save his life. Ahsan’s older brother said he found an oxygen cylinder from a private vendor for $350, five times the normal price. It lasted eight hours. When he tried to refill the cylinder, he found hundreds of people waiting in line. (Slater, Masih and Irfan, 4/27)

The Washington Post: Brazil Rejects Russia’s Sputnik V Coronavirus Vaccine In Blow To Moscow’s Soft Power Efforts 
Brazilian health regulators have issued a scathing rebuke of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, rejecting the shot’s approval in a decision late Monday that could affect its use elsewhere in the world. The ruling from Brazil’s Health Regulatory Agency, or Anvisa, cited a range of concerns with the vaccine’s development and production, including what it said was a lack of quality control and efficacy data, as well as little if any information on the shot’s adverse effects. (Cunningham and Dixon, 4/27)

Bloomberg: Russians Reject Vaccines As Kremlin Fears Third Wave Of Covid-19
Facing a rising wave of Covid-19 infections and a vaccination rate that isn’t keeping up, the Kremlin is trying to contain the epidemic without alarming Russians. Even insiders worry it won’t succeed. Unofficial government statistics show the third wave has begun, according to two officials with knowledge of the situation, who asked not to be identified in order to speak candidly. Months of upbeat assessments from the Kremlin that the situation is under control have depressed demand for vaccines, as much of the population no longer fears the virus, the officials said. (Pismennaya and Rudnitsky, 4/28)

In other vaccine news from around the globe —

AP: Mexico Passes 345,000 Dead, To Start Vaccinating Ages 50-59
Mexico’s pandemic death toll passed 345,000 Tuesday, though most states have not seen any rebound in coronavirus cases, officials said. There have been over 215,500 test-confirmed deaths related to COVID-19, but Mexico does so little testing that many people die without having been tested. (4/28)

The Guardian: Japan’s Slow Covid Vaccine Rollout Casts Cloud Over Olympics
More than two months after it began its vaccine rollout, Japan still lags behind the rest of the developed world, raising questions about its preparedness and doubts about the wisdom of holding the Olympics in Tokyo in less than three months’ time. To date, 1.3% of Japan’s population have received at least one of two doses, compared with 40% in the US, 49% in the UK and 20% in France, according to Our World in Data. (McCurry, 4/26)

AP: Australian Olympians To Be Given COVID-19 Vaccine Priority
Australian athletes and support staff preparing for the Tokyo Olympics will be given priority for vaccines. The Australian government announced after a special National Cabinet meeting that Olympic participants would be vaccinated under a priority group which includes health-care workers, Indigenous people aged over 55 and people older than 70. (4/28)

AP: Chinese Companies Considers Mixing Vaccines, Booster Shots
Chinese vaccine makers are looking at mixing their jabs and whether a booster shot could help better protect against COVID-19.Sinovac and Sinopharm, the two Chinese manufacturers that combined have exported hundreds of millions of doses all over the world, say they’re are considering combining their vaccines with those from other companies. (Wu, 4/28)

The New York Times: How Europe Sealed A Pfizer Vaccine Deal With Texts And Calls
It was February and things were going from bad to worse for the European Union’s vaccination campaign, and for its top executive, Ursula von der Leyen. Much of Europe was in lockdown, people were dying and the bloc was running low on doses of vaccines after its biggest supplier, AstraZeneca, announced production problems. Critics inside and outside the European Union questioned Ms. von der Leyen’s leadership and accused her of mishandling the crisis. It was at that low point that she caught a break. (Stevis-Gridneff, 4/28)

In other news —

Stat: Will India Issue Sidestep Patents On A Pair Of Pricey TB Drugs?
A widely anticipated court hearing will be held in India on Wednesday over the cost of a pair of tuberculosis drugs and whether the Indian government will side with activists and sidestep the patents. At issue are two medicines — Sirutro and Deltyba — that are among the newest treatments for tuberculosis and offer 80% cure rates, which are substantially higher than older medications used for drug-resistant TB and extensively drug-resistant TB. But prices have become a flashpoint, since the medicines are often used in combination with other treatments, which raises the overall costs of treatment even higher. (Silverman, 4/27)

FiercePharma: Do Pharma Buyouts Hurt Innovation And Lead To Higher Prices? Analyst Hits Back At FTC's Push For Tougher Reviews
In recent years, Democratic commissioners at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have clashed with their Republican counterparts over the agency's standards for large biopharma transactions. Now that they’ve come into power under the Biden administration, the Democrats have launched a sweeping review that threatens to clamp down on industry deal-making. One influential biopharma analyst disagrees with the FTC's stated reasoning for implementing tougher reviews. In fact, the new stance could be counterproductive, he argued. Large pharma consolidation can hurt R&D and lead to higher drug prices, Democratic commissioners have said. But those concerns are unfounded, SVB Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges countered in a recent note to clients. (Liu, 4/26)

NJ.com: Cutting Prescription Drug Prices Should Be Next Biden Priority, Powerful N.J. Dem Says 
Angry over the high costs of prescription drugs. House Democrats campaigned on reducing drug costs when they won their majority in 2018. So did Joe Biden during his successful bid for president in 2020. On Thursday, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. and other House committee chairs once again introduced legislation designed to lower drug costs after seeing a similar effort fall short when Republicans controlled the Senate. (Salant, 4/23)

MinnPost.com: House Bill Would Give New Board Power To Challenge Drug Prices In Minnesota 
Language in a 300-page Minnesota House commerce and energy omnibus spending bill would create a new state board that could challenge large increases in prescription drug prices. Under the bill, the seven-member board could conduct a cost review if it identified high introductory prices for new drugs or sizable price hikes for existing drugs. And if pricing were considered unjustified or unaffordable, the board could set caps on how much patients and health plans would have to pay.  (Callaghan, 4/26)

Today: 4 Ways To Save Money On Prescription Drugs And Lower The Cost
Does it ever seem like prescription drug prices are wildly varied? If you've made this observation, you're absolutely correct — in fact, the same drug can often have different prices depending on who is purchasing it and where. NBC News investigative and consumer correspondent Vicky Nguyen reported on a new online pharmacy that could help certain customers cut their costs on generic prescriptions. The company says that their average customer saves about $1000 a year. And in a time when we're all looking to save money, paying less for that medication can have a big impact. (Koenig, 4/21)

Denver Post: Colorado Needs Oversight Of Prescription Drug Prices Like The Board Created In Senate Bill 175
The only cost greater than that of prescription drugs today is the cost of doing nothing. Colorado families have struggled for too long, choosing between paying their bills and purchasing life-saving medications. We don’t want to see any more patients walk away without the medications they need because of the cost. Colorado families have been asking lawmakers to take action on rising prescription drug costs for years. Senate Bill 175 would do just that, creating a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to set upper payment limits on the most unaffordable drugs. This bill can’t come soon enough. (Kyle Leggott, 4/26)

Colorado Sun: Colorado Needs A Prescription Drug Affordability Board To Protect The Public Interest
As someone living with multiple sclerosis, I have seen first hand the cost of MS disease modifying therapies (DMTs) rise, making these essential medications unattainable for some patients.  Drug prices for individuals with MS quadrupled between 2006 and 2016 and continue to rise. MS DMT costs have accelerated at rates far beyond inflation and considerably above rates of other specialty drugs. (David Pflueger, 4/25)

Colorado Sun: A Prescription-Drug Price-Control Bill Is The Wrong Answer For Colorado
Does Colorado want to be the nation’s guinea pig to test the ideas of an out-of-state billionaire who thinks that the way to bring down the cost of certain prescription drugs is for states to build a bureaucracy and control those prices? Senate Bill 175 would have Colorado do just that. (Joni Inman, 4/25)

Daily Camera: Dr. Sheila Davis: Prescription Drug Unaffordability Crisis Exacerbates Racial Disparities In Health
As a medical professional dedicated to reducing health disparities, the COVID19 pandemic has highlighted the painful inequities in our health care system that I have seen throughout my career. Structural racism and government policies concentrate health risk and chronic disease burden in communities of color. Compounding these barriers to wellness is the affordability crisis– at least 1 in 5 Coloradans of color struggle with medical debt. As we work to bring this pandemic to an end, we must build back a more equitable health care system and economy. Ensuring consumers have access to affordable drugs is a critical and often overlooked piece of this puzzle. (Dr. Sheila Davis, 4/23)

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Proposed Price Controls Dim The Promise Of New Vaccine Tech
The good news keeps coming for seniors.The CDC recently announced that fully vaccinated Americans can gather indoors with friends and family — without wearing masks or social distancing. This guidance is great news for everyone, but especially for older Americans, who’ve rightly been prioritized for vaccines. Tens of millions of seniors have been jabbed. Given their higher-risk status, many had foregone physical contact with loved ones, including grandchildren, for over a year. Now, there’s no longer any need to live in isolation. ... Yet, inexplicably, some politicians seem eager to destroy the delicate ecosystem that makes these medical breakthrough ventures possible. (Saul Anuzis, 4/25)

CNN: How To Convince Gen Z-Ers They Need To Be Vaccinated 
As medical students and Gen-Z'ers who were born after the mid-1990's, we're deeply concerned about the latest Covid-19 surge in Michigan, partly driven by younger adults who are unvaccinated and tired of pandemic restrictions. However, what worries us more is that Michigan may be a bellwether of what the pandemic will look like elsewhere: case counts surpassing the fall wave and hospitals deferring elective surgeries as states scramble to vaccinate their remaining population. In order to prevent this, we need to get young adults vaccinated. But to do that, we must address vaccine hesitancy first among young adults and the lack of messaging targeted specifically toward a key constituency: Gen Z. (Matt Alexander and Jesper Ke, 4/27)

Stat: India In Covid's Grip: 'If There Is An Apocalypse, This Has To Be One'
Working hard to keep her composure, Lavanya Sharma tweeted a short video on April 25. “Please please please help,” the teenage girl from New Delhi’s Uttam Nagar neighborhood wrote atop her post as her mother lay gasping for breath and her oximeter blinked a dangerously low reading of 52/100. Sharma’s frantic calls for help didn’t get an official response until the next day, when an ambulance finally arrived to take her mother to the hospital. (Vikas Dandekar, 4/27)

Los Angeles Times: India’s Catastrophic COVID-19 Surge Is Driven By Hubris And Mismanagement
It is humbling when a writer must retract his words. Less than two months ago, after India rushed millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 60 countries, I praised the country’s “vaccine diplomacy.” India’s aspirations to be recognized as a global power had been given a real boost. But now, with more than 300,000 new cases a day and the death toll very likely much higher than reported, India is no one’s idea of a global leader. I was worried then that India had exported three times as many vaccines as it had administered domestically. The country was clearly lagging behind its own target of immunizing 400 million people by August, after vaccinating some 3 million healthcare workers in a campaign that began only on Jan. 16. (Shashi Tharoor, 4/27)

Bloomberg: Britain And EU May Both Be Wrong On Astra's Vaccine 
When it comes to Covid-19 vaccinations, Britain has been a bit of a renegade. At the outset of the global rollout, the U.K. — in an effort to inoculate as many people as possible as quickly as possible — started its campaign by lengthening the time interval between the first and second shots beyond what was indicated from trials. Instead of a recommended gap of as little as three weeks for the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech shot or six to 12 for the one developed by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, the government stretched the interval to 12 weeks for all cases. It was a risky gamble that invited criticism from health experts and analysts (myself included) who worried the untested move might lead to subpar protection and enable the generation of virus variants. (Sam Fazeli, 4/28)

Dallas Morning News: If Texas Rangers Can’t Enforce Mask Policy, They Need To Scale Back
In the weeks leading up to their April 5 home opener, the Texas Rangers announced they would open their Arlington stadium at full capacity. No other MLB team has allowed more than 50% capacity at its ballpark this year. It was a daring decision shored up by bold assurances: The team would play all games at Globe Life Field with the roof open except when it rained. Fans would have to keep their distance in the restroom and concession lines. The Rangers would mandate face masks and follow a “three-strike” approach with people who needed reminders. (4/28)

Kansas City Star: I Share Conservative Concern About Government Caprice. But Not On The Issue Of Masks
It’s one of the dumbest plays in sports. But you wouldn’t believe how many football players have done it. Even Kansas City Chiefs standout safety Tyrann Mathieu did it once in college. It’s dropping the ball just before reaching the end zone. In a fit of premature celebration, players racing toward a score let loose of the football before it crosses the goal line. If it then rolls out of the end zone, it’s awarded to the other team, no points for yours. It’s a monumental mistake. But I wonder: Are we about to collectively do that ourselves? Aren’t we at risk of dropping the ball on the cusp of the goal line if we lift the COVID-19 mask mandates so close to widespread immunity? (Michael Ryan, 4/28)

The New York Times: Health Care In The U.S., As Seen From Abroad
Byzantine health plans. Impoverishing deductibles. Exorbitant drug costs. Soul-crushing surprises lurking in the fine print. The American health care system is — to put it mildly — totally perplexing, an exercise in patience and a test of financial resilience. And that’s for its participants. So imagine what the system must look like to people from other countries, especially those with universal health care, where citizens don’t live in fear that the next bout of the sniffles might somehow lead to bankruptcy. (Chai Dingari, Adam Westbrook and Brendan Miller, 4/28)

Scientific American: Nurses Are Also Scientists 
As ICU beds filled with COVID-19 patients last spring, hospitals learned that very sick patients were able to breathe better when they were flipped onto their stomachs. This positioning, called proning, has been used for decades to improve clinical outcomes for those suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the lung condition that patients with severe COVID-19 cases develop. Proning for ARDS was first described in 1976 in an article published in the journal Critical Care Medicine by ICU nurse Margaret Piehl and physician Robert Brown. As a fellow nurse, it’s not surprising to me to learn that a nurse helped pioneer and gain acceptance for this lifesaving procedure. ( Eileen Sullivan-Marx, 4/27)

Modern Healthcare: It's Time To Break Down The Specialty Silos In Medicine
Many moments throughout the history of medicine have redefined the patient experience. More recently, technology and new medical devices, as well as less invasive surgery, have significantly improved the care we deliver. Yet, as clinicians, there's still one change we can make now that will make a remarkable difference for those who matter most—break down the specialty silos. We know that the healthcare system can handle it. And, more important, our patients need it. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, for example, we have seen specialists go where they're most needed, even if it has meant working outside of their expertise. At the pandemic's height, cardiologists helped some of the sickest patients in the emergency department, lending a much-needed, fresh approach to a new, serious problem. (Daniel Sciubba, 4/27)

Stat: Investment In Antimicrobials Saw An Uptick In 2020 
The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic generated renewed interest in the development of vaccines and associated technologies. Vaccines have been the big winners, but there were some gains for anti-infective therapies as well. Before 2019, emerging companies had a difficult time flourishing in the vaccine and antimicrobial space. With few vaccine developers to partner with and biopharma exiting the antibiotic space due to commercial challenges, my colleagues and I at Back Bay Life Science Advisors found ourselves helping our clients navigate a very narrow path to funding or partnerships. (Peter Bak, 4/28)

Kansas City Star: Missouri Forcing Funeral, Burial Of Aborted Fetuses Is Cruel 
No, this is not a sick joke. Republicans in the Missouri House really do want to force women who have an abortion to bury or cremate the fetus at their own expense. (Whether to bury or cremate would be 100% up to them, though; who says this state is anti-choice?) No word on whether women obtaining a legal procedure would then have to wear black for a state-mandated mourning period. (4/27)