Reuters: Courts Block Two Biden Administration COVID Vaccine Mandates
The Biden administration was blocked on Tuesday from enforcing two mandates requiring millions of American workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a key part of its strategy for controlling the spread of the coronavirus. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Monroe, Louisiana, temporarily blocked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from enforcing its vaccine mandate for healthcare workers until the court can resolve legal challenges. Doughty's ruling applied nationwide, except in 10 states where the CMS was already prevented from enforcing the rule due to a prior order from a federal judge in St. Louis. (Hals, 11/30)

The New York Times: Federal Judge Blocks Vaccine Mandate For Health Workers
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday to halt the start of President Biden’s national vaccine mandate for health care workers, which had been set to begin next week. The injunction effectively expanded a separate order issued on Monday by a federal court in Missouri. The earlier one had applied only to 10 states that joined in a lawsuit against the president’s decision to require all health workers in hospitals and nursing homes to receive at least their first shot by Dec. 6 and to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. (Paybarah, 11/30)

AP: Vaccine Mandate For Federal Contractors Blocked In 3 States
Kentucky’s attorney general won a preliminary court order Tuesday to block President Joe Biden’s coronavirus vaccination mandate for federal government contractors and subcontractors. The preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove stops the mandate from taking effect in Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. (11/30)

NPR: An FDA Panel Supports Merck COVID Drug in Mixed Vote
A panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration voted narrowly in favor of emergency use authorization of an antiviral pill from Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to treat COVID-19. The vote was 13 for and 10 against authorization. The FDA isn't obligated to follow the recommendations of its advisers but typically does. (Hensley, 11/30)

AP: US Panel Backs First-Of-A-Kind COVID-19 Pill From Merck
“I see this as an incredibly difficult decision with many more questions than answers,” said panel chair Dr. Lindsey Baden of Harvard Medical School, who voted in favor of the drug. He said FDA would have to carefully tailor the drug’s use for patients who stand to benefit most. The recommendation came after hours of debate about the drug’s modest benefits and potential safety issues. Most experts backing the treatment stressed that it should not be used by anyone who is pregnant and called on FDA to recommend extra precautions before the drug is prescribed, such as pregnancy tests for women of child-bearing age. (Perrone, 12/1)

On effectiveness against omicron —

Reuters: Merck Says Its COVID-19 Drug Should Be Effective Against Any Variant
Merck & Co Inc's experimental COVID-19 drug molnupiravir should have similar activity against any new coronavirus variant, a company executive said on Tuesday. The drug, developed along with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, shows antiviral properties against coronavirus variants such as the Delta variant, Daria Hazuda, vice president of Merck's infectious diseases and vaccines division, said. (11/30)

Meanwhile, in news on antibody drugs —

The New York Times: Regeneron Antibody Treatment May Not Be As Effective Against New Omicron Covid Variant
Regeneron said on Tuesday that its Covid-19 antibody treatment might be less effective against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, an indication that the popular and widely beneficial monoclonal antibody drugs may need to be updated in case the new variant spreads aggressively. The company said that previous laboratory analyses and computer modeling of certain mutations in the Omicron variant suggest that they may weaken the effect of the treatment. But studies using the variant’s full sequences have not been completed, it said. (Mueller, 11/30)

AP: Massachusetts Deploying COVID-19 Antibody Treatment Units
Massachusetts is deploying three mobile units to administer monoclonal antibody treatment to high-risk individuals who have been exposed to or have COVID-19, Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday. The clinics have the capacity to treat up to 500 patients per week with therapies that have can help reduce the severity of the disease and keep COVID-19-positive individuals from being hospitalized. (11/30)

The Washington Post: The U.S. Is Better Prepared To Fight Omicron Variant, CDC Director Says
In the face of mounting concerns and lingering questions over the effects of the new omicron variant, health officials reassured the public Tuesday, arguing that the United States is overall better prepared to fight and contain the mutation than it was with previous variants. “To be crystal clear — we have far more tools to fight the variant than we had at this time last year,” Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a White House coronavirus briefing. (Villegas, Suliman and Pletsch, 11/30)

CBS News: U.S. Officials Expect Vaccines To Retain Some Effectiveness Against Omicron Variant
White House officials expressed optimism Tuesday that the COVID-19 vaccines authorized and approved in the U.S. will provide at least some effectiveness against the Omicron variant, specifically against severe disease. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, said during a White House briefing that it's "possible" the new mutations in the variant result in a significant reduction in antibody levels, but the available vaccines, and especially booster doses, are likely to result in some amount of protection. (11/30)

On the hunt for omicron —

Axios: U.S. On The Lookout For Omicron Cases 
Laboratories across the U.S. are on the lookout for the new COVID-19 variant Omicron, which officials have said will almost inevitably be detected here. The world is on high alert as scientists race to understand if the variant could be a game-changer in the pandemic. Early detection, in theory, gives officials more time to understand its characteristics and respond. (Reed, 12/1)

AP: US Tracking Of Virus Variants Has Improved After Slow Start
Viruses mutate constantly. To find and track new versions of the coronavirus, scientists analyze the genetic makeup of a portion of samples that test positive. They’re looking at the chemical letters of the virus’s genetic code to find new worrisome mutants, such as omicron, and to follow the spread of known variants, such as delta. It’s a global effort, but until recently the U.S. was contributing very little. With uncoordinated and scattershot testing, the U.S. was sequencing fewer than 1% of positive specimens earlier this year. Now, it is running those tests on 5% to 10% of samples. That’s more in line with what other nations have sequenced and shared with global disease trackers over the course of the pandemic. (Johnson, 11/30)

Politico: Testing Labs Brace For First U.S. Cases Of Omicron
Public health officials said Tuesday they expect to uncover the first U.S. cases of the Covid-19 Omicron variant within days and are making contingencies to activate a testing network that fell short tracking earlier strains of the virus. Public health labs are prioritizing sequencing of positive samples that exhibit what is known as an “s-gene dropout” — a telltale characteristic Omicron shares with other variants but not the Delta strain. (Lim, 11/30)

On how L.A. County is reacting —

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Has No Plans For An Omicron Lockdown
No significant new coronavirus-related restrictions are planned in Los Angeles County following the emergence of the Omicron variant, a top health official said Tuesday. “At this moment, we have really, I think, sensible precautions in place,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told the county Board of Supervisors. L.A. County’s existing COVID-19 rules are already among the strictest in the state. They include a blanket mandate for residents to wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of whether they’ve been vaccinated. (Money and Lin II, 11/30)

Also —

KHN: Omicron And Other Coronavirus Variants: What You Need To Know
Americans, already weary of a pandemic nearly two years long, were dealt a new blow during the long Thanksgiving weekend: the announcement that a new coronavirus variant had emerged. The omicron variant, officially known as B.1.1.529, surfaced in November in several southern African nations. It set off alarm bells worldwide when public health officials in South Africa saw it beginning to outcompete the previous reigning variant, delta. This suggested that omicron could eventually spread widely. Indeed, omicron has since been reported on multiple continents, likely due to international travel by people unknowingly infected. (Louis Jacobson, 11/30)

AP: Arkansas Sees Its Biggest COVID-19 Case Jump Since September
Arkansas reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday in its biggest one-day jump in coronavirus cases since September. The state reported 1,044 new coronavirus cases, bringing its total since the pandemic began to 528,838. The state’s active cases increased by 335 to 5,699. The state’s COVID-19 deaths increased by 12 to 8,667, and hospitalizations increased by 19 to 409. Dr. Jose Romero, the state’s health secretary, said part of the increase may have come from people waiting until after Thanksgiving to get tested. (11/30)

AP: Vermont Reports Record COVID-19 Hospitalizations 
Vermont on Tuesday reported its highest number of hospitalizations from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. A total of 84 people were hospitalized, with 22 in intensive care, according to the Vermont Department of Health. Unvaccinated people made up 71% of the hospitalizations and 81% of critical care stays over the last seven days, according to state data. During his weekly virus briefing Tuesday, Gov. Phil Scott urged Vermonters to get vaccinated and get their boosters. (11/30)

AP: Indiana Medical Groups Plead For More To Get COVID-19 Shots
Indiana’s top medical groups pleaded Tuesday for more people to get COVID-19 vaccine shots as the state is in the midst of a new surge of infections and hospitalizations. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb is set to renew the statewide public health emergency for another month as the current one expires Wednesday and legislative leaders have pushed back until January taking action on a contentious proposal that included steps toward ending that order. (Davies, 11/30)

On how employers are reacting to covid —

CBS News: Most Big Employers Say They Are Requiring COVID-19 Vaccinations For Workers
Most large U.S. employers say they now require, or plan to mandate, that their workers get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a new survey of more than 500 companies by corporate advisory firm Willis Towers Watson. The survey comes as the Biden administration's new rule about workplace vaccinations remains in limbo. Under the regulation, companies with 100 or more employees must require workers to get vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for the disease. (Picchi, 11/30)

Bloomberg: Amazon Accused Of Underreporting COVID Cases Contracted At Work
Amazon.com Inc. provided “misleading or grossly incomplete” data about the number of COVID-19 infections potentially spread in its U.S. facilities, according to a labor group that is calling on the federal government to investigate the company. Of the almost 20,000 employees the company said contracted the coronavirus last year, Amazon maintains that only 27 potentially caught it at work, according to the group known as the Strategic Organizing Center, which reviewed Amazon’s annual workplace illness and injury disclosures to the Department of Labor. Federal authorities last year required companies to report work-related COVID-19 cases. (Soper, 11/30)

CNBC: New York AG: Amazon Dropped Covid Safety Protocols In Warehouses
New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking an emergency court order to force Amazon to implement stricter Covid-19 protocols, arguing the company’s decision to roll back safety measures in at least one of its warehouses leaves employees at a higher risk of exposure to the coronavirus. James sought the motion for relief on Tuesday as part of a lawsuit she filed earlier this year, which claims the online retail giant prioritized profit over worker safety at its New York facilities and retaliated against employees who voiced concerns for their safety during the pandemic. (Palmer, 11/30)

Meanwhile, Pfizer did apply for authorization for boosters for younger people —

Reuters: Pfizer Seeks U.S. Authorization Of COVID-19 Booster Shots For 16, 17 Year Olds
Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said on Tuesday the company has submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeking the authorization for its COVID-19 booster doses for use in 16- and 17-year olds. Last week, U.S. regulators expanded the eligibility for a booster dose of Pfizer and partner BioNTech's vaccine to all adults 18 and over, to be given at least six months after the second shot. (11/30)

On the long-term impact of covid —

KHN: For Older Adults, Smelling The Roses May Be More Difficult
The reports from covid-19 patients are disconcerting. Only a few hours before, they were enjoying a cup of pungent coffee or the fragrance of flowers in a garden. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, those smells disappeared. Young and old alike are affected — more than 80% to 90% of those diagnosed with the virus, according to some estimates. While most people recover in a few months, 16% take half a year or longer to do so, research has found. According to new estimates, up to 1.6 million Americans have chronic smell problems due to covid. (Judith Graham, 12/1)

Fox News: University Of Oxford On Omicron: No Proof COVID-19 Vaccines Won't Prevent Against Severe Disease
The University of Oxford said Tuesday there was no evidence that current COVID-19 vaccines would not continue to protect against severe disease from the omicron variant. "Despite the appearance of new variants over the past year, vaccines have continued to provide very high levels of protection against severe disease and there is no evidence so far that omicron is any different," a University of Oxford spokesperson told Fox News in an email. "However, we have the necessary tools and processes in place for rapid development of an updated COVID-19 vaccine if it should be necessary." The spokesperson also said current data about the omicron variant is limited due to its recent discovery. (Musto, 11/30)

Stat: Cause For Optimism On Omicron: Our Immune Systems Aren't Blank Slates
The emergence of a new Covid-19 variant with a startlingly large constellation of mutations has countries around the world sounding alarms. While the concerns are understandable, experts in immunology say people need to remember a critical fact: Two years and 8 billion vaccine doses into the pandemic, many immune systems are no longer blank slates when it comes to SARS-CoV-2. (Branswell, 12/1)

Stat: Pfizer Research Head Sees A Sprint To Develop Omicron Vaccine, If Needed
A top Pfizer executive says the company is hopeful that booster shots will provide sufficient protection against the Omicron variant — but has already envisioned a timeline for the development of a new vaccine if that’s not the case. Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, likened the company’s researchers to firefighters: They don’t know how serious the blaze will be, but need to prepare for the worst. And in this case, the worst would mean the need to develop new vaccines. (Herper, 11/30)

NBC News: These Early Signs Made Omicron Different From Previous Covid Variants, Experts Say
When Jeremy Kamil got his first look at B.1.1.529, the coronavirus variant that would soon be named omicron, it didn’t take long to see the differences. More than 30 mutations made the variant's spike proteins, which cover the outside of the virus and are the main targets of vaccines and the body’s immune responses, different from those of the virus that first emerged in late 2019. (Chow, 11/30)

Stat: Doctors Hope Omicron Causes Milder Covid, But It’s Too Early To Say
Physicians around the world have suggested the Omicron variant may cause milder illness than other forms of the coronavirus. But actually understanding Omicron’s severity is an open question, experts caution — one that requires more patient data and more time to answer. The South African physician Angelique Coetzee told the BBC this weekend, for example, that the cases she and colleagues were seeing weren’t serious. “We haven’t admitted anyone,” she said. In Israel, one doctor told Haaretz that, “if it continues this way, this might be a relatively mild illness compared to the Delta variant.” (Joseph, 11/30)

On omicron around the world —

Axios: WHO Advises People 60 And Older To Postpone Travel Due To Omicron 
The World Health Organization on Tuesday advised those 60 or older and other vulnerable people to postpone travel plans in response to the emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. The WHO said on Monday that the Omicron variant poses a "very high" risk and may be more transmissible than other strains of COVID-19. Though the WHO acknowledged there are still many uncertainties associated with the variant, the agency said it believes the likelihood of potential further spread of Omicron around the world is "high." (Garfinkel, 11/30)

The New York Times: Omicron Was Present In Europe Days Before Flights Were Halted
Two people who tested positive for the coronavirus in the Netherlands more than a week ago were infected with the Omicron variant, Dutch health officials reported on Tuesday. The timing is significant because it suggests that the variant was already present in the country for at least a week before the arrival of two flights from South Africa on Friday, and before the World Health Organization labeled Omicron a “variant of concern,” the step that prompted countries around the world to ban flights from southern Africa, where researchers first identified the variant. (Engelbrecht, 11/30)

AP: Brazil And Japan Report First Cases Of The Omicron Variant
Brazil and Japan joined the rapidly widening circle of countries to report cases of the omicron variant Tuesday, while new findings indicate the mutant coronavirus was already in Europe close to a week before South Africa sounded the alarm. The Netherlands’ RIVM health institute disclosed that patient samples dating from Nov. 19 and 23 were found to contain the variant. It was on Nov. 24 that South African authorities reported the existence of the highly mutated virus to the World Health Organization. That indicates omicron had a bigger head start in the Netherlands than previously believed. (Casert and Johnson, 12/1)

An omicron summary —

CNN: How Worried Should We Be About Omicron, The New Coronavirus Variant? 
Since South African authorities announced the arrival of a new coronavirus variant that contains an unusually large number of mutations, countries around the world have mobilized by putting into place travel restrictions and precautionary measures. There is much that's still unknown about this variant, Omicron. While scientists are gathering more information, the public wants to know how worried they should be. Is the alarm around Omicron warranted? What's already known, and what are the key pieces of information still to be researched? Are there things we can do to prepare for it? (Hetter, 11/30)

The New York Times: Federal Health Officials Say That They Are Expanding The Search For Omicron In The U.S.
Top federal health officials said on Tuesday that they were expanding a surveillance program at some of the largest U.S. airports as part of a sprawling effort to identify and contain what could be the first cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the United States. Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, said at a White House news conference on the pandemic that the agency was “actively looking” for the variant but had not found a case so far among the many positive virus samples sequenced around the nation each week. Cases of the Delta variant, which drove a devastating summer surge, still make up 99.9 percent of those samples. (Weiland, 11/30)

The New York Times: The State Department’s Vaccine Envoy Is Leaving After Less Than A Year
The State Department’s coronavirus vaccine envoy is leaving her post after less than a year, at a time when the new Omicron variant is showing the peril of failing to protect large areas of the world from the virus. The envoy, Gayle E. Smith, took a leave of absence from her job as chief executive for the ONE Campaign, an advocacy organization that seeks to eradicate poverty and preventable disease, to join the Biden administration in April. It was not clear on Tuesday why she was leaving the envoy post now, and she did not respond to a request for comment. People close to her said she stayed longer than the six months she had initially committed to the government position. (Jakes, 11/30)

Modern Healthcare: Pharmacists Ask CMS To Require COVID-19 Pill Dispensing Fee
Medicare Part D plans should be required to pay pharmacists for counseling patients and dispensing oral antiviral medications that treat COVID-19, organizations representing druggists say. Several promising COVID-19 treatments have emerged in recent weeks, led by a Merck drug that a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended be approved for emergency use on Tuesday. But while the Health and Human Services Department authorized pharmacists to administer covered COVID-19 therapeutics in September, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hasn't mandated that health plans pay pharmacists for giving out the medicines. (Goldman, 11/30)

In non-covid news —

Axios: Supreme Court Weighs Whether Hospital Drug Cuts Are Valid 
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday about whether the federal government had the authority to cut hospitals' payments for outpatient drugs. The controversial case involves billions of dollars for hospitals, pits not-for-profit hospitals against rural and for-profit facilities, and tests the broader legal theory of whether federal agencies can take matters into their own hands when laws are vague. (Herman, 12/1)

Stat: 7 Policies In Biden’s Spending Plan Aimed At Health Equity 
Democrats have made big promises to tackle racial inequities across society, including in health care, since protests for racial justice swept the nation in 2020. Until recently, it wasn’t clear how either lawmakers or the Biden administration would deliver on those goals — but some of the first concrete steps are now taking shape in the new spending plan Democrats are moving. Embedded in the nearly $2 trillion plan are billions of dollars to help make health care services more accessible and affordable for Americans who slipped through the cracks of existing safety-net policies. (Cohrs, 12/1)

On Dr. Oz —

AP: Celebrity Surgeon Dr. Oz Running For Senate In Pennsylvania
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon best known as the host of TV’s Dr. Oz Show after rocketing to fame on Oprah Winfrey’s show, announced Tuesday that he is running for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat as a Republican. Oz, 61, will bring his unrivaled name recognition and wealth to a wide-open race that is expected to among the nation’s most competitive and could determine control of the Senate in next year’s election. (Levy, 12/1)

CNBC: Dr. Oz Will Run For Senate In Pennsylvania As A Republican
Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz will run for Senate as a Republican in Pennsylvania next year, adding intrigue to one of the races that will determine control of the chamber. The 61-year-old host of “The Dr. Oz Show” will enter a crowded swing-state race where no clear frontrunner has emerged on the GOP side. Oz, who has never held elected office, will try to leverage his name recognition and wealth in the bid to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. (Pramuk, 11/30)

Also —

AP: States: Sackler Family Members Abusing Bankruptcy Process
A federal judge should reject a sweeping settlement to thousands of lawsuits against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, a group of states said at a hearing Tuesday, arguing that the protections it extends to members of the Sackler family who own the firm are improper. States have credible claims that family members took more than $10 billion from the company, steered it toward bankruptcy, and then used a settlement crafted in bankruptcy court to gain legal protections for themselves, Washington state Solicitor General Noah Purcell told U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon. (Mulvihill, 11/30)

The Washington Post: Nursing Unions Around The World File U.N. Complaint Over Vaccine Patent Waivers
On Monday, nurses unions from around the world filed a complaint with the United Nations, accusing some wealthy nations of violating human rights by blocking waivers that they say are critical to equitably expanding vaccine access and keeping health workers safe. The move comes as the World Trade Organization postponed what was to be its biggest meeting in four years — an in-person forum to debate calls to waive intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines, which the United States in theory has endorsed — after news of the omicron variant spread Friday. (Westfall, 11/30)

NPR: Supreme Court Considers Whether To Reverse Roe V. Wade
An epic argument at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday: At issue is whether to reverse the court's nearly half-century-old Roe v. Wade decision and subsequent decisions declaring that women have a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. Until now, all the court's abortion decisions have upheld Roe's central framework — that women have a constitutional right to an abortion in the first two trimesters of pregnancy when a fetus is unable to survive outside the womb, until roughly between 22 and 24 weeks. But Mississippi's law bans abortion after 15 weeks. A separate law enacted a year later would ban abortions after six weeks, and while the six-week ban is not at stake in this case, the state is now asking the Supreme Court to reverse all of its prior abortion decisions and to return the abortion question to the states. (Totenberg, 12/1)

AP: Abortion Rights At Stake In Historic Supreme Court Arguments
Mississippi also is asking the court to overrule the 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which reaffirmed Roe. The arguments can be heard live on the court’s website, starting at 10 a.m. EST. The case comes to a court with a 6-3 conservative majority that has been transformed by three appointees of President Donald Trump, who had pledged to appoint justices he said would oppose abortion rights. The court had never agreed to hear a case over an abortion ban so early in pregnancy until all three Trump appointees — Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — were on board. (Sherman, 12/1)

AP: Abortion Debate Epicenter: Mississippi Clinic Stays Open
As the U.S. Supreme Court hears a Mississippi case that could topple abortion rights nationwide, the state’s only abortion clinic is busier than ever: Volunteers continue to escort patients into the bright pink building while protesters outside beseech women not to end their pregnancies. In recent years, Jackson Women’s Health Organization saw patients two or three days a week. It recently doubled its hours to treat women from Texas, where a law took effect in early September banning most abortions at about six weeks, and from Louisiana, where clinics are filling with Texas patients. (Wagster Pettus, 12/1)

AP: 3 Lawyers Readying Arguments In High Court Abortion Case
Leading up to Wednesday’s major abortion case at the Supreme Court, the justices have heard from thousands of people and organizations urging the court to either save or scrap two historic abortion decisions. But on Wednesday they’ll hear from just three lawyers: one representing the state of Mississippi, another representing Mississippi’s only abortion clinic and the last representing the Biden administration. For each, it’s a chance to be part of what is likely to be a historic case. (Gresko, 12/1)

In other abortion news —

Axios: Abortions Could Require 200-Mile Trips If Roe Is Overturned 
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the average American could have to travel around 125 miles to reach the nearest abortion provider, compared to the current average of 25 miles, according to the Myers Abortion Facility database. 12 states will immediately restrict abortion if Roe disappears, and others would be likely to impose significant new restrictions. (Gonzalez, Wise and Oide, 12/1)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Abortion Funds Struggle To Meet Demand For Out-Of-State Abortion Help 
When the new abortion restriction law went into effect this year, donations started flooding into nonprofit organizations that financially assist Texans seeking abortions. Some Texas nonprofit groups dedicated to paying for the medical costs of abortion say they have more money than patients to give it to — a likely symptom of fewer people being able to access the procedure because of the new law. But other groups that raise money for the ancillary costs associated with getting an abortion — like traveling, taking time off from work and child care — say the demand is rapidly outpacing their ability to serve these patients who are being forced to travel farther out of state in search of care. (Bohra, 12/1)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Rep. Bush Enters Fray Over GOP Attempt To Crack Down On Planned Parenthood In Missouri 
U.S. Rep. Cori Bush is asking the Biden administration to intervene in an attempt by Gov. Mike Parson and the Republican-led Legislature to withhold funding to Missouri’s lone abortion provider. In a letter sent Tuesday to Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the St. Louis Democrat asks for the administration to ensure that none of the actions taken by the state interfere with patients’ right to health care. (Erickson, 11/30)

CNN: Biden Will Mark World AIDS Day With New National HIV/AIDS Strategy 
President Joe Biden will mark World AIDS Day on Wednesday by unveiling a new national HIV/AIDS strategy with the goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030, a senior administration official told CNN. The strategy -- something Biden had promised on the campaign trail -- will provide a "framework and direction for the administration's policies, research, the programs and planning through the year 2025 to lead us toward ending the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030," the official said. (Malloy and LeBlanc, 12/1)

USA Today: Biden's HIV/AIDS Strategy To Include New Emphasis On Older Americans
President Joe Biden will unveil Wednesday a strategy for combatting HIV/AIDS that the administration says will have a new focus on the growing population of people with HIV who are aging, along with other changes. More than half of the1.2 million people in the United States who are living with HIV are over age 50. The plan will also recognize racism as a serious health threat, expand the focus on addressing issues like homelessness that make it hard to fight HIV/AIDS and encourage reform of state HIV criminalization laws. (Groppe, 12/1)

Stat: Rates Of HIV Infection Among Black, Hispanic Men Unchanged In 10 Years
Despite numerous advances in the prevention of HIV, new data show that the rate of new infections among Black and Hispanic/Latino gay and bisexual men did not decline over the past decade. Officials say the finding, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, underscores the need to address underlying social issues and gaps in the distribution of care even as public health initiatives continue to try to reduce HIV rates. (Bender, 11/30)

NBC News: World AIDS Day: Is The World Closer To An HIV Vaccine In The Face Of Covid
As Covid-19 brought nearly every corner of the Earth to a halt early last year, researchers around the world scrambled to develop a vaccine to fend off the deadly respiratory coronavirus. And just several months later — in a process that normally takes years — several vaccines were ready for worldwide distribution. In comparison, about 40 years since the earliest reports of what became known as AIDS, scientists are still scratching their heads to develop a vaccine against the virus that causes the life-threatening disease — HIV. But as the anniversary of the first Covid-19 vaccine shots approaches, experts say the brisk development of the lifesaving and highly effective coronavirus vaccines may have brought researchers closer to cracking the code to develop an HIV vaccine. (Lavietes, 12/1)

Time: Two Patients Hint That It May Be Possible To “Cure” HIV
It’s the news that the HIV community has been waiting four long decades for: the hint that maybe, just maybe, HIV can be cured. Dr. Xu Yu, a principal investigator at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard, as well as an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, had to check and recheck her results to be sure. In one of her patients, test after test to detect evidence of HIV in the woman’s blood came up empty. In addition to her lab’s results, “We had complementary assays in labs in Australia, D.C. and Argentina, where the patient is from, all trying to see if they find any evidence of active virus at all, and there was absolutely nothing,” says Yu. (Park, 11/30)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Startup Requests Emergency Authorization For COVID Antibody Test
A Houston startup has developed a revolutionary COVID-19 test that can measure immunity levels and determine whether or when people need a new vaccine or booster to protect themselves from the disease. The instant test could be on the market soon, if the Food and Drug Administration grants the new device fast-track approval. Knowing personal immunity levels could become increasingly important in the face of new variants, like omicron. (Tomlinson, 12/1)

On covid research —

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Infection Linked To Myocarditis In College Athletes
A small but significant percentage of college athletes with COVID-19 develop myocarditis, a potentially dangerous inflammation of the heart muscle, according to a study presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Myocarditis typically follows bacterial or viral infections. In college athletes, previous damage and scarring to the heart muscle caused by myocarditis has been linked to up to 20% of sudden athlete deaths. (11/30)

CIDRAP: Study Ties Long-Haul COVID-19 With Chronic Fatigue, Breathing Problems
Many COVID-19 survivors experience impaired circulation, abnormal breathing patterns, and chronic fatigue syndrome an average of 9 months after diagnosis, finds a small, single-center study yesterday in JACC: Heart Failure. In the first study to link long-haul COVID-19 with chronic fatigue syndrome, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai used cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and symptom reports to find the causes of shortness of breath in 23 women and 18 men with long-haul COVID. (11/30)

CIDRAP: Weak Immune Systems Tied To More COVID-19 Breakthrough Infections
While COVID-19 breakthrough infections—cases after vaccination—are rare, fully vaccinated people with compromised immune systems have them three times more often than those with strong immune systems and have more severe illnesses, according to a real-world US study involving nearly 1.3 million people. In the retrospective study, published today in the Journal of Medical Economics, a team led by researchers from Pfizer analyzed the health records of 1,277,747 people aged 16 or older who had received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from Dec 10, 2020, to Jul 8, 2021. The latter part of the study period included the emergence of the Delta (B1617.2) variant in the United States. (Van Beusekom, 11/30)

Also —

Stat: Immunogen Hits Primary Goal Of Shrinking Tumors In Ovarian Cancer Patients
An antibody treatment that delivers a targeted dose of chemotherapy directly to cancer cells shrank tumors in advanced ovarian cancer patients, achieving the primary goal in a late-stage clinical trial, the treatment’s maker, Immunogen, said Tuesday. Based on the study outcome, Immunogen plans to submit the treatment — a so-called antibody drug conjugate — for accelerated approval with the Food and Drug Administration in early 2022. If cleared, it would be the 40-year-old company’s first wholly owned cancer medicine to reach the market. (Feuerstein, 11/30)

Fox News: FDA Approves 'Glowing Tumor' Drug To Help Surgeons Identify Ovarian Cancer Cells
Cytalux (pafolacianince), a drug that binds to ovarian cancer tissue and glows when exposed to fluorescent light, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help surgeons detect ovarian tumors during surgical procedures in patients. A Purdue University spokesperson told Fox News that Philip Low, Purdue University's Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery, invented the drug. Low described in a press release that when a surgeon turns on the near-infrared light during the surgery, "those lesions light up like stars against a night sky." (McGorry, 11/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Some Hospitals Charge Up To 10 Times More For Medical Scans Than Others, Study Finds
Some hospitals charge up to 10 times as much as others for standard medical scans, according to the latest analysis of previously secret market rates. Median prices for taking images of the brain, legs, abdomen and chest differed across hospitals by thousands of dollars in some cases, a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins and Michigan State universities reported Tuesday in the journal Radiology. Their analysis compared median commercial prices among hospitals that complied with new federal rules this year to make rates public. (Evans, 11/30)

Modern Healthcare: Health Systems Reconfigure Workforce Amid Shortages
Hospital labor costs continue to rise as nurses seek higher pay, requiring providers to reconfigure their workforce. Total labor expenses rose 12.6% from October 2020 to October 2021, and 14.8% from October 2019 to October 2021, according to Kaufman Hall's analysis of around 900 hospitals. Full-time equivalents per adjusted bed decreased 4.5% year over year while labor expense per adjusted discharge increased 16.3%, suggesting higher salaries prompted by nationwide labor shortages are driving up labor expenses rather than increased staffing levels, the report concluded. (Kacik, 11/30)

Modern Healthcare: HCA To Build More Hospitals In Florida
HCA Healthcare continues to expand its Florida footprint with the addition of three acute-care hospitals. The new facilities will include a 90-bed hospital in Gainesville, a 60-bed hospital near the Villages and a 100-bed hospital in Fort Myers, the Nashville, Tennessee-based company's Florida division announced on Tuesday. Construction is expected to begin next year. (Devereaux, 11/30)

The Wall Street Journal: 23andMe Earmarks Cash From SPAC Deal For Drug Development
23andMe plans to deploy the cash from its SPAC deal largely to fund ongoing investments into drug discovery, Chief Financial Officer Steve Schoch said. After years of selling at-home tests, the company created a therapeutics division six years ago, aiming to use its massive database of genetic information to identify new treatments. The database had information from about 11.9 million consumers as of Sept. 30. By querying its database, 23andMe can find causal links between genetic variations and diseases and use that information to develop new treatments, Mr. Schoch said. Among its findings so far: evidence of genetic variants that bolster the immune system and decrease the risk of cancer. (Broughton, 11/30)

CBS News: Teens Have Easier Access To Drugs As Illegal Trade Booms On Social Media
Last winter, Megan Macintosh found her 18-year-old son Chase unconscious after she says he experimented with pills. He died just over a month later, likely from a pill laced with fentanyl from an unknown source. Macintosh turned to his social media for answers. Looking through her son's Snapchat, she said she saw bags of pills and mushrooms. "I felt really helpless like there's really nothing I can do when I saw how prevalent it was, how many people were in his feed," she said. (Hanson, 11/30)

The Wall Street Journal: First Supervised Injection Sites For Drug Users Open In New York City
Advocates say the sites prevent overdose deaths and provide an access point to other services that can help prevent harm to users, such as housing, medical care and treatment. Critics say there is no evidence the sites significantly reduce illegal drug use or dependency. Previous efforts to open such sites in other states have faced federal legal challenges. If the New York City sites remain unchallenged by the Biden administration, legal experts say it would pave the way for similar sites. (Wernau, 11/30)

AP: NYC OKs Safe Sites For Drug Use, Aiming To Curb Overdoses
The first officially authorized safe havens for people to use heroin and other narcotics have been cleared to open in New York City in hopes of curbing deadly overdoses, officials said Tuesday. The privately run “overdose prevention centers” provide a monitored place for drug users to partake. Also known as supervised injection sites or safer consumption spaces, they exist in Canada, Australia and Europe and have been discussed for years in New York and some other U.S. cities and states. A few unofficial facilities have operated for some time. (Peltz, 11/30)

In other news —

NBC News: Majority Of Mumps Cases Are Among The Vaccinated, CDC Finds
Mumps cases continue to circulate in the U.S., largely among vaccinated people, including children. Cases of mumps, once a common childhood illness, declined by more than 99 percent in the U.S. after a vaccine against the highly contagious respiratory infection was developed in 1967. Cases dropped to just 231 in 2003, down from more than 152,000 in 1968. But cases began climbing again in 2006, when 6,584 were reported, most of them in vaccinated people. (Sullivan, 12/1)

AP: New Lead Testing Method Could Reveal Higher Levels In Water
After the Flint water crisis, Michigan passed the country’s most aggressive lead measures, including more stringent testing of water. When using methods similar to what is currently required by the Environmental Protection Agency, testing of 170 systems in Michigan with lead lines resulted in 11 samples that exceeded the federal lead level requiring corrective action. When using another method like the one the EPA is reviewing and could soon mandate nationally, the figure doubled to 22. With an even more thorough testing method Michigan adopted, it climbed to 31. Other states are likely to see more elevated lead results as well under new testing; lead pipes still deliver water to millions of homes and businesses, a relic of the country’s outdated infrastructure. (Phillis, 11/30)

CNN: Deodorant And Antiperspirant Recall: What The Finding Of The Cancer-Causing Chemical Benzene Means For You 
Benzene, a known cancer-causing chemical, was found in over half of 108 batches of antiperspirant and deodorant body sprays from 30 different brands, according to a citizen's petition filed this month with the US Food and Drug Administration. Benzene should not be used in the manufacture of drug substances or products because it is a class one solvent with "unacceptable toxicity," according to the FDA. However, the FDA did allow a "temporary" use of benzene in liquid hand sanitizers during the pandemic, setting the upper limit to 2 parts per million. (LaMotte, 12/1)

Axios: Massage, Facial, Pedicure... Intravenous Drip? 
IV drips — the kind you might get if you're rushed to the hospital — are trending as a spa treatment, thanks in part to endorsements by celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Madonna. Like other "wellness" trends with a whiff of medical imprimatur, IV nutrient drips can be harmless or mildly restorative — or go awry, particularly in the wrong hands. (Kingson, 12/1)

The New York Times: LeBron James Enters N.B.A. Health And Safety Protocols
Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James has entered the N.B.A.’s coronavirus health and safety protocols, the team announced Tuesday. James missed the team’s game Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings. It is unclear when he will be able to play again, and it is also unclear whether James has tested positive for the coronavirus or has come into close contact with someone who tested positive. (Ganguli, 11/30)

On the ongoing burdens for covid orphans —

KHN: Watch: No Extra Resources For Children Orphaned By Covid
The number of U.S. deaths from covid-19 has surpassed 778,000. Left behind are tens of thousands of children — some orphaned — after their parents or a grandparent who cared for them died. In this report, co-produced with PBS NewsHour, KHN correspondent Sarah Varney looks at the risks these grieving children face to their well-being, both in the short and long term. No concerted government effort exists to help the estimated 140,000 children who have lost a parent — or even to identify them. (Sarah Varney and Jason Kane, 12/1)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Drug Deaths In Philadelphia Could Set Another Record In 2021
Fatal overdoses in the first six months of 2021 rose by nearly 10% compared with the same period last year, putting Philadelphia on track to see its highest-ever overdose death toll by year’s end. Some of the same disturbing trends noted in 2020 -- a rise in overdoses outside Kensington, the epicenter of the crisis, and a spike in overdoses among Black and Hispanic Philadelphians even as overdose deaths among white residents have decreased -- are likely still at play, city officials said. (Whelan, 11/30)

AP: Whitmer Seeks $300 Million For COVID-19 Testing At Schools
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration said Tuesday it wants lawmakers to quickly allocate $300 million in federal pandemic rescue funding to support COVID-19 testing at schools amid a fourth surge of infections in Michigan. The money was included in the relief law approved by Congress and President Joe Biden in March. It is set to expire next summer and is part of a $2.5 billion supplemental spending request that state budget director Christopher Harkins sent to the Republican chairmen of legislative appropriations committees on Nov. 19. (Eggert, 12/1)

The 19th News: Dallas Children’s Hospital Disbands Gender-Affirming Care Program
The closing of a prominent gender-affirming care program for children in Dallas has dismayed parents across Texas who say that options for their children’s care are few and far between — and they don’t know what comes next for kids who need similar care. The program, run by Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, will no longer provide care like hormone treatment and puberty blockers to new patients after dismantling its program dedicated to that care and removing all reference to the program from its website this month. (Rummler, 11/30)

North Carolina Health News: Health Secretary Mandy Cohen Resigns, Gov. Taps Successor
Mandy Cohen, the physician who has led North Carolina through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a massive transformation of how Medicaid is administered, told her staff at the state Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday that she would try not to cry while letting them know she was stepping down as the state’s top public health official. They shed virtual tears for her, instead, during the all staff Webex meeting. Cohen, who became widely known as the “three Ws lady” — which stands for wear a mask, wash hands and wait six feet apart — during the first year of the pandemic, informed those she works closely with of her decision to resign on Monday. (Hoban and Blythe, 12/1)

AP: Head Of North Carolina Health Department Stepping Down
Dr. Mandy Cohen, the head of North Carolina’s health department and face of regular updates on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state for two years, is stepping down from her post, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday. “Mandy Cohen has shown extraordinary leadership during her tenure and she has worked every day during this pandemic to help keep North Carolinians healthy and safe,” Cooper said in a news release. (Foreman Jr., 11/30)

AP: Oregon Governor Calls For Special Session To Protect Renters
With winter coming and federal funds drying up, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Tuesday she’ll call a special session of the Legislature Dec. 13 to approve state funding for rental assistance and extend eviction protections issued because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is clear that a state solution is needed to address the urgent and immediate needs of Oregon renters,” Brown said. (Selsky, 12/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Supervisors Set Aside $64 Million For Anti-Displacement Program. But It Might Not Get Spent This Year
The Board of Supervisors approved spending $64 million to fund an existing program that buys small apartment buildings where residents are at risk of displacement. But Mayor London Breed opposed the plan and announced ahead of the vote Tuesday that the city would work on reforming the program. The city budgeted $77 million for the program this fiscal year. Supervisors had already set aside another $10 million to the program, and Breed pledged Tuesday to allocate up to $10 million more. (Moench, 11/30)

The Baltimore Sun: Towson Catholic Priest Tells Parishioners Vaccine Mandates Go Against Jesus’ Teachings 
A Towson Catholic priest spoke out against vaccine mandates while delivering his homily two Sundays ago, saying “nobody” can dictate what enters someone’s body. Fr. Edward Meeks, who is the pastor at Christ the King Catholic Church in Towson, gave an almost 20-minute homily Nov. 21 interpreting several Bible verses from Corinthians as indicating that vaccine mandates go against Jesus’ teachings. (Oxenden, 11/30)

AP: Lamont: No Plans For New Mandates As COVID Cases Rise
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday he does not plan to mandate booster shots for certain workers or reissue statewide indoor mask mandates in stores and restaurants. That’s despite new COVID-19 infection numbers that are the highest in nearly a year and news of the omicron variant being identified in different parts of the world. The Democrat, however, said he does expect that masking requirements in schools will remain in place for now. (11/30)

Chicago Tribune: CPS Debuts COVID Test-To-Stay Program 
A pilot program that would allow unvaccinated Chicago Public Schools students to test their way out of COVID-19 quarantine if they come in close contact with an infected person is slated to start at an elementary school this week. Few details about the test-to-stay program — including the names of schools interested in participating in the pilot — were given at a news conference Tuesday that comes amid concerns about omicron, a new coronavirus variant that has yet to be detected in the United States but experts fear may be more transmissible than the highly contagious delta variant. (Swartz, 11/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Home COVID Tests Are Not Part Of Official Counts. But Marin County Is Starting To Tally Them
A new online system for residents to self-report results of the rapid antigen tests they use at home makes Marin County’s public health department the first in California to try to track this hard-to-measure testing universe that typically isn’t included in local, state or federal COVID surveillance systems. The move comes as rapid antigen tests like the over-the-counter Abbott BinaxNow, which generates results in 15 minutes, are becoming more available and widely used. Many people are taking these tests before social gatherings — such as to attend a wedding or holiday dinner — or as part of frequent testing programs at schools or workplaces. (Ho, 11/30)

Reuters: EU Could Approve Shot Against New Coronavirus Variant In 3-4 Months
The EU drug regulator said on Tuesday it could approve vaccines adapted to target the Omicron variant of the coronavirus within three to four months if needed, but that existing shots would continue to provide protection. Speaking to the European Parliament, European Medicines Agency (EMA) executive director Emer Cooke said it was not known if drugmakers would need to tweak their vaccines to protect against Omicron, but the EMA was preparing for that possibility. (Burger and Aripaka, 11/30)

AP: Mexico To Reverse Course, Give COVID-19 Booster Shots
Mexican officials have reversed their previous position against giving coronavirus booster shots and said Tuesday they are studying a plan to administer third doses to people over 60. The announcement came as Mexico nears 450,000 deaths from COVID-19. The country has fully vaccinated only about 50% of its 126 million people. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said plans for the boosters are still being drawn up, but added, “It won’t be long, we have the vaccines.” (11/30)

Bloomberg: Israel Should Weigh Mandatory Vaccination, Health Official Says
Israel’s coronavirus czar said the country should begin considering mandatory vaccination now that the new omicron variant has emerged. “Mandatory vaccination needs to be considered, whether through legislation or otherwise, especially given the fact that not only is the pandemic here, but I fear it will get worse,” Salman Zarka said on 103FM radio. He said he changed his mind following the appearance of the new variant, which has been identified in several Israelis. (Ackerman, 12/1)

The New York Times: South African Company Nears License To Sell J. & J. Covid Shot Across Africa
The South African drug maker Aspen Pharmacare announced on Tuesday that it was finalizing the first agreement to control production of a Covid-19 vaccine in Africa. The deal, with Johnson & Johnson, would allow Aspen to bottle and market the Johnson & Johnson vaccine across Africa under the brand name Aspenovax. Aspen would then have the right to determine to whom the vaccine will be sold, in what quantities and at what price. (Nolen, 11/30)

Chicago Tribune: Faith Communities Can Help Fight Vaccine Hesitancy Among Americans
With the colder weather, Americans are spending more time together indoors, including with family and friends to celebrate the holidays. Are they safe doing so? Currently, more than 30% of Americans remain completely unvaccinated, and COVID-19 cases are surging again in many states, increasing the risks of indoor gatherings even for those vaccinated. The looming threat of the new omicron variant makes it all the more important that we stamp out opposition to vaccination now. (Kraig Beyerlein, Jason Klocek and Grace Scartz, 11/30)

Los Angeles Times: Japan Demands COVID Tests And Tracking. California, Not So Much. Which Is Right? 
This long, strange season of the pandemic has made so many things impossible that it’s easy to forget the many things it’s made newly possible. For me, one of its unexpected gifts has been a round-the-clock immersion — and instruction — in the vast gap between the two continents I call home and the radical differences that still cut up our seemingly connected global neighborhood. Ten times during the age of COVID-19 I’ve flown across the Pacific between my longtime apartment in Japan and my mother’s house in Santa Barbara; on every occasion, over 21 months now, I’ve come away shocked all over again at how starkly the Far East and Far West inhabit different universes. (Pico Iyer, 11/30)

Scientific American: Omicron Is Here: A Lack Of COVID Vaccines Is Partly Why 
The past few days have been awash with news of the emergence of the latest concerning variant of the virus behind COVID-19, which the World Health Organization has dubbed Omicron. Scientists detected this new variant through genomic surveillance in South Africa, but in a quickly evolving pandemic we still don’t know where it originated, and we still don’t know how important Omicron will be. (Michael Head, 11/30)

Bloomberg: Omicron Should Push Retailers To Deploy Vaccine Mandates 
The omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus may appear in the U.S. soon — if it’s not already here — but the country’s retailers still aren’t interested in doing the one thing that would protect millions of workers before it arrives: mandate vaccinations. It’s the holiday shopping season, of course. Retailers that depend on this stretch to ring up strong annual sales worry that mandates will turn off a big portion of the 665,000 temporary workers they have to hire to move goods. Those temps would supplement about 32 million other more permanent U.S. retail employees. As science and data have already taught us, unvaccinated workers are more vulnerable than vaccinated ones to Covid’s predations. By extension, customers are also safer being served by vaccinated workers. (Timothy L. O'Brien, 11/30)

The New York Times: The Omicron Variant Is A Mystery. How Should We Prepare?
For every Greek-lettered incarnation of the coronavirus that alters the course of the pandemic, like the Delta variant, there is another that falls into epidemiological obscurity, and countless more that prove too insignificant to name. But scientists and world leaders have reacted more swiftly to the latest variant, Omicron, than to any other: Two days after South Africa reported it last week, the World Health Organization had labeled Omicron a “variant of concern,” the most serious category the agency uses for such tracking, and on Monday declared that it posed a “very high” risk to public health. A growing number of countries, including the United States, have barred foreign travelers from southern Africa, and a few have barred them from anywhere. (Spencer Bokat-Lindell, 11/30)

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Abortion Case May End Right To Reproductive Freedom 
Whatever the Supreme Court decides about abortion rights in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is sure to intensify the political fight over abortion. The issue in Dobbs, which will be argued on Wednesday, is the constitutionality of a Mississippi law that prohibits abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. This is the most important abortion case to come before the court in almost three decades, since it decided Planned Parenthood vs. Casey in 1992. In that case, to the surprise of many, the court, in 5-4 decision, said that it was reaffirming the “essential holding” of Roe: “a recognition of the right of the woman to choose to have an abortion before viability and to obtain it without undue interference from the State.” (Erwin Chemerinsky, 11/30)

The Atlantic: The Judge Who Told The Truth About The Mississippi Abortion Ban 
Of all the arguments that animate the anti-abortion cause, two stand out as particularly far-fetched: that banning abortion protects women’s health and shields African Americans from genocide. Yet for years, these arguments have driven debates over state laws, served as justifications for court decisions upholding those laws, and even appeared on billboards warning women in predominantly Black communities not to kill their babies. Three years ago, Mississippi lawmakers prohibited almost all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy to save women, they said, from serious “medical, emotional, and psychological” damage. (Reynolds Holding, 11/30)

CNN: I Almost Died Trying To Get An Abortion. I'm Terrified My Students Could Face A Similar Fate
On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a case involving a 2018 law banning most abortions after 15 weeks. If the justices side with the state of Mississippi, they effectively will be nullifying the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision -- significantly limiting women's reproductive rights. Though no one can predict how the justices will rule, the fact that they have agreed to hear this case is alarming. It is rare for the high court to reconsider the constitutionality of previously decided law. Even when the Supreme Court has heard challenges to Roe in the past, it has always left the basic constitutionality of abortion rights alone. And yet, despite their record of affirmation, I am scared. I am of an age where I can remember what life was like for women in the years before Roe. (Claudia Dreifus, 11/30)

The Washington Post: The Court Cannot Fool Itself: Eviscerating 'Roe’ Would Upend Lives 
The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case testing the constitutionality of a Mississippi law banning abortions 15 weeks after a woman’s last menstrual period, in flagrant violation of both the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling and the court’s 1992 affirmation of Roe, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The court should strike Mississippi’s law, first, because a person should have a right to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term. This is perhaps the most private and individual decision anyone can make, and the constitutional principles of dignity and autonomy demand that people be given space in which to make it. Mississippi would eviscerate this right, and upholding the state’s ban would call into question many other bedrock constitutional liberties Americans enjoy. (11/30)

Stat: Losing Faith: Reflecting On 40 Years Of The HIV Pandemic
Faith was the first child I lost to HIV. I can still see her, sitting next to her mother on a rusting metal bed in the ward of the hospital in Kenya where I was working as a pediatrician in 2004. Her mother, Rose, is pleased that they were able to reach the referral hospital where I worked. She thinks that if there is anywhere to have hope, it is here. Faith, who was 4 years old, weighed just 11 pounds. Most babies weigh 11 pounds before they are 4 months old. (Rachel Vreeman, 12/1)

The Boston Globe: HIV Isn’t Over And Neither Is COVID 
As we observe World AIDS Day Wednesday during the 40th anniversary year of the AIDS epidemic, we would be wise to reflect on another anniversary: It’s been 25 years since The New York Times Magazine published Andrew Sullivan’s triumphalist essay “When Plagues End,” which essentially declared that the AIDS epidemic was over. Sullivan was clairvoyant in anticipating more potent and simpler drug regimens, which would greatly improve clinical outcomes. Today, medications have become better tolerated and co-formulations enable people to take one pill once a day to maintain their health. HIV-positive people who adhere to these regimens are not infectious to their partners. The use of these medications for pre-exposure prophylaxis, when taken as prescribed, can prevent people who are highly vulnerable to HIV infection from ever becoming infected. A recent report of a second case of someone whose natural immunity has rid their body of HIV without other treatment raises additional reasons for optimism. (Kenneth H. Mayer, 12/1)

Houston Chronicle: Learn From AIDS. Compassion Defeats Pandemics
As a 24-year-old medical student in 1981, I could not have known that a global pandemic would define my identity and life’s work. It has been 40 years since a medical publication described five previously healthy gay men with unusual infections indicating severe immune system dysfunction. By the end of that first year, 337 cases of severe immune deficiency had been described in the U.S., including 16 children, and 130 individuals already had died. The following year, the condition became known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome , shown subsequently to be caused by a novel retrovirus, the human immunodeficiency virus. (Mark W. Kline, 12/1)

Stat: Stigma, Not Science, Is The Key Barrier To Ending The HIV Epidemic
“I am really sorry to reach out like this, David, but I’m worried about my brother. I think he has AIDS.” I froze when I heard those words a few weeks ago. One reason was because Cheryl was 11 years old the last time I heard her voice; she’s 40 now. The other was because I know from my training as a physician in New York City in the 1990s that, while HIV has become a manageable disease for some people, many others still die from complications of AIDS. (David Malebranche, 12/1)