AP: House Dems Propose $28 Million To Address Formula Shortage
House Democrats unveiled a $28 million emergency spending bill Tuesday to address the shortage of infant formula in the United States. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the Democratic chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said the money would increase Food and Drug Administration staffing to boost inspections of domestic and international suppliers, prevent fraudulent products from getting onto store shelves and acquire better data on the marketplace. (Freking, 5/17)

Bloomberg: Baby Formula Shortage: Executives To Face House As Pelosi Warns Of Charges
Executives from Abbott Nutrition and other major formula companies have agreed to testify May 25 before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the root causes of the nationwide formula shortage. Abbott, which has been at the center of the firestorm over the shortages due to a contamination-driven shutdown of its main facility in Michigan after the deaths of two babies, will be represented by Senior Vice President Christopher Calamari. (Wasson, 5/17)

The New York Times: 2 Children Have Been Hospitalized Because Of Formula Shortage 
Two children in Tennessee were recently hospitalized because their families could not find the specific formula they need during a nationwide shortage that has grown more acute over the past month, sending parents frantically searching for interim solutions. Both children have short bowel syndrome, which prevents them from absorbing nutrients properly because part of their small intestine is missing, according to Dr. Mark Corkins, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, where the children were treated. Their condition requires special dietary interventions. (Morris, 5/17)

The Hill: Pelosi Floats Indictments For Baby Formula Deaths As Democrats Unveil Emergency Funding 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Tuesday suggested there could be indictments for the people found to be responsible for the deaths of two infants who consumed baby formula that may have been contaminated.  Speaking at a press conference to unveil Democrats’ $28 million aid bill to help put formula back on store shelves, Pelosi said the possibility that contaminated formula killed at least two babies is “sinful.” (Weixel, 5/17)

The Hill: Former FDA Official Says Parents Should Have Been Warned Sooner Of Baby Formula Shortage 
A former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) associate commissioner on Monday said the federal government should have warned parents sooner of a coming baby formula shortage after it shut down a major production plant in Michigan. Peter Pitts told Hill.TV the FDA did the right thing in shutting down the Abbott Nutrition plant in February, saying safety is always paramount. But the FDA failed to adequately prepare the public for the shutdown, he added. (Dress, 5/17)

CBS News: Mayorkas Decries GOP Attacks Over Baby Formula At Border Facilities As "Repugnant" 
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday forcefully denounced the connection some Republican lawmakers have made between the national baby formula shortage and the availability of formula at migrant holding facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border. "We are taking care of the basic needs of people in our custody. We are taking care of the basic needs of babies, and that includes baby formula," Mayorkas told CBS News during an interview Tuesday near the Texas border. "The connection between honoring our humanitarian and legal obligation to those babies and a supply issue in the interior of the United States is false and repugnant." (Montoya-Galvez and Sganga, 5/17)

In related news —

Roll Call: Despite Congress’ Efforts, It’ll Take Time To Refill The Baby Bottles 
Lawmakers are throwing nearly every tool in their arsenal, including a proposed $28 million in taxpayer dollars, at the baby formula shortage. But it isn’t clear how quickly those solutions will result in cans on grocery store shelves. The shortage is dire — right now, roughly 40 percent of infant formula is missing from shelves in the United States. And while new actions announced by the Food and Drug Administration on Monday night will help stem the shortage, it may take up to two months to see a difference. (Cohen, 5/18)

AP: EXPLAINER: What We Know About Shuttered Baby Formula Plant 
Food safety experts say the case underscores the challenges of tracing foodborne illnesses. Because there were only two samples collected from the four cases, “Right from the get-go we were limited in our ability,” to link the baby formula to the illnesses, said the FDA’s food director Susan Mayne. “We simply don’t have the evidence to demonstrate that causality.” Abbott says the lack of a strain match indicates “there is no evidence to link our formulas to these infant illnesses.” (Perrone, 5/17)

North Carolina Health News: How NC Families Are Coping With The Formula Shortage 
Mothers in Wake County have come together in a Facebook group to alert people to stores that have baby formula on their shelves and help get supplies to those in need. On Formula Exchange Wake County NC, moms have been posting messages about the kinds of formula they are seeking. Others post photos of store shelves that are not empty and alert the group about the location of supplies that have been in shortage for months. (Blythe, 5/18)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Judge Issues Injunction Against 1931 Abortion Law
A Michigan Court of Claims judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction against Michigan's 1931 abortion law, finding Planned Parenthood is likely to prevail in a lawsuit saying the law violates the state constitution. Judge Elizabeth Gleicher granted the injunction sought by Planned Parenthood of Michigan in a lawsuit brought against the state attorney general. "As of the date this opinion is issued, it is unknown whether the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade," leaving the 1931 state law, which bans abortions except to save the life of the mother, the law in Michigan, Gleicher wrote. (Egan and Boucher, 5/17)

AP: Abortion Rights Group Files Longshot Arizona Initiative Bid
A newly organized group of abortion rights supporters on Tuesday filed an initiative that seeks to amend the Arizona Constitution to protect the right to abortion. The effort by a group called Arizonans for Reproductive Freedom is a longshot to make the ballot, since the group needs to collect more than 356,000 signatures from registered voters by July 7. Initiative proponents often aim to collect at least an extra 30% over the minimum as a buffer, meaning the group needs about 460,000. (Christie, 5/17)

NBC News: Senate Democrats Press Tech Firms On Abortion-Related Location Data
More than a dozen Senate Democrats are asking location data companies to provide information about any collection or sales of cellphone data tied to visits to abortion clinics. The letters, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and first reported by NBC News, requested responses from the tech companies SafeGraph Inc. and Placer.ai by May 31. (Vitali, 5/18)

Axios: DHS Warns Companies On Security Risks Around Abortion Ruling
A memo from the Department of Homeland Security, obtained by Axios, warns about violent threats from extremists — on both sides of the issue — who might target protestors, government officials, companies that make or sell medication to end pregnancies and "organizations that fund and facilitate travel for those seeking abortions." (Peck, 5/18)

And more news about abortion —

The Washington Post: Citing Religious Freedom, Hundreds Of Jews Rally At The U.S. Capitol Against Roe's Overthrow
More than 1,000 Jews from progressive to orthodox — including dozens of rabbis — rallied outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday for abortion rights, holding signs that read “Thou shalt not steal my rights,” “democracy not theocracy,” and “we will live by the mitzvot, not die by them.” Jewish views on abortion are complex across the ideological spectrum, but law and tradition do not ban it and don’t recognize an unborn fetus as a full legal person. And 83 percent of U.S. Jews say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to Pew Research. (Boorstein and Silverman, 5/17)

The 19th: Medication Abortion Awareness, Interest Grows After Supreme Court Draft Leak
With the Supreme Court likely to soon strike down Roe v. Wade, abortion rights activists, researchers and providers are pointing to “self-managed abortion” — ending a pregnancy on one’s own, without a doctor — as the likely future of abortion access in states that ban or heavily restrict the procedure. And in particular, they are emphasizing the power of medication abortion, a two-pill regimen that can be used to safely end a pregnancy without a doctor’s supervision, as a way for people to access care, even in states where abortion is outlawed. (Luthra, 5/17)

NPR: Benjamin Franklin Gave Instructions On At-Home Abortions In A Book In The 1700s
Benjamin Franklin is revered in history for his fixation on inventing practical ways to make everyday life easier. He was a prolific inventor and author, and spent his life tinkering and writing to share his knowledge with the masses. One of the more surprising areas Franklin wanted to demystify for the average American? At-home abortions. Molly Farrell is an associate professor of English at the Ohio State University and studies early American literature. She authored a recent Slate article that suggests Franklin's role in facilitating at-home abortions all started with a popular British math textbook. (Feng and López Restrepo, 5/18)

The Boston Globe: Dr. Barbara Herbert, Public Health ‘Change-Maker’ For The At-Risk And Marginalized, Dies At 73
In a life of activism that began in the late 1960s when she drove Vietnam War draft resisters into Canada and helped women get safe abortions before Roe v. Wade, Dr. Barbara Herbert summed up her decision to become a physician with one word. “Rage,” she exclaimed in a 2014 oral history interview for Smith College. “I could not believe what was happening in the health care system,” she added. “I could not believe how women were treated, how people of color were treated.” (Marquard, 5/17)

In global abortion news —

Reuters: Mexico's Guerrero State Becomes Ninth To Allow Abortions 
Lawmakers in Mexico's southwestern state of Guerrero voted on Tuesday to allow abortions, making it the ninth of the country's 32 federal entities where women can legally end pregnancies amid a recent wave of loosening restrictions around the procedure. (5/17)

NPR: U.N. And Advocates Raise Concerns Of Abortion Access For Ukrainian Refugees In Poland
Ukrainian women who were raped by Russian soldiers are among the millions of refugees who have fled to Poland. And they now find themselves in a country that severely restricts access to reproductive health care, including both contraception and abortion. Poland has long been an outlier in Europe in terms of abortion law. It is one of only two member states of the European Union that has not legalized abortion on request. (The other is Malta). (Adams, 5/17)

AP: FDA Clears COVID Booster Shot For Healthy Kids Ages 5 To 11
U.S. regulators on Tuesday authorized a COVID-19 booster shot for healthy 5- to 11-year-olds, hoping an extra vaccine dose will enhance their protection as infections once again creep upward. Everyone 12 and older already was supposed to get one booster dose for the best protection against the newest coronavirus variants -- and some people, including those 50 and older, can choose a second booster. (Neergaard, 5/17)

The Washington Post: FDA Authorizes A Coronavirus Vaccine Booster Shot For Children As Young As 5 
Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are scheduled to meet Thursday and are expected to recommend the booster, which was shown in laboratory tests to strengthen children’s immune defenses — particularly against the omicron variant. The shot from Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, is the only vaccine available to children in this age group, and two shots have provided disappointing protection to children in this age group in real-world studies. Protection against infections and hospitalizations waned quickly in children. (Johnson and McGinley, 5/17)

More about booster shots —

AP: WHO: 2nd COVID Booster For Most Vulnerable Offers Benefits
An expert group convened by the World Health Organization says there may be some benefit in giving a second booster dose of coronavirus vaccine to the most vulnerable people amid the continuing global spread of omicron and its subvariants. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the United Nations health agency said there was “a growing body of evidence regarding the value of an additional booster dose” for groups including health workers, people aged over 60 and those with weak immune systems. (5/17)

Sacramento Bee: How Long Is COVID Booster Shot Effective? 
For people with healthy immune systems, the booster is still effective against hospitalization several months later, said Dr. Dean Blumberg, UC Davis Children’s Hospital chief of pediatric infectious disease. The booster only starts to fade in effectiveness against mild breakthrough cases four or five months after the shot. (Adatia, 5/17)

Bloomberg: Boston Researchers Find COVID Hospital Count Makes Vaccines Seem Less Effective
Widely used methods for counting US COVID-19 hospitalizations can make vaccines appear less effective than they actually are, according to a group of Boston-based researchers. The researchers say their work raises questions about how the US should approach future booster-shot campaigns and how the country measures the severity of the pandemic. It may also have implications for billions of dollars in bonus payments that have gone to hospitals caring for COVID patients covered under Medicare. The researchers looked at a group of more than 8,000 patients who had been admitted to Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals since September 2021 and who had a positive COVID test – the same criteria that most states and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention use to tally daily COVID hospitalizations. (Armstrong, 5/16)

The Washington Post: How Big Is The Latest U.S. Covid Wave? No One Really Knows. 
Eileen Wassermann struggles to calculate her daily risks at this stage of the coronavirus pandemic — with infections drastically undercounted and mask mandates gone. The immunocompromised 69-year-old ensconces herself in her SUV for the half-hour ferry ride across the Puget Sound from her home on Bainbridge Island to Seattle, where she undergoes treatment for the rare inflammatory condition sarcoidosis. ... Experts say Americans can assume infections in their communities are five to ten times higher than official counts. (Nirappil, Shepherd and Keating, 5/17)

The New York Times: New York City Coronavirus Cases Reach ‘High’ Alert Level
New York City health officials put the city on “high Covid alert” on Tuesday, after rising case counts and hospitalizations reached a level that could put substantial pressure on the health care system. The announcement was triggered by a color-coded alert system that the city introduced in March. But so far, the system has had little impact on the city’s disease control strategy or the public’s perception. (Goldstein, 5/18)

NJ.com: N.J. ‘Looking At’ How To Respond To New COVID Surge, Murphy Says 
With New Jersey in the midst of another surge in coronavirus cases, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday officials are discussing how to respond — though he did not say whether new statewide mask or social distancing restrictions are in store. ... The governor also said state models show the surge is expected to peak within the next week or two, adding the variant driving it is “a lot less lethal” for those who are vaccinated. “God willing, this wave will peak sooner than later,” he said. (Johnson, 5/17)

The Boston Globe: The New, Highly Transmissible Omicron Variant, BA.2.12.1, Is Dominating In Massachusetts. Now What?
It didn’t seem that long ago that infectious disease experts spoke hopefully of a spring reprieve in COVID-19 cases. But that was before the latest, even more, transmissible Omicron variant, BA.2.12.1, exploded across Massachusetts in recent weeks and began to shove aside its predecessor, BA.2, in other regions, as well. Cases are climbing, edging the United States across the threshold of 1 million deaths. Hospitalizations are rising too, albeit more slowly. The levels of coronavirus detected in Eastern Massachusetts waste water — a bellwether for future infections — also continues a march upward. The virus seems relentless, as fully vaccinated and boosted people who managed to escape it are reporting infections. (Lazar, 5/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area COVID Cases Keep Swelling As Pandemic Persists
There’s no relief for Bay Area counties on the COVID-19 front, as the latest numbers from the state show new cases and hospitalizations driven by subvariants of the coronavirus continuing their steady climb. The Bay Area reported about 42 new daily cases per 100,000 residents on Tuesday, up from 35 a week ago. Eight of the nine counties in the region are among those that have the highest infection rate in California, with San Francisco reporting 54 daily cases per 100,000 residents. Health officials say the actual number of infections is probably much higher because of people testing at home or not getting tested at all. (Vaziri, 5/17)

AP: New Orleans: Now Is The Time To Head Off Summer COVID Surge
Now is the time to head off a COVID-19 surge like the one that swamped area hospitals last summer, the head of the New Orleans Health Department said Tuesday. Case counts average 155 a day, five times higher than a month ago, and wastewater tests show increased coronavirus concentrations in both residential and tourist areas, Dr. Jennifer Avegno said. She noted that many people use home tests, so the case count “is a big underrepresentation.” (McConnaughey, 5/17)

Palm Beach Post: Deborah Birx In West Palm Beach Warns Of Big Summer COVID Surge In Florida
Florida should expect an "exponential" COVID surge this summer, former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Monday during a visit downtown. Birx spoke to an audience of more than 200 people at the Kravis Center for a lunch hosted by Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, where she touted her recently released book, "Silent Invasion." Few attendees wore masks. (Persaud, 5/17)

The Washington Post: Apple Delays Plan To Require Workers In The Office Three Days A Week 
Apple has tabled a policy that would have required workers to be in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, citing the rising wave of covid-19 cases for the latest delay in its return to full-scale, in-person work. (Telford, 5/17)

Also —

The Hill: Virulently Anti-Vax Eric Clapton Tests Positive For COVID 
Eric Clapton — one of the most prominent opponents of vaccination mandates — says he’s postponing performances after testing positive for COVID-19. The “Layla” singer announced in a Monday post on his official Facebook page that his shows planned in Zurich and Milan this week would be delayed following his diagnosis. ... The 77-year-old English musician said last year that he would refuse to play at any venues requiring vaccinations, saying, “I wish to say that I will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present.” (Kurtz, 5/17)

AP: Delaware Governor Isolating After Positive COVID-19 Test 
Delaware Gov. John Carney has announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19 after experiencing mild symptoms. Carney, who turns 66 on Friday, has received the coronavirus vaccine and two booster shots. (5/17)

CIDRAP: Machine-Learning Models May Detect Patients At Risk For Long COVID-19
Machine-learning models created by a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported research team can identify, with high accuracy, patients likely to have long COVID, according to a study yesterday in The Lancet Digital Health. ... The three machine-learning models were designed to detect patterns of symptoms, healthcare use, demographics, and prescriptions to identify all COVID-19 patients likely to have lingering symptoms, including both hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients. (5/17)

The Lancet Digital Health: Identifying Who Has Long COVID In The USA: A Machine Learning Approach Using N3C Data 
Using the National COVID Cohort Collaborative's (N3C) electronic health record repository, we developed XGBoost machine learning models to identify potential patients with long COVID. (Pfaff et al, 5/16)

Boston.com: Harvard Economist On ‘The Costs Of Long COVID’: 'We Should Worry About It'
Even as some of the effects of COVID-19 on everyday lives are fading, the pandemic still has its grips on the economy, according to one Harvard economist. Specifically, long COVID has the potential to have widespread and long-lasting effects on the economy, said David Cutler, a professor of economics at Harvard who focuses on health economics. (Hill, 5/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Long Covid Symptoms Often Include Crushing Fatigue. Here’s How To Cope
Ken Todd, a 53-year-old in New York City, ran 18 marathons before he got Covid last year. Now, going out to brunch with friends exhausts him. “I need to plan to basically lie down when I get home for the rest of the day,” says Mr. Todd. He is among the many long Covid patients suffering from fatigue months after initial infection. Doctors say that many, like Mr. Todd, experience not only tiredness but also a syndrome called post-exertional malaise. Some long Covid patients try to push through the fatigue, a decision that often backfires and makes the fatigue and other symptoms worse. (Reddy, 5/16)

KHN: ‘That’s Just Part Of Aging’: Long Covid Symptoms Are Often Overlooked In Seniors
Nearly 18 months after getting covid-19 and spending weeks in the hospital, Terry Bell struggles with hanging up his shirts and pants after doing the laundry. Lifting his clothes, raising his arms, arranging items in his closet leave Bell short of breath and often trigger severe fatigue. He walks with a cane, only short distances. He’s 50 pounds lighter than when the virus struck. Bell, 70, is among millions of older adults who have grappled with long covid — a population that has received little attention even though research suggests seniors are more likely to develop the poorly understood condition than younger or middle-aged adults. (Graham, 5/18)

The Hill: Five Things To Know About Long COVID
Patients who developed severe cases of COVID-19 or had to be hospitalized are generally believed to be more likely to have long-lasting symptoms after recovering from their initial infection. However, studies have indicated that a notable percentage of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases lead to long COVID. (Choi, 5/17)

In other covid research —

CIDRAP: Estrogen Treatment Linked To Reduced COVID-19 Mortality
Women who received prescriptions for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with estrogen within 6 months of a COVID-19 diagnosis had reduced mortality, according to a new study in Family Practice. The findings, coupled with data on sex differences between male and female COVID-19 severity, suggests estrogen may have protective role against the virus. (Soucheray, 5/17)

KHN: How Better Ventilation Can Help ‘Covid-Proof’ Your Home 
For two years, you beat the odds. You masked, kept your distance, got your shots. Now, despite those efforts, you, your child, or someone else in your home has come down with covid-19. And the last thing you want is for the virus to spread to everyone in the family or household. But how do you prevent it from circulating when you live in close quarters? (Szabo, 5/18)

Roll Call: COVID-19 Wastewater Efforts Confront Long-Term Questions 
In February 2020, environmental engineers Aaron Bivins and Kyle Bibby launched an informal collaborative with a few fellow researchers, hoping to share tips and strategies on monitoring wastewater for signs of the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic. By April 2022, that group ballooned to more than 1,300 analysts and professionals worldwide, with a Slack account promoting new research and making introductions — all part of an effort to facilitate early information-sharing that didn’t exist at the federal level. (Clason, 5/16)

CIDRAP: Trained Scent Dogs Detect Airline Travelers With COVID-19 
At the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport, the dogs sniffed skin swabs from 303 incoming passengers also tested for COVID-19 using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from September 2020 to April 2021. Relative to PCR, the canines had an estimated accuracy in detecting SARS-CoV-2 of 92%, a sensitivity of 92%, and a specificity of 91%. They were much less accurate in detecting infections caused by the Alpha variant (89% for wild-type virus vs 36% for Alpha. But the latter finding also illustrates how well dogs can distinguish between different scents, the team said. "This observation is remarkable as it proves the scent dogs' robust discriminatory power," they wrote. (Van Beusekom, 5/17)

On covid testing —

ProPublica: The COVID Testing Company That Missed 96% Of Cases
“These parents were pretty adamant that their kid was not a case and that they could play,” said Heather Kerwin, epidemiology program manager for the Washoe County Health District. A pattern emerged. Athletes would test positive on the rapid test. But before a contact tracer could call, parents would learn from the testing company that their children’s PCR tests, typically the gold standard of COVID-19 testing, were negative, even for students with symptoms. Kerwin investigated and learned the University of Nevada Reno campus was seeing similarly conflicting results. The university and school district had something in common. Both had recently hired the same company to conduct their testing: Northshore Clinical Labs. (Damon, 5/17)

New Hampshire Bulletin: Remember The 1 Million COVID Tests Sent To N.H. Liquor Stores? Most Of Them Are Still Unsold. 
The 1 million COVID-19 tests the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services ordered in January to sell at state liquor stores didn’t quite fly off the shelves, leaving about 926,000 tests still available. The department has asked the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee for permission to send many of the surplus tests to health centers, schools, camps and child care programs. In her request, Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette said sales of the $11.29 tests slowed at liquor stores as tests became more available elsewhere. That wasn’t the case in January when the department purchased the tests using $12 million in federal pandemic relief money. (Timmins, 5/17)

AP: 2 More Bills Targeting COVID Rules Head To Ducey's Desk
Two more bills restricting responses to the coronavirus pandemic are heading to [Arizona] Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk, including one that would impact the ability of future state leaders to respond to another airborne-spreading disease and a second blocking the state from ever requiring schoolchildren to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Tuesday’s state Senate votes were the latest moves by GOP lawmakers to limit what they have called government overreach. (Christie, 5/17)

Des Moines Register: Court Rejects Sweeping School Mask Mandates In Iowa; Allows Exceptions
Iowa school districts will no longer be allowed to issue sweeping mask mandates, a federal appeals court panel ruled Monday. The 2-1 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has lifted an earlier court order that blocked a state law banning the mandates, ruling that the order is now moot due to lower coronavirus transmission and wider vaccine availability. (Richardson, 5/16)

AP: Small California School District Reinstates Indoor Masking 
A small California school district began requiring indoor masking again Tuesday due to rising cases of COVID-19. Pacific Grove Unified School District at the south end of Monterey Bay announced the requirement Monday after the Monterey County Health Department reported a seven-day average test positivity rate of 5.2% and a seven-day average of 12.4 cases per 100,000 residents. (5/17)

Crain's Detroit Business: Employer Mask Mandates Return To Automakers, Suppliers, Schools As COVID-19 Cases Rise 
When workers arrive for the 6 a.m. shift at AlphaUSA on Tuesday, they will be required to don face masks for the first time in nearly three months to once again help combat the spread of COVID-19. The Livonia-based metal stamper and engineering company is joining a growing list of Michigan companies reinstating mask mandates as the latest variant of the coronavirus has reached critical levels, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Walsh, 5/16)

The Washington Post: People’s Convoy Returns To D.C. Region. Here’s What You Need To Know
A group of truckers calling itself the “People’s Convoy,” which protested vaccine mandates and aired other right-wing grievances by driving around the Washington region in March, returned to the Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland on Tuesday. ... Organizers have not publicized their plans. A statement on the People’s Convoy’s official Telegram channel included calls for “civil disobedience” and apparent regret over how the demonstrations were handled in March, and an incendiary quote from participant David Riddell. (Silverman, 5/17)

Fox9.com: Mayo Clinic Sued Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Termination
Less than five months after firing more than 700 employees who failed to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by its self-imposed deadline, Mayo Clinic is facing a lawsuit from one former employee. In early January the Rochester-based health system confirmed it had fired more than 700 employees – roughly 1 percent of a total 73,000 across all of Mayo Clinic locations. (Longworth, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles Doctor Accused Of Issuing Fake COVID Vaccine Cards
A Tujunga doctor accused of issuing fake COVID-19 vaccination cards and injecting some of his patients with blood plasma that he received from donors faces multiple felony and misdemeanor charges. Dr. Donald Plance, 68, was accused of forging vaccination cards and giving them to his patients between August and November, Los Angeles County prosecutors said Tuesday. The cards appeared genuine and had the seals of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services. (Yee, 5/17)

Axios: Lowering Medicare Age Comes With Big Price Tag
Giving Americans over 60 access to Medicare would add about 7.3 million people to the program's rolls and swell the budget deficit by $155 billion over a five-year period, the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation project said in a new analysis. While it's a popular idea with voters, the big price tag illustrates why Medicare expansion isn't gaining centrist support and remains a legislative long shot. (Bettelheim, 5/17)

In related news about health care costs in retirement —

Lincoln Journal Star: How Much Will Healthcare Cost In Retirement? Prepare To Be Shocked
It's a big misconception that living costs drop drastically in retirement. The reality is that some of your expenses might get lower, but some might also rise. Healthcare is likely to fall into the latter category. That's because medical issues tend to arise as we age, and also, because Medicare, which seniors commonly rely on starting at age 65, has its limitations. In fact, Fidelity recently ran some numbers, and it found that the average 65-year-old male-female couple retiring now should expect to spend a whopping $315,000 on medical costs. That figure assumes enrollment in Medicare Parts A, B, and D. (Backman, 5/18)

CNBC: Americans Can Expect To Pay A Lot More For Medical Care In Retirement
A 65-year-old couple retiring this year can expect to spend an average of $315,000 in health-care and medical expenses in their retirement, according to a new estimate by Fidelity Investments. That’s 5% higher than last year’s estimate. While much of the increase this year came from higher Medicare Part B premiums for Americans 65 and older, health-care costs are expected to remain elevated. “There’s a lot of upward cost pressure in the health-care system right now, due to investments that providers need to make to get ready for the next pandemic, due to issues around labor, particularly hospital nurses,” said Hope Manion, senior vice president and chief health and welfare actuary at Fidelity Investments. (Dhue and Epperson, 5/16)

In other health industry news —

Bangor Daily News: Maine Can't Do Much About A Big Dispute Between Its Largest Insurer And Hospital
A dispute between Maine’s dominant health insurer and hospital has exposed the state’s limitations in managing the relationship, with policymakers urging reconciliation while criticizing both parties in ways weighted toward their worldviews. MaineHealth’s April announcement that it would pull its flagship hospital, Maine Medical Center in Portland, out of a contract with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield at the end of the year due to financial friction. Such a move would carry seismic implications for Maine’s health care landscape. Maine Medical Center is unique because of its size and services it offers. Anthem is Maine’s largest insurer and the decoupling would mean anyone covered by it would be billed for costlier out-of-network services if they sought care at Maine Medical Center, except emergency care. (Andrews, 5/18)

Chicago Tribune: Northwest Community Hospital Planning $87 Million Cancer Center On Former Motorola Site In Schaumburg 
Northwest Community Healthcare and NorthShore University HealthSystem are hoping to build an $87 million cancer center on what used to be the Motorola campus in Schaumburg. Northwest Community, which became part of NorthShore last year, is proposing constructing the five-story, 105,000-square-foot center as a way to handle higher demand for cancer care and make it easier for patients to receive care. Now, cancer patients are treated in the basement of Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, according to an application filed with the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board, which must approve the project before construction can begin. (Schencker, 5/17)

Bloomberg: Cerebral Investors Push For Founder Kyle Robertson's Dismissal
Investors in Cerebral Inc., the online mental health startup that’s the subject of a federal investigation into its prescribing practices, have pushed to dismiss its founder and chief executive officer, Kyle Robertson, according to people familiar with the matter. Robertson remains CEO, though his access to the company’s internal communications systems was revoked late Monday, said one of the people, all of whom requested anonymity discussing the attempted ouster. (Melby, Tan and Mosendz, 5/17)

Fortune: Salesforce, Zoom, And Best Buy Are Using Technology To Change Health Care 
The pandemic gave patients more power than ever before, and millions of people are now taking charge of their health. For big companies, technology can help bridge surging new demands for primary and specialty care. Leaders from Salesforce, Zoom, and Best Buy recently shared seismic shifts in health care, and the technology they're deploying to help, with Fortune CEO Alan Murray at the Brainstorm Health conference. The leaders discussed how their companies are using data to change health care. (Chirinos, 5/17)

Modern Healthcare: Insurance Lobby Calls For Greater Oversight Of Private Equity Deals
The health insurance industry wants policymakers to require more transparency of private equity healthcare deals and increase oversight of health system consolidation, the trade group AHIP wrote in letters to President Joe Biden and congressional leaders Monday. AHIP outlines policies it argues would improve competition in the healthcare system and reduce costs. "In too many segments of our healthcare system, competition has been stymied by powerful healthcare providers and drug manufacturers gaming the rules to their advantage and inadequate laws and enforcement to protect competitive markets," AHIP wrote. Increasing transparency into private equity acquisitions and how they affect quality is a step toward improving the system, AHIP said. (Goldman, 5/17)

KHN: New Covered California Leader Urges Renewal Of Enhanced Federal Aid For Health Premiums
When she was Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner, Jessica Altman, the appointee of a Democratic governor, often bumped against the political limits of health care policy in a state where Republicans controlled the legislature. Despite the constraints of a divided government, Altman played a key role in persuading lawmakers in 2019 to join Gov. Tom Wolf in passing legislation that established Pennsylvania’s state-run Affordable Care Act marketplace, known as Pennie. And she had a big hand in its launch in November 2020, as the first chairperson of its board. In March, Altman took the reins of Covered California, the Golden State’s ACA insurance marketplace, following the departure of its first executive director, Peter Lee. Altman will earn $450,000 annually. (Wolfson, 5/18)

Also —

Bay Area News Group: Woman Charged With Faking Credentials As Dental Hygienist In South Bay
An Arizona woman has been criminally charged with lying about her credentials and using stolen identities to work as a dental hygienist in the South Bay for at least five years, according to the Santa Clara County [California] District Attorney’s Office. Elizabeth “Mina” Larijani, 50, is charged with 16 felony and misdemeanor counts based on allegations she lied about being a state-licensed dental assistant or hygienist between 2015 and 2020. According to prosecutors’ formal complaint and investigative summary, she either worked at or applied to 11 dental offices in San Jose and Campbell. (Salonga, 5/17)

CIDRAP: HPV Vaccination Programs Tied To Direct And Herd Protection In US
An analysis of US data shows the increasing impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination efforts that started more than a decade ago, suggesting direct protection as well as herd effects, according to a study in Annals of Internal Medicine. ... Overall, compared to pre-vaccination years, HPV prevalence decreased by 85% for females in the United States, and by 90% among vaccinated females in 2015 to 2018. Among unvaccinated females, HPV prevalence dropped 75% compared with pre-vaccination years. (5/17)

FiercePharma: Gardasil Vaccine Maker Merck Appeals To Parents Of 9-Year-Olds In Latest HPV Awareness Ad
It’s unlikely parents of 9-year-olds are thinking much about their child contracting HPV. But a new unbranded TV ad from Merck reminds them that this is precisely the age when they can start immunizing their children against the human papilloma virus to prevent future cancers. While the Gardasil vaccine maker's past HPV awareness ads targeted parents of adolescents, this one aims slightly younger, appealing to moms and dads of the older elementary school set. (Missakian, 5/17)

In other public health news —

Axios: Spanish-Language Mental Health Services Falling Amid Population Surge
The availability of Spanish-language mental health services is shrinking even as the U.S. Latino population continues to grow, according to a recent study. Spanish is the second-most spoken language in the U.S., and the number of Latinos who speak Spanish at home has grown from 24.6 million in 2000 to 39.1 million in 2019, according to the Pew Research Center. Between 2014 and 2019, the proportion of facilities offering mental health treatment in Spanish declined by nearly 18%, according to a study published last week in the journal Psychiatric Services. (Contreras, 5/17)

Fox News: Netflix Host Emily Calandrelli Demands Clearer TSA Breastfeeding Policies After Security Delay
Emily Calandrelli, host of 2020 "Emily’s Wonder Lab" on Netflix, wants clearer breastfeeding policies from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) so nursing mothers can travel with breastfeeding equipment without being delayed by security, according to multiple reports. "Here’s what happened. Yesterday was my 1st trip away from my 10 [week] old son, who I’m currently breastfeeding. I’m going through security at LAX. I brought my pump and 2 ice packs - only 1 of which was cold (I won’t need the other until I come home, when I’ll have more milk)," the 34-year-old wrote on Twitter on May 10. (Sudhakar, 5/17)

Axios: NASA Will Test Female Dummies In Space
NASA's Artemis missions, which aim to send a human crew — including a woman and a person of color — to the moon by 2025, will shoot female dummies into space first to test the effects of radiation on them. Artemis is a prelude to sending human astronauts to Mars, NASA says, and "women appear to be at a greater risk of suffering from the harmful effects of space radiation" than men, Gizmodo reports. (Kingson, 5/18)

USA Today: Army Rushes Counselors To Alaska Amid Suicide Crisis
The Army is rushing more than 40 mental health counselors and chaplains to Alaska in coming weeks to address its suicide crisis among soldiers there. The move, announced by Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, follows a USA TODAY investigation that found soldiers in Alaska who had sought help for suicidal thoughts often waited weeks to see behavioral health counselors. In 2021, 17 soldiers died by confirmed or suspected suicide, more than the two previous years combined. The Army plans to send five behavioral health counselors, 17 family life counselors and 19 chaplains to meet the urgent demand among soldiers for help with mental health, Wormuth told the House Armed Services Committee. (Vanden Brook, 5/18)

In nursing home news from Indiana and Nevada —

Indianapolis Star: Lawsuit: Nursing Home Conditions Made Rape And Murder 'Inevitable'
The rape and murder of an 80-year-old woman at an Indianapolis nursing home was the "inevitable result" of poor staffing and horrible conditions at the facility, according to a wrongful death lawsuit the victim's family filed Tuesday in Marion Superior Court. Patricia Newnum, a grandmother who sang gospel songs at her church, was killed in February at Homestead Healthcare Center, a nursing home on the city's south side. Another resident, Dwayne Freeman, 60, is charged with murder and rape in her death. (Cook, 5/18)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: ‘Superbug’ Outbreaks Reported At Nevada Hospitals, Nursing Facilities
State and federal health authorities are investigating ongoing outbreaks at Nevada hospitals and nursing homes of a drug-resistant “superbug” that can lead to serious illness and even death. As of mid-April, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services has been investigating outbreaks of a fungus called Candida auris at acute-care hospitals, long-term acute-care hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, according to a technical bulletin sent by the state to health care providers. (Hynes, 5/17)

More health news from across the U.S. —

The New York Times: Judge Faults Medical Care For Detainees In Latest Sign Of Rikers Crisis 
A state judge ruled on Tuesday that New York City’s Correction Department had failed to provide detainees with timely medical care. The ruling came the same day that city officials and a federal monitor produced a plan to potentially avoid a federal takeover of the troubled Rikers Island jail complex. (Ransom, 5/17)

The New York Times: Mayor Adams Unveils Program To Address Dyslexia In N.Y.C. Schools 
Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday the details of a plan to turn around a literacy crisis in New York City and, in particular, to serve thousands of children in public schools who may have dyslexia, an issue deeply personal to the mayor, who has said his own undiagnosed dyslexia hurt his academic career. School officials plan to screen nearly all students for dyslexia, while 80 elementary schools and 80 middle schools will receive additional support for addressing the needs of children with dyslexia. The city will also open two new dyslexia programs — one at P.S. 125 Ralph Bunche in Harlem and the other at P.S. 161 Juan Ponce de Leon in the South Bronx — with a goal of opening similar programs in each borough by 2023. (Fadulu, 5/12)

The Boston Globe: ‘We’re Losing Lives.’ Black, Latino Leaders Tackle Racial Health Disparities
Black and Latino health care and business leaders on Monday launched a new initiative, the Health Equity Compact, that aims to combat racial and ethnic disparities in Massachusetts laid bare by the pandemic. Among the 41 leaders are such names as Lee Pelton, president of The Boston Foundation; Dr. Kevin Churchwell, CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital; and Cain Hayes, president of Point32 Health, the state’s second-largest health insurer. The group’s main objective is to design — and lobby the state Legislature to pass — an expansive reform bill aimed at closing the deeply entrenched gaps between health outcomes for Black and Latino residents and their white neighbors. (Damiano, 5/16)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Transplant Patients And Families Have A New Place To Stay In St. Louis 
Mid-America Transplant on Wednesday will mark the opening of its new $12.3 million Family House in the Dogtown neighborhood, providing out-of-town patients needing transplants a place to stay at little or no cost while waiting for and recovering from a transplant. Elected officials, hospital administrators, surgeons and former patients are scheduled to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the 34,000-square-foot building equipped with 15 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom apartments. (Munz, 5/17)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Kids Are Getting Sick At An Unusual Rate This Spring. Here's Why, According To Doctors
Houston doctors are noticing an unusual uptick of common respiratory illnesses among kids, such as the flu and rhinovirus, the predominant cause of a cold. Overall, the illnesses are not severe enough to require hospitalization but may be keeping kids home from school with a fever, sore throat, cough, and variety of other symptoms. The trend is not surprising to Dr. Michael Chang, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UTHealth and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. (Gill, 5/17)

Stateline: Teens Period Poverty Activism Has Stirred Lawmakers To Action
For many years, Laila Brown, a 16-year-old from Vicksburg, Mississippi, and her peers had conversations about the stigma of periods and the lack of period products at school. After learning about “period poverty,” or inadequate access to menstrual hygiene products and education, Brown and her older sister, Asia, 21, wanted to help. In January 2021, they co-founded 601 for Period Equity, a menstrual equity organization named after the Vicksburg area code, that focuses on education, advocacy and distribution of free pads, tampons and other menstrual products. “I remember hearing girls in the restroom [say], ‘I need some pads. My period just started, and I’m not prepared,’” Laila Brown told Stateline. “A lot of times it’s not only [about] not having access [to products], but it’s also being caught off guard. Sometimes people cannot afford to always have pads on deck.” (Wright, 5/16)

The Washington Post: Pollution Caused 1 In 6 Deaths Globally For Five Years, Study Says 
In 2015, 1 in 6 deaths worldwide stemmed from poor air quality, unsafe water and toxic chemical pollution. That deadly toll — 9 million people each year — has continued unabated through 2019, killing more people than war, terrorism, road injuries, malaria, drugs and alcohol. The new findings, released Tuesday by the Lancet Planetary Health journal, shows that pollution continues to be the world’s largest environmental health threat for disease and premature deaths, with more the 90 percent of these deaths taking place in low- and middle-income countries. (Patel, 5/17)

In related news about pollution in the U.S. —

NPR: Cutting Fossil Fuel Air Pollution Saves Lives
Tens of thousands of lives would be saved every year in the United States if common air pollution from burning fossil fuels is eliminated, according to a new study. The research underscores the huge health benefits of moving away from coal, oil and gasoline. Using data from the Environmental Protection Agency, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimate that about 50,000 premature deaths would be avoided every year if microscopic air pollutants called particulates were eliminated in the U.S. "These [particles] get deep into the lungs and cause both respiratory and cardiac ailments," says Jonathan Patz, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and one of the authors of the study. "They are pretty much the worst pollutant when it comes to mortality and hospitalization." (Hersher, 5/17)

On monkeypox and avian flu —

Stat: CDC Concerned About Possible Undetected Monkeypox Spread In U.K.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expressed concern Tuesday about an unusual outbreak of monkeypox in the United Kingdom, suggesting there appears to be at least some undetected transmission of the virus there and warning of the possibility that the outbreak could spread beyond U.K. borders. “We do have a level of concern that this is very different than what we typically think of from monkeypox. And I think we have some concern that there could be spread outside the U.K associated with this,” Jennifer McQuiston, a senior CDC official, told STAT in an interview. (Branswell, 5/17)

CIDRAP: CDC Assesses H5N1 Avian Flu Zoonotic Risk As Moderate
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently added the Eurasian H5N1 avian flu strain that is circulating globally, including in US wild birds and poultry, to the list of animal flu viruses with zoonotic potential that it is monitoring. The CDC conducted its assessment in March, after the first human case had been detected in the United Kingdom but before the second human case was reported in the United States, which involved a poultry culler in Colorado. (5/17)

Also —

AP: Pope's Recipe To Heal His Painful Knee? A Shot Of Tequila
Doctors have prescribed a wheelchair, cane and physical therapy to help heal Pope Francis’ bad knee. He has other ideas. According to a viral video of the pope at the end of a recent audience, Francis quipped that what he really needs for the pain is a shot of tequila. (5/17)

The Baltimore Sun: Court To Consider Whether Henrietta Lacks’ Family’s ‘Unprecedented’ Lawsuit Over Use Of Her Cells Can Continue 
A federal judge will decide whether the family of Henrietta Lacks has enough legal standing to continue their lawsuit against the biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific after the two sides argued in court Tuesday about the use of cells taken from Lacks over 70 years ago. At question is whether Thermo Fisher — and other companies — ought to compensate Lacks’ living descendants for products derived from cervical cancer cells taken without her consent while she was receiving treatment at Johns Hopkins in 1951. Lacks, a Black woman from Baltimore County, died soon after the cells were taken due to complications from the cancer treatment she received. (Sanderlin, 5/17)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

Oklahoman: Hearing-Loss Drug Developed At OKC Institute Gets Licensing Agreement
Scientists at the Hough Ear Institute in Oklahoma City have taken an important step toward developing a treatment that could restore the ability to hear for people who’ve experienced hearing loss as they age or from repeated exposure to loud noises. The treatment has been licensed to pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, which will take the drug through tests for safety and efficacy. The milestone has been a long time coming, said Dr. Richard Kopke, the CEO of the Hough Ear Institute. Kopke began dreaming about the technology that would make the treatment possible in 1996. More intensive work started on the project around 2009, he said. (Branham, 5/17)

Stat: Study: Drugmakers Use Monopoly Tactics To Thwart Generic Competition For Inhalers
For more than three decades, drugmakers have used various tactics to win and extend monopolies on inhalers for combating asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which thwarted lower-cost generic competition that could have saved patients and payers countless dollars, a new analysis finds. These moves included winning patents on the devices, not just the medications in the devices; combining old ingredients into new inhalers; shifting ingredients from one inhaler to another; and adding new patent and exclusive rights bestowed by regulators after approvals. As a result, the average time from approval to the last expired patent or regulatory exclusivity was 28 years. (Silverman, 5/17)

Stat: Blood Pressure Pills Are Costly, Hard To Find In Some Lower-Income Countries
A clutch of serious challenges — high prices, a lack of effective combination pills, and a failure to register some medicines with government authorities — has restricted access to many high blood pressure drugs in a sample of low and middle-income countries, a new analysis finds. As a result, the ability to control a widespread medical condition that is a risk factor for the leading cause of death worldwide is being hindered, according to the analysis conducted by the nonprofit Resolve to Save Lives and Doctors Without Borders. The groups noted that nearly three-quarters of all people who have high blood pressure live in low- and middle-income countries, but less than 10% are effectively treated. (Silverman, 5/17)

Axios: Seniors See Spike In Drug-Related Deaths
Drug-related deaths among adults 65 and older doubled over the course of a decade, with overdoses and misuse of prescription medications from 2018 to 2020 weighing hardest on Black communities, a new report from UnitedHealth Group finds. While adolescents and young adults have received much of the attention as U.S. overdose deaths hit new records, seniors have posted the largest increase in intentional and unintentional deaths compared with other age groups 15 and older, according to the report. (Bettelheim, 5/17)

Stat: Report Cites 'Urgent' Need To Recruit More Diverse Clinical Trial Participants
The persistent lack of diversity among participants in clinical trials is a critical issue that is harming both populations that have long been left out of pivotal medical studies and the entire biomedical research enterprise, according to the authors of a report released Tuesday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Describing the need to move away from trials that focus largely on white men as “urgent,” the report’s authors called for a paradigm shift that gives less power to institutions that fund and conduct clinical research and more to communities under study. The sternly worded report said funding to include and recruit more diverse participants should be a priority that is enforced and said such investments could eventually lead to massive cost savings as the nation’s health disparities are reduced. (McFarling, 5/17)

Stat: New Molecular ‘Black Box’ Records How Cells Fly Into Tumor Territory 
Biologists Tyler Jacks and Jonathan Weissman’s mice may look like any other lab mice — plain, pale, and furry — but cancer geneticists see them as a “technical tour de force.” “It’s a pretty heavily engineered mouse,” said Weissman, a biologist at the Whitehead Institute. Engineered into that mouse is intricate molecular machinery that allowed Weissman and his team to trace the ancestries of single tumor cells, placing them on a tumor’s family tree with an unprecedented level of detail. With those findings, scientists say that Weissman, in a new paper published this month, has begun to uncover new insights into the fundamental biology of tumors and how they evolve. (Chen, 5/18)

CIDRAP: Antibiotics Linked To Inflammatory Bowel Disease In Older Adults
A new study suggests antibiotic use in people over 60 may be linked to an increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The study, which will be presented at the upcoming Digestive Disease Week conference, to be held May 21 through 24, found that, in a cohort of more than 2.3 million adults ages 60 to 90, any antibiotic use was associated with a 64% increase in developing ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease—the primary components of IBD. The risk rose with each additional dose of antibiotics. (Dall, 5/13)

ScienceDaily:  Antibiotic Resistance Represents A Major Public Health Challenge, Associated With A High Mortality Rate 
Antibiotic resistance represents a major public health challenge, associated with a high mortality rate. While bacteriophages -- viruses that kill bacteria -- could be a solution for fighting antibiotic-resistant pathogens, various obstacles stand in the way of their clinical development. To overcome them, researchers have developed a model to better predict the efficacy of phage therapy and possibly develop more robust clinical trials. (INSERM, Institut National De La Sante Et De La Recherche Medicale, 5/17)

CIDRAP: COVID Vaccines May Cut Hospital Omicron Cases In Youth 
Two new observational studies detail Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine protection among US children and adolescents amid the Omicron variant surge, one finding 71% efficacy against infection after a third dose in 12- to 15-year-olds, and the second showing lower risks of infection and hospitalization in vaccinated youth aged 5 to 17 in New York state. The studies were published late last week in JAMA. (Van Beusekom, 5/16)

New England Journal of Medicine: Albuterol–Budesonide Fixed-Dose Combination Rescue Inhaler For Asthma 
As asthma symptoms worsen, patients typically rely on short-acting β2-agonist (SABA) rescue therapy, but SABAs do not address worsening inflammation, which leaves patients at risk for severe asthma exacerbations. The use of a fixed-dose combination of albuterol and budesonide, as compared with albuterol alone, as rescue medication might reduce the risk of severe asthma exacerbation. (Papi, MD, et al, 5/15)

The Lancet: Safety And Immunogenicity Of The Rotavac And Rotasiil Rotavirus Vaccines Administered In An Interchangeable Dosing Schedule Among Healthy Indian Infants
Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe dehydrating gastroenteritis among children younger than 5 years in low-income and middle-income countries. Two vaccines—Rotavac and Rotasiil—are used in routine immunisation in India. The safety and immunogenicity of these vaccines administered in a mixed regimen is not documented. We therefore aimed to compare the safety and seroresponse of recipients of a mixed regimen versus a single regimen. (Kanungo, PhD, et al, 5/16)

The Boston Globe: Make Abortion Pills Available Over The Counter 
If the Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade, as a leaked draft opinion suggests it will, about half the states are expected to ban abortion immediately. That will leave many women desperate for a workaround. And “medication abortion” will be their best option. Decades of research show the two-drug combination of mifepristone, which blocks a hormone crucial to the progress of a pregnancy, and misoprostol, which causes contractions and empties the uterus, is safe and effective. And it already accounts for more than half of American abortions. (5/15)

Reno Gazette Journal: Lowering Prescription Drug Costs For Nevadans 
No one should have to ration lifesaving medicine. I vividly remember how my grandmother struggled to afford her prescriptions. When I was in college, I’d sit with her at her kitchen table and help her with her bills. Too often, we’d worry that there wouldn’t be enough left for prescriptions after she paid for bills and groceries. She should never have had to choose between her medicine and putting food on the table. I’m working in the Senate so other Nevadans don’t have to make that same wrenching choice for themselves or their family. (Catherine Cortez Masto, 5/17)

The Salt Lake Tribune: University Of Utah Health Plan Fails Sick Graduate Students
It is no secret that prescription drugs cost an absurd amount of money, according to a 2019 NPR article, the price of prescription drugs has been steadily on the rise since at least 2008. Injectables like mine rose 15% on average a year. (Ashleigh McDonald, 5/13)

Stat: Mick Kolassa Wrote Drug Pricing Playbook, Then Stepped Away 
When Biogen announced the price for Aduhelm, its controversial Alzheimer’s drug, the explanation the company gave — it represented the “overall value this treatment brings to patients, caregivers and society” — came right out of Mick Kolassa’s playbook. For many years, Kolassa was the man drug companies turned to when they wanted advice on how to price a drug. While Biogen earlier this year had to take the unusual step of cutting the price of a new medication, halving the cost of Aduhelm in the U.S. market, there has been only one direction of travel for drug prices — up. (Billy Kenber, 5/13)

Bloomberg: Is Covid Linked To Rising Hepatitis Cases Among Kids? 
Over the past month, the UK, U.S. and other countries have reported increasing cases of acute hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, in otherwise healthy children, some as young as one month old. Some have required liver transplants and at least one death has been reported. (Therese Raphael and Sam Fazeli, 5/18)

Stat: Does Paxlovid Work In People Vaccinated Against Covid-19? 
As a primary care doctor in New York City, I am grateful to drug companies for providing effective Covid-19 therapies for my patients. But I am also frustrated that these companies appear to be completely running the show, and believe that Americans could get more from Big Pharma if only our regulators dared to ask for it. This dynamic is on display with Paxlovid, which was approved based on a study that seems designed to exaggerate the benefit most Americans can expect from this drug rather than provide us with relevant information about it. (Paul Fenyves, 5/18)

Miami Herald: COVID-19 Made Teen Suicide Trends Worse 
It’s expected that, after two years of multiple disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, there would be repercussions on our collective mental health. As recent research has shown, it is heavily impacting children and teens. Since 2009, rates of suicide among youth and young adults have been on the rise. Depression, hopelessness and suicide ideation among them are alarmingly widespread, a trend challenging families across the country, including in Miami-Dade County and the Keys. (Kathy Coppola and Susan Racher, 5/16)

On abortion —

The Boston Globe: Abortion Rights Are Protected In Massachusetts — Or So We Thought 
We were smug. We thought that the right to choose abortion was protected in Massachusetts no matter what the US Supreme Court did. The Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s highest court, said as much. In the 1981 case Moe v. Secretary of Administration and Finance, the SJC held that the right to choose abortion was protected under the Massachusetts Constitution. We represented the plaintiffs, indigent women who needed abortions because pregnancy posed substantial risks to their health and who relied on public funds for their care. You had a right to abortion, the US Supreme Court said, but the federal government didn’t have to pay for it. In a 6-1 decision, with justices selected by Republican and Democratic governors, the SJC disagreed: The Commonwealth had to fund medically necessary abortions, even if the federal government did not. (Nancy Gertner and John Reinstein, 5/17)

Scientific American: How Medication Abortion With RU-486/Mifepristone Works 
In 2016 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a two-drug combination of Mifeprex (also called RU-486 or mifepristone) and Cytotec (commonly known as misoprostol) to induce abortion without surgery. In 2019 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that approximately 42 percent of all abortions in the U.S. were medication-based. (Megha Satyanarayana, 5/17)

Bloomberg: Making Abortion Pills Illegal Doesn't Stop Women From Getting Them 
If the US Supreme Court overturns the five-decade-old constitutional right to abortion, as expected, many women will find it far harder to end an unwanted pregnancy. But this won’t be a return to pre-1973, largely thanks to changes to medical technology. Abortion pills, often taken at home, are already making the reality of abortion easier and safer in the early stages of gestation. And even with inevitable new restrictions, they are set to change the political fight too. (Clara Ferreira Marques, 5/17)

Chicago Tribune: The FDA Needs More Information On Supplements. Consumers’ Safety Is At Risk
The COVID-19 quarantine changed everyday life for Americans, including many aspects of our diet, health and exercise regimens. One change that has not received enough scrutiny is that during the pandemic, millions of Americans turned to dietary supplements. In 2020, sales of dietary supplements were 14.5% higher than the previous year — the largest growth spurt since 1997, according to the Nutrition Business Journal’s 2021 report on supplement sales. (Liz Richardson, 5/17)

NBC News: Britney Spears Announced A Miscarriage, And Broke A Pregnancy Taboo
I cringed when I saw Britney Spears announce last month that she was newly pregnant. As someone who went through four miscarriages before the birth of our daughter, I know how tenuous pregnancy is — and how many end in early miscarriages. Ten to 20 percent of known pregnancies result in loss. And older women like Spears have an even higher risk of miscarriage: At 35, there’s a 20 percent risk, according to the Mayo Clinic, and at 40 (Spears’ age), the risk is 40 percent. (Amy Klein, 5/16)

The Lancet Neurology: No Area Of Stroke Research Should Be Left Behind 
More than 12 million incident cases of stroke are thought to have occurred in 2019, when stroke was also the second-leading cause of death and the third-leading cause of death and disability combined. Thanks to the efforts of stroke researchers and study participants, many advances that might help to reduce this burden have been made over the past two decades. Much of this progress has been in acute management and secondary prevention of ischaemic stroke, and as this issue of The Lancet Neurology was going to press, results from several trials testing such approaches were scheduled to be presented at the 8th European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC), on May 4–6, 2022, in Lyon, France. If such progress is to continue, and similarly impressive advances are to be made in primary prevention, haemorrhagic stroke, and longer-term care, all areas of stroke need to be a higher priority for research funding. (6/1)

Scientific American: The Antiscience Supreme Court Is Hurting The Health Of Americans 
These are tumultuous times for the Supreme Court. Since Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the Court in October 2020, the justices have issued a series of unprecedented decisions that have reshaped health law and policy in ways that will impede the health of all Americans. Among these decisions are orders blocking Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium, halting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s order requiring large employers to mandate vaccination or testing and masking, lifting a lower court injunction allowing medication for abortions to be prescribed via telehealth and enjoining several state COVID-mitigation measures as violations of religious liberty. (Wendy E. Parmet, 5/17)

Miami Herald: Alzheimer’s Toll Increasing In Florida 
Imagine watching someone you love with all your heart slowly disappear. All the memories, all the happy moments, all the joy you shared together … gone. The smiles they once had are replaced with worry and fear. Over the past few years, I’ve watched someone I consider my second mother succumb to the grips of Alzheimer’s disease. Gloria has been there for me in so many moments of my life. But piece by piece, watching her lose herself has been devastating. (Tracey Wekar-Paige, 5/17)

The Tennessean: Learning How Drug Tests Can Lead To Understanding Opioid Crisis
While the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated headlines for the past two years, an ongoing epidemic has worsened due to an emerging threat: the rise of designer drugs. These drugs, also known as novel psychoactive substances (NPS), are developed to have effects similar to commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals, such as fentanyl or alprazolam, and are sold on the street as prescription medications or illicit drugs. They are insidious, potent, and too often, deadly.  (Dr. Joshua Schrecker, 5/17)

The Washington Post: How To Think About Severe Hepatitis Cases In Children
As if parents don’t have enough to worry about — a global pandemic, a baby formula shortage — there is a new mysterious ailment afflicting young children in the form of severe hepatitis. Here’s the bottom line: This is not reason for panic, but it does deserve vigilance. Parents should also be wary of speculation about the illness. There is still much we don’t know. (Leana S. Wen, 5/17)