Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Oklahoma Seeks To Set Temperature Standards For Shipped Medications
Patients who get their prescription medications by mail in Oklahoma may soon have better protections for the safety of those drugs than any other state. On Wednesday, Oklahoma聽regulators proposed the nation鈥檚 first detailed rule to control temperatures during shipping, according to pharmacy experts.聽(Kaplan, 11/17)
A growing measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio, has sickened dozens of unvaccinated children and hospitalized nine of them, and local public health officials are seeking assistance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 鈥淲e asked the CDC for assistance and they will be sending two epidemiologists at the end of the month to assist with our local investigation,鈥 Kelli Newman, a spokesperson for Columbus Public Health, told CNN in an email Thursday. (Howard, 11/17)
Maine is backing down from some of its guidance for the medical marijuana industry by allowing the sale of pre-rolled products to resume. The Maine Office of Cannabis Policy last month banned medical marijuana caregivers without a storefront from providing pre-rolled products, and increased the age limit for pre-rolled products sold in stores from 18 to 21, the same as the age limit for recreational marijuana purchase. The guidance at the time suggested that a tobacco license was needed. (11/17)
According to a release from the Baker administration, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services has contracted with the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers to distribute the funds. The money was allocated from American Rescue Plan Act funding and from the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Trust Fund, which was established with proceeds from settlements with drugmakers that helped fuel the opioid epidemic. (Bartlett, 11/17)
Although COVID-19 has eased, the heightened need for food assistance that it spawned is showing few signs of abating, according to leaders of some local and regional food aid programs and area organizations. (Laidler, 11/17)
Lawyers for Michigan's former health director are urging an appeals court to quickly stop an effort to revive criminal charges related to the聽Flint water crisis聽of 2014-15. (White, 11/17)
