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Oklahoma on Wednesday implemented the strictest anti-abortion law in the nation, giving the country a preview of a possible post-Roe future. Gov. Kevin Stitt signed legislation to prohibit most abortions beginning at fertilization. Stitt signed House Bill 4327 that allows private citizens to sue anyone who "aids or abets" a woman seeking an abortion at any point in her pregnancy. The woman pursuing the procedure could not be sued. In a statement, Stitt said he was proud to sign the legislation. (Forman, 5/25)

The new law, which takes effect immediately, is the most restrictive abortion ban in the country. The law makes exceptions in cases where an abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest if they have been reported to law enforcement. (Vander Ploeg and Zernike, 5/25)

The law, known as House Bill 4327, relies on civil lawsuits for enforcement, inspired by a six-week ban in Texas. Under the new law, anyone who “aids or abets” the provision of an abortion can be sued for up to $10,000. The ban targets abortions performed at any point in pregnancy after the egg has been fertilized. It has narrow exceptions if the abortion would save the pregnant person’s life, or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest that was reported to police. (Most rapes are not reported to law enforcement.) The ban takes effect right away under an emergency provision. (Luthra, 5/25)

Abortion-rights advocates vowed to ask the Oklahoma Supreme Court to block the state’s near-total abortion ban within minutes of Governor Kevin Stitt signing the measure into law. State lawmakers, led by Republicans, pushed through the law making Oklahoma the first state to ban abortions while the landmark US Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade protecting a woman’s right to abortion still stands. The US Supreme Court appears set to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a copy of a draft opinion that was leaked to Politico. (Brubaker Calkins, 5/26)

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive directive Wednesday telling state agencies to not cooperate with any other state or authority attempting to prosecute anyone who obtains, provides or assists with obtaining an abortion or other forms of reproductive health care. The directive also calls on applicable agencies to increase protections for reproductive health care and take steps to raise awareness about availability of reproductive health care and forms of contraception. (Lobo, 5/25)

KHN: Police Suspect Arson At Wyoming Site Of Clinic That Would Provide Abortions 

Police suspect arson was behind a fire that damaged a clinic under construction in Casper that would become Wyoming’s sole site for procedural abortions. A caller phoned 911 shortly before dawn Wednesday to report seeing someone with a gas can running away from the building near downtown Casper. Smoke billowed from the building’s windows by the time authorities arrived, Casper police said. (Zionts, 5/25)

Public approval of the Supreme Court has fallen following the leak of a draft opinion that would overturn the Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing abortion rights nationwide, according to a poll. Disapproval of the nation’s highest court was especially pronounced among the roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults who oppose overturning Roe, while support for the court was high among those in favor, according to the Marquette Law School Poll, which also found increased partisan polarization in approval. (Sherman, 5/25)

It’s still early, but so far at least eight of the estimated 90 state initiatives that voters will decide on this year are health-related, including four amendments, the most ever in one year, related to abortion access. “Many states are still in the signature-gathering phase for initiatives, but by late August or early September we will have a much clearer idea of the total number of measures and whether that is in line with previous years or not,” said Amanda Zoch, project manager for elections and redistricting at the National Conference of State Legislatures. By comparison, the overall number of initiatives related to health in both 2020 and 2018 was about two dozen. (Raman, 5/25)

The prospect of a potential Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade has skyrocketed online vasectomy searches and surged inquiries at two Ohio urology centers so far this month. On May 3, Politico published a majority opinion leaked from the court signaling that it would overturn the landmark 1973 decision granting federal protection for abortions in favor of sending the authority to each individual state. Within 24 hours of that leak, which was later confirmed to be authentic by Chief Justice John Roberts, online searches for vasectomies soared throughout the United States, including Ohio and Kentucky. (Sutherland, 5/26)

The Abbott Nutrition plant in Michigan that was shut down in February, sparking a widespread baby formula shortage crisis, had a leaking roof, water pooled on the floor and cracks in key production equipment that allowed bacteria to get in and persist, Dr. Robert Califf, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, told a House panel on Wednesday. He detailed “egregiously unsanitary” conditions in the Sturgis, Mich., plant to lawmakers during a hearing, but he also acknowledged that his agency’s response was too slow in addressing problems at the plant. (Jewett and Bogel-Burroughs, 5/25)

A senior official from the company at the center of the country’s infant formula shortages told lawmakers on Wednesday it can restart its now-shuttered plant as early as next week, disputing a timeline laid out just hours before by the head of the FDA. Christopher Calamari, who leads Abbott’s U.S. and Canada nutrition division, told lawmakers in sworn testimony Wednesday that the company hopes to reopen its now-shuttered plant in Sturgis, Mich. “the first week of June,” pending FDA approval. ... But FDA Commissioner Robert Califf testified earlier in the day that the plant is still “several weeks” away from reopening, and suggested it could be further delayed if Abbott doesn’t meet certain requirements. (Lee, 5/25)

When a whistleblower sent a 34-page report to the Food and Drug Administration in October alleging a host of unsanitary conditions at an Abbott infant formula factory, the top official in charge of food safety didn’t see it. In fact, Frank Yiannas, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for food policy and response, didn’t learn about the complaint until four months later, according to Yiannas and others knowledgeable about the case. (Kindy and Reiley, 5/25)

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf admitted Wednesday that the agency has been "too slow" in responding to the baby formula shortage, a crisis that has hospitalized malnourished infants, emptied store shelves, and driven desperate parents from store to store and across state lines in search of food for their babies. Califf and other FDA officials were excoriated as they testified before a frustrated panel of lawmakers on the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Democrats and Republicans were equally determined to get answers and prevent the shortage from happening again, they said. "Babies and children are suffering," Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said in her opening remarks as chair of the committee. (Woodall, 5/25)

Jill Biden and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy welcomed the delivery Wednesday of a second shipment of tens of thousands of pounds of baby formula that the Biden administration is importing from Europe to ease critical supply shortages in the U.S. The first lady and the nation’s doctor each sought to empathize with anxious parents nationwide who have been scrambling to find enough formula for their children. ... More deliveries are scheduled to arrive soon. The administration has cut the timeframe for deliveries to three days, down from up to four weeks, Murthy said.

The formula shortage is putting hospitals in a bind as desperate parents seek help and young children with special needs not getting adequate nutrition show up to pediatric wards and emergency departments. Although hospitals have formula on hand, they don't have enough to make up for the broken supply chain. "We definitely don't want to send a message 'Come to the hospital, we have an abundant supply of formula,' because unfortunately that's not the case," said Dr. James Franciosi, associate chief of the division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, Florida. (Hartnett, 5/25)

Below we’ve included a list of formulas that are available to order online (at this writing) and that the sellers say will ship within about a week or two. (We’ll update this list as stock and availability change.) Many infant formulas sold in the US are extremely similar, and experts say most babies can tolerate switching formulas well. In this article, we’ll tell you what to keep in mind about the current recall and formula safety, as well as some dos and don’ts for switching formula brands and types. (5/25)

Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that the Uvalde school shooter had a "mental health challenge" and the state needed to "do a better job with mental health" — yet in April he slashed $211 million from the department that oversees mental health programs. In addition, Texas ranked last out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for overall access to mental health care, according to the 2021 State of Mental Health in America report. (Hixenbaugh and Siemaszko, 5/25)

Authorities have identified the gunman as Salvador Ronaldo Ramos, 18, who they said shot his grandmother before entering Robb Elementary School. Ramos had legally purchased a pair of semiautomatic rifles recently, they said. Ramos, who was killed by police at the school, had no criminal record. ... Gov. Abbott speculated that Ramos probably suffered from mental illness — although he said authorities found no mental health record — and he called on political leaders to do more to address mental health. (Nakamura and Brulliard, 5/25)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott dismissed calls for more gun regulation following Tuesday’s deadly school attack in Uvalde, stating that cities with stronger gun laws aren’t safer.  ... “I hate to say this, but there are more people shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas,” Mr. Abbott said Wednesday. (De Avila, 5/25)

Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic candidate for governor of Texas, interrupted a press conference held by Republican incumbent Greg Abbott, who blamed Tuesday’s mass school shooting on a mental health crisis amid a national debate over gun control. As Abbott turned the microphone over to his lieutenant governor after delivering his remarks, O’Rourke approached the stage. A loud back-and-forth ensued, with Senator Ted Cruz telling O’Rourke several times to sit down and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick telling O’Rourke he was a disgrace. (Sherman, 5/25)

Chuck Schumer is giving long-shot gun safety negotiations a chance. Kyrsten Sinema is reaching out to Republicans on a path forward. And GOP senators are answering Chris Murphy’s call for new bipartisan talks. Betting on a 50-50 Senate to cut a deal responding to the massacre of 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school just five months before the midterms is still a long shot. But there’s enough will among Senate Democrats to at least give it a go, rather than force sure-to-fail votes intended to put Republicans on defense. (Everett, 5/25)

The New York Times reached out on Wednesday to all 50 Republicans in the Senate to see whether they would support a pair of House-passed measures to strengthen background checks for gun buyers. Within hours of the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Senate Democrats moved quickly to clear the way for possible votes on the two bills. The legislation would expand criminal background checks to would-be purchasers on the internet and at gun shows and give the F.B.I. more time to investigate gun buyers flagged by the instant background check system. (Cochrane, Leatherby, Parlapiano, Montague, Kavi, Cameron and Edmondson, 5/25)

School officials in Uvalde, Texas, promised to do everything they could to protect students from a mass shooting. Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District had doubled its security budget in recent years, according to public documents, in part to comply with state legislation passed in the wake of a 2018 school shooting in which eight students and two teachers were killed. The district adopted an array of security measures that included its own police force, threat assessment teams at each school, a threat reporting system, social media monitoring software, fences around schools and a requirement that teachers lock their classroom doors, according to the security plan posted on the district’s website. It happened anyway. (Khimm and Schuppe, 5/25)

“It’s not uncommon that folks feel shock, anxiety . . . based on a trauma that may occur far away and doesn’t have an immediate connection to their lives,” said Amanda Baker, director of the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It can be very personal even if it’s a distant experience.” Mass shootings “add fuel to the fire” of the uncertainty and fear already rampant amid the pandemic, Baker said. It’s part of being human, added Dr. Christine Crawford, a psychiatrist at Boston Medical Center. “Your thoughts automatically go to the horror those kids experienced. Your mind goes to profound sadness and loss. And you place yourself in that parent’s shoes, and you think about how you would react and respond,” she said. (Freyer, 5/25)

The shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, is deeply traumatic for survivors, their families, and the faculty and staff at the school. It also may be emotionally affecting other students across the country. American children regularly practice active-shooter drills and consider the possibility of a crisis in their own classrooms from a young age, making school shootings like the one in Uvalde very upsetting news for some, says Melissa Brymer, the director of terrorism and disaster programs at the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. (Clark, 5/25)

While the Supreme Court has been working behind closed doors on its first major Second Amendment opinion in more than a decade, three mass shootings have broken the country, including Tuesday's massacre of 19 schoolchildren in Texas. Closed off from public view, the justices are penning opinions and dissents in a dispute that targets one concealed carry law in New York that is more than a century old. A narrow ruling could impact only a handful of states with similar laws, but a more expansive ruling could open a new chapter in constitutional challenges to gun safety laws across the country. (de Vogue, 5/25)

For more than a decade, Senator Joshua Miller has been advocating the legalization of recreational marijuana in Rhode Island, and on Wednesday that moment had finally arrived. Television camera crews were set up on the sun-splashed south steps of the State House, focused on the table where Governor Daniel J. McKee would put pen to parchment to sign the Rhode Island Cannabis Act. Miller, a Cranston Democrat, stepped to the podium to talk about the legislation that he and Representative Scott A. Slater, a Providence Democrat, had introduced, amended, and shepherded to passage. But then he went off script. (Fitzpatrick, 5/25)

Roche Holding AG has developed three PCR test kits to help scientists trace the monkeypox virus, adding another diagnostic tool as public health authorities seek to contain the outbreak. One of the kits screens for monkeypox only, while two of them can detect other orthopoxviruses, a genus of viruses that includes smallpox as well as monkeypox. The tests will aid in tracing spread and will be available in most countries, Roche said in a statement on Wednesday. (Kresge, 5/25)

A study on the use of antivirals in seven monkeypox patients in the United Kingdom suggests that the smallpox drug tecovirimat could shorten symptoms and contagiousness. ... The authors cautioned that the sample size was very small but said the need for monkeypox treatments is urgent. (Van Beusekom, 5/25)

Disease detectives are uncovering clues to the origins of a monkeypox outbreak that has sickened more than 200 people, including the possibility that the cases lead back to a single infection. Researchers in countries including Portugal, Germany, Belgium and the U.S. have sequenced samples from confirmed cases and shared their findings online. Researchers from Portugal’s National Institute of Health said in a post on a virology research-sharing forum that similarities between the viral genomes from 10 cases detected there and one from a patient in the U.S. appear to suggest that the outbreak had a single origin. Philippe Selhorst, a medical virologist at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, said that a case sequenced there, who had recently travelled from Lisbon, was genetically linked to the Portugal cases. (Roland and Butini, 5/25)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a monkeypox alert to travelers after cases were reported in North America, Europe and Australia. The Level 2 alert urged people traveling to “Practice Enhanced Precautions,” though the agency said the risk is low for the general public. Confirmed cases of the rare disease have been found in countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, England, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Israel. (Diller, 5/25)

Two adults in the same Salt Lake County household were confirmed Wednesday to have recently contracted monkeypox. Salt Lake County Health Department officials had initially announced the two “probable” cases early Monday, based on preliminary testing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has since confirmed the suspected diagnoses. The two infected individuals traveled to an area in Europe earlier this month that is “currently experiencing monkeypox cases” and became symptomatic afterward, county health officials advised. (5/26)

Monkeypox appears to have exploded out of nowhere in the past two weeks, spreading across Europe, the Americas, and other regions. But warning signs appear to have gone unheeded. An unusual and long-running outbreak in Nigeria should have served as notice that it was only a matter of time before this orthopoxvirus pushed its way to the center of the infectious diseases stage, experts say. (Branswell, 5/26)

The sudden emergence of monkeypox in several countries around the world represents a concerning outbreak, the head of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations told CNBC on Thursday, but the virus does not represent the same kind of global threat as Covid-19. His comments come as international health authorities investigate the atypical spread of monkeypox, a rare viral disease typically confined to remote parts of Central and West Africa. “This is the first time that we have gathered again in Davos since the 2020 meeting and we find ourselves facing another dangerous disease threat,” CEPI CEO Richard Hatchett told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (Meredith, 5/26)

In an update on the unexplained hepatitis cases in children, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported 36 more potentially linked cases, raising the nation's total to 216. So far, 38 states or jurisdictions—including Puerto Rico—have reported cases. The Utah Department of Health said on Twitter today that it has identified two Utah children younger than 10 who were treated for unexplained hepatitis and that the cases are reflected in CDC's update today. Officials said the two children were hospitalized with serious liver disease and have both recovered. (5/25)

Two young Utah children may be part of the mysterious hepatitis outbreak that has puzzled public health officials globally. The Utah Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday said health care providers had not been able to identify the cause of the liver inflammation for which the children, both younger than 10, were treated. (Collins, 5/25)

Illinois has nine potential cases of severe hepatitis in children under 10, health officials said. That number is up from just three cases reported last month. The cases date back to January, and the most recent had the onset of symptoms in May, IDPH said. Two-thirds of the children tested positive for adenovirus, which is a common virus that typically causes cold or flu-like illness, health officials said. Five patients were reported in northern Illinois, two were in the western part of the state and one each was reported in the central and southern parts of the state. (5/25)

In the days leading up to Christmas, the Widders family of Cincinnati were in full holiday mode, focused on school parties, buying gifts and prepping for a vacation to Florida. In the hustle and bustle of the season, other parents might've missed the signs that something was amiss in one of their children, but Elizabeth and Jack Widders were paying attention. They noticed when the middle of their three children, 4-year-old Liviah, threw up a couple of weeks before Christmas, and they saw her develop a small rash a few days later. They dismissed the nausea because she’d eaten too many sweets at Grandma’s the day before, and they thought the rash may've been from a sweater dress she wore at a school Christmas party. But one thing that stood out was how Liviah suddenly seemed “more tired than usual,” Elizabeth Widders told TODAY.  (Austin, 5/25)

A large U.S. study looking at whether vaccination protects against long covid showed the shots have only a slight protective effect: Being vaccinated appeared to reduce the risk of lung and blood clot disorders, but did little to protect against most other symptoms. The new paper, published Wednesday in Nature Medicine, is part of a series of studies by the Department of Veterans Affairs on the impact of the coronavirus, and was based on 33,940 people who experienced breakthrough infections after vaccination. (Cha, 5/25)

New U.S. research on long COVID-19 provides fresh evidence that it can happen even after breakthrough infections in vaccinated people, and that older adults face higher risks for the long-term effects. In a study of veterans published Wednesday, about one-third who had breakthrough infections showed signs of long COVID. (Tanner, 5/25)

A special type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) found lung abnormalities in patients who had previously had COVID-19, even those who had not been hospitalized with the illness, according to a small UK study in Radiology. ... The authors said these findings could help explain some of the mysteries of long COVID, and guide clinicians in developing appropriate treatment plans. (5/25)

More than 200 symptoms can afflict those dealing with the aftereffects of Covid-19. An emerging approach to treating one of them—heart palpitations—highlights the successes scientists are having in addressing the symptoms, even if it may take years to understand how they’re caused. About 11% of coronavirus patients report experiencing palpitations or an increased heart rate, according to a meta-analysis of long-Covid studies published in the journal Scientific Reports in August. The symptoms are suggestive of a broader condition called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, which affects more than 24 million Americans—a number that’s growing because of Covid. POTS is more prevalent among women of childbearing age; often coincides with lightheadedness, brain fog, and gastric upset; and can eventually lead to chronic fatigue. (Gale, 5/25)

People who test positive for COVID-19 again after taking the drug Paxlovid should isolate for another five days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. There's a chance they might be contagious if they have this rebound effect, said the CDC's Dr. Lauri Hicks. This is the first time the CDC has issued guidance on what people should do if they test positive again a few days after testing negative for COVID-19. Although the guidance is specific to those taking Paxlovid, Hicks, chief medical officer of CDC's COVID-19 response, said anyone who tests positive or feels poorly again should stay away from others. (Weintraub, 5/25)

Polk County hospitals are running at limited capacity because of staffing shortages, increases in COVID-19 and normal summer injuries. The demand for hospital beds in Polk County is greater than the number of beds available, according to a news release from the Polk County Health Department. Rising COVID-19 cases and typical summer trauma injuries like motorcycle, bike, ATV and pool injuries are filling up hospitals said Nola Aigner-Davis, Polk County Health Department spokesperson. (Joens, 5/25)

COVID-19 hospitalizations among older Alaskans are increasing as new cases also rise, state health officials said Wednesday. People over 70 now make up the majority of the state’s COVID-positive patients, chief medical officer Dr. Anne Zink said during a briefing. Even for vaccinated and boosted people, age remains the top risk factor for severe illness from the virus. State health officials say current hospitalization rates of people over 70 remain far below those seen during last year’s surge driven by the delta variant, but rose over the last week. (5/25)

Two highly contagious omicron subvariants that recently swept through South Africa and sparked a rapid rise in coronavirus cases in that country have been detected in Santa Clara County’s wastewater systems, according to public health officials. Health experts say the newly discovered subvariants — BA. 4 and BA.5 — are more transmissible than the nation’s current dominant variants — BA.2 and BA.2.12.1 — and have so far evaded immunity protection. This month, the European Centers for Disease Control recently classified the two strains as “variants of concern.” (Greschler, 5/25)

KHN: California Schools Try To Outrace Covid Outbreaks

A fourth-grade camping trip led to one outbreak, a high school prom to another. But even with covid cases rising as schools head into the final stretch of the academic year, most California districts have not moved toward reinstating mask mandates. That stance has left many parents confused and concerned as they witness or hear about covid outbreaks among students after field trips and proms. (Kreidler, 5/26)

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has tested positive for COVID-19, his office said Wednesday, the same day state health officials urged people to wear face mask indoors as case counts steadily rise. At a news conference the state’s public health leaders said they weren’t issuing mandates but “strongly recommending” masks be worn indoors in crowded or confined places. (5/25)

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney said Wednesday that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and planned to work through minor symptoms she said she was experiencing. ... Cheney said in a statement that she was fully vaccinated and had also received a coronavirus booster. (5/25)

The federal health department shut down a program that paid hospitals and clinics for caring for uninsured Covid-19 patients, but some hospitals are now eyeing a backdoor option to get those costs paid for. Throughout much of the pandemic, the costs of testing, vaccinating, and treating uninsured patients were mostly funneled to a multi-billion-dollar program run by the Health Resources and Services Administration, but that program ran out of money and shut down in April. The program paid out more than $1 billion per month, which means its closure was a big hit for some facilities that serve large numbers of uninsured patients. (Cohrs, 5/26)

The University of Delaware cited rising new-case reports and hospitalizations both in its home state and across the nation when it announced its mask mandate would once again include all indoor spaces, effective Tuesday. President Biden, an alumnus, is scheduled to give a commencement address at the university on Saturday. Some public school systems have taken similar steps this week to reintroduce universal indoor masking, including two in Rhode Island, in Providence and Central Falls. Both are in a county that was recently classified as high risk, officials from each system said. (Petri, 5/26)

Legislation that would have kept state or local governments from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for entry into public places or private businesses was narrowly defeated Wednesday by a state Senate Committee. (5/25)

A fired University of Michigan staffer is suing the university for not providing him a religious exemption for the testing portion of its COVID-19 booster policy. Stevan Rajkovic, an IT specialist from Royal Oak who received the first two doses of the vaccine, obtained a medical exemption for the booster shot in March but refused to comply with the weekly testing requirement, according to federal court records in Detroit. (Dodge, 5/25)

The mother of four brought her children, ranging in age from grade school to high school, to the doctor’s office last summer for their annual checkup. When their pediatrician, Robert Froehlke, said that it was time for shots and several boosters and then mentioned the Covid vaccine, her reaction stunned him. “I’m not going to kill my children,” Froehlke recalls her saying, as she began to shake and weep. He ushered her out of the examination room, away from her children, and tried to calm her. “We’re just trying to help your kids be healthy,” he told her. But he didn’t press the issue; he sensed that she wasn’t persuadable at that moment. And he didn’t want to drive her away from his practice altogether. “That really shook me up,” he says. In his 14 years of practicing medicine in Littleton, a Denver suburb, Froehlke had seen parents decline their children’s vaccines for the sake of a more “natural” lifestyle. (Velasquez-Manoff, 5/25)

CureVac’s first-generation COVID vaccine—a shot that failed to reach anywhere near the high efficacy bar set by rivals—is continuing to drag on the German biotech’s earnings and is expected to negatively impact sales for the rest of the year. But the company is looking to its future, pointing to a next-generation COVID-19 shot and an influenza program in development with GlaxoSmithKline, plus a new focus on oncology thanks to a freshly signed deal with myNEO. (Armstrong, 5/25)

KHN: Novavax Missed Its Global Moonshot But Is Angling To Win Over MRNA Defectors 

Novavax hitched its wagon to the global coronavirus pandemic. Before most Americans truly grasped the scope of the danger, the small Maryland biotech startup had secured $1.6 billion in U.S. funding for its covid vaccine. Its moonshot goal: delivering 2 billion shots to the world by mid-2021. Although the U.S. commitment eventually expanded to $1.8 billion, hardly any Novavax shots have found arms due to manufacturing issues, and most of the world has moved on. Novavax stock has plummeted from $290 a share in February 2021 to around $50 recently. (Allen and Tribble, 5/26)

The incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) was elevated following vaccination with the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine Ad.26.COV2.5, according to study findings published in JAMA Network Open. (5/24)

After virtually disappearing for two years, influenza is back and rapidly sweeping across Australia – and the world. So far this year, there have been more than 15,000 flu cases in New South Wales alone, of which more than 12,000 were diagnosed since the start of May. ... Meanwhile, COVID cases continue to mount as colder weather sets in. The good news is, we know the influenza vaccine can protect against the flu – and a growing body of international research suggests the flu jab might also protect against COVID. A recent study of 30,774 health-care workers in Qatar found influenza vaccine could guard against COVID, particularly severe illness. (Messina, 5/25)

KHN: Watch: UVA Doctor Talks About The State Of The Pandemic And Health Equity

Just as covid-19 vaccines were rolling out, Dr. Taison Bell spoke with KHN about why Black Americans were getting vaccinated at lower rates than white Americans were. More than a year later, we checked in with Bell, an assistant professor of medicine and an intensive care unit doctor at the University of Virginia, about the state of the pandemic and changes that have occurred in the health equity conversation since then. (Norman, 5/26)

Even after the rape and murder of a resident earlier this year, inadequate staffing and poor care continued to put residents in danger at Homestead Healthcare Center, according to a recently released health inspection report. Failures in the weeks after the killing sent at least two of the nursing home's residents to the emergency room with life-threatening conditions. Others languished in urine-soaked beds and soiled bandages. One resident lost more than 40 pounds after the facility failed to provide nutritional supplements as recommended, inspectors found. (Cook, 5/26)

For a second consecutive week, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials are in Southern Nevada to investigate cases of a drug-resistant “superbug” at local hospitals and skilled-nursing facilities. The CDC is assisting the state in investigating 12 of 19 local facilities that have reported cases of Candida auris, a once-rare fungus that can cause serious illness and even death, most often in patients who already are frail. Teams of federal and state health officials had visited five facilities as of Wednesday morning, said Kimisha Causey with the Nevada State Healthcare Associated Infection Program. She did not identify any facilities that are experiencing ongoing outbreaks, saying it was too soon to make that determination. (Hynes, 5/25)

Missouri lawmakers want to require hospitals to allow patients designated caregivers. The Missouri legislature passed a bill that would give hospital patients and nursing home residents greater access to visitors and loved ones. The No Patient Left Alone Act now heads to Gov. Mike Parson. The bill requires health care facilities to allow patients to have at least two designated caregivers who can provide physical and mental support for the patient. The patient will also have access to a designated caregiver during a statewide emergency. (Davis, 5/26)

A bipartisan group of senators working on mental health policy have proposed axing a requirement that would have restricted seniors’ access to services via telehealth, they announced Thursday. Congress made access to mental health services through telehealth for seniors permanent in 2020, but there was a catch — seniors had to have visited the same provider in-person within the previous six months. That requirement hasn’t technically gone into effect yet because emergency regulations are still in place due to the pandemic, but if it were implemented, it could dramatically limit seniors’ options for mental health services. (Cohrs, 5/26)

Compensation among most physician specialties increased slightly in 2021 compared to the previous year, according to new data from the Medical Group Management Association. Compensation plateaued in 2020 as providers dealt with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a decline in nonessential healthcare services. Those trends reversed for most specialists last year, the MGMA reports. Surgical specialists, who saw the one of the largest pay declines in 2020, experienced a median 4% compensation increase that raised median income to $517,501 last year, the study found. Median primary care physician compensation rose 2% to $286,525 in 2021. Doctors coming out of residency had median earnings that were 7%-10% greater in 2021 than in the prior year, the data show. (Christ, 5/25)

Mississippi’s next State Health Officer is Dr. Daniel P. Edney, who will replace Dr. Thomas Dobbs on Aug. 1.Dobbs is resigning from the post he’s held since 2018 at the end of July. Edney currently holds the position of Deputy State Health Officer and has been with the department since February 2021. The Mississippi State Board of Health announced Edney’s promotion on Wednesday. (5/25)

Google has big ideas for machine learning in medicine. Greg Corrado, who helps lead health care research at Google AI, gets that those grand plans come with concerns. “With a technology that new, I think it’s reasonable for there to still be open questions,” Corrado said Tuesday at the STAT Health Tech Summit in San Francisco. Corrado, a neuroscientist by training, said that’s why it’s essential to measure the safety and efficacy of artificial intelligence systems for different uses in health care. (Joseph, 5/25)

On May 12, the South Florida Proton Therapy Institute issued a warning to its investors: It had a week’s worth of cash left and had to dip into a reserve fund to pay off debt. The proton beam therapy center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham fired off a similar warning that same day. It had a little more than three months of cash on hand and also was struggling to make debt payments. But the longtime financial strains at those and other similar centers, which house large machines that zap cancerous tumors in a more targeted fashion than traditional radiation, aren’t scaring anyone off. In fact, three other health entities — one in Connecticut, one in Texas, and another in Arkansas — are partnering with the same group that runs the two struggling facilities, Proton International, to build new centers in the next few years. Tax incentives, political photo ops, and grandiose characterizations of “cutting-edge” technology accompanied the announcements. (Bannow and Herman, 5/26)

Eli Lilly and Company plans to invest $2.1 billion in two new Indiana manufacturing sites, a move that’s expected to create hundreds of new jobs in the Hoosier state, the company announced Wednesday. The new facilities will expand the Indianapolis-based company’s manufacturing network for active ingredients and new therapeutic drugs, including those used to treat diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s and cancer, Lily officials said during a news conference at the governor’s residence. (Smith, 5/25)

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co. is expanding in Indiana, announcing Wednesday a $2.1 billion investment to build to two manufacturing sites side-by-side in Boone County. The project is expected to result in 500 high-paying jobs, said CEO and President Dave Ricks. The sites will be located in the LEAP Lebanon Innovation and Research District. The Indiana Economic Development Corp is exploring purchasing land for a large-scale research and innovation park. The project is pending local approvals. (Burris, 5/25)

Attorneys for the state of West Virginia and two remaining pharmaceutical manufacturers have reached a tentative $161.5 million settlement just as closing arguments were set to begin in a seven-week trial over the opioid epidemic, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Wednesday. Morrisey announced the development in court in the state’s lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., AbbVie’s Allergan and their family of companies. The judge agreed to put the trial on hold to give the parties the opportunity to work out a full settlement agreement in the upcoming weeks. (Raby, 5/25)

UCSF researchers studying the use of antibiotics to prevent sexually transmitted infections in high-risk individuals abruptly stopped enrolling new participants in a clinical trial this month after early results showed the intervention was effective and it would be unethical not to offer it more widely. The full study results won’t be presented until this summer at the International AIDS Conference in Canada, and questions remain about how safe antibiotics-as-prevention will be in the long run, including whether regular use of them could lead to more drug-resistant bacteria, researchers said. (Allday, 5/25)

About 15 years ago, cancer researchers noticed a trend. Some of the patients they were following had advanced tumors but were surviving a surprisingly long time with an experimental treatment. One of the things they had in common was a specific type of antibody, which seemed to give the immune system a leg up. That was noteworthy, because many cancer treatments depend on how tumors and immune cells fare as they face off in an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse. Normally, a cell in distress will display a protein on its surface, a kind of chemical alarm, flagging down the immune system like an orange spray-paint X marking a diseased tree for removal. The same is true of cancer cells: Their DNA damage makes them prime targets for culling. But many evolve to shed those alarm molecules, which helps them escape the immune system’s notice. The patients who were doing well had antibodies that could prevent that sloughing off. (Boodman, 5/25)

An outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease in a Bronx neighborhood has sickened 19 people since the beginning of the month, with one person dying, city health officials said Wednesday. The Health Department said cooling towers in the borough’s Highbridge section had been tested for the presence of the bacteria Legionella which causes the disease, a form of pneumonia. The bacteria was found in four of the towers, which the department ordered to be disinfected. (5/25)

Within days, the boy went from having cold symptoms to being unable to walk. To Peter Wright, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, it looked similar to polio — a condition not seen in the United States anymore. It had to be something else. The case occurred back in 2008, and tragically, the 5-year-old New Hampshire boy died. But his family permitted the scientific team to conduct an autopsy, to help solve “the mystery around the child’s death and illness,” Wright recalled. The researchers found something unusual: evidence of a common pathogen called an enterovirus, but in the fluid that bathes the spinal cord. (Joseph, 5/25)

Finding the most polluted places in the San Francisco Bay area is simple, a new air quality analysis shows: Locate places where mostly Black, Latino, Asian and low-income residents live, and pay them a visit. The data released Tuesday by Aclima — a California-based tech company that measured the region’s air quality block-by-block for the first time — found that communities of color are exposed to 55 percent more nitrogen dioxide, which contributes to smog, than mostly White communities. (Fears, 5/25)

�Թϲ�����ing for a better night's sleep? A digital app to treat insomnia is an effective alternative to sleeping pills, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the United Kingdom. The recommendation from NICE last week means that doctors in the UK's National Health Service can prescribe the Sleepio app, which uses artificial intelligence to provide people with cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia instead of sleep medications like zolpidem and zopiclone that can be dependency forming and aren't intended for long-term use. (Hunt, 5/26)

Postpartum depression (PPD) is estimated to affect more than one in ten women who have a baby and is just one of many mood disorders that a woman can get during pregnancy or in the first year after birth, known as the perinatal period. Yet these conditions, known as perinatal mood disorders, remain largely misunderstood by the public and healthcare providers alike, said experts at a roundtable discussion hosted by CNN's gender reporting team As Equals. (Senthilingam, 5/26)

While this will be University of Maryland, Baltimore County President Freeman A. Hrabowski III’s last graduation — he announced his retirement last August — he will leave the school with a number of leaders who will help the next generation of graduates to push past challenges and earn their degrees. Jane De Hitta, who had to pause her social work studies due to cancer treatment, is one of those leaders, and will help guide adult undergraduates through returning student programs. (Roberts, 5/26)

It finally happened. In a move that many health care advocates have been pushing for years, the state Senate introduced a bill on Wednesday that would expand the state’s Medicaid program to some half million-plus low-income North Carolinians. Until this point, Medicaid has been reserved mostly for children from low-income families along with a small number of parents in those families, poor seniors and people with disabilities. Since 2012, the possibility to sweep in many low-income workers has been on the table as a result of the Affordable Care Act, but Republican leaders in the state senate have been staunch opponents. (Hoban and Crumpler, 5/26)

The pregnancy-related health care services provided under Medicaid vary significantly by state, a new survey has found. The differences matter greatly because Medicaid finances over 40% of births in the United States—more in some states—and two-thirds of births by Black and Alaskan Native people. In recent years, policymakers have paid increasing attention to the higher rates of maternal mortality among those groups. The Kaiser Family Foundation this month released the results of a survey of 41 states between June and October 2021 that shows which pregnancy-related services each state covers. The federal government requires all states to provide cost-free Medicaid coverage to pregnant women with incomes under 138% of the federal poverty line and for at least 60 days after delivery. States are free to broaden the benefits. (Ollove, 5/25)

A legislative committee gave final approval Tuesday to a regulatory change adjusting the allowable amount of mold and yeast in the medical marijuana supply. Connecticut has two laboratories that test medical marijuana. The change, proposed by the Department of Consumer Protection and ratified by the Legislative Regulation Review Committee, means an increase in the total allowable amount of mold and yeast for cannabis tested at one lab and a decrease for the other. (Monk, 5/25)

Racial and ethnic gaps in spending on services for California children and teens with developmental disabilities have persisted, despite California investing tens of millions of dollars in efforts to address such disparities, a new report has found. The report, released Wednesday by the legal advocacy group Public Counsel, found that at most of the California regional centers, which assist developmentally disabled people across the state, spending inequities had worsened for Latino youth during the last budget year. Even as that gap narrowed statewide, it was widening at many individual centers. (Alpert Reyes, 5/25)

Mayor London Breed is proposing a $67.4 million investment in San Francisco’s beleaguered housing stock for the homeless, following a Chronicle investigation that revealed understaffing and squalid conditions in the buildings. The vast majority of the funds, about $62.4 million, would go toward raising pay for frontline workers and increasing the number of on-site case managers, who are critical in connecting residents to health care, job training and other services. (Palomino and Thadani, 5/25)

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday he is bring treated for possible Lyme disease after becoming ill following two events he attended in the northern part of the state. The Republican governor postponed his regularly scheduled COVID-19 briefings this week and said he has tested negative for the coronavirus. (5/25)

It’s been two and a half years since Tracey Edwards went through a pregnancy, labor and birth while incarcerated at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women. The suffering she experienced during her birth process still keeps her up at night. That experience is behind the lawsuit she filed last year against state prison officials for “vindication” for “unlawful treatment during the most vulnerable time in her life.” Her lawyers say her case could be reflective of the way pregnant people are treated in prisons in North Carolina and beyond. (Thompson, 5/25)

Texas’ top criminal appeals court on Wednesday ordered a man convicted of killing an 11-year-old Fort Worth girl be removed from the state’s death row. In a three-page opinion, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled by a 6-3 vote that Juan Ramon Meza Segundo does not qualify for execution because of intellectual disability under a recent Supreme Court standard. (5/25)

Three American tourists found dead inside two villas at a luxury Sandals resort in the Bahamas earlier this month were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, according to local news reports. Vincent Paul Chiarella, 64, of Florida, Michael Phillips, 68, and his wife Robbie Phillips, 65, from Tennessee, were found dead in the villas on May 6 at the adults-only Sandals Emerald Bay Resort on Great Exuma. (Marchante, 5/24)

Sandals Resorts has issued a statement regarding the deaths of three Americans at a Sandals resort in the Bahamas, saying carbon monoxide detectors have been added to guest rooms in the wake of a report that claimed carbon monoxide poisoning was determined to be the cause of death. (Pasquini, 5/25)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accidental carbon monoxide poisoning sends approximately 50,000 people in the United States to the emergency department each year. The CDC also said at least 430 people in the U.S. die from accidental CO poisoning each year.  (McGorry, 5/25)

After a week of stabilization, global COVID-19 cases are declining again, with downturns in two of four regions that have seen recent upticks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its latest weekly update on the pandemic. Part of the decline came from South Africa, which had experienced a spike involving the more transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants in late April. (Schnirring, 5/25)

A German court on Wednesday sentenced a woman who posed as a doctor to life in prison for causing the deaths of several people she treated. Judges at the regional court in Kassel said the evidence showed the 51-year-old woman, whose name was not given in line with German privacy rules, used a forged license to obtain employment as an anesthesiologist. (5/25)

A large study of adults in the United States who survived COVID-19 during the first 2 years of the pandemic found that they had twice the risk of developing pulmonary embolism or respiratory conditions in the year following infection. (Schnirring, 5/24)

Transmission of COVID-19 was significantly lower, and viable virus was detected for a shorter period, in fully vaccinated patients and staff isolated at a South Korean hospital than in their partially vaccinated and unvaccinated counterparts, finds a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. (5/25)

A multicenter Scottish study reveals persistent multisystem abnormalities among 159 COVID-19 patients 28 to 60 days after release from the hospital, including cardio-renal inflammation, diminished lung function, worse quality of life, and poor outcomes. (Van Beusekom, 5/24)

We transplanted kidneys from these genetically modified pigs into two brain-dead human recipients whose circulatory and respiratory activity was maintained on ventilators for the duration of the study. We performed serial biopsies and monitored the urine output and kinetic estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) to assess renal function and xenograft rejection. (Montgomery, M.D., et al, 5/19)

Researchers have found that eating cranberries could improve memory, ward off dementia, and reduce 'bad' cholesterol. The research team studied the benefits of consuming the equivalent of a cup of cranberries a day among 50 to 80-year-olds. They hope that their findings could have implications for the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia. (University of East Angila, 5/19)

In the aftermath of major mass shootings, politicians and pundits depict the killers as crazed monsters and blame mental illness as the fundamental cause. The same story has played out since the horrific massacres May 24 at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where police say an 18-year-old gunman, bullied while growing up, killed at least 21 people, 19 of them children, and May 14 at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, where an 18-year-old allegedly motivated by racist ideology is accused of murdering 10 people. But this misleading narrative is not supported by scientific evidence and is counterproductive to solving America’s epidemic of mass shootings. (Follman, 5/25)

The baby formula debacle has taught the nation many lessons. Among the most important is how the Food and Drug Administration failed. The agency did an insufficient job inspecting and monitoring formula factories. It reacted sluggishly to a whistleblower and to reports of sick infants. And it neglected to take timely action to prevent the shortage after a major production plant closed in February. (5/25)

More than 25 years ago, a group of mothers who waiting while their children with autism received therapy created a community of support. What started out as a way to help each other find resources has become Autism Tennessee, an advocacy group that connects caregivers, keeps them up to date on policy issues and organizes social events. Jessica Moore, interim executive director of Autism TN, spoke with me on this episode of the Tennessee Voices video podcast about the group's mission and work. (David Plazas, 5/24)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last week that 5- to 11-year-olds receive booster doses if it’s been at least five months since their first two shots of the coronavirus vaccine. While this policy simplifies federal guidance — everyone 5 and older is now recommended to receive at least one booster — it doesn’t answer the pressing question on many parents’ minds: Should their child receive the booster now, or wait until the fall? (Leana S. Wen, 5/25)

The Food and Drug Administration last week announced authorization of a third Covid vaccine dose — a single booster — for children 5-11. This comes as parents of kids under 5 still wait for vaccine authorization for their children, after months of hard-to-decipher announcements, from both the F.D.A. and pharmaceutical companies. According to reporting from Sharon LaFraniere in The Times at the end of April, the F.D.A. said that it understood the urgency of protecting children under 5, “and that it would act quickly ‘if the data support a clear path forward following our evaluation.’” (Jessica Grose, 5/25)

When the plane touched down in Chicago, I sighed with relief. After meticulous planning, we were returning from a two-week trip to Lima, Peru. We hadn’t seen my partner’s sister — soon to turn 91 years old — for five years and felt that with thorough precautions, we could keep ourselves and our loved ones safe while in Peru during the pandemic. That sigh of relief soon turned to alarm as we deplaned and saw virtually no one masked or practicing social distancing in the terminal. It was as if the pandemic was over, and any precautions had long been forgotten. I felt I had entered the Twilight Zone. (Barbara Shaw, 5/24)

Matt Lavallee was in college when he learned his girlfriend was pregnant. “The news scared me,” he said, acknowledging that an unintended pregnancy was an even more daunting prospect for his girlfriend. “But there was no question that abortion was the best option for us.” (Andrea Becker, 5/26)

The political climate energized by the potential fall of Roe v. Wade isn’t just going to prevent the ability of many women to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy, it might also prevent millions of people from trying to conceive in the first place. Think I’m being alarmist? Thirteen states have “trigger laws” banning abortion immediately or shortly after Roe falls. Some, like one that Oklahoma lawmakers passed, define life as beginning at “the moment of fertilization.” (Téa Francesca Price, 5/25)

Now that the Oklahoma State Legislature has voted to ban abortion from the moment of conception, I have a few questions for Justice Samuel Alito and any others who would join him in overturning Roe v. Wade: What is your reaction to the news from Oklahoma? The State Legislature gave final approval last Thursday to a bill that would prohibit nearly all abortions, starting at fertilization. It now awaits the signature of the governor, who has pledged to make Oklahoma “the most pro-life state in the country.” Does it thrill you to see the project of your judicial lifetime about to come to fruition? Or does it trouble you, even just a bit, to see what your judicial activism has unleashed? (Linda Greenhouse, 5/24)