Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Do You Know If You Are Protected Against Polio?; Tips To Prevent A Future Formula Shortage
While most reader questions continue to be about covid-19, a number of people have been writing to ask about polio in light of its reemergence in the United States. (Leana S. Wen, 10/6)
Ensuring a severe shortage never happens again will require comprehensive improvements in infant formula safety regulation, manufacturing resilience and the diversity of the U.S. formula market itself. (Alyssa Rosenberg, 10/6)
For Floridians, the overturning of Roe v. Wade was the second time this year that people in power sought to take away the most important decision most of us will ever make: whether or not to become a parent. In March anti-abortion state legislators abused their power by passing a 15-week abortion ban 鈥 though most Floridians oppose it. (Jamarah Amani, 10/6)
Women鈥檚 health care is in the news quite a lot these days, but one story that hasn鈥檛 been in the news nearly enough is how a new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule cuts women off from insurance coverage for certain family planning methods. (Cami Jo Tice-Harouff, 10/7)
Maternal mortality among Black women in the U.S. has received a considerable amount of attention over the past several years and with good reason. The risk of Black mothers experiencing a pregnancy-related death, maternal death, is three to four times that of white mothers. (Getty Israel, 10/7)
In mid-April 2020, as Covid-19 shutdowns and lockdowns were being put in place across the U.S., my grandmother鈥檚 health started to decline. At the time, doctors and nurses were being lauded as heroes. Certified nursing assistants didn鈥檛 get that acclaim, though they should have. (Toni Gingerelli, 10/7)
The FDA has announced the set of rules it proposes to enforce for manufacturers to claim that a food product is 鈥渉ealthy.鈥 The proposed rules are a lot better than the labeling anarchy that currently exists. But here鈥檚 my bottom line: health claims are not about health. They are about selling food products. (Marion Nestle, 10/7)