�������ýҕ�l

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of a Pfizer-BioNTech booster in adolescents 12 to 15 years old. The agency on Monday also shortened the time between the completion of primary vaccination of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and a booster dose to five months from six. Finally, the FDA allowed for a third dose of vaccine in immunocompromised children 5 to 11 years of age. (Hensley and Hernandez, 1/3)

A panel of vaccine experts advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to meet Wednesday to discuss the FDA’s authorization. Many doctor’s offices, schools and other vaccination sites could start providing the shots to adolescents if the panel and then the CDC director sign off. There should be sufficient supply, since the adolescents get the same dose already in use. (Hopkins, 1/3)

The number of children hospitalized with Covid-19 is soaring nationwide, especially as the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus spreads across the country. According to an NBC News analysis, at least nine states have reported record numbers of Covid-related pediatric hospitalizations: Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as Washington, D.C. (Edwards, 1/3)

At Texas Children's Hospital, 4-month-old Graysen Perry has Covid-19 and is struggling to breathe. His mom, Gayvielle Goff, is struggling to talk. "It's just really scary," Goff said, trying to suppress tears. At the same Houston hospital, 17-year-old Halie Mulanax is fighting Covid-19 on a ventilator. She's never seen her 3-week-old baby because she's been in a medically induced coma for almost a month. Across the country, hospitals are grappling with an unprecedented surge of children with Covid-19 -- fueled by holiday gatherings and the highly contagious Delta and Omicron variants. (Marquez and Yan, 1/4)

Michigan broke yet another pandemic record Monday as the state health department reported 96 kids are hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19. The majority of those hospitalized children — 60 — are from Healthcare Coalition Region 2 South, which includes 2.2 million people living in Monroe, Washtenaw and Wayne counties and includes the city of Detroit. The sudden rise in pediatric hospitalizations from the virus surpassed the previous pandemic peak of 71 set on April 20 and comes as the highly transmissible omicron variant gains ground in the state — driving yet another surge on the heels of a brutal monthslong wave brought on by the delta variant. (Jordan Shamus, 1/3)

President Joe Biden will address the American public Tuesday about the omicron variant as COVID-19 cases continue multiplying to record levels following the holidays. Nearly 1 in 100 Americans have tested positive for the virus in just the last week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Over one million cases were reported in the U.S. on Monday alone, although many of the cases were likely backlogged from the New Year's weekend. (Tebor, 1/4)

A substantial increase in coronavirus infections was expected when this week's numbers came out, but nothing like this. The intensely rapid spread of the omicron variant and a backlog of cases from the New Year's weekend has resulted in U.S. health authorities tallying more than three times as many new cases as in any previous wave of the coronavirus -- over 1 million reported on Monday alone. About 1 of every 100 Americans will have been reported as a positive case in just the last week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. (Ortiz, Bacon and Tebor, 1/3)

More than 103,000 Americans were hospitalized with covid-19 on Monday, according to Washington Post figures, the highest number since late summer, when the delta variant of the coronavirus triggered a nationwide surge in cases. The figure reflects the 27 percent rise in covid-19 hospitalizations in the United States in the past week, while the daily average of new cases during the same period more than doubled. Average daily new deaths from covid-19 declined by 8 percent. (Jeong and Hassan, 1/4)

See how the pandemic has affected recent hospital capacity in the map below, which shows data reported by individual hospitals. Health officials have said that the data should not discourage sick people from seeking care. (Conlen, Keefe, Sun, Leatherby and Smart, 1/4)

Nearly two years after the first confirmed coronavirus case was reported in Utah, the state reported 4,659 new cases Thursday, almost breaking a record for the amount of cases reported in a single day. A whopping 14,754 new cases were reported following the long New Year’s weekend, including Thursday’s tally. Another 3,799 new cases were recorded Friday, 3,267 were recorded Saturday and 3,123 were recorded Sunday. The new cases amounted to an average of 3,688.5 per day, according to the Utah Department of Health. “The amount of omicron in our communities is intense right now,” Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, an infectious diseases physician at Intermountain Healthcare, said. (Pierce, 1/3)

The spread of COVID-19 showed no sign of slowing Monday as St. Louis County officials reported a record for new daily infections and local hospitals reported a record number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus. The worrisome numbers come after weeks of surging COVID-19 cases locally and across the U.S., compounded by the new, highly contagious omicron variant, holiday travel and gatherings, and colder winter weather driving people indoors. In St. Louis County, the state’s most populous county, the rolling seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases hit 1,696, a record in the daily case rate since the global coronavirus pandemic reached the metropolitan area in March 2020. (Benchaabane and Merrilees, 1/3)

Louisiana health officials on Monday reported the largest multiday increase in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, as the highly-infectious omicron variant continued to spread following holiday gatherings and as many of the state's schoolchildren returned to classrooms. The Louisiana Department of Health said it logged 24,433 new cases since Thursday, or an average of 6,108 per day over the four-day period. The only days with higher one-day totals since the start of the pandemic were on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. (Woodruff, 1/3)

Connecticut’s daily COVID positivity rate reached 21.5% Monday, setting another record as the highly contagious omicron variant continued its spread throughout the state. Hospitalizations increased by 301, bringing the total to 1,452. Of those, 68.8% were people who are not fully vaccinated, state officials said. The data include numbers from Friday, Saturday and Sunday. “I know people are scared and are concerned with hearing about a new variant yet again,” Dr. Manisha Juthani, the state’s public health commissioner, said at a press conference in Stamford Monday morning. “The good news is, if you’re vaccinated and particularly if you’re boosted, the majority of people are having mild symptoms.” (Carlesso and Golvala, 1/3)

The Navajo Nation reported 10 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and no deaths Monday, but tribal health officials say the first case of the omicron variant has been detected on the vast reservation. ... The reservation covers 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometers) and extends into parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. (1/4)

Chicago-area hospitals are postponing many elective surgeries, as Illinois on Sunday set a record for COVID-19 hospitalizations. The news of postponed surgeries comes just days after Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Health and Hospital Association urged hospitals to delay nonemergency procedures as needed, without risking patient harm. They issued the plea in anticipation of a post-holiday, omicron-driven surge and potential shortage of staffed intensive-care beds. (Schencker, Petrella and Mahr, 1/3)

Health care staff shortages and near-capacity COVID-19 units are straining Philadelphia area hospitals even as they prepare for a bigger wave of cases following the holiday season. Some hospitals have begun canceling non-urgent procedures to reserve their depleted staff for critically ill patients, while others have tightened visiting policies that had loosened during the summer. Inside hospitals, workers described scenes dramatically different from just a few weeks ago. Most hospitalized patients are unvaccinated. But workers are also seeing people who were vaccinated against COVID-19 — but not boosted — filling beds faster than the hospital can discharge patients who’ve recovered. (Gantz and Whelan, 1/4)

Los Angeles County is beginning to see delays in ambulance response to 911 calls, as more employees are unable to work due to COVID-related illnesses and ambulances are forced to wait to offload patients at hospitals, health officials said Monday. “People should reach out to their physicians for suggestions to treat mild COVID symptoms,” the county Department of Health Services said in a statement to The Times. “Do not seek COVID testing at emergency departments but at established sites.” Meanwhile, hospitalizations of children with coronavirus infections in L.A. County have tripled in the last month. (Lin II, Money, Blume and Alpert Reyes, 1/3)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) called on the federal government to allow states to purchase monoclonal antibody treatments on Monday as his state and the country are slammed with COVID-19 cases. The governor said during a press conference in Fort Lauderdale that the state is waiting to obtain enough doses to open five to 10 more monoclonal antibody treatment sites. But with the federal government in “control” of the supply, that plan is “all contingent on the federal government sending the doses we need,” he said. (Coleman, 1/3)

Hospitals in Houston reportedly say they could run out of the antibody treatment sotrovimab within the next two weeks. Sotrovimab has been proven effective against the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) told Fox News on Saturday that its four-hospital network is "using sotrovimab with the patients who need it most and are waiting on the next shipment." The Houston Chronicle reported Friday that Houston Methodist West Hospital has enough supply to meet demand until Jan. 13. (Musto, 1/2)

The chief doctor for Congress is urging lawmakers and staff to take greater precautions in protecting themselves from the coronavirus as the Capitol grapples with an explosive spike in COVID-19 cases. The Capitol's attending physician Brian Monahan said on Monday that the Capitol COVID-19 testing center's seven-day "positivity rate went from less than 1 percent to greater than 13 percent" since the end of November. In a letter to congressional offices, Monahan advised members to shift towards remote work, noting that hundreds of people have been infected. For those choosing to remain on the Hill, he suggested cloth face coverings should be swapped out with more robust N95 or KN95 masks. (Romo, 1/3)

The U.S. Navy combat ship that was sidelined by a coronavirus outbreak among its crew last month has returned to sea, even as some sailors on board remain positive for the virus, officials said on Monday. The USS Milwaukee, a littoral combat ship with a crew of 105 plus a detachment of Coast Guard personnel and an aviation unit, had been at port in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, since Dec. 20, after stopping at the U.S. military base there to refuel. The Associated Press reported that about 25 percent of the ship’s sailors had tested positive. (Thebault and deGrandpre, 1/3)

Months after Delta threatened the fall back-to-school ritual, COVID-19 is again complicating kids' return to the classroom. While government officials worked to convince school administrators and parents over the last several days that kids could safely get back to in-person learning after the holidays, the reality on the ground amid the spread of Omicron is much more complicated. "I still believe very firmly and very passionately, not only as an educator but as a parent, that our students belong in the classroom and that we can do it safely," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. (Reed, 1/3)

Even as coronavirus caseloads hit record levels, school districts across the country are reopening for in-person learning this week, mindful of the damage that remote education inflicted last year and determined to avoid a repeat. ... Some districts announced a return to online school due to a spike in cases, including large systems in Cleveland, Atlanta and Newark. But the vast majority of schools opened Monday or plan to reopen this week, determined to avoid the academic, logistical and social-emotional disruptions that came with remote learning. (Meckler and Strauss, 1/3)

As the pandemic’s intensity heightened Monday, with doctors and nurses pleading for the public not to visit emergency rooms for mild COVID symptoms and the state’s death toll approaching 20,000, schools found themselves battling to reopen safely, yet again. In contrast with last year, though, this year the state has banned districts from offering remote learning in most cases. Most districts continued as usual Monday after winter break, while at least 10 districts delayed class because of low staffing or to test teachers and students. School districts reported anecdotal increases in the number of staff with COVID, though not at unmanageable levels — for now, said Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. But many districts were concerned about being able to stay open in the coming weeks. (Vázquez Toness and Martin, 1/3)

Tennessee officials are appealing a judge’s order that blocked the state’s new severe limits on when public schools can require masks during the COVID-19 pandemic and its ban against local officials making decisions about quarantines in schools. The state filed its notice of appeal last week in U.S. District Court in Nashville. Judge Waverly Crenshaw blocked the education provisions of the sweeping new law last month while the court case proceeds, saying the law “offers no protection to students, let alone those that are disabled.” (1/4)

Gov. Gavin Newsom promised that schools would receive at-home COVID-19 tests in time for students to safely return to campuses after winter break, as health officials warned of a surge in cases over the holidays. But as many school districts resumed classes on Monday, they did so without having received a single test from the state. Just half of the 6 million tests Newsom said the state would purchase for schools have been delivered, while an additional 1 million tests are en route and expected to be delivered within 24 hours, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Public Health said Monday. An additional shipment of 1.5 million tests was expected to arrive Monday to the state’s warehouse before being directed to counties, while the remaining 500,000 tests have been ordered and are expected to arrive later this week, the agency said. (Mays and Gutierrez, 1/3)

House and Senate proposals seek to add personal protective equipment to a list of items teachers can purchase with money from the state. Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Doral, filed the Senate version (SB 1376) last week, after a similar measure (HB 919) was filed last month by Rep. Travaris McCurdy, D-Orlando. The measures would include items such as masks and shields, gloves and goggles as allowable expenditures under the Florida Teachers Classroom Supply Assistance Program. (1/3)

The COVID surge descended with a boom Wednesday at the Ellis Early Learning center in the South End. On its first morning open since Christmas, five teachers tested positive for COVID, joining four others already home with infections. Several classrooms closed, leaving some families without child care. Ellis’s experience could foreshadow what other child care centers see when many reopen this week after winter break. Early education providers said they’re concerned that the rise in COVID cases in Massachusetts threatens their ability to keep classrooms open, imperiling parents’ ability to work. “It’s really demoralizing and operationally very, very hard,” said Lauren Cook, Ellis’s chief executive. “How do we keep these classrooms open and how do we keep our kids and our teachers safe? They don’t always complement each other.” (Martin and Woodward, 1/3)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering altering its recommendations for people with COVID-19 after it got pushback on its new guidelines, Dr. Anthony Fauci said. President Biden's chief medical adviser said there was "some concern" that the CDC told people to isolate for five days but did not recommend that they get a negative test before leaving isolation. "That is something that is now under consideration," Fauci said Sunday during an interview on ABC's This Week. On Monday the CDC cut the number of days it recommends COVID-positive people remain in isolation from 10 days to five if they are no longer showing symptoms. People are urged to wear masks for another five days after that to avoid infecting others. (Hernandez, 1/2)

As demand for COVID-19 testing soars along with numbers of new cases, people with mild symptoms – or none at all – are crowding already busy Las Vegas-area emergency rooms to be tested for the coronavirus. University Medical Center and its Quick Care facilities are seeing significant numbers of these patients, “including many who are seeking testing rather than treatment for symptoms,” hospital CEO Mason Van Houweling said in an email on Monday. “In most cases, these patients can recover at home without medical care.” In statement earlier in the day, Van Houweling urged community members to avoid visits for nonurgent medical needs. With the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, the UMC sites “continue to experience significant increases in patient volumes,” which means longer wait times for those with nonemergency conditions, he said. (Hynes, 1/3)

Long lines of angry residents were the norm in towns from Ansonia to South Windsor on Monday as local officials distributed what few at-home COVID test kits they had, then turned away people who had waited in their cars for hours. In Ansonia, Mayor David Cassetti warned people in a robocall on Sunday night that the city had a limited supply of kits to give away at Nolan Field on Monday morning. He cautioned people not to come and line up early, but people didn’t heed the request, and the line of cars stretched into neighboring Seymour and almost onto Route 8. (Altimari, 1/3)

Philadelphia officials are warning residents to avoid pop-up tests offering COVID-19 testing in Center City that claim to be funded by the federal government. The tents started operating around Center City in late December and city officials confirmed over the weekend that they had falsely claimed they were backed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Lab Elite, a Chicago-based company offering PCR tests, runs testing sites in several cities and said it collected about 4,000 test samples in Philadelphia last month. Owner Nikola Nozinic blamed the issues in Philadelphia on the local test collector hired to collect the samples and said he has shut them down. (McCrystal and Marin, 1/4)

Citing COVID-19 testing backlogs in the U.S. amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, a doctor argued in an article published Monday that these tests would be best served if they were used by symptomatic individuals who could benefit most from early intervention. Dr. Benjamin Mazer, a physician who specializes in laboratory medicine and frequent writer in the Atlantic, wrote in the magazine that it may seem "reckless to suggest that people undergo less [italics his] surveillance," but argued that it cannot be ignored that "each unnecessary swab that you consume means one fewer is available for more important purposes—such as diagnosing a symptomatic infection." (DeMarche, 1/4)

Some savvy consumers have discovered that at-home COVID-19 tests are available from an unlikely source: Telemedicine company Ro. At its inception in 2017, under the name Roman, the company billed itself as a men's health care company providing discreet treatments for conditions including erectile disfunction and hair loss. (Cerullo, 1/3)

Months after recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection, survivors have elevated levels of antibodies that can mistakenly attack their own organs and tissues, even if they had not been severely ill, according to new findings. Among 177 healthcare workers who had recovered from confirmed coronavirus infections contracted before the availability of vaccines, all had persistent autoantibodies, including ones that can cause chronic inflammation and injury of the joints, skin and nervous system. (Lapid, 1/4)

A series of preliminary studies suggest that cellular immunity elicited by vaccines or prior COVID infections remains effective against the Omicron variant. This form of immunity is associated with protection against severe disease. That means that while vaccinated people or those with prior infections are significantly less protected against Omicron infection, they're unlikely to become seriously ill. It's still unclear how likely the Omicron variant is in the first place to cause serious disease, even in people who haven't been vaccinated or previously infected. (Owens, 1/4)

Humans have infected wild deer with Covid-19 in a handful of states, and there’s evidence that the coronavirus has been spreading among deer, according to recent studies that outline findings that could complicate the path out of the pandemic. ... The research suggests that the coronavirus could be taking hold in a free-ranging species that numbers about 30 million in the U.S. No cases of Covid spread from deer to human have been reported, but it’s possible, scientists say. (Bush, 1/2)

Betty White’s agent is clearing up a false rumor circulating online that the TV icon received a COVID-19 booster shot last week, three days before her death on New Year’s Eve. White’s agent and close friend, Jeff Witjas, revealed to the media Monday that she died “peacefully in her sleep at her home,” while debunking a statement, falsely attributed to her, that she had received a booster shot on Dec. 28. “People are saying her death was related to getting a booster shot three days earlier but that is not true,” Witjas said in a statement to People. “She died of natural causes. Her death should not be politicized — that is not the life she lived.” (Ross, 1/3)

Twitter Inc. on Sunday said it permanently banned the personal account of Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for repeated violations of the platform’s prohibition against spreading misinformation about Covid-19. The Georgia lawmaker was previously suspended for tweeting false claims about the Covid vaccine and health risks during the global pandemic. A Twitter spokesman said the company has “been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.” (Edgerton, 1/2)

A new report says Oklahoma had the highest 2021 COVID-19 death rate in the country, but the state’s health commissioner says the report is missing context. The report from NBCLX, which draws on data from Johns Hopkins University, calculated Oklahoma’s death rate at 248 per 100,000 people. The national average for 2021 was 137 per 100,000, NBCLX reported. The analysis appears to use data based on the date the death was reported, rather than the date the death occurred. But death reporting happens on a lag of weeks or months, so many deaths reported in early 2021 actually occurred in 2020. (Branham, 1/3)

Alex Willis, owner of a pharmacy in south Georgia, was eagerly waiting Monday for his first shipments of a potentially game-changing COVID-19 treatment in pill form. The two new antiviral pills — both of which require a doctor’s prescription — could be a powerful tool to combat COVID-19 at a crucial time in the pandemic as the omicron variant has spiked the number of new infections. The tablet form of treatment is convenient, can be picked up at a pharmacy and taken at home. All previously authorized drugs for COVID-19 require an IV or injection administered by a medical professional. (Oliviero, 1/4)

Walmart temporarily shut almost 60 U.S. stores in COVID-19 hotspots in December to sanitize them against the virus, in a sign the new Omicron variant is disrupting the retail industry. The Walmart stores – in locations including Texas and New Jersey – were closed for two days for cleaning “to present a safe and clean in-store environment for our associates and customers," a company spokesperson told Reuters in a statement. Walmart has more than 4,700 U.S. locations in total. (Naidu and Kaye, 1/3)

Israel on Monday began offering anyone over 60 a chance to get a fourth shot of a coronavirus vaccine, greatly expanding a double-booster effort that previously included just older residents with compromised immune systems and some health-care workers. The initiative puts Israel at the forefront of aggressive vaccination strategies as the omicron variant drives up infection rates around the world. (Hendrix, 1/3)

Flu cases were at historic lows during last year's season as schools shut down and workplaces went remote, but with a resurgence of influenza, concerns about a "twindemic" caused by "flurona" are high. Israel recently confirmed what is believed to be one of the first documented cases of an individual infected with both the flu and COVID-19. An unvaccinated pregnant woman tested positive for both illnesses last week at the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, the Times of Israel reports. (Best, 1/3)

A federal judge on Monday granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Defense from taking “any adverse action” against 35 Navy sailors who have refused to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, arguing that it violated their religious freedoms. The service members — including Navy SEALs and members of the Naval Special Warfare Command — had filed suit against the Biden administration arguing that their “sincerely held religious beliefs forbid each of them from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine for a variety of reasons based upon their Christian faith.” The Pentagon had mandated that all active-duty troops receive the vaccine. (Albeck-Ripka, 1/4)

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Monday announced his advocacy group has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to reject the Biden administration's attempt to require large businesses to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for its workers or require frequent testing. Pence filed the brief, which was shared with The Hill, through his political advocacy group Advancing American Freedom.  (Samuels, 1/3)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the city could expand its Covid-19 vaccine mandates to include requiring booster shots in April. “We will do an analysis around April based on the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and see if we want to mandate them,” Adams said in a Monday interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power with David Westin.” Right now, public sector employees are required to be fully vaccinated. A vaccine mandate for private sector workers went into place on Dec. 27, with employees required to get their second dose within 45 days or they won’t be allowed to come to their workplaces. (Westin and Banjo, 1/3)

Starbucks Corp. is requiring its U.S. employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or submit to regular testing, one of the first large restaurant chains to take such a step ahead of potential federal vaccination mandates for large employers. Starbucks said Monday that workers in its U.S. cafes, offices and manufacturing plants must be vaccinated by Feb. 9 or get tested weekly. (Haddon, 1/3)

An Indiana lawmaker filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would ban "vaccine status discrimination," coming just as cases soar. Senate Bill 114 would prohibit businesses from requiring vaccines for any employees or customers. Businesses also could no longer require those who are unvaccinated to get tested, wear a mask or social distance, in situations when those who are vaccinated aren't required to. Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadesville, said he drafted the bill because of a deluge of phone calls and emails from people concerned about vaccine mandates. People shouldn't be forced into getting the COVID-19 vaccine, he said. (Lange, 1/4)

A draft version of a permanent rule from a board subcommittee would only require COVID-19 vaccines after some cited concerns that other ongoing requirements could create an unnecessary burden as the state struggles to manage the pandemic and faces a workforce crisis. That would differentiate EMS workers from workers in hospitals and nursing homes. “I think all of the vaccines are important for anyone working in health care,” said Joe Kellner, a Northern Light Health administrator who chairs the state EMS board’s rules subcommittee. “At this point, we are working on dealing with the acute crisis in front of us, and dealing with the vaccine that is the most critical.” (Andrews, 1/4)

The Biden administration on Monday outlined tighter regulations for U.S. meatpackers, accusing the industry of inflating Americans’ food bills, as meat companies say they are experiencing persistent supply chain problems and labor shortages as the economy recovers from the pandemic. President Biden’s push to tackle meat prices comes as his administration seeks to ease inflation, which hit a nearly four-decade high in November. Inflation has emerged as a pressing concern for American voters, a Wall Street Journal poll released last month found, and Republicans have been criticizing Mr. Biden over high prices for months. (Thomas and Lucey, 1/3)

President Joe Biden met virtually with independent farmers and ranchers Monday to discuss initiatives to reduce food prices by increasing competition within the meat industry, part of a broader effort to show his administration is trying to combat inflation. “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism — it’s exploitation,” Biden said. (Boak and Superville, 1/3)

Starting Jan. 1, labels at the grocery store are about to get a makeover on foods that have been genetically modified. The goal was to get rid of the patchwork of different labels for foods and ingredients that have been scientifically tinkered with, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, the move also puts a greater burden on consumers to do their homework to understand what the labels mean, food advocates say. Foods that previously were labeled as containing “genetically engineered” (GE) ingredients or “genetically modified organisms” (GMOs) will now be labeled as “bioengineered,” or come with a phone number or QR code guiding consumers to more information online. (Reiley, 1/1)

As 2022 gets under way, pharmaceutical companies have so far raised wholesale prices by a median of 4.9% on more than 450 prescription medicines, an overall annual increase that is comparable to the price hikes seen over the past three years, according to a new analysis. The numbers are preliminary, though, because still more price increases are expected to be disclosed by drug makers later this month, since not every company has reported their latest prices to industry databases. Nonetheless, the early indication is that many drug makers are keeping price hikes in check due to ongoing bad publicity that has sparked sustained political pressure. (Silverman, 1/3)

Drug companies raised the prices on hundreds of medications on Jan. 1, with most prices up 5% to 6% on average. The start of the new year is the most popular time for drug companies to hike prices, and even though high drug prices remain one of the biggest political health care issues, increases in 2022 are tracking in line with other recent years. (Herman, 1/4)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officially tossed out a Trump-era policy that would have prevented Medicare from paying more for certain outpatient drugs than the lowest price paid by other wealthy countries, according to a final rule released last week. All but one of the 34 commenters on the proposed rule supported rescinding the policy, according to CMS. "We will continue to carefully consider this commenter's feedback and other stakeholders' feedback that we received as we explore all options to incorporate value into payments for Medicare Part B drugs, improve beneficiaries' access to evidence-based care, and reduce drug spending for consumers and throughout the healthcare system," the final rule said. (Goldman, 1/3)

A heated clash over a U.S. government drug discount program has intensified after a federal agency appealed several recent court rulings that questioned its approach to enforcing a decades-old initiative. At the same time, AbbVie became the latest in a growing number of companies to restrict its discounts, adding to the disarray over a program that provides a safety net to low-income patients. In a series of filings made last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services appealed decisions issued in different federal courts that, in varying degrees, raised concerns about the agency’s authority to administer its interpretation of the 340B Drug Discount Program. Some of the rulings, though, also chastised drug makers for taking unilateral steps to withhold discounts. (Silverman, 1/3)

Novo Holdings has won the auction for Medical Knowledge Group, which provides marketing services to drug companies, at a $1.15 billion enterprise value, four sources tell Axios. Drug therapies being developed today are increasingly aimed at smaller patient populations, which can complicate commercialization. If you have a true data analytics business like MKG, or a tech-enabled strategy, investors have no problem paying a premium. (Pringle, 1/3)

While Keanu Reeves’ new installment in “The Matrix” franchise wasn’t quite the blockbuster that Warner Bros’ hoped, a new report shows the actor continues to win praise for being one of Hollywood’s most decent and well-liked celebrities. The new report, from Lad Bible, said that the 57-year-old “Resurrections” actor donated up to 70% of his salary from the original “Martrix” movie to cancer research. The New York Post added that Reeves was reportedly paid $10 million upfront for the groundbreaking 1999 science fiction film, before earning another $35 million when the movie became a box office blockbuster. Seventy-percent of those earnings meant that $31.6 went to leukemia research. (Ross, 1/3)

Do you live in a city vying to be the country’s next biotech hub? Get in line. In recent years, the Berkshires, Salt Lake City, and even Rochester, Minn., among others, have jockeyed for the designation. Now, however, three cities in Texas — Austin, Dallas, and Houston — are combining resources in an effort to create a triangle of innovation, hoping to succeed where others have failed. Backers say the difference is a dose of Texas-sized ambition. (Bender, 1/4)

Ohio state Rep. Beth Liston had accepted campaign donations from Pfizer before, but this time the check in her mailbox gave her pause. Debates over Covid-19 vaccine policy have roiled state legislatures across the country, including in Ohio. Video footage of a physician warning state lawmakers that vaccines magnetize people went viral over the summer, and Liston, a doctor herself, took it upon herself to be the public face discrediting the conspiracy theory. Liston is a Democrat, and she is a strong advocate for vaccination. She had never thought much of accepting a few hundred dollars from drug makers, but this year, she returned a $300 check from Pfizer and a $250 check from Johnson & Johnson to pre-emptively head off any questions about her intentions. (Cohrs, 1/4)

No part of the Food and Drug Administration has been challenged by the pandemic quite like the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and its Office of Vaccines Research and Review. Now that center, which put some of its work on hold to review Covid-19 vaccine applications at record speed, is facing a new challenge: getting back to normal. (Florko, 1/4)

A federal jury convicted Elizabeth Holmes, the startup founder who claimed to revolutionize blood testing, on four of 11 charges that she conducted a yearslong fraud scheme against investors while running Theranos Inc., which ended up as one of Silicon Valley’s most notorious implosions. The verdict caps a steep fall for the former Silicon Valley star who once graced magazine covers with headlines such as “This CEO is Out for Blood” and emulated Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs by wearing black turtlenecks. (Randazzo and Somerville and Weaver, 1/3)

After the verdict was read, defense and prosecution lawyers discussed plans for Ms. Holmes’s sentencing, the status of her release and the fate of the three hung charges. Judge Edward J. Davila of the Northern District of California, who oversaw the case, said he planned to declare a mistrial on those charges, which the government could choose to retry. The parties agreed that Ms. Holmes would not be taken into custody on Monday. A sentencing date is expected to be set at a hearing on the three hung charges next week. (Woo, 1/3)

The fraud conviction of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes could offer Silicon Valley’s culture of hubris and hype some valuable lessons. Will anyone in the tech industry actually take this moment to heart? Don’t count on it. (Liedtke, 1/4)

Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester approved a new contract with parent company Tenet Healthcare on Monday night, ending the longest nursing strike in state history, the nurses union said. Nurses voted overwhelmingly in favor of the deal between Dallas-based Tenet and the Massachusetts Nurses Association, more than 300 days after they began picketing outside the hospital. “For nearly 10 months our nurses have walked the line for safer patient care, for the honor of our profession and for the right of all workers who make the difficult decision to engage in a lawful strike to return to their original positions,” said Marlena Pellegrino, a longtime St. Vincent’s nurse who co-chaired the bargaining unit, in a statement. “As we stand here tonight, we can proudly say we have achieved our goals.” (Stoico, 1/3)

Telehealth utilization declined by an average of 40.3% a month last year compared to 2020, an analysis published last month shows. Telemedicine skyrocketed in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic's peaks starting in 2020, but patient declined as people returned to physician offices last year, according a review of commercial, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care claims by the analytics firm Trilliant Health. The company compared telehealth utilization during the March through December 2020 period to 2021 to determine the trends. (Devereux, 1/3)

A few years back, Travis Ogden’s ambulance crew raced to revive a 4-year-old who’d drowned, the color starting to return to her lips as they rushed to the hospital. Normally, their arrival would mark the end of the run: What happens beyond the emergency room doors by and large remains a mystery. But that day, Ogden’s crew couldn’t accept that reality. They cleaned the rig and restocked its medical supplies in slow motion, trying to stick around and find out whether she survived. When a doctor walked over to her family and knelt, they quietly realized she hadn’t. (Renault, 1/4)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released its annual proposed rule on Affordable Care Act marketplace reforms. Here are five elements of the sweeping proposal, known as the notice of benefit and payment parameters, to keep on your radar: 1. The Biden administration wants to explicitly reverse a Trump-era policy that removed sexual orientation and gender identity from CMS' non-discrimination regulations. The provision would stop exchanges, insurance issuers, agents and brokers from discriminating against consumers for their sexual orientation or gender identity. The proposed rule also suggests requiring essential health benefits, guaranteed by exchange plans, to be designed based on clinical evidence. That could lead plans to offer similar coverage for medically necessary care, according to Katie Keith, a health law professor at Georgetown University. (Goldman, 1/3)

During my freshman year of college, Cornel West, the renowned philosopher, had been invited to speak at a campus event. My Black friends buzzed with excitement and rushed to secure tickets to his lecture. When a friend offered to get me a ticket, I hesitated and noted that I didn’t know who West was. “You don’t know who Cornel West is?” she asked, incredulous that I was unaware of him and his contributions to American culture. My friend went on to explain that West was one of the most brilliant intellectuals and political activists of our time. As Black students at Harvard, we were standing on his shoulders. (Jennifer Adaeze Okwerekwu, 1/3)

KHN: Why An HBCU Med School Decided To Put CARES Act Money Into Students’ Pockets 

Just before students at Meharry Medical College went home for Thanksgiving, Dr. James Hildreth, the school’s president, emailed them a video message that he acknowledged seemed hard to believe. Or at least they had to give it a second listen. “We’ll gift each of you $10,000 in cash,” he said, looking at the camera. “You heard me right.” They were told to expect a direct deposit the next day or pick up a check in person. Hildreth, an expert in infectious diseases who helped lead Nashville’s pandemic response, explained that this gift with no strings attached was money from the CARES Act, a major covid-19 relief law passed by Congress in 2020. He asked only that they be “good stewards” of the windfall. (Farmer, 1/4)

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby (eventually) in the baby carriage, thanks to COVID-19. Pregnant women who are looking forward to their dream nursery may be waiting a while, according to a recent New York Times report. Despite a declining birth rate in the United States, the report noted the COVID-19 pandemic has caused long frustrating delays for baby items like cribs, car seats, and strollers, and given there were more than 3.6 million births in this country in 2020, the delays are likely to continue. (Sudhakar, 1/3)

Cameron English got comfortable on the cushioned green exam table as her 3-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter played nearby. Initially, as midwife Carolyn Greenfield swept a monitor over English’s pregnant belly, there was only an indistinct swoosh. But before long, the instrument found and amplified a distinctive, quick double thump. English was all smiles, hearing her baby’s heartbeat for the first time. After English’s first three children were born in a hospital, she had her fourth child at home in 2020, attended by Greenfield, a certified professional midwife. She wants the same experience for this baby due next March. While she says she had always been interested in giving birth at home, it was COVID-19 that sealed the deal for her. (Jones, 1/2)

Twins in California might have been born just 15 minutes apart, but they were born in different years. Alfredo Antonio Trujillo came at 11:45 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2021. He was followed by his twin sister, Aylin Yolanda Trujillo, who arrived at 12 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2022, making her the first baby to be born this year at Natividad Medical Center and in Monterey County, the hospital said in a statement. ... "What makes their birth so rare is that they were born on different days, months and years," the hospital said. The chance of twins' being born in different years is estimated to be 1 in 2 million, the statement said. (Fieldstadt, 1/3)

Shoveling snow isn't for everyone. Thousands of people get injured and dozens die every year while taking care of the maligned winter chore. And for those of a certain age or health status, experts say it might be best to leave the shoveling for someone else. As much as it can seem like a mundane outdoor job, shoveling snow has resulted in thousands of injuries and can even bring on a fatal heart attack. A peer-reviewed study published in 2010 estimated that nearly 200,000 people were treated in emergency rooms for snow-shoveling-related incidents from 1990 to 2006, or an average of roughly 11,500 people a year. (Cannon, 1/3)

KHN: ‘Then The Bill Came’: Year 4 Of KHN-NPR’s Bill Of The Month Is A Wrap 

In 2021, more than 880 of you submitted ideas for KHN-NPR’s Bill of the Month investigative series, trusting us with two of the most personal topics in life: your health and your money. We are deeply grateful. Our trove of bills and stories — building steadily to nearly 5,000 since February 2018 — tells us that American health care’s financial toll is a burden for far too many people, and that our health system is often better at promoting its own financial interests than protecting the public. (12/25)

KHN: Laws Shield Hospitals From Families Who Believe Loved Ones Contracted Covid As Patients 

After Amanda Wilson lost her son, Braden, 15, to covid-19 in early 2021, she tried to honor his memory. She put up a lending library box in his name. She plans to give the money she saved for his college education to other teens who love the arts and technology. But in one area, she hit a brick wall: attempting to force change at the California hospital where she believes her son contracted covid in December 2020. While seeking treatment for a bleeding cyst, Braden was surrounded for hours by coughing patients in the emergency room, Wilson said. Yet, she said, she has been unable to get the hospital to show her improvements it told her it made or get a lawyer to take her case. (Weber and Jewett, 12/24)

Abortion providers in Texas asked the Supreme Court Monday to clear the way for the lawsuit they filed in July against the state law forbidding women from ending unwanted pregnancies after six weeks. In legal papers, the abortion providers argued that a federal appeals court overseeing the case is obstructing their challenge with superfluous proceedings. (Bravin, 1/3)

More Southern California beaches have been reopening after a large sewage spill shut off large segment of the coastline before New Year’s Day. Orange County’s health care agency on Monday lifted closures for Seal Beach and Sunset Beach once testing showed the water quality was acceptable, said Julie MacDonald, an agency spokesperson. (1/4)

Another Wisconsin town is now waging a battle against "forever chemicals" after finding the toxic compounds during voluntary testing. The Town of Rib Mountain discovered PFAS in municipal drinking water wells during testing in November and December, according to a press release. The compounds were found in four wells, with levels about the recommended standard in only one. The other three wells tested had low levels of PFAS. Well #1, which had the elevated level of the compounds, has been shut off — meaning residents and businesses are getting their water from other wells within the system. (Schulte, 1/3)

A lengthy project to dig up and remove radioactive and hazardous waste buried for decades in unlined pits at a nuclear facility that sits atop a giant aquifer in eastern Idaho is nearly finished, U.S. officials said. The U.S. Department of Energy said last week that it removed the final amount of specifically-targeted buried waste from a 97-acre (39-hectare) landfill at its 890-square-mile (2,300-square-kilometer) site that includes the Idaho National Laboratory. (Ridler, 1/4)

New state Comptroller Natalie Braswell and the leaders of the General Assembly’s Labor Committee launched a $34 million relief program Monday for essential workers affected by the coronavirus. The program, which is accepting applications through July 20, covers lost wages, out-of-pocket medical expenses and burial costs tied to COVID-19 and incurred between March 10, 2020 and July 20, 2021. “Frontline workers made immense sacrifices to keep our state functioning during the pandemic,” said Braswell, who became the state’s chief fiscal guardian last week when Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo retired due to illness. “This relief program represents an opportunity to return the favor, offering critical financial assistance to workers who contracted COVID-19.” (Phaneuf, 1/3)

KHN: As Covid Hits Nursing Homes’ Finances, Town Residents Fight To Save Alzheimer’s Facility

Marvin Querry, 86, was on his tractor, planting rye on his 770-acre western Missouri farm, when the call came in early November. It was the social worker from Barone Alzheimer’s Care Center, where Querry’s wife, Diane, is a resident. The facility would be closing because of financial hardship, she said, reading from a statement. (Graham, 1/4)

Even with the arrival of lifesaving vaccines, more Americans died in 2021 due to COVID-19 than did in 2020. We’re nearing a devastating 75,000 Texan deaths due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began nearly two years ago. What’s especially sobering is that there is no guarantee that this next year won’t be just as calamitous. The new, super-contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus could put as many as 1 million Americans a day on the sick list by the end of January, overwhelming hospitals and our already frayed health care workers, despite early data suggesting the new cases might not be quite as deadly as earlier incarnations of COVID. (12/31)

This past week, many essential workers have again felt that they are being treated as expendable after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines that shortened the isolation period for people with Covid-19 from 10 days to five — a move many workers saw as a concession to business and a danger to workers. (Steven Greenhouse, 1/2)

Under well-established law, the Biden administration’s vaccination mandates are clearly legal. But the politicization of the pandemic and vaccines makes it doubtful whether the Supreme Court will uphold them. Cases involving two regulations that impose vaccination requirements on workers will go before the court on Jan. 7.One rule calls for employers with more than 100 workers to require vaccinations or weekly COVID-19 tests of their employees. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, created the workplace mandate as an emergency and temporary fix, which can be adopted when “employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards.” (Erwin Chemerinsky, 1/3)

We are entering the third year of the pandemic with a confusing state of affairs. The United States has far surpassed the number of daily covid-19 infections compared with the previous peak last winter, yet many businesses remain open, stadiums are packed and children are headed back to school. News headlines announce that “omicron infections seem to be milder” than earlier variants, yet this could be the “worst public health challenge of our lifetimes.” (Leana S. Wen, 1/3)

Count me in. I’m one of the nearly 2 million Americans who tested positive for COVID-19 over the holidays even though I had both vaccine shots and the booster. Fortunately, I had no symptoms. Like so many others, I was completely shocked to read my test result and felt kind of ashamed. (I swear I had been vigilant and I had no idea how I’d become infected!) When the shocking news arrived, I had been on my way to finish my gift shopping before getting on a plane the next day to see family. Do I really have to tell people? I wondered to myself. Honestly, I really didn’t want to spend the holidays alone, again. (Steven Petrow, 1/2)

In July 2020, I volunteered to be in Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine trial. If I knew then what I know now about the company’s quest for profits, I wouldn’t have done that. As one of about 30,000 “human guinea pigs,” I permitted Moderna to test its experimental vaccine on me to see if it would provide protection from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. It wasn’t clear if the vaccine would work, but it was clear the world needed a solution to this pandemic nightmare that has now claimed nearly 5.5 million lives in just two years. As a participant in the double-blind trial, I didn’t know if I was in the control group, which received shots of saline, or in the experimental group, which received shots of the experimental vaccine. It was only six months after starting the trial that I learned I was among those who received saline. (Jeremy Menchik, 1/4)

Since last summer, Medicare has been evaluating whether to pay for a newly approved, exorbitantly priced drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Its decision was always going to be fraught: The data on the drug’s potential benefits are ambiguous at best, and its risks are considerable. About 40% of patients who have taken it have suffered swelling or bleeding in the brain. Others have experienced disabling nausea, dizziness, headaches and confusion. Biogen, the manufacturer, is investigating a patient death. (Peter B. Bach and Rita F. Redberg, 1/3)

As the right to get an abortion in the United States is whittled away, state by state and statute by statute, we can learn important lessons about the impact of its repression from the history of one country where it was first legalized — and then re-criminalized. In 1920, Soviet Russia, which would become the Soviet Union in 1922, became the first country in the world to legalize abortion. In an unprecedented decree, the state noted that punishing women or doctors for abortion had “no positive results. It drives the operation underground and makes women the victims of greedy and often ignorant abortionists who profit from this secrecy.” (Wendy Z. Goldman, 1/4)

The past 18 months opened many Americans' eyes to the ways racial inequality affects health. Throughout the pandemic, Black and Hispanic people have died from COVID-19 at higher rates than their white neighbors. And public protest shone a light on the disproportionate impact of police violence on Black people. There's a growing awareness of the many reasons people of color experience poor health outcomes, including the stresses of racism itself. But one area of racial health disparity isn't often discussed: the lack of equitable access to prescription drugs. (Kevin B. Kimble, 12/28)

The scientific evidence is crystal clear: Early experiences literally shape the architecture of the developing brain. This widespread understanding is driving increased public support for universal pre-K to enhance school readiness for all children and level the playing field for kids who face adversity. But here’s something that’s less well-known by the public: Since the brain is connected to the rest of the body, early experiences affect all of our biological systems, for better or worse, beginning in utero and all the crucial years that follow. This broader message is sending an important wake-up call: We all need to start paying closer attention to the science that explains how excessive adversity can undermine lifelong health as well as early learning. (Jack P Shonkoff, 1/3)

We have learned many lessons over the past two years — and one that stands out is the importance of ensuring that every Marylander has access to affordable health insurance. Even before the pandemic exposed weaknesses in our economy, workers sought out jobs that provided both good pay and good benefits. Today, as employers are finding it difficult to hire workers — and workers are wary of going back to jobs because of the ongoing pandemic — ensuring that businesses can offer health insurance is more important than ever. (Katie Fry Hester, Robbyn Lewis and Brooke Lierman, 1/3)

For almost two years, the relentless battle to fight COVID-19 has strained our healthcare workforce and healthcare system like never before. Just before the holidays, we had tallied more than 51 million total cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and more than 800,000 deaths. Throughout the pandemic, hospitals and health systems and their teams have stood strong on the front lines. (Rick Pollack, 1/4)

My patient had done everything possible to avoid being intubated. After a traumatic hospitalization when she was young, she had consistently told her loved ones that she would never again agree to a breathing tube. She had even filled out an advance directive years ago to formalize that decision. But when she arrived in the emergency department one night this past spring with severe pneumonia, struggling to breathe, the doctors called her husband with a question. Should they intubate? If they didn’t, she would likely die. (Daniela J. Lamas, 1/3)