Health

ATLANTA — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report on Tuesday which examines how COVID-19 impacted the progress of combating antimicrobial resistance, which occurs when changes in bacteria cause drug treatments to become less effective.  ... Read More

BISCAYNE BAY, Fla.  — Before you shuck open those succulent oysters this summer, you may be interested in findings from Florida International University which show that many contain toxic “forever chemicals.” When FIU Institute of Environment scientists sampled 156 oysters... Read More

WASHINGTON — The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated food insecurity among veterans and the recovery to get adequate nutrition into former service members' hands has been sluggish. “There are gaps and there are inconsistencies in the data, and the participation of the... Read More

COVID-19 exacted a heavy, wide-ranging toll on our nation, but the time to rebuild and recover has mercifully arrived. Yet, many aspects of our society were already badly in need of repair before the pandemic. COVID highlighted and exacerbated those problems.... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, a pharmaceutical company has asked for permission to sell a birth control pill over the counter in the U.S. HRA Pharma’s application on Monday sets up a high-stakes decision for health regulators amid... Read More

WASHINGTON — On Friday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed to protect access to reproductive health care services. Following the signing, the White House laid out four main points the Biden administration hopes to accomplish with the new... Read More

WASHINGTON — More than 4.8 million cans of infant formula will be shipped to U.S. retailers from an Australian manufacturer beginning in August, the Food and Drug Administration announced Friday. The formula is being sourced from Care A2+, an Australian-owned... Read More

BURLINGTON, N.C. – Labcorp this week became the first national laboratory to begin testing for monkeypox using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s orthopoxvirus test, a significant step in rolling back the spread of the virus. “We will initially... Read More

WASHINGTON — In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, demand for various forms of contraceptives, including the so-called morning-after pill, and long-lasting forms of birth control, has... Read More

WASHINGTON — The nation’s largest union representing registered nurses is calling on the U.S. Senate to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act as soon as possible after it returns from its Independence Day recess on July 11. The request, made... Read More

WASHINGTON — COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States between March 2020 and October 2021, according to an analysis of national death certificate data by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. ... Read More

The White House has new plans to address maternal mortality through the Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, an effort to increase access and coverage for certain maternal health services, including behavioral health. The blueprint outlines five priorities to improve... Read More

Key advisors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration met on Tuesday to examine COVID-19 vaccines and whether there is need for modification as protection wanes. During the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting, a majority of the panel, 19-2,... Read More

The Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022 was passed by the House on June 22 to tackle mental illness and substance use disorder in the country, especially for rural and low-income communities.  The act passed the House with... Read More

Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., have provided a roadmap for eliminating racial and ethnic health inequities. The senators’ new legislation is called the Health Equity and Accountability Act, and they released it on June 24. The bill lays out... Read More

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called Wednesday for accelerated efforts to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine. He said that while honing vaccines to the evolving virus variants makes sense, he is concerned that the pace of mutation means the world... Read More

National Institutes of Health-funded research released on June 23 offers new insights into why aging rates vary when it comes to evolutionary tricks, such as having armor and venom. The research was led by Ronald Kohanski, who serves as a director of... Read More

In Kansas a harmful blue-green algae is blooming in local lakes. The Kansas Departments of Health and Environment and Wildlife and Parks have issued June advisories warning residents about the risk of exposure. According to a revised KDHE response plan, the... Read More

The Chicago Department of Public Health and a number of other crisis assistance and response agencies launched a data dashboard on June 23 as part of the city’s effort to expand their Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement program. The CARE program was... Read More

WASHINGTON —A series of reports have revealed continued issues with Medicare Advantage Plans, a private-plan alternative to traditional Medicare, and now members from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce are focused on how to establish better protections for America’s... Read More

WASHINGTON — Attendees at the 9th Annual Health Summit held by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce focused on the role of putting the consumer at the center when it comes to the business of health care. “At this point it's... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed the Keep Kids Fed Act into law on June 25 to support school meal programs ahead of the expiration of pandemic-era waivers, but to expedite the bill’s passage before the expiration on June 30,... Read More

WASHINGTON — Starting Wednesday, clinics across the country will begin to receive doses of a new monkeypox vaccine called Jynneos from the federal stockpile, the move being the start of a nationwide vaccination campaign to slow the spread of the... Read More

In her first week on the job at a Philadelphia abortion clinic, Amanda Kifferly was taught how to search for bombs. About a year later, protesters blocked the entrances and exits of The Women’s Centers, at one point pulling Kifferly... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the greenlight last week to Moderna and Pfizer regarding the emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5.  The latest EUAs make vaccines... Read More

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, moved Wednesday to cap the monthly price of insulin at $35 for those privately insured and those on Medicare, as outlined in this discussion draft. Shaheen and Collins serve as co-chairs of the... Read More

A health and well-being program for wildland firefighters is being created by the U.S. Department of the Interior, said Secretary Deb Haaland Friday.  Haaland also announced the allocation of $103 million in fiscal year 2022 for wildfire risk reduction efforts throughout the... Read More

The SunSmart Global UV app was released on June 21 to provide localized information on ultraviolet radiation levels for preventing overexposure to the sun, a major cause of skin cancer and UV-related eye damage.  The app was jointly developed by... Read More

A report released on June 18 and published in The Lancet shows the omicron variant is less likely to give someone long COVID than previous strains of the virus.  The research is the first peer-reviewed study to report on long COVID risk... Read More

Experts from the World Health Organization will convene for an emergency committee on June 23 to assess whether monkeypox constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. Cases of Monkeypox are hitting the hardest in Europe where the outbreak has... Read More