Health

WASHINGTON — At a White House briefing Tuesday, Dr. Ashish Jha, the new White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, detailed how the U.S. plans to ramp up supplies of Paxlovid, an oral antiviral treatment which is used to prevent severe illness... Read More

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a state law that effectively eliminated abortions in Kentucky after the state’s two remaining clinics said they couldn’t meet its requirements. The decision by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings was... Read More

The White House released an outline of the National Drug Control Strategy on Thursday to prevent drug overdoses, reduce rates of untreated addiction and prevent drug trafficking.  According to a fact sheet from the administration, in the last 12-month period drug overdoses... Read More

Administrator Cindy Long, who oversees the federal government’s 15 nutrition assistance programs, visited families, schools and program administrators in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday to share more information about access to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service.... Read More

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy hosted a Summit for Strengthening the Nation’s Early Warning System for Health Threats on Tuesday. The event was held to discuss the launch of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics.... Read More

Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Jon Tester, D-Mont., and James Lankford, R-Okla., recently sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget to review a proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that would help... Read More

Moderna announced yesterday the release of new clinical data on its COVID-19 booster platform after the company tested a new vaccine formula that combines their original vaccine and one that targets the beta variant.  According to the preprint study, which has not yet... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization on April 14 for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test that uses breath samples to detect positive COVID-19 infection. The breath test, called the InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer, is the size of a... Read More

This week Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., introduced the Improving Specialty Care for Women Veterans Act, which aims to recruit and train specialty health care providers at the Department of Veterans Affairs and in the community to understand the unique health needs... Read More

Rep. Robin Kelly, D- Ill., and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus and Asian Pacific American Caucus, issued a letter on April 18 to President Joe Biden requesting four Medicaid priorities be considered in the next economic reconciliation agreement.... Read More

WASHINGTON — This week the World Health Organization has begun monitoring two new subvariants of the omicron strain known as BA.4 and BA.5, adding to a lengthy tracking list which already includes omicron subvariants BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1, and the new... Read More

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Department of Public Health sent notifications to the public and providers recently to warn that nine children under the age of 10 were identified as testing positive for adenovirus, a common virus that typically causes... Read More

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A majority of Americans continue to support a mask requirement for people traveling on airplanes and other shared transportation, a new poll finds. A ruling by a federal judge has put the government’s transportation mask mandate on hold. The... Read More

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge's decision to strike down a national mask mandate was met with cheers on some airplanes but also concern about whether it's really time to end one of the most visible vestiges of... Read More

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban into law Thursday as the state joined a growing conservative push to restrict access to the procedure ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could roll... Read More

WASHINGTON — Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., hosted a forum on Wednesday on Black maternal health to highlight the efforts being made to address reproductive issues in the U.S. for women of color. The forum aligns with Black Maternal Health Week... Read More

WASHINGTON — Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued a letter this week to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf, requesting the FDA step up efforts to ensure the... Read More

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released a draft recommendation statement Tuesday regarding suicide screenings for adolescents and children. According to the recommendations, screenings for major depressive disorders are not recommended for children aged 11 or younger.  The task force advised that... Read More

Reps. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., Lucy McBath, D-Ga., and several other Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to President Biden on April 8, reiterating a request to establish an Interagency Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention. In the letter, the representatives recall... Read More

On April 8, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released updated cybersecurity guidance for medical device manufacturers. According to the new guidance, “cybersecurity incidents have rendered medical devices and hospital networks inoperable, disrupting the delivery of patient care across health care facilities... Read More

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday the mask mandate for federal public transportation will be extended through May 3. The federal mask mandate, initially set to expire on April 18, applies to airports and airplanes, trains... Read More

A study published in JAMA Health Forum on April 8 suggests that turnover rates are returning to pre-pandemic levels across most groups of health care workers. Despite this finding, the recovery is uneven across the health care sector, and the report recommends... Read More

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, along with Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Angus King, I-Maine, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., led a bicameral, bipartisan group... Read More

A report released this week by the Government Accountability Office provides a detailed explanation of the relationship between labor force participation and substance use.  The nearly 40-page report analyzes data collected from 2015-2019 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s... Read More

Reps. A. Donald McEachin, D-Va., Dan Kildee, D-Mich., and Antonio Delgado, D-N.Y., led a bipartisan group of 38 lawmakers this week in penning a letter urging the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention to close a reporting loophole allowing hundreds of... Read More

WASHINGTON — The federal COVID-19 public health emergency, first declared Jan. 27, 2020,  was set to expire on April 16. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Wednesday extended the COVID-19 public health emergency for 90 days. A number... Read More

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A new study from researchers at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center provides evidence as to why people suffer from overnutrition and possible therapeutics that could be developed to treat metabolic syndrome. “I was always interested in body... Read More

WASHINGTON — Since the Biden administration’s announcement marking the expected end of the Title 42 migrant expulsion health authority, bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers have pushed back on the policy’s revocation. Legislation was introduced last week by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla.,... Read More

WASHINGTON — Despite pressure to go another way, Medicare on Thursday evening announced it will only cover the new Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm for people participating in a clinical trial. The decision came as something of a surprise as Medicare... Read More

WASHINGTON — This week the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing to discuss the opioid crisis in tribal communities. “Opioid overdose deaths during the pandemic increased more in Native American communities than … for... Read More