Health

WASHINGTON — The White House released an operational plan for COVID-19 vaccinations for children under 5 on Thursday. Next week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will consider whether to authorize and recommend the... Read More

The DC Public Health Lab confirmed on June 5 the first positive orthopoxvirus and potential monkeypox case in Washington, D.C.  The patient is currently in isolation, with close contacts being monitored. So far no other known cases have been identified. As of... Read More

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open on June 1 shows the COVID-19 pandemic worsened racial and ethnic disparities in the use of medications to treat patients with opioid use disorder. During the pandemic, overdose rates... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended an emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax, Inc. on Tuesday, the second non-mRNA–based vaccine to be used in the U.S. The FDA held an all-day Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee... Read More

A study published on June 5 in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that a drug called Enhertu can lower the risk of disease progression and death from low metastatic breast cancer by 50%.  The drug is an antibody-chemotherapy combination distributed... Read More

The National Institutes of Health released a statement on June 1 that people with food allergies are less likely to be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 infection than people without food allergies.  The statement relates to the Human Epidemiology and... Read More

Members of the House introduced a new bill on June 3, which would allow military medical facilities to perform and pay for abortions for service members and dependents. The move comes as Roe v. Wade, a legal case that protects abortion rights in... Read More

WASHINGTON — Families are already enjoying one of the benefits of the No Surprises Act, a law that passed in 2020 and became effective as of Jan. 1, 2022, to ban surprise medical billing practices by medical providers.  “This report shows... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently working to implement a new framework aimed at transforming food systems, especially for underserved communities. “It’s a new way of thinking about how to transform the food system to meet the... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Cy​​bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has issued a series of warnings to health care systems and other organizations that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could increase the risk of malicious cyberattacks. The agency now seeks to increase... Read More

WASHINGTON — Telehealth service providers offering abortion pills by mail have been preparing for service changes that could occur by the end of the month if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, a legal case which has protected... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will hold an advisory meeting on June 7 to consider an emergency use authorization for the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for use in adults 18 and older.  One of the... Read More

A report released on May 31 from Kaufman Hall, a health care management consulting company, shows that U.S. hospitals and health systems experienced low volumes of patients in April and saw revenues plummet. According to the analysis, which is based on data... Read More

Kaiser Permanente, an integrated managed care consortium based in California, announced on May 29 that it will establish a Center for Gun Violence Research and Education to better understand how to prevent gun violence and the health implications it has on society. ... Read More

Reps. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., introduced legislation on May 24 to enable rural health providers to continue operating and treating patients by extending telehealth flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Connecting Rural Telehealth... Read More

The National Library of Medicine awarded $1.2 million to researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina and Clemson University to establish a training program for data scientists on health inequities. The program, SC BIDS4HEALTH, will recruit individuals from the... Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Health Agency of Canada and other partners, issued an advisory on May 28 that there has been a multistate outbreak of hepatitis A infections in... Read More

The World Health Organization will release a policy brief on June 3 with new findings on how climate change poses a rising threat to mental health and psychosocial well-being.  “The policy brief highlights five important approaches for governments to address... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will soon direct millions in funds towards examining the impact of social media use on the mental health of teens and... Read More

In late October of last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a few children presented with liver injury and positive adenovirus. There were nine cases of children under the age of 10 who were identified... Read More

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory on Tuesday for health care providers, public health departments and the public regarding a “COVID-19 rebound,” in some patients who were treated with the antiviral treatment Paxlovid. Paxlovid treatment is given... Read More

The J.M. Smucker Company issued a voluntary recall of more than 45 select Jif peanut butter products on May 20, after 14 cases of salmonella were identified in 12 states.  In an advisory the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not... Read More

Members of the World Health Organization gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, on Sunday for the 75th World Health Assembly, which was held in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.  WHO members discussed proposed amendments to the International Health... Read More

In observance of mental health awareness month, Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., and a panel of experts shared mental health resources during a webinar on Tuesday.  “Mental illness is a medical condition like diabetes or cancer. … The COVID-19 pandemic …... Read More

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics released provisional data on Tuesday that the number of births in the U.S. in 2021 was up 1%, the first increase since 2014.  According to the data, the birth rate... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House Committee on Energy and Commerce recently voted to advance provisions of two bills which would eliminate special DEA licensing and expand baseline education for treatment providers who prescribe buprenorphine — a medication approved by the Food... Read More

GENEVA, Switzerland — The World Health Organization reported that as of May 21 more than 92 monkeypox cases have been confirmed, and 28 suspected cases are under investigation within 12 member states that are not endemic for monkeypox virus. “Monkeypox... Read More

WASHINGTON — Many Americans desperately seeking baby formula have experienced empty shelves over the last few months. Now the U.S. Department of Agriculture is increasing efforts to restock those shelves, especially for low-income families where the impact of the shortage... Read More

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials remain perplexed by mysterious cases of severe liver damage in hundreds of young children around the world. The best available evidence points to a fairly common stomach bug that isn't known to cause liver... Read More

A new program launched this year out of California called CalAIM helps high-risk and low-income Medi-Cal residents find affordable housing through their health insurance plans. The CalAIM program is intended to improve health outcomes of Medi-Cal enrollees, specifically those with... Read More