 | Fri, May 20, 2022 | | | |
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Think a friend or colleague should be getting this newsletter? Share this link with them to sign up. The Biden administration went into crisis mode this week to address the baby formula shortage, as parents scramble to find food for their infants with shelves bare in many stores across the U.S.
The president invoked the Defense Production Act in an effort to boost the domestic formula supply, and the Defense Department is providing commercial planes to airlift formula from abroad.
Health authorities in the U.S. and around the world are investigating an outbreak of monkeypox cases, a rare disease caused by a virus in the family of smallpox though it's less severe. And the CDC said kids ages 5 to 11 should get a Pfizer booster shot as Covid infections rise across the country. The public health agency is also urging older Americans to get boosters as hospitalizations surge among people 70 and older. Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data in the meantime to me at spencer.kimball@nbcuni.com. |
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President Joe Biden on Wednesday invoked the Defense Production Act to increase baby formula manufacturing to ease a nationwide shortage caused by the closure of a key plant in Michigan.
The Defense Production Act gives the president broad authority to require companies to prioritize the manufacture and allocation of goods in response to a crisis. The law was passed in 1950 during the Korean War. |
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Abbott reached an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration on Monday to reopen the company's infant formula plant in Michigan, after the facility was closed due to bacterial contamination. The FDA said it will also increase baby formula imports to the U.S., which normally produces 98% of the formula that consumers buy. The drug regulator will allow the importation of formula originally produced for foreign markets, but manufacturers will have to submit applications to the FDA, which will evaluate whether the product is safe and provides enough nutrition. |
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Health authorities in Europe, the U.S. and Australia are investigating a recent outbreak of monkeypox cases, a rare viral disease typically confined to Africa.
While some cases have been linked to travel from Africa, more recent infections are thought to have spread in the community, raising the risks of a wider outbreak.
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The FDA and CDC both signed off on Covid boosters for 5- to 11-year-olds, noting protection from just two doses wanes quickly and that the U.S. is in the midst of another wave of cases. Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on regulators to review vaccines for even younger children, who still aren't eligible for first doses, with tentative review dates set for June. |
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week urged older Americans to get a Covid booster shot to increase their protection against the virus amid another surge in hospitalizations, particularly among those 70 and older.
"Over the past few weeks we've seen a steep and substantial increase in hospitalizations for older Americans," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told the health agency's committee of independent vaccine experts during a public meeting on Thursday. |
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The CDC is now investigating 180 cases of children who suddenly developed severe hepatitis across 36 states and territories, an increase of 71 cases since the public health agency's last update earlier this month. The CDC, in a statement Wednesday, said the vast majority are not new cases of hepatitis. Rather, the number of patients under investigation have increased as the agency looks more closely at data that goes back to October of last year. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that is commonly caused by hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D and E. The cases the CDC is investigating are unusual because the children have not tested positive for those viruses and they have suffered severe symptoms, with 9% requiring liver transplants, which is rare. |
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