 | Fri, Aug 19, 2022 | | | |
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Think a friend or colleague should be getting this newsletter? Share this link with them to sign up. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made major missteps in its response to the pandemic, the agency's top official acknowledged this week. Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced a major reorganization that aims to make the CDC more swift and nimble in the face of emerging public health threats. The agency has faced scathing criticism throughout the pandemic for providing information too slowly and giving confusing public health guidance. As the U.S. navigates a post Roe v. Wade world, Walmart has taken a major step to expand abortion coverage. The nation's largest employer said its health-care plans will cover abortion when the mother's life is at risk, in cases of rape and incest, and for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages. In New York, public health officials are alarmed after finding polio in wastewater samples in New York City and two suburban counties. In some communities, the polio vaccination rate for kids under 2 years old is as low as 37%. Physicians say local circulation of the virus is a wake-up call. They are urging parents who have not gotten their kids vaccinated against the devastating virus to do so as soon as possible. Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to me at spencer.kimball@nbcuni.com. |
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CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is reorganizing the agency, saying it didn't react quickly enough during the Covid pandemic, according an internal review of the agency's operations released on Wednesday.
Walensky laid out several organizational changes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will take over the coming months to correct missteps and failures that occurred during the last 2.5 years of the pandemic, according to a fact sheet. "For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations," Walensky said in a statement. "My goal is a new, public health action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness." |
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Walmart on Friday told employees that it will expand abortion and abortion-related travel coverage, according to an internal memo. The change comes about two months after the Supreme Court struck down the right to legal access to the procedure. Effective immediately, Walmart's health care plans will cover abortion "when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or lack of fetal viability," according to the memo to employees, which was reviewed by CNBC. Employees and their family members who are insured through Walmart will also have travel costs covered, if they cannot access a legal abortion within 100 miles of their location, according to the email, which was sent by Walmart's Chief People Officer Donna Morris. | |
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Newly updated Covid booster shots targeting omicron BA.5 could be available within the next three weeks or so, according to Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House's Covid response coordinator. He said the new shots are expected to sail relatively smoothly through vetting from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but any authorization hiccups could delay that release date. |
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Concerns are mounting that the window of opportunity for containing the escalating monkeypox outbreak may be closing, with vaccine shortages leaving some at-risk groups waiting weeks to get jabbed.
Health professionals have warned that a failure to get the outbreak under control could see it spill over into other populations or species. Bavarian Nordic — the sole supplier of the only approved vaccine for monkeypox — announced Thursday that it had signed a deal with contract manufacturer Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing to help complete orders of its Jynneos vaccine in the U.S. while freeing up capacity for other countries. It follows reports Wednesday that the Danish pharmaceutical company was no longer certain it could meet rising demand. |
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The childhood polio vaccination rate is as low as 37% in some communities in the New York City metro area, despite a vaccine mandate, increasing the risk of an outbreak as the virus circulates locally for the first time in decades. The case of a young adult catching polio in Rockland County this summer set off alarm bells among public health officials. Sewage samples collected since May in Rockland County, Orange County and New York City have tested positive for polio, strongly indicating that the virus has been circulating in communities in the metropolitan area for months. "This is a wake-up call that we have to fix this problem with our vaccination levels, because I've never seen a child on an iron lung and I don't want to," said Dr. Adam Ratner, director of pediatric infectious disease at NYU Langone Health. |
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Health insurers on Connecticut's ACA exchange are asking for 20% premium rate hikes for 2023. They're not alone. Insurers are blaming higher provider rates for the increases, as hospitals face higher labor and inflated supply costs. The extension of enhanced exchange subsidies should mitigate premium increases for most individuals, but that means taxpayers pick up the rest of the tab. For those of us on employer plans, 2023 doesn't look as bad, while for Medicare enrollees, the IRA will usher in new out-of-pocket caps. |
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