WHO Approves 2nd Malaria Vaccine On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) authorized a second malaria vaccine to help control the spread of the life-threatening parasitic disease that reportedly kills around 500K children in Africa annually.... Health
1.5M Dropped from Medicaid Rolls Since April About 1.5M people have reportedly been dropped from Medicaid rolls in more than two dozen states since April and the winding down of the COVID pandemic. Social issues
Pfizer CEO: We Need Omicron Boosters Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla stated that 2-dose vaccines 'are not enough' protection from the Omicron variant and even boosters may wane.... Medicine & healthcare
UK: Nurses Reject Pay Offer, Plan More Strikes On Friday, nurses in the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union rejected the UK government's offer of a 5% pay increase plus a minimum £1,655 ($2,050) cash bonus and set out plans for further strikes over the first May bank holiday.... Money
SCOTUS Issues Temporary Stay on Abortion Pill Restrictions On Friday, SCOTUS Justice Samuel Alito issued a temporary hold on a Texas district judge's ruling that blocked the Food and Drug Admin.'s (FDA) approval of the abortion pill mifepristone after the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) requested the Supreme Court's intervention.... Abortion
Biden Proposes Tighter Privacy Rules Around Abortions The US Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed new privacy protections to prevent women's health information from being used to take legal action or investigate individuals who have had or have helped the occurrence of an abortion.... Abortion
Syphilis Cases Hit 70-Year High During Pandemic According to a report released Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sexually transmitted infections rose in 2021, after a slight drop during the first year of the COVID pandemic.... Medicine & healthcare
China Reports First Human Bird Flu Death A 56-year-old woman from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong is the first person known to have died from a type of bird flu that is rare in humans, H3N8, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement Tuesday.... Medicine & healthcare
CDC Issues Marburg Virus Advisory After Outbreaks In 2 African Nations The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Thursday issued a health advisory about the Marburg virus outbreak in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania, stating that healthcare providers must be on the lookout for any suspected imported cases.... Medicine & healthcare
Kansas Bans Trans Athletes From Women’s Sports Overriding Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly's veto, the Kansas state legislature Wednesday passed a bill banning transgender athletes from competing in women's sports after failing to gain the two-thirds majority needed for an override in 2021 and 2022.... Abortion
WHO: One in Six People Affected by Infertility According to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO), one in six people globally will experience infertility at some point in their lifetime. The report describes the organization's first estimates of how widespread infertility is in more than ten years.... World
Idaho Passes Law Restricting Travel For Out-of-State Abortions Idaho has become the first US state to limit interstate travel for abortion, passing a law banning adults from transporting minors for an abortion without parental consent. The legislation was signed by GOP Gov. Brad Little.... Abortion
US Pres. Biden to Roll Out 'National Cancer Plan' According to US Health and Human Services officials (HHS), federal health administrators are rolling out a new 'National Cancer Plan' as part of the framework for Pres. Joe Biden's Cancer Moonshot initiative, with the goal of cutting the cancer death rate in the US by 50% within 25 years.... Diseases & conditions
US Judge Strikes Down ACA Preventive Care Mandate A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down an Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandate requiring health insurance plans to cover preventive care, including screenings for certain cancers and pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PrEP), at no cost to patients.... India
Kentucky, West Virginia Move to Limit Transgender Therapies For Minors Kentucky and West Virginia have advanced laws to limit access to gender-reassignment therapies for children. The legislations increase the total number of states attempting to restrict such treatments to 11.... Children and youth
Report: Meta Considering Europe Political Ads Ban Amid concerns about complying with new EU regulations targeting online campaigns, Meta — Facebook and Instagram's parent company — is reportedly exploring changes to its policies surrounding political advertising for its users in Europe.... Greece
WHO to Consider Adding Obesity Drugs to 'Essential' Medicines List The World Health Organization (WHO) is reportedly planning to commence a panel of advisors to review new requests to include weight loss drugs on its "essential medicines list," which is used as a guide for government purchasing decisions in low- and middle-income countries. Health
FDA Advisers Back Full Approval of Paxlovid Independent advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday voted 16-1 in support of full approval of Paxlovid — Pfizer’s oral treatment for COVID — for high-risk adults.... Diseases & conditions
US: Maternal Mortality Hits Highest Level Since 1965 The maternal mortality rate in the US rose 40% to 1,205 deaths in 2021, compared with 861 deaths in 2020 and 754 deaths in 2019, according to a report released Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics.... World
Whistleblower Doctor Who Alleged China's SARS Cover-up Dies Jiang Yanyong, a former PRC military surgeon who blew the whistle on Chinese authorities' alleged cover-up of the 2003 SARS [SARS-CoV-1] epidemic, died of pneumonia on Saturday at the age of 91.... Diseases & conditions
Novo Nordisk to Cut US Insulin Prices Previously, some US states instituted price caps on insulin, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law last year, mandated that Medicare patients pay no more than $35 a month for insulin.... Prices
Texas Judge to Consider Banning Abortion Pill in US US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is set to hear arguments on Wednesday over whether mifepristone, an abortion pill, should be banned nationwide. The pill was granted approval over two decades ago.... Abortion
China to Re-Open Borders to Tourists for First Time in Three Years China has fully reopened its borders to foreign tourists for the first time since the outbreak of COVID three years ago. Its embassy in the US released a statement saying Beijing would resume issuing all categories of visas.... COVID-19
China Reports 60K COVID Deaths in December On Saturday, following intense scrutiny, China reported 60K deaths attributed to COVID since Dec. 8. The World Health Organization showed extreme concern that the country was underreporting after official reports only showed 36 deaths between Dec. 7 and Jan. 8.... COVID-19
Virginia Judge Rules Frozen Embryos Are Property A Virginia judge has ruled that frozen human embryos can legally be considered property, basing his decision on a 19th-century slavery law.... Research
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