Volume 400, Issue 10345
2 July 2022
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Volume 400, Issue 10345
2 July 2022
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WORLD REPORT Both Republican and Democrat legislators have called for changes following a shortage of breastmilk substitute. Susan Jaffe reports from Washington, DC..
The leading US producer of infant formula resumed partial operations on June 4 following a 4-month shutdown, but it may take several more weeks before supplies return to normal, along with the shortage-induced panic and desperation of American parents. When the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can regain trust in its ability to police the nation’s food manufacturers is another matter.
The agency’s failure to respond quickly to health hazards at the Abbott Nutrition facility in Sturgis, MI, that released potentially contaminated formula across the country has provoked rare bipartisan outrage in Congress and equally rare apologies from the manufacturer. The shutdown and resulting shortage have also prompted calls for major changes in the FDA’s food safety division, along with questions about why one supplier dominates the market. [Continued here.]
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WORLD REPORT Health and human rights groups are concerned that many states would outlaw abortion if the Supreme Court topples Roe v Wade. Susan Jaffe reports.
Protests and celebrations erupted across the USA following the unprecedented leak of a draft Supreme Court decision that would overturn the court’s 1973 landmark Roe v Wade ruling establishing a woman’s right to a safe and legal abortion. …“States are already working together to create enormous abortion deserts that many people will not be able to cross”, said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. [Continued here.]
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WORLD REPORT Robert Califf will have to face several controversial health issues in his second tenure as commissioner. Susan Jaffe reports from Washington, DC.
WORLD REPORT Experts say that Eric Lander’s resignation should not affect the President’s plans to reboot the cancer moonshot project. Susan Jaffe reports.…
WORLD REPORT As the Supreme Court blocks one of the Biden Administration’s plans to raise COVID-19 vaccination rates but approves another, Susan Jaffe looks at the next steps.
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WORLD REPORT The founder of Theranos was found guilty of defrauding some investors, but cleared of charges that she misled patients. Susan Jaffe reports.
WORLD REPORT The US Supreme Court, now dominated by conservatives, heard arguments last week on the legality of a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. However, the justices signalled that they are likely to do more than uphold the law. .[Continued here.]
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WORLD REPORT Almost a year after the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved for emergency use in the USA, roughly a third of adults have still not received it. After urging Americans to get vaccinated, US President Joe Biden has taken a tougher approach: under his administration’s new workplace safety standard, people must get vaccinated or undergo weekly tests for the virus if they work for companies with at least 100 employees. “The rule will protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of the coronavirus on the job”, said Jim Frederick, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. …A day after OSHA’s announcement on Nov 4, 2021, multiple lawsuits to block the rule started rolling in to federal courts across the country.[Continued here.]
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On this 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, first-responder Terence Opiola won’t be attending any memorial events. “I’ll go to church and pray that people remember and understand that it’s not over,” he said. “We’re losing people every week.”
Now a funding shortfall threatens the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides free medical monitoring and treatment for Opiola and increasing numbers of other 9/11 survivors and first responders. [Full story here.]…
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President Joe Biden’s administration said last week that it won’t decide whether to allow states to import drugs from Canada anytime soon, if ever. Biden supported drug importation during the presidential campaign, as did his opponent, Donald Trump, to mitigate sky-rocketing drug costs in the USA. Americans pay more per capita for prescription drugs than any other country…. [Continued here.]
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By narrowly approving a massive COVID-19 response and economic relief package last week, Democrats in Congress handed President Joe Biden his first legislative victory after only 50 days in the White House. The US$1·9 trillion, 628-page, American Rescue Plan Act is a signature achievement so monumental that it has been compared to President Lyndon B Johnson’s sweeping Great Society legislation that raised many Americans out of poverty, with a safety net of social and health services, including the Medicare and Medicaid insurance programmes.
…As the government begins to roll out these benefits, Biden promised “fastidious oversight to make sure there’s no waste or fraud, and the law does what it’s designed to do. And I mean it: we have to get this right… because we have to continue to build confidence in the American people that their government can function for them and deliver.” [Full story with “where the money goes” sidebar here.]
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…Before the Biden Administration can tackle other health priorities, the first order of business is the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 420 000 Americans—a death toll higher than that of any other nation—and has exposed health-care inequities and crippled the economy. …Although Biden will have a lot of support for his health-care agenda, “that doesn’t mean that it’s smooth sailing”, said Lanhee Chen, a public policy fellow at the Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. “I think there are still a lot of people who are very upset about the outcome of the election.” [Full story here.]…
A highly respected researcher, Walensky has published nearly 300 papers, many focused on the cost-effectiveness of HIV interventions and aimed at improving patients’ care. “I call the research that I do policy motivating”, Walensky says. One example is a 2006 landmark study showed that advances in HIV treatment in the USA added nearly 3 million years to patients’ lives.[Full story here.]…
Volume 396, Number 10260 31 October 2020
Volume 396, Number 10259
24 October 2020
WORLD REPORT How will the NIH, CDC, and FDA change if President Donald Trump wins a second term or if his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, defeats him? Susan Jaffe reports from Washington, DC.
Whoever wins the presidency needs to “restore the CDC and improve it by letting [scientists] know that they will have an opportunity to do the best science and make the best recommendations…” says James Curran, dean of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta. [Continued here.]…
Volume 396, Number 10256
3 October 2020
WORLD REPORT In the race for the White House, where do US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, stand on public health? Susan Jaffe reports from Washington, DC.
Analyzing the candidates’ plans to address the opioid epidemic, gun violence, women’s health, global health and COVID-19.
Unlike more conventional presidential candidates, Trump does not intend to issue formal policy proposals or position papers. With less than 5 weeks remaining before the election, his campaign says he will share “details about his plans through policy-focused speeches on the campaign trail”. …Joe Biden’s campaign has released a total of 51 policy proposals outlining how he will accomplish his goals if he wins in November. [Continued here.]…
Volume 396, Number 10255
26 September 2020
WORLD REPORT News accounts say that Trump administration officials wanted to edit and approve COVID-19 studies and publish guidance without the usual scientific review. Susan Jaffe reports.
After news stories about attempts by members of the Trump administration to manipulate COVID-19 reports published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and over-rule its scientists, one top official is taking a sudden leave of absence for health reasons. Another’s government contract has abruptly ended. The 2-month absence of Michael Caputo, chief spokesman for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), comes after he claimed that a CDC “resistance unit” seeks to undermine Trump. He and an adviser reportedly demanded the right to revise and approve COVID-19 studies published in the CDC’s highly respected Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report journal. [Continued here.]…
Volume 396, Number 10244
11 July 2020
WORLD REPORT The court’s decision means that Louisiana’s three abortion clinics will remain open. Susan Jaffe reports.
The US Supreme Court delivered the Trump administration’s third defeat in as many weeks when it overturned a Louisiana law requiring physicians who provide abortions to have local hospital-admitting privileges.
In an opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court declared on June 29 that “enforcing the admitting privileges requirement would drastically reduce the number and geographic distribution of abortion providers, making it impossible for many women to obtain a safe, legal abortion in the State and imposing substantial obstacles on those who could”. [Continued here.]…