The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week issued a nationwide health alert to update health care providers, public health departments, and the public about the availability and use of recommended therapies for COVID-19 and to advise against using unproven treatments that have known or potential harms for outpatients with mild to moderate…
Read More »On Thursday, Moderna announced it is requesting a formal emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for use in children ages six months to under six years. Moderna seeks an EUA for a low-dose version of its vaccine based on a study of approximately 6,700…
Read More »This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unveiled two proposed product standards to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and to prohibit all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco) in cigars. According to the FDA, these actions have the potential to significantly reduce disease and death from combusted tobacco product use, the…
Read More »The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is releasing data publicly for the first time on mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, and changes of ownership from 2016-2022 for hospitals and nursing homes enrolled in Medicare. According to HHS, the data will allow researchers, state and federal enforcement agencies,…
Read More »Less than one week after federal agencies extended its mandatefor face coverings on public transportation and transportation hubs, a Florida federal judge struck down the requirement. Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, in her 59-page ruling, invalidated the mask requirement on several grounds, including that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) exceeded its legal…
Read More »Two new reports included in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explored death rates in the U.S., finding persistent disparities between certain racial and ethnic minority groups. The first report provides an overview of provisional U.S. mortality data for 2021, including a comparison…
Read More »This week, the White House announced it will co-host the second Global COVID-19 Summit which will be held virtually on May 12, 2022. The Summit is intended to “redouble our collective efforts to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic” and prepare for future public health emergencies. The Summit follows the first Global COVID-19…
Read More »The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week announced the launch of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFA), which seeks to enhance the nation’s ability to use data, models, and analytics to enable timely, effective decision-making in response to public health threats for CDC and its public health partners. CFA’s…
Read More »On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data in its latest edition of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) indicating vaccination coverage for kindergarteners dropped by one percentage point across the country in the 2020-21 school year for three state-required vaccines (MMR, DTaP, and chicken pox) for public and…
Read More »On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a nationwide health alert notifying clinicians and public health authorities about a cluster of children identified with hepatitis and adenovirus infection. The CDC is asking all health care providers to be on the lookout for symptoms and report any suspected cases of hepatitis…
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