Overnight Health Care: Surgeon general issues health misinformation advisory | WHO chief: ‘Premature’ to rule out COVID-19 lab leak theory
Welcome to Thursday’s Overnight Health Care. Dogs are being sent to save the day yet again. A Massachusetts county will deploy two COVID-19 sniffing pups to detect the virus at public facilities.
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Today: The Surgeon General issued a warning about vaccine misinformation. Two major hospital systems said they won’t administer Aduhelm, and the World Health Organization said it’s premature to rule out a lab leak as the origin of the pandemic.
We’ll start with misinformation:
Surgeon general issues health misinformation advisory amid vaccination push
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Thursday issued an advisory calling health misinformation an “urgent threat” amid the COVID-19 vaccination push.
“Health misinformation is an urgent threat to public health,” Murthy said in a statement. “It can cause confusion, sow distrust, and undermine public health efforts, including our ongoing work to end the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The advisory, the first issued by the surgeon general during the Biden administration, calls for a range of sectors to take action.
One focus, tech companies: It calls on technology and social media companies to do more to fight misinformation on their platforms, including redesigning algorithms to avoid amplifying misinformation and strengthening the monitoring of it.
The surgeon general pointed to polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation finding that 67 percent of unvaccinated adults have heard a COVID-19 vaccine myth and either believed it or were not sure if it was true.
Murthy also pointed to research published in the journal Science that found false news stories were 70 percent more likely to be shared on social media than true ones.
Vulnerable House Democrats call for Medicare drug price negotiation in reconciliation plan
A group of some of the most vulnerable House Democrats sent a letter to Democratic leaders urging them to include sweeping drug pricing reforms in the upcoming reconciliation bill, which could help pay for the $3.5 trillion package.
The 15 lawmakers from “front-line” districts at risk in 2022 told Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to embrace giving Medicare the ability to negotiate prices, and then use the savings to bring down costs across the health care system.
The measure would save hundreds of billions of dollars, which could also be used to pay for parts of the reconciliation package.
“Empowering Medicare in this way and making these negotiated prices available to the private sector will bring down the cost of prescription drugs not just for seniors, but also for individuals and families across America,” the group, led by Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), wrote.
Internal debate: Lowering prescription drug prices is a top priority for Democrats, but there are internal divisions over just how far to go.
H.R. 3, the legislation championed by Pelosi and Democratic leadership allowing the secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prices, received only two Republican votes when it passed the House in 2019, and it is fiercely opposed by the pharmaceutical industry.
At the same time, a group of 10 Democratic centrists have expressed concerns that the legislation goes too far, and would hurt manufacturers’ ability to develop new drugs. They want a smaller, bipartisan measure.
Missouri county requests funds for ‘alternate’ hospital site to relieve COVID-19 strain
Officials in Springfield, Missouri are requesting state funds to establish an “alternate care site” for COVID-19 patients to help relieve the pressure on overwhelmed local hospitals.
On Wednesday, the Springfield-Greene County Health Department and the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management submitted a funding request to the state. The facility would be used for transitional care for stable COVID-19 patients.
The coronavirus has made a comeback in Missouri, and the highly contagious delta variant in particular has been linked to case spikes that are among the highest per capita in the country.
By the numbers: There were 230 patients being treated for COVID-19 in Greene County hospitals as of Wednesday, the health department said; 104 of those are in critical care and 61 are on ventilators.
Greene County is averaging more than 196 cases per day, and “the increase in severe illness is projected to outpace hospital capacity,” officials said in a statement.
Coronavirus cases nationally have more than doubled since June, but the increase is especially sharp in areas with low vaccination. In Springfield-Greene County, only 40 percent of the eligible residents have been fully vaccinated.
WHO chief: ‘Premature’ to rule out COVID-19 lab leak theory
The World Health Organization (WHO) chief said on Thursday that there was a “premature push” to rule out the COVID-19 lab leak theory without enough evidence.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged to reporters during a briefing that the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab is possible, in remarks that strayed from the WHO’s controversial report designating the hypothesis as “extremely unlikely.”
Tedros cited his experience as a lab technician and immunologist, saying that “lab accidents happen” and “it’s common,” so “checking what happened, especially in our labs,” is important to deducing what sparked the pandemic.
“If we get full information, we can exclude that,” he said, referring to the theory.
Focus on China: He called for China and other member states to be transparent and cooperate with scientists and officials trying to determine how the pandemic started, including through providing raw data.
“I hope there will be better cooperation and we have the continued engagement with China and also with member states, and there will be better cooperation to getting to the bottom of what happened.”
Taking a turn: The WHO officials’ comments took a turn from the organization’s March report, conducted along with Chinese scientists, that said it was “a likely to very likely pathway” that the virus began in an animal before spreading to humans. Tedros has acknowledged the perceived shortcomings of the report and said he wants further investigation. He has also called for more transparency from China. But the statement Thursday would seem to undermine the March report even further.
Cleveland Clinic, Mount Sinai not administering new Alzheimer’s drug
The Cleveland Clinic and the Mount Sinai Health System, two major health systems in the U.S., have decided they would not administer Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug following the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) controversial approval.
The Cleveland Clinic issued a statement saying its panel of experts decided against carrying the drug Aduhelm, also called aducanumab, after having “reviewed all available scientific evidence.” A spokesperson said individual physicians will be allowed to prescribe Aduhelm, but patients will need to go elsewhere to get it.
“Based on the current data regarding its safety and efficacy, we have decided not to carry Aducanumab at this time,” the statement reads.
Mount Sinai also released a statement saying Aduhelm will not be given out within the health system until the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services finishes its investigation of the FDA approval.
“Depending on this outcome, if appropriate, our experts will follow formulary addition protocols and consider best practices for Aduhelm to inform clinical practice,” the statement said.
Background: The systems’ refusal to give out Aduhelm comes after the FDA approved the drug to treat Alzheimer’s last month, despite the agency’s advisory committee overwhelmingly recommending to reject authorization.
Following the criticism and Stat’s reporting, acting FDA Administrator Janet Woodcock requested a federal investigation into the agency’s authorization of Aduhelm last week.
What we’re reading
Vaccine hesitancy morphs into hostility, as opposition to shots hardens (The Washington Post)
The ins and outs of the rare, controversial way Medicare might pay for Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug (STAT)
Wall Street itches for office return as variants muddy recovery (Bloomberg)
COVID-19’s effects on kids are even stranger than we thought (The Atlantic)
State by state
The delta variant is ravaging this Missouri city. Many residents are still wary of vaccines. (The Washington Post)
Kansas nursing homes fall short of staff vaccination goal as COVID-19 outbreaks continue (The Topeka Capital-Journal)
Health department had opioid-tracking AI forced on them by Utah lawmakers, emails show (VICE)
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