Read today’s Kaiser Health News
In other news:
Takeaways from fired CDC director’s Senate testimony: The former CDC chief, who served in the position for only 29 days, told the Senate’s health committee that Kennedy told her that “he spoke to the president every day about changing the childhood vaccine schedule” and that she “needed to be on board” with coming changes in September. The recommendations from the CDC call for administering multiple vaccines at key milestones, and potential changes to the schedule have alarmed major medical associations who worry the nation’s vaccine infrastructure may crack.
About health insurance/insurers
Major health insurer group says members will continue to cover vaccines, a step that may ease anxiety over access: America’s Health Insurance Plans’ announcement comes just ahead of the first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ 12 members handpicked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The selection of the five newest members was announced Monday, and their meeting is Thursday and Friday. Experts have speculated that, among other steps, the panel will drop the existing recommendation that newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine, a move that could lead to a resurgence of the virus and, as a result, liver disease and cancer.
About pharma
St. Jude tests 3D printing for drug formulations: Pharmacists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., have started using 3D-printing technology to help produce compounded medications starting with hydrocortisone formulations.
The hospital is working to integrate the printers within existing U.S. Pharmacopoeia standards for nonsterile and hazardous drug compounding, according to a Sept. 11 news release from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
FDA publishes batch of letters targeting 'misleading' pharma ads: As part of its newly launched crackdown on pharmaceutical advertisements, the FDA has posted 40 letters to its website that were sent this month to 22 different drugmakers who have run "false or misleading" TV spots of medicines that make their distribution "in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act."
About the public’s health
Global Trends and Disparities in Social Isolation: In this repeated cross-sectional study of 159 countries, the global prevalence of social isolation increased by 13.4% over the 16-year study period (from 19.2 to 21.8), with the entire increase occurring after 2019. The disparity in isolation prevalence between high-income and low-income groups peaked in 2020 at 10.8 percentage points (high-income, 26.4% vs low-income, 15.6%).
Chagas Disease, an Endemic Disease in the United States Global warming is causing formerly tropical diseases to move to what were temperate climates.