‘We Are Turning a Corner on COVID’: HHS Secretary Calls for More Funding
WASHINGTON — In order to be able to turn the corner on the COVID pandemic, the Biden administration needs Congress to allocate more funding for the federal government, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said at a press conference on Friday. “I’m going to lay out to Congress what we can do with what they give us […]
Biden Administration Unveils $3.2 Billion Hunt For Pill To Treat COVID-19, Other Viruses
The Biden administration said Thursday it would invest $3.2 billion to speed the development of antiviral pills that could treat COVID-19 and other viruses, a major step that could save many lives in future pandemics. The Department of Health and Human Services said the plan, dubbed the Antiviral Program for Pandemics, would accelerate and expand […]
Opinion | The Devil Is in the Details: Biden’s HIV/AIDS Strategy
The Biden administration recently released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (2022-2025), an update from the 2010 and 2015 versions spearheaded by then-President Obama. Seeing this in my email inbox and social media timelines was a welcome sight, signifying that our federal government has not forgotten its commitment to ending the HIV epidemic, despite the persistent scourge […]
Biden Administration Will Require Insurers To Cover At-Home COVID-19 Tests
The Biden administration plans to mandate that private health insurance providers reimburse people for over-the-counter COVID-19 tests to make those at-home kits free. The federal health, labor and treasury departments will issue the guidance to insurers by Jan. 15, according to senior administration officials on a press call late Wednesday. Advertisement More than 150 million […]
Ivermectin Works! (For River Blindness in Nigeria)
Mass drug administration (MDA) with ivermectin appeared to interrupt transmission of onchocerciasis, or river blindness, in several Nigerian states, and may have eliminated it altogether in other parts of the country, researchers said. With a consistent MDA program, transmission of river blindness was “suspected” to be interrupted in four states in southern Nigeria, and transmission […]
DEA Issues Rare Public Safety Alert on Fake Prescription Pills
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a public safety alert on Monday warning of an “alarming increase” in lethal counterfeit pills containing fentanyl or methamphetamine. The alert, the DEA’s first in 6 years, aimed to raise awareness of a significant surge in fake pills mass-produced by criminal drug networks and marketed as legitimate prescription pills. […]
Third COVID Vaccine Dose Could Be the Last
As the Biden administration prepares to recommend booster shots for the majority of Americans, some experts are saying the third dose could be the final one. But what evidence leads them to believe that COVID-19 can be defeated by a three-dose series? For starters, a longer duration between the second and third dose may provide […]
Biden Says Vaccine Mandate For Federal Employees ‘Under Consideration’
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that his administration was mulling the possibility of requiring COVID-19 vaccines for all federal employees. Asked during a press conference whether he would impose a vaccine mandate on the federal workforce, Biden said, “That’s under consideration right now.” “But if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought […]