Congress will receive an additional 8,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday to be equally divided for staffers in the House and Senate, Axios has learned from sources who are familiar.
Why it matters: Members of Congress were eligible for coronavirus inoculations as early as January, but just a small portion of their staff qualified to receive them at the time. Now, the circle is expanding, a move to restoring legislative operations to pre-pandemic norms.
The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it will allow some companies developing COVID-19 tests to market their products for regular at-home use without first seeing how they perform on asymptomatic people, Politico reports.
Why it matters: The agency hopes the move will streamline emergency-use authorizations for such tests, making it easier to conduct widespread testing of people who may soon be returning to schools and office spaces, the FDA noted in a statement.
The Olympic torch relay kicks off next week at a spectator-free "Grand Start" in Japan, with organizers hoping to avoid a cancellation after last year's delay.
The big picture: The Tokyo Olympics start in four months, and there's considerable opposition to the Games in Japan, AP reports.
The head of the European Medicines Agency said at a briefing Tuesday that while a full review is ongoing, there is currently "no indication" that the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is responsible for the small number of blood clots reported in patients in Europe.
Driving the news: EMA executive director Emer Cooke said she is "firmly convinced" that the benefits of the AstraZeneca shot "far outweigh" the risks, and expressed concern that the suspension of vaccinations by dozens of European countries could increase vaccine skepticism.
Moderna announced Tuesday that it has begun testing its coronavirus vaccine on children ages six months to less than 12 years in a Phase 2/3 trial beginning in the U.S. and Canada.
Why it matters: It's an important step in expanding the vaccine rollout beyond adults, who are at higher risk of severe disease and have been a focus of inoculation campaigns around the world thus far.
Virtual behavioral health visits in the first half of 2020 were hundreds of times higher than the year before, according to a new analysis by Well Being Trust and Milliman.
The big picture: The number of total behavioral health visits — both in person and virtual — were generally within 20% of 2019 levels from January to August, even though in-person visits plunged.
Only a minority of patients are receiving some of the most promising coronavirus treatments.
Why it matters: COVID-19 is almost certainly going to be part of our lives for a long time, even with high vaccination rates. Antibody treatments could make it much less deadly — but only if patients get them.
Affluent urban areas saw the biggest uptick in telehealth usage over the past year, according to a new study from RAND.
Why it matters: Experts have hailed telemedicine, in part, for its potential to help rural patients who would have to travel long distances for an in-person appointment. But the study suggests that telehealth hasn't closed the rural-urban access gap even as its overall use has soared.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday appointed cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga as the new health minister, as the number of infections and deaths from COVID-19 continue to spike in the country, per Bloomberg.
Why it matters: Queiroga is Brazil's fourth health minister since the pandemic began. Intensive care units in 25 of Brazil's 26 state capitals are operating at capacity or close to it, and the numbers show no signs of slowing down.
