Axios

Manufacturers are warning that the U.S. is, at best, weeks away from the production levels needed for President Biden's plan of mass-scale rapid COVID-19 testing.

The big picture: The U.S. has been far more cautious than places like Britain about embracing rapid, at-home testing, AP notes.

The Massachusetts State Police union has filed a lawsuit to delay Gov. Charlie Baker's (R) coronavirus vaccine mandate, which requires state employees to get the shot by Oct. 17 or face termination.

Why it matters: The union represents 1,800 members and is asking a judge to postpone the vaccination requirement so it has time to bargain, the Boston Globe notes. Troopers would undergo "irreparable harm" otherwise, the lawsuit said.

NIAID director Anthony Fauci told CNN Tuesday that children ages 5–11 could be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines in the next several weeks.

Why it matters: The start of the school year brought a rise in COVID-19 infections among kids, underscoring questions about when younger children will be able to be inoculated against the virus.

Credit Mexican engineering and entrepreneurship for developments that led to the color television, oral contraception and finding a way to help mend the ozone layer.

Why it matters: The contributions helped modernize how we could see the world; improve women's health and expand women's roles beyond the home; and identify dangerous emissions and how to reduce them.

Support for abortion rights in some Latin American countries has jumped considerably since 2014, with Argentina seeing the biggest shift, an Ipsos poll finds.

The big picture: The view that abortion should be permitted at least under certain circumstances is held by a majority of adults surveyed in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Johnson & Johnson said in a press release Tuesday a global study showed that the protection offered by its coronavirus vaccine was strengthened by a booster shot.

Why it matters: While J&J has not formally applied for authorization to offer booster shots to the general public, it said it has shared the results of the study with the Food and Drug Administration and plans to share it with the World Health Organization and other health regulators.

In July, the head of the American Hospital Association blasted UnitedHealth Group for its "jaw-dropping" profits in the second quarter. But an analysis of financial documents shows a sample of large not-for-profit hospital systems that collectively generated the same amount of revenue as the insurance giant were almost three times more profitable than UnitedHealth.

Reality check: Companies and lobbying groups often paint their business foes as the primary problems with the health care system, but each sector contributes to the system's dysfunction.

Health care advocates are making the case that the pieces of Democrats' legislative agenda that lower health care costs and expand coverage are the most popular with voters — and should thus be prioritized.

Why it matters: Democrats are trying to figure out what topline spending number they have to work with for their reconciliation package. The lower that number goes, the more the party will have to cut from the package.

The pandemic slashed U.S. life expectancy by more than 9 million years, with Black and Hispanic Americans losing more than twice as many years per capita compared to white Americans, according to research published Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Why it matters: The data show that despite reports of older and more vulnerable populations assuming many of the deaths, young people with above-average life expectancies, including Black and Hispanic communities, were not spared.

The White House endorsed a bill Monday that seeks to ensure abortion access.

Why it matters: While the Supreme Court seems to be opening the door to new state laws significantly restricting reproductive health choices, the Biden administration changed its stance on the Women's Health Protection Act, having previously said it would look for other ways to codify Roe v. Wade.

President Biden will receive his COVID booster shot on camera once it's fully approved for Americans ages 65 and older, the White House said Monday.

Why it matters: A federal advisory panel unanimously voted last week to recommend that the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) authorize a third dose of Pfizer's vaccine for people over the age of 65 and those at higher risk of infection.

The recorded number COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. has now surpassed the known number of fatalities from the 1918 flu pandemic.

The big picture: The U.S. has now marked more than 676,000 deaths from the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the 1918 pandemic killed about about 675,000 people.