The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Thursday that it has limited the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine to adults for whom other COVID-19 vaccines aren't "accessible or clinically appropriate."
Driving the news: The change in the FDA's recommendation for the J&J shot follows an updated analysis of the vaccine's association with a rare blood clot disorder, per the press release.
The Walgreens pharmacy chain reached a $683 million settlement with the state of Florida in a lawsuit that accused the company of improperly dispensing millions of opioid pills, AP reports.
The details: Under the settlement, Walgreens will pay $620 million to Florida over 18 years and a one-time sum of $63 million for attorney fees, per AP.
Yes, but: The settlement does not include any "admission of wrongdoing or liability by Walgreens," the company said Thursday in a statement.
What they're saying: “We now go into battle armed and ready to fight back hard against this manmade crisis,” State Attorney General Ashley Moody said at a news conference in Tampa, per AP.
“I am glad that we have been able to end this monumental litigation and move past the courtroom," she added.
The other side: “As the largest pharmacy chain in the state, we remain focused on and committed to being part of the solution, and believe this resolution is in the best interest of all parties involved and the communities we serve across Florida,” said Danielle Gray, executive vice president and global chief legal officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance, in a statement.
“Our pharmacists are dedicated healthcare professionals who live and work in the communities they serve, and play a critical role in providing education and resources to help combat opioid misuse and abuse.”
The big picture: Florida decided to sue Walgreens arguing the pharmacy chain was partly responsible for creating opioid addictions, which lawyers said cost Florida millions in taxpayer dollars, per WTSP.
Walgreens was accused of dispensing more than 4.3 billion opioid pills in Florida from May 2006 to June 2021, per AP.
Lawyers for Florida said Walgreens dispensed opioids as if the drugs were Tylenol and profited from the distribution.
Worth noting: Florida is the first state to settle lawsuits against both major pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS Health, receiving more than $1.1 billion in settlements, Reuters reports.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that the Senate will vote next week to codify abortion rights into federal law even though Democrats lack the votes to ensure the bill's passage.
Why it matters: The pills for a medication abortion, mifepristone and misoprostol, are FDA-approved for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The FDA lifted long-standing restrictions in December and paved the way for doctors to prescribe them online and mail them to patients.
Mental telehealth startups such as Cerebral and Done Health are coming under increased scrutiny for the way they prescribe drugs with a high potential for abuse like Adderall.
Driving the news: Cerebral announced quality and safety changes on Wednesday, telling clinicians it will stop prescribing Adderall and other controlled substances to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for new patients.
The World Health Organization said Thursday that it estimates around 14.9 million people around the world died directly or indirectly from the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The big picture: That figure is double the more than 6 million COVID-19 deaths that have been officially reported by countries, though determining exactly how many people have died as a result of the pandemic has been difficult.
COVID cases are rising in all but four states and Washington, D.C., as Omicron and new, potentially more transmissible versions of the Omicron variant, sweep across the U.S.
The big picture: COVID rates in the Northeast are reaching some of their highest levels in three months. But the South may be in for a new wave come summer.
Almost half of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, according to survey results published Wednesday by The Trevor Project, an organization that runs crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ people under 25.
A speech on U.S.-China relations that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to give on Thursday will be rescheduled in light of Blinken's positive COVID-19 diagnosis, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday.
Driving the news: Blinken, who is fully vaccinated and boosted against the virus, tested positive for COVID-19 earlier Wednesday, but is experiencing only "mild symptoms," Price said in a press release.
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official said Wednesday that there is "no evidence" that a second round of the Pfizer COVID pill Paxlovid will help patients who suffer a relapse in symptoms.
Why it matters: The FDA’s comments contradict Pfizer chief executive officer Albert Bourla, who said patients experiencing COVID-19 symptoms after their first treatment can take more of the pill.
Americans continue to wrongly blame people of Asian descent for the coronavirus, and a greater percentage are harboring distrust of their loyalties, according to a new report out this morning.
Executives at telehealth startup Cerebral told their clinicians that the company will stop prescribing Adderall and other controlled substances to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the company announced Wednesday.
Driving the news: The decision comes after Cerebral's preferred pharmacy, Truepill, said it would halt prescriptions for Adderall and other controlled substances, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
During an Axios event Wednesday, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) called on Congress to vote on COVID preparedness funding separately from measures on supporting Ukraine and a bill that would reimpose Title 42.
State of play: Republicans have held that they won't pass funding for COVID or Ukraine unless Congress brings back Title 42, which allows border authorities to turn away migrants attempting to enter the U.S. due to the pandemic emergency, NBC reports.
Biogen's decision Tuesday to replace its CEO and largely give up marketing the controversial Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm could refocus attention on drugs that target disease processes that contribute to Alzheimer's.
The big picture: Aduhelm's effective demise means we'll likely need multiple drugs and diagnostic tools to tailor combination treatments for individual patients, according to experts.
One in five parents of children under age 5 are ready to get their kids vaccinated as soon as COVID-19 shots are available for that age group while about twice as many parents are taking a wait-and-see approach, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey.
By the numbers: Though the FDA has still not authorized any COVID-19 vaccine for young children, 18% of parents of children under 5 said they'll vaccinate their kids right away once a shot is authorized.
The implications of Roe v. Wade being overturned could stretch far beyond accessing an abortion.
Why it matters: Patients experiencing early miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, or life-threatening medical conditions could also lose access to timely care, experts said Tuesday.
The number of U.S. women who get abortions has decreased dramatically in recent decades, with typical patients now tendingto be in their 20s and living in blue states.
Why it matters: Abortion access is likely to be drastically curtailed in red states should a leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court decision hold, gutting the federal right to an abortion. But the profile of abortion patients has trended older since that right was established, and the vast majority of procedures tend to be early in pregnancies.
