Moderna announced Tuesday that it has requested emergency approval for its updated COVID-19 vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration.
Why it matters: Doses of the updated vaccine, which better target new coronavirus variants, will be ready to ship next month if the FDA grants clearance, according to a Moderna news release.
Life expectancy in the U.S. fell in all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2019 to 2020 and fell nationally by 1.8 years, according to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published Tuesday.
The big picture: The decline nationally and in states was mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increases in unintentional injuries, specifically drug overdose deaths.
The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force reaffirmed guidance that doctors prescribe statins to prevent cardiovascular events like heart attacks and stroke.
Why it matters: The new guidelines, published Tuesday in JAMA, reinforce a task force recommendation from 2016.
They come after the expert panel commissioned a review of additional evidence on the benefits of statins in preventing events like a first heart attack versus the risks posed by heart disease.
The task force's recommendations influence how primary and preventive care is delivered, along with which services are covered by insurance.
What they're saying: Doctors should continue prescribing a statin toadults ages 40- to 75-years-old who have at least one cardiovascular risk factor such as diabetes, hypertension or smoking, as well as an estimated 10-year cardiovascular disease risk of 10% or greater.
Doctors may selectively prescribe statins to adults ages 40 to 75 years who have at least one cardiovascular risk factor but who have an estimated 10-year CVD risk of 7.5% to less than 10%.
People who are older than 75 years old are not included in the task force's recommendation, due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
The big picture: This recommendation comes just more than a month after new risk thresholds dramatically reduced eligibility for statin use in low-risk countries, Medscape reported.
Yes, but: Some clinicians believe the U.S. recommendations aren't broad enough to cover everyone who could benefit from taking the medication.
They argue that the 10-year guidelines that the task force recommends using will actually keep some people who might benefit from receiving the prescription.
"Waiting for a person to reach an age when their 10-year predicted (cardiovascular disease) risk exceeds a certain arbitrary threshold before recommending a statin allows atherosclerosis to proceed unchecked for decades," University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center researchers Ann Marie Navar and Eric Peterson wrote in a JAMA editorial.
The recommendations, Navar and Peterson write, are based on clinical consensus instead of the clinical trial results reviewed by the task force.
Individuals with a higher number of chronic conditions have a higher chance of encountering financial hardship like medical debt, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Why it matters: It further cements the connection between well-being and financial stability.
Pfizer and BioNTech announced on Tuesday that new data showed their COVID-19 vaccine to be 73.2% effective against the virus in children aged 6 months to 4 years old.
Why it matters: Coming two months after shots for children under 5 were approved, the results back up earlier data that showed the Pfizer shot to be safe and effective for that age group.
NIAID director Anthony Fauci's time in the spotlight likely won't end with his retirement: Republicans plan to investigate his role in the COVID pandemic if they take control of the House or Senate next year.
The intrigue: Although the GOP could always subpoena Fauci as a civilian, they may not need to.
NIAID director Anthony Fauci's retirement will leave a gaping hole in the nation's flagship biomedical research agency and tee up a test of whether his successor will be an equally public figure — and as controversial.
Why it matters: Fauci's consistent presence as the public face of the pandemic response over the last two and a half years has been a source of comfort for some Americans while enraging others. What happens in his absence will reveal whether such deep polarization stems more from Fauci or is a function oftoday's political environment.
Anthony Fauci, who's stepping down from his roles as NIAID director and President Biden's chief medical adviser in December, opened up on being the target of pandemic conspiracy theories during an interview on MSNBC on Monday evening.
What he's saying: "What we're dealing with now is just a distortion of reality, conspiracy theories which don't make any sense at all pushing back on sound public health measures, making it look like trying to save lives is encroaching on people's freedom," Fauci said on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show."
Pfizer and BioNTech said Monday they submitted an application to the FDA for an updated COVID-19 booster that targets the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
The big picture: The Biden administration has been pressing to have updated boosters widely available by mid-September.
But it's still unclear whether an invigorated booster campaign cuts through months of public apathy and confusion and can prime the public for potentially more COVID-19 waves this fall.
What they said: The companies said the data supports emergency use authorization of a 30-microgram booster dose for individuals 12 years of age and older.
The "bivalent" shot contains mRNA encoding the original COVID spike protein that's present in the current Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, along with mRNA encoding the spike protein of the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants.
Preclinical data showed a booster dose "generated a strong neutralizing antibody response against Omicron BA.1, BA.2 and BA.4/BA.5 variants, as well as the original wild-type strain."
The companies plan to launch a clinical study in individuals 12 and older this month.
NIAID director Anthony Fauci said Monday that he plans to retire from government service in December, saying he is leaving "to pursue the next chapter of my career."
Why it matters: Fauci, 81, emerged as the face of the nation's pandemic response and has been a mainstay at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, serving as leader since 1984.
The CDC needs to start opening itself up to working with the private sector and more transparently communicating how it makes recommendations, Deborah Birx, former President Trump's coronavirus response coordinator said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
Why it matters: Her comments came in the aftermath of CDC director Rochelle Walensky's plans to reform the agency.
Amazon is among the reportedbidders for Signify Health, a Dallas-based health tech company whose market cap has climbed to nearly $5 billion.
Why it matters: This reflects Amazon's emergence as a major player in health care M&A, having recently bested CVS for One Medical. It also may open a new front for antitrust regulators.
A year and a half after Congress protected patients from surprise medical bills, the Biden administration has finalized the process for deciding who'll actually pick up the tab.
Why it matters: Billions of dollars are at stake — either for providers or for insurers and employers.
