Updated versions of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be available to all Americans by mid-September, Centers for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration officials say.
Why it matters: While still far below peak levels, COVID cases and hospitalizations are rising and new variants are being monitored. But it remains unclear how interested Americans will be in getting the new shots.
Why it matters: Years of pandemic disruption have caused students to struggle with stress management, problem solving and peer relationships, the survey found.
CVS Health is getting into the biosimilars business, launching a subsidiary called Cordavis that will initially work with the manufacturer Sandoz to produce a low-cost version of the blockbuster arthritis drug Humira.
Why it matters: CVS already sources generic drugs in a partnership with Cardinal Health and is pursuing a bigger footprint in a biosimilars market that's expected to be worth $100 billion by the end of this decade.
After a year of scrutinizing fraud in the hospice industry, Medicare dropped the hammer this week: The agency warned nearly 400 hospices are at risk of being bounced from the program if they can't prove they're a legitimate enterprise.
Why it matters: The move to root out fraudulent hospices, following years of reports about shady practices in the industry, signals that federal officials are aiming to crack down on unscrupulous actors cashing in on Medicare's $22 billion per year end-of-life care program.
The nationwide median rate of kindergartners with vaccine exemptions nearly doubled between the school years ending in 2012 and 2022, per CDC estimates.
The big picture: While COVID-19 vaccination is not required for young children attending public school anywhere in the U.S., it appears that concerns over that shot may be fueling broader vaccine skepticism among a relatively small but growing number of parents — though that trend certainly existed before the pandemic.
