Axios

The COVID vaccine rollout will soon include a third option, after the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized an updated Novavax shot for emergency use in people age 12 and older.

Why it matters: Novavax's product will be the only non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccine available in the U.S. and could ease logistical issues that have disrupted the rollout amid a surge in new cases.

The World Health Organization on Monday recommended a second, cheaper vaccine to help prevent kids from contracting malaria, boosting much-needed supply in the fight against a leading killer of children.

Why it matters: The UN health agency's endorsement of the vaccine, known as R21/Matrix-M, comes almost two years after it recommended the world's first malaria vaccine, RTS,S.

Rising revenue helped hospitals balance out higher supply and drug costs in August, stabilizing the sector's financial performance and keeping operating margins in positive territory, a new Kaufman Hall report finds.

The big picture: The industry's post-pandemic fortunes continue to improve as patients return to more normal patterns of care. But the positive trend line comes as Congress weighs Medicare changes that could reduce payments to health systems.

Early hiccups that have complicated the rollout of updated COVID-19 vaccines should be resolved in the next couple of weeks, experts and pharmacy groups told Axios.

Driving the news: There have been widespread reports of dropped or limited vaccine appointments, making it difficult for some to get the shot almost three weeks after federal officials cleared it and encouraged people to protect themselves as cases were rising.

The way we're wired has a lot to do with whether we'll live to 100, but it's not the only factor — good news for those of us with ill-fitting genes.

Zoom out: As the oldest and fittest of the baby boomers age into triple digits over the next 25 years, and medicine finds new ways to treat and cure heart disease and cancer, more of us than ever before will see 100.

• I dove deeper in my new book, THE BIG 100: The New World of Super-Aging, out Oct. 3.

California launched a new civil court process in several counties this week that is aimed at helping people with schizophrenia and other psychological disorders into treatment plans.

The big picture: Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's championed CARE court allows first responders, family members, behavioral health providers and others to directly petition the court for behavioral health services.

Roughly 1.8 million people received a COVID-19 vaccine during the week ending Sept. 22, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: The stat, per data from the analytics firm IQVIA, suggests that early glitches with the rollout of an updated vaccine last month haven't greatly affected demand for the shot.

Two scientists on Monday were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research that laid the foundation for the COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

Why it matters: The prize recognized Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, whose research on mRNA vaccines was originally overlooked by the scientific and medical communities.

Medicare Advantage insurer SCAN is getting ahead of the program's planned drug price negotiations by offering seniors free or $11 monthly co-pays for 13 name-brand drugs, the carrier told Axios first.

Why it matters: The nonprofit will make the changes for the 2024 plan year — two years before the first negotiated prices are supposed to take effect.

Tests for COVID-19, blood lead levels, breast cancer genes and other conditions could soon be held to higher accuracy standards under a much-anticipated plan from federal regulators.

The big picture: The Food and Drug Administration on Friday rolled out a plan to regulate lab-developed tests that have long escaped close agency scrutiny as Congress drags its feet on the issue. But the renewed effort to regulate so-called LDTs could face strong industry opposition.

In refusing to freeze Medicare drug price negotiations, a federal judge in Ohio on Friday appeared to throw cold water on one of the pharmaceutical industry's main arguments against the Inflation Reduction Act.

Driving the news: U.S. District Court Judge Michael Newman, a Trump appointee, turned away the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's request for the negotiations to be paused while legal challenges to the IRA play out, writing that "participation in Medicare, no matter how vital it may be to a business model, is a completely voluntary choice."