About Covid-19
U.S. sets record high for coronavirus infections: “The lightning spread of the coronavirus’s omicron variant in the United States pushed the seven-day average of new daily cases to 253,245 as of Tuesday afternoon, surpassing the previous high of 248,209 cases on Jan. 12.”
Booster protection wanes against symptomatic Omicron infections, British data suggests.: “New data from Britain suggests that booster protection against symptomatic Covid caused by the Omicron variant wanes within 10 weeks.
There have not yet been enough severe cases of Omicron to calculate how well boosters protect against severe disease, but experts believe the shots will continue to provide significant protection against hospitalization and death.”
Supreme Court sets Jan. 7 hearing on vaccine mandate rules: “The Supreme Court…announced it will hear oral arguments to legal challenges against the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccination mandates covering both healthcare employers and employers of businesses with 100 or more workers.
The justices will consider whether the rules will take effect in a special hearing Jan. 7, amid a flurry of legal challenges to both state and federal vaccination mandates with looming deadlines for employers to comply.
The high court already blocked challenges to three states' vaccine mandates, upholding the requirement for the jab. Though two federal courts granted preliminary injunctions to some states challenging the CMS mandate that still stands.”
About the public’s health
Flu is making a comeback in US after an unusual year off: “The U.S. flu season has arrived on schedule after taking a year off, with flu hospitalizations rising and two child deaths reported.
Last year’s flu season was the lowest on record, likely because COVID-19 measures — school closures, distancing, masks and canceled travel — prevented the spread of influenza, or because the coronavirus somehow pushed aside other viruses.
‘This is setting itself up to be more of a normal flu season,”’said Lynnette Brammer, who tracks flu-like illnesses for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Two New Pneumococcal Vaccines—Prevnar 20 and Vaxneuvance: “The FDA has licensed two new pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) for prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease in adults: Prevnar 20 (PCV20; Pfizer), which contains antigens from 20 serotypes of pneumococcus, and Vaxneuvance (PCV15; Merck), which contains antigens from 15 serotypes.”
Check Table 3 for new immunization recommendations.
About healthcare finance
Healthcare Underperformed S&P 500 In 2021 For Third Year Straight: “Poor performances in the biotech and digital health sectors dragged down the rest of the industry, the report found. Those losses were partially offset by strong gains across healthcare providers, insurers and life science tools and diagnostics. Overall, SVB Leerink found healthcare companies gained 22% in 2021 through Dec. 17, compared with 24% across the S&P 500.
Within healthcare, life sciences tools and services saw the highest gains in 2021, at 35.5%, which was on par with the sector’s 2020 performance. Second was healthcare providers and services, which gained 30.7%, more than double its 2020 performance.”
About rural health
Rural Communities Left Hurting Without a Hospital, Ambulance or Doctors Nearby “About 20% of the nation lives in rural America, but only about 10% of U.S. physicians practice in such areas, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
And 77% of the country’s rural counties are designated as health professional shortage areas. About 4,000 additional primary care practitioners are needed to meet current rural health care needs, the Health Resources and Services Administration has estimated.”