Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
California Wants to Snip Costs for Vasectomies
Vasectomies can cost hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket — or more. State lawmakers are debating whether to make the procedure free to millions of men. (Rachel Bluth, )
Newsom Unveils $4.7B Mental Health Plan For Young Californians: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced a $4.7 billion investment in mental health and substance abuse support for Californians up to age 25. The plan includes training for 40,000 new mental health professionals as well as tuition assistance and loan forgiveness for behavioral health workers. Read more from The Sacramento Bee.
Alphabet Workers Demand Abortion Protections: More than 650 workers at Alphabet, Google’s parent company, have signed a letter addressed to the company’s leadership demanding contractors be given the same abortion benefits as full-time employees. The workers also want the company to stop collecting data on users seeking information about abortions. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and The Wall Street Journal.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
Palm Springs Desert Sun:
Most Monkeypox Cases In Riverside County Have Come From Palm Springs
Among the reported 109 monkeypox cases in the county, 59 are from Palm Springs and 20 are from Cathedral City. (Sasic, 8/18)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno CA Has 13 Monkeypox Cases; County Is Giving Vaccines
Cases of monkeypox in Fresno County jumped to 13 since the first case was noted a month ago, the county’s top health officer said Thursday. (Guy, 8/18)
ABC News:
Monkeypox Vaccine Not 'A Silver Bullet,' WHO Says, As Breakthrough Cases Emerge
As demand for monkeypox vaccines increases, the World Health Organization (WHO) has begun to receive preliminary reports on the efficacy of the shots, which suggests there are breakthrough cases occurring, officials said Wednesday. "We have known from the beginning that this vaccine would not be a silver bullet, that it would not meet all the expectations that are being put on it, and that we don't have firm efficacy data or effectiveness data in this context," officials said during a press conference. (Mitropoulos, 8/17)
Fortune:
Monkeypox Breakthrough Infections Are Real. 'This Vaccine Will Not Be A Silver Bullet,' WHO Officials Say
Such cases provide “important information that tells us the vaccine is not 100% effective in any given circumstance,” Dr. Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead on monkeypox, said at a press conference. Breakthrough infections have occurred when the vaccine was given before exposure to high-risk individuals, as well as when it was given after exposure in hopes of preventing infection, Lewis said. (Prater, 8/18)
Politico:
LGBTQ Advocates Say The Government Is Missing Communities Of Color In Its Monkeypox Response
As monkeypox spreads across the country, new data suggests a worrying trend: Black and Latino men who have sex with men are far more likely to catch the virus than their white counterparts. While the numbers are limited, they are stark. Nearly 28 percent of monkeypox cases in the U.S. right now are among Black individuals, and 33 percent are among Hispanic people, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Thursday, despite those groups only comprising 13.6 and 18.9 percent of the population, respectively. (Messerly and Mahr, 8/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Scientists’ Big Monkeypox Fear: It Will Spread To Wild Animals And Be Here To Stay
Maureen Miller, an infectious disease epidemiologist and medical anthropologist at Columbia University, was not surprised to learn this week that an Italian greyhound in Paris had become the first dog known to catch monkeypox from a human. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention along with the World Health Organization have cautioned since the start of this outbreak that the disease could spread to pets. Many of the routine ways dogs show affection for owners — licking their faces, nuzzling their skin, leaping up into their bedding — are potential pathways for viral transmission. (Purtill, 8/19)
CNBC:
Stalled Monkeypox Vaccines Raise Risk Of Spillover, Wider Outbreak
Concerns are mounting that the window of opportunity for containing the escalating monkeypox outbreak may be closing, with vaccine shortages leaving some at-risk groups waiting weeks to get jabbed. (Gilchrist, 8/19)
Politico:
Before Monkeypox Outbreak, U.S. Officials Knew For Years They Didn't Have Enough Of Key Shot
Top U.S. health officials have known for years that the country’s Strategic National Stockpile did not have enough doses of a smallpox vaccine that is now key to the monkeypox fight, according to three former senior officials and a current official working on the monkeypox response. The U.S. has stockpiled Jynneos, the vaccine by Bavarian Nordic, which is also being used to combat monkeypox. The U.S. never had the money to purchase the millions of doses that experts felt were necessary, the officials said. (Banco and Collis, 8/18)
Monkeypox Vaccine Rollout and Treatments
CalMatters:
Monkeypox Resources Are Scarce In California’s Central Valley
Just before midnight on a recent Tuesday, Luna Lockhart, 25, jumped in the car with their roommate and drove three-and-a-half hours from Fresno to San Francisco. Their destination: Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where more than 400 people were already waiting in line to get a monkeypox vaccine. (Hwang, 8/18)
AP:
US Offers Extra Monkeypox Vaccine Doses For Gay Pride Events
The U.S. is setting aside an extra 50,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine for places with upcoming gay pride events, health officials said Thursday. The number of doses sent to each place will be based on factors like the size of the event, how many health workers will be available to give shots, and how many of the attendees are considered at highest risk for catching the virus. (Stobbe, 8/18)
The Hill:
Biden Officials Accelerating Monkeypox Vaccine Effort, Including 1.8 Million Additional Doses
The Biden administration is planning to accelerate the delivery of its remaining supply of monkeypox vaccines and will make an additional 1.8 million doses available for ordering starting Monday, officials said Thursday. Jurisdictions will only be able to access the additional doses if they adopt the new intradermal administration of vaccine and have used 90 percent of their current supply of vaccine, officials said. (Weixel, 8/18)
The Washington Post:
White House Speeds Monkeypox Vaccines, But Not Everyone Likes The Pace
White House officials on Thursday touted steps to expand access to monkeypox vaccines, including a deal to finish 2.5 million vials in the United States. Although some local health officials applauded the moves, others were unnerved by a rapid plan to stretch existing supply by splitting vaccine doses into fifths, clamoring for more time to examine the data and train providers to deliver the shots correctly. The Biden administration is “forcing our hand,” said one local health official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to jeopardize vaccine orders. “It’s extraordinarily frustrating because we have to execute and defend this strategy … it’s just a question of giving us the time and the doses to bridge to that strategy.” (Diamond and Nirappil, 8/18)
The New York Times:
Monkeypox Vaccine Plan Prods Cities And States To Adopt New Dosing Regimen
James Krellenstein, a founder of PrEP4All, an advocacy group for H.I.V. patient care, called Thursday’s announcement about the distribution of vaccine doses “a complete accounting trick.” Activists also say the new protocol could exacerbate existing racial disparities and signal to people of color that they might be getting a lesser dose, despite health officials’ approval. “Once it starts becoming equitable, now it’s not, ‘We’ll give you the dosage that everyone was getting prior,’ it’s, ‘We’ll give you the shorter doses,’” said Jennifer Barnes-Balenciaga, a Black transgender woman who is helping to lead RESPND-MI, an epidemiological study on monkeypox. (Stolberg, Otterman and Mandavilli, 8/18)
The Guardian:
Smallpox Vaccines May Not Protect Against Monkeypox For Life
Smallpox vaccinations may not protect against monkeypox for life, research suggests, with experts saying HIV may play a role in eroding protection from the jab over time. ... Dr. Oriol Mitja, co-author of the research, said that since most participants who had been vaccinated against smallpox received the jab more than 45 years ago, it is reasonable to predict that their protection would have waned. “All I can say is that childhood vaccinations may not protect 100% for life,” he said. (Davis, 8/15)
VeryWellHealth:
Tpoxx Is Our Best Bet For Treating Monkeypox. So Why Is It So Hard To Get?
Even though the drug is free, accessing Tpoxx requires providers to fill out a slew of paperwork and schedule multiple follow-up appointments with patients—a process that takes time and resources. (Bugos, 8/18)
Palm Springs Desert Sun:
COVID-19: Cases In Coachella Valley, Riverside County Continue To Decrease
The nine Coachella Valley cities added 415 new COVID-19 cases in the week ending Wednesday. That is a nearly 19% decrease from the previous week. (Sasic, 8/18)
inewsource:
COVID Guidelines Relaxed By CDC, San Diego Schools Follow
Late last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed COVID isolation guidelines, signaling a move by government agencies to issue public health policies that stand the greatest chances of actually being followed by a population that is growing COVID-weary. Under the new recommendations, the onus of mitigation lies with individuals to take measures to prevent serious infection, easing requirements such as isolation for those exposed to the virus regardless of vaccination status. (Dawson and Briseño, 8/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area COVID Vaccination Rates For Kids Among State’s Highest
At the start of the new school year, the Bay Area boasts some of California’s highest rates of childhood vaccination against COVID-19, providing parents some comfort as the virus continues circulating. But even the region’s strong showing has gaps in protection, with room for improvement to keep students safe, health experts say. (Vaziri and Neilson, 8/18)
The Grio:
Dr. Fauci Encourages Black Americans To Get Soon-To-Come Updated Booster Amid COVID-19 Surge
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, is encouraging Black Americans to get the updated booster when it becomes available as the country endures a summer surge and as COVID-19 racial disparities persist two and half years into the pandemic. In a sit-down interview with theGrio, Dr. Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said “unfortunately” Black Americans continue to experience disproportionate shares of COVID-19 infection rates, severe health outcomes and deaths compared with white Americans. Gaynor, 8/17)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Plans To Shift Bill For Covid Shots And Treatments To Insurers, Patients
The Biden administration is planning for an end to its practice of paying for Covid-19 shots and treatments, shifting more control of pricing and coverage to the healthcare industry in ways that could generate sales for companies—and costs for consumers—for years to come. The Department of Health and Human Services intends to hold a planning session on Aug. 30 that would bring together representatives from drugmakers, pharmacies and state health departments with a stake in a Covid-19 treatment industry. (Armour, 8/18)
Modern Healthcare:
Kaiser Mental Health Worker Strike To Expand To Hawaii
Fifty mental healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente sites in Hawaii plan to join colleagues in Northern California in an open-ended strike over access to care. Hawaii workers will strike Aug. 29, according to a news release from the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents the psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses and chemical dependency counselors. Two thousand mental health workers in California began a strike Monday. (Christ, 8/18)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego's Reva Medical Raises $45M To Develop Naturally Absorbable Stents For Lower Legs
Reva Medical, which is developing naturally absorbing stents for the lower legs, said last week that it had raised $45 million in a second round of investment funding. (Freeman, 8/18)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Six Family Members Died From This Rare Condition. UCSD Is First In Nation To Offer Others A Shot Of Hope
Numbness and tingling in her feet, heart palpitations, dizzy spells and wrist pain that felt like carpal tunnel syndrome pushed Nancy Kim of San Diego to confirm that she has the same rare genetic condition that has devastated her family, forcing her father to receive a heart transplant and killing six of her family members. (Sisson, 8/18)
AP:
FDA Targets Illegal Nicotine Gummies In New Warning Letter
Federal regulators on Thursday issued a first-of-a-kind warning to the maker of nicotine gummies, saying the illegal candies pose a growing risk to teenagers and younger children. The Food and Drug Administration said the fruit-flavored gummies from Florida manufacturer VPR Brands could cause nicotine poisoning or even death if eaten by small children. Regulators also cited recent research suggesting nicotine candies and similar products are becoming more popular among high school students. (Perrone, 8/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Will Have 20,000 Homeless People In 2022, Data Says
Those figures, contained in a report released Thursday, reflect the Sisyphean nature of battling one of the city’s worst crises in some of the starkest terms ever. As dire as those numbers are, though, the report also shows the most significant headway in 17 years in reducing overall homelessness in San Francisco. (Fagan and Moench, 8/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Homelessness: Latino People Experienced Biggest Rise
Aylin Rosales had never lived in an RV until last year. After her mom lost her job in a cafe and the family couldn’t afford rent on their Daly City apartment, the 18-year-old moved with her mom, step-dad and younger sister into an RV near Lake Merced. (Moench and Fagan, 8/18)
Bay Area News Group:
Newsom's Office Blasts Oakland's Response To Homeless Camp
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office took Oakland officials to task this week for shirking their responsibility to clear a large, fire-prone West Oakland homeless camp — and threatened to withhold millions in state funding. (Kendall, 8/19)
KQED:
California Churches Want To Build Affordable Housing On Their Land, So Why Is It So Hard?
Back in 2021, Ira Hudson was looking for a new apartment in Berkeley, but couldn’t find anything she could afford. For the past nine years, she had been living in downtown Oakland. But when her building’s management changed last year, Hudson started noticing infestations of bugs in the halls and in her apartment. She started to feel unsafe around new neighbors who were loud and behaved erratically. “Before, they used to screen the people they let in, but [then] they started to let any and everybody come in here,” she said. “The place was just [falling apart] and I couldn’t stand the bugs” (Bandlamudi, 8/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California’s Kaiser Strike Is A Symptom Of America’s Failing Mental Health Care System
That thousands of mental health providers at Kaiser Permanente, the country’s largest nonprofit HMO, are currently on strike in Northern California — at a moment when the country’s demand for mental health services has reached some of its highest levels — is indicative of a problem much bigger than the operations of any one mental health service provider in any one health care system. (Joan Cook, 8/18)
East Bay Times:
California Prop. 1 Would Protect Women's Reproductive Rights
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, it’s essential that California voters amend the state Constitution to ensure reproductive choice. (8/13)
San Francisco Chronicle:
The Right To An Abortion Is Already Safe In California. Don’t Put It To A Vote
California’s leaders shouldn’t put fundamental rights up for a vote. But the Legislature has nonetheless added Proposition 1 to November’s ballot. At first glance, Prop. 1 doesn’t look like anything to worry about — if you, like most Californians (including your columnist), support abortion rights. It comes at a time when even Kansas is voting pro-choice. And Prop. 1’s 78-word text seems simple — it adds explicit guarantees of the “fundamental right to choose to have an abortion” and the “fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives” to the California Constitution. (Joe Mathews, 8/14)
Los Angeles Times:
The CDC Loosened Its COVID Rules. Who Fills In This Public Health Vacuum?
“We have been waiting for three summers for some higher authority to tell us how to navigate Covid. There is none,” wrote the directors of an overnight camp one of our children attended. “There is no local, state or federal authority mandating that we do anything in terms of Covid and our unique congregate-living environment. ...We’ve been left to our own devices.” Halfway through this summer, COVID was spreading and the camp faced a choice. If it ramped up testing, many COVID-positive campers would be sent home to isolate even if they just had mild symptoms. On the other hand, if it didn’t test, COVID would spread further. Some kids and staff might have more severe symptoms or end up with long COVID. (Wendy Netter Epstein and Daniel Goldberg, 8/17)
Fresno Bee:
Only Half Of Fresno County’s Latinos Are Vaccinated For COVID
Fresno County has done better than most agricultural counties in California confronting COVID-19, as measured by countywide vaccination rates. Fresno County residents should be proud of the progress made by their public health department, working in collaboration with community-based organizations. (Edward Kissam, 8/16)
CalMatters:
Stopping Pay For Workers With COVID-19 Is Misguided
During the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, California became the nation’s leader in protecting vulnerable workers by adopting emergency rules to prevent spread of COVID at work, and ensuring that workers who were infected could stay home to get well and prevent further spread. But just as we are facing the most contagious strains yet, a key element of these temporary rules is set to expire in a few short months. (Stephen Knight, 8/17)
Orange County Register:
The COVID Crisis Is Over, And It’s Been Over
Everywhere you look, it seems, there’s a fight over whether the COVID crisis is over. In Washington, President Biden is reportedly determined to extend the national COVID emergency into January but has faced dissent inside his administration. Politico reported that some Biden officials “questioned whether it was time to let the designation lapse.” (Susan Shelley, 8/14)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Psychedelics Saved Their Son From Addiction. Will California Give Other Users The Same Chance?
For decades, many addiction specialists have viewed ibogaine as a potential treatment option for people who want to curb their addiction to opiates. Preliminary studies, and anecdotes from people who’ve taken it, show it has exciting potential to curb cravings and lessen withdrawal symptoms. But any potential enthusiasm has been tempered by fact that it’s illegal in most of the United States, including California. (Nuala Bishari, 8/14)
The Mercury News:
California Should Legalize Drugs — It Works Elsewhere
Why not legalize drugs — all drugs? It’s not a new idea but, amid the unending debate over how existing laws should be enforced, it merits renewed consideration in California and beyond. If drugs were legalized, overdoses and property crimes would plummet. The black market for drugs would largely dry up, emergency services would be freed up, police officers could be repurposed, and jails and courtrooms wouldn’t be stuffed with low-level offenders. (Joe Rosenheim, 8/17)
Los Angeles Daily News:
American Politics Might Soon Catch Up With The Science Of Overdose Prevention
The Drug War, like the other cultural wars, often seems intractable and divisive. However, there has been greater accord between the GOP and Democrats in recent years on support for overdose prevention and drug treatment services. Both the Biden and Trump administrations increased investment in drug treatment, with an appropriate focus on medically-assisted therapy including methadone and buprenorphine. (Glenn Backes, 8/17)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
People Keep Dying In San Diego Jails. It's Time For County Supervisors To Be More Involved.
Last year, a record 18 San Diego County jail inmates died in custody. This year, 16 have already, suggesting a terrible new mark could be set before San Diegans elect a new sheriff in the Nov. 8 election. (8/17)
Capitol Weekly:
Critical, Timely Info On Medications Means Better Quality Care
As health care delivery evolves thanks to advances in data sharing and technology, it’s important that health systems harness the availability of these new tools to improve transparency, information dissemination and communications between doctor and patient, allowing them to better work together to make vital health decisions. (Elizabeth Helms, 8/17)
Sacramento Bee:
CA Farmworkers Need Federal Heat Stress Standards To Survive
It got so hot that Francisca couldn’t bear it. Physically, she felt ill. Francisca’s boss gave her a short break but pressured her to return. Francisca couldn’t. Feeling weak and dizzy, she left for the hospital. The doctor told her that she was having a heat stroke. (Manuela Ramirez, 8/19)
CalMatters:
Government Squabbling Cripples Plans For The Homeless
California, the nation’s wealthiest state, also has the nation’s most severe homelessness crisis. (Dan Walters, 8/14)
Sacramento Bee:
How Hard Is It To Move A Homeless Sacramento Man To Safety?
Former home builder and bass player Eugene Williams sees a lot from the tent where he lives on Sacramento’s Commerce Circle. He sees that his jumpy neighbor in the long black leather coat on a 90-degree day is not going to be following up on the city’s offer of medical help. He sees that the young man who keeps setting the Porta Potties around here on fire needs to be hospitalized — “We’re leaving him behind is what we’re doing” — and that the lady down the block needs to dump her “dead weight boyfriend” asap: “Look at her dragging him down the road in a wagon,” says 63-year-old Williams, shaking his head. “She does that every day, and he’s not worth two dead flies.” (Melinda Henneberger, 8/16)