• An expert advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested essential workers could be prioritized ahead of older adults and people with high-risk medical conditions and behind health care workers and people living in long-term care facilities for eventual coronavirus vaccines, in an effort to bring people of color, who have been disproportionately affected by the virus, to the front of the line. The panel did not formally vote on vaccine prioritization and final decisions will be made after the Food and Drug Administration grants emergency authorization to a vaccine. (Stat News)

• The federal government will begin distributing Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s recently authorized antibody treatment for COVID-19 today, beginning with 30,000 doses that will be allocated based on states’ confirmed cases and hospitalizations, a health official said. Regeneron has said it expects to have enough doses of the treatment for about 80,000 patients by the end of November and for 300,000 patients total by the end of January. (Reuters)

• The country’s Strategic National Stockpile is facing critical shortages of gloves, masks, gowns, goggles and other supplies needed to help states fight emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an investigation that identified longtime budget deficits, a lack of domestic manufacturing, global supply chain issues and a surge in demand as driving the shortfall. Robert Kadlec, who manages the stockpile and serves as Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the Trump administration has “achieved much, but not all” of the stockpile supply goals set earlier this year, and that he hopes they will be accomplished by the end of 2020. (NPR News)

• The CDC is urging state and local health officials to prioritize their contact tracing efforts as infections surge and their ability to quickly investigate cases “becomes more difficult or is not feasible,” according to new guidance that says health departments should focus on people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the last six days, their household members, older people, those with high-risk health conditions and people who live or work in congregate settings like nursing homes and prisons. The CDC said officials should skip contact tracing for people who tested positive more than two weeks ago because it is likely too late to keep them from spreading the virus. (Politico)

AstraZeneca to seek FDA authorization for vaccine based on foreign trial data
Zachary Brennan, Politico

AstraZeneca said Monday that it will submit preliminary data from large clinical trials in the U.K. and Brazil to the FDA as part of an application for emergency authorization.

Astra Shot That Works Better In Smaller Doses Raises Questions
Stephanie Baker, Bloomberg

Questions about the most effective dose of the vaccine, its safety record and the partners’ approach to testing it have cast doubt on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will clear it.

Moderna exec says children could be vaccinated by mid-2021
Dan Primack, Axios

Tal Zaks, chief medical officer of Moderna, tells “Axios on HBO” that a COVID-19 vaccine could be available for children by the middle of next year.

Small Gatherings Spread the Virus, but Are They Causing the Surge?
Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times

Yes, the coronavirus can be transmitted over cocktails and dinners. But these get-togethers may not account for the huge rise in cases.

For Biden, the start of the transition means his battle against the coronavirus begins.
Sheila Kaplan and Ron DePasquale, The New York Times

Until now, President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Covid-19 task force has had to prepare its battle plan without the keys to the government agencies leading the pandemic response.

Vaccinating a nation: can Biden manage America’s biggest health project?
Kiran Stacey, Financial Times

The smooth functioning of this cold supply chain is vital if the US is to be able to offer vaccines to everyone who wants one, as the federal government has promised by next summer.

Now comes the hardest part: Getting a coronavirus vaccine from loading dock to upper arm
Lena H. Sun and Frances Stead Sellers, The Washington Post

Buoyed by promising results from major clinical trials of three coronavirus vaccines, public health officials are preparing for the daunting task ahead of delivering those shots to tens of millions of Americans.

WHO says $4.3 billion urgently needed for vaccine sharing scheme
Stephanie Nebehay et al., Reuters

There is a risk that the poor and vulnerable will be trampled on in the stampede for coronavirus vaccines, the head of the World Health Organization said on Monday, adding that $4.3 billion was needed urgently for a world vaccine-sharing scheme.

Coronavirus vaccines face trust gap in Black and Latino communities, study finds
William Wan, The Washington Post

If offered a coronavirus vaccine free of charge, fewer than half of Black people and 66 percent of Latino people said they would definitely or probably take it, according to a survey-based study that underscores the challenge of getting vaccines to communities hit hard by the pandemic.

Doctors say CDC should warn people the side effects from Covid vaccine shots won’t be ‘a walk in the park’
Berkeley Lovelace Jr., CNBC

Public health officials and drugmakers must be transparent about the side effects people may experience after getting their first shot of a coronavirus vaccine, doctors urged during a meeting Monday with CDC advisors as states prepare to distribute doses as early as next month.

Cargo pilots increasingly falling ill with coronavirus, unions say, even as they prepare to help distribute vaccine
Ian Duncan, The Washington Post

Cargo pilots worn down by months of flying during the coronavirus pandemic are getting ready to take on the job of helping to distribute a vaccine, but their union leaders say they are increasingly falling ill with the virus themselves.

Covid-19 Has Become Less Deadly, but That Could Change as Cases Rise
Sarah Toy, The Wall Street Journal

The death rate from Covid-19 is falling in the U.S., according to infectious-disease experts and biostatisticians, a signal of advancements in treatment of the disease. But the death rate could climb with the latest nationwide rise in cases, they warn.

Damaged Sense of Smell in Covid Patients Holds Clues to How Recovery Might Work
Robbie Whelan, The Wall Street Journal

Scientists are uncovering clues to explain how the coronavirus attacks the nervous system by studying a bizarre side effect of the infection that distorts sufferers’ sense of smell for months on end.

Evidence Builds That an Early Mutation Made the Pandemic Harder to Stop
James Glanz et al., The New York Times

Scientists were initially skeptical that a mutation made the coronavirus more contagious. But new research has changed many of their minds.

Cigna CEO, Board Sued for ‘Black Ops’ Effort to Kill Anthem Deal
Michael Leonard and Jef Feeley, Bloomberg

Cigna Corp.’s chief executive officer and board used “black-ops style” tactics in a covert campaign to “blow up” a $48 billion merger with rival insurer Anthem Inc., Cigna investors claim in a lawsuit.

Rural Areas Send Their Sickest Patients to Cities, Straining Hospitals
Kaiser Health News/NPR/KCUR

Critically ill rural patients are often sent to city hospitals for high-level treatment and, as their numbers grow, some urban hospitals are buckling under the added strain.

Novartis Plans $2.5 Billion Share Buyback as Pipeline Grows
Thomas Mulier, Bloomberg

Novartis AG plans to buy back as much as $2.5 billion of shares as the Swiss drugmaker expects its pipeline of new drug candidates to fuel sales growth.

FDA Approves First Drug For A Rapid Aging Disorder In Children
Jon Hamilton, NPR News

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug that extends the lives of children with an extremely rare genetic disorder that causes them to grow old before they grow up.

Pharmacy Group Seeks to Block U.S. Drug Imports From Canada
Robert Burnson, Bloomberg Law

A pharmaceutical research group sued the Trump administration to block a policy aimed at lowering drug prices by allowing some prescription medications to be imported — and re-imported — into the U.S. from Canada.

Doctors’ Cancer Drug Caches Take Hit Under Foreign Pricing Rule
Jacquie Lee, Bloomberg Law

Stockpiles of pricey cancer drugs will net some oncology practices less in Medicare money next year under a new rule that ties reimbursement rates to cheaper foreign prices.

AdventHealth, Berg tap AI technology to reduce mortality in COVID-19 patients
Brian T. Horowitz, Fierce Healthcare

AdventHealth has partnered with biotech firm Berg to gain insights on people that have tested positive for COVID-19 and reduce mortality rates from the disease.

The Time Is Now for Bipartisan, Commonsense Health Care Reform
Donna Christensen, Morning Consult

The election did not result in the blue wave that many Democrats hoped for and even expected.

Pay Americans to take a coronavirus vaccine
John K. Delaney, The Washington Post

It is clear that soon multiple covid-19 vaccines will be ready for distribution. That’s the good news; more approved vaccines mean more vaccine doses will be more readily available.

Polysubstance Involvement in Opioid Overdose Deaths in Adolescents and Young Adults, 1999-2018
Jamie K. Lim et al., JAMA Pediatrics

Overdose deaths among people 13 to 25 years old surged between 1999 and 2018, when deaths involving opioids and another substance became more prevalent than those involving only opioids, researchers found. By 2018, cocaine was the substance most commonly involved in overdose deaths involving other substances.

For months, he helped his son keep suicidal thoughts at bay. Then came the pandemic.
William Wan, The Washington Post

One in 4 young adults have struggled with suicidal thoughts since the coronavirus hit, CDC says. “I could see the storm coming,” said father.