FDA advisers recommend authorizing Novavax's Covid vaccine

After struggling mightily to get its Covid vaccine ready for FDA, Novavax finally won a recommendation from the agency's expert advisory panel yesterday for emergency use authorization. The vote was 21-to-0, with one member abstaining. That tally seemed unlikely, STAT’s Helen Branswell says, when the meeting began with NEJM editor Eric Rubin questioning whether additional EUAs are needed when three vaccines are already in use in the country.

Novavax’s vaccine, authorized for use in more than 40 other countries, is made using more traditional technology than the mRNA vaccines in use since December 2020. But Novavax had trouble manufacturing its product with a consistency that would satisfy the FDA. Next up: FDA will vote on the recommendation. If, as expected, it agrees, the vaccine could become available in the U.S. in the next few weeks.

Patients spending more time with their doctors — with some exceptions

A new analysis shows patients are getting more face time with physicians, likely due to the larger physician workforce, but that Black and Hispanic patients receive less time with their doctors. The study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that the time all patients spent with physicians increased between 1979 and 2018 from 40 to 60.4 minutes per year, while time spent with primary care doctors had fallen since 2005. This reduction may explain why rates of hypertension and diabetes, conditions mostly managed in primary care, are increasing.

The disparities seen for Black and Hispanic patients increased in recent years. Between 2014-2018, white patients saw physicians an average of 70 minutes per year, while Black and Hispanic patients saw them for about 53 minutes, a gap due mainly to fewer specialist visits. These disparities, the authors wrote, suggest “that structural racism within the health system places lower value on some lives than others.”

Hospitals that dominate their markets less likely to share prices

Hospital mergers, often pitched by new partners as a way for patients to save money, don’t deliver, health care economists have long argued. Instead, costs can go up and quality can go down. A new study in JAMA adds another twist: Even though a 2021 law requires hospitals to reveal their prices, under 6% of them do. And hospitals in markets with less competition are less likely to be transparent.

Why? Health systems that have market power are likely have the highest prices and the most incentive to keep them secret, study author Sunita Desai told STAT’s Tara Bannow. Not only that, any fines, which so far have not been isssued, mean less to them. That leaves anyone hoping to compare prices out of luck. “There are fewer and fewer actual choices for patients,” Desai said. Read more.

Closer look: Lessons from the AIDS playbook guide current response to monkeypox

A group advocating AIDS research marches down Fifth Avenue during the 14th annual Lesbian and Gay Pride parade in New York in 1983. (Mario Suriani/AP)

Let’s stipulate this up front: The monkeypox virus is far less deadly than HIV. Still, health officials engaged in public messaging are walking a tightrope when communicating about the outbreak spreading outside countries where it is endemic. Eager not to repeat the missteps from the 1980s that slowed a response and stigmatized men who have sex wtih men, many of these experts can lean on lessons learned back then.

“We don’t want to pretend that the cases described in Europe have not primarily been in men who have sex with men,” Ken Mayer, medical director of Fenway Health, an LGBTQ-focused clinic in Boston, told STAT’s Jason Mast. “But we want to do it in a way that people feel educated or engaged but not stigmatized in a way that people would delay seeking care or ignore symptoms.” Read more.

Homeless people and those in jail struggled to access Covid vaccines in Minnesota

Even in a state dedicated to vaccinating socially vulnerable groups against Covid-19 and keeping track of results, homeless people and people in jail had lower vaccination rates than other Minnesotans, a new study concludes. Researchers report in Health Affairs that 1 in 3 people in jail and 1 in 10 homeless people were fully vaccinated, compared to 7 out of 10 people in the rest of the state.

The study, the first to analyze data from so many residents, showed that in every setting, Black and Hispanic Minnesotans had lower vaccination rates than their white peers. Several state programs encourage and track vaccination, but inequities linger. “One of the biggest surprises is just the persistent nature of the disparities as we went across groups,” study author Riley Shearer of the University of Minnesota told STAT’s Kate Sheridan. Read more.

Things are looking up for longer lifespans

Maybe I’m reaching here for the bright side of life during dark days, but I dived into this new observational study linking optimism to longevity. It presents data from a racially diverse group of more than 150,000 women, unlike previous research conducted mostly in white participants. The women answered questions about their outlook, provided demographic and health information, and were followed for 26 years. Across racial and ethnic groups, those scoring highest for optimism were more likely than those scoring lowest to live longer, including past age 90.

Lifestyle factors — diet, physical activity, BMI, smoking, drinking — accounted for just under one-quarter of the difference. The study, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, ties optimism to a 5.4% increase in lifespan, adding an average 4.4 years of life. That’s comparable to the benefits of exercise, they note, and possibly pointing to a target to explore.

What to read around the web today

Don't wait to get your kid vaccinated, The Atlantic
Florida’s health department undercounted Covid cases and deaths, state audit says, Tampa Bay Times
Opinion: A growing gap in premature deaths along party lines underscores the collision of politics and public health, STAT
Misinformation clouds America’s most popular emergency contraception, Kaiser Health News
Opinion: How the U.S. can mitigate and prevent medical device shortages, STAT