US pharmacists receive permission to prescribe Pfizer’s COVID pills
The Food and Drug Administration added pharmacists Wednesday to the list of health care professionals who are allowed to prescribe Pfizer’s pills for treating COVID-19. The move, aimed at making it easier for patients to get the drug, will significantly increase the number of prescribers who can order the treatment, known as Paxlovid. Previously, only doctors, nurses and physician assistants were allowed to prescribe the treatment. That restriction often forced patients to scramble to find a prescriber and then a location that would dispense the pills, which must be taken within five days of the start of symptoms.
Appeals arguments heard on immigrants brought to US as kids
Immigrant advocates are hoping a federal appeals court will uphold an Obama-era program that prevents the deportation of thousands of immigrants brought into the United States as children. A federal judge in Texas last year declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program illegal — although he agreed to leave the program intact for those already benefiting from it while his order is appealed. An attorney for the state of Texas who is leading an effort to end the Deferred Action for Childhood arrivals program argued Wednesday that DACA recipients have cost the state hundreds of millions in health care and other costs.
New report details missed chances to stop Uvalde shooting
A new report on the Uvalde elementary school massacre in Texas says a police officer had a chance to open fire on the gunman but missed it while waiting for permission to shoot. The report also says some of the 21 victims at Robb Elementary School likely “could have been saved” on May 24 had they received medical attention sooner. The report is yet another damning assessment of how police failed to act on opportunities that might have saved lives in what became the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012.
FDA lets Juul appeal ban and stay on the market during a review
The Food and Drug Administration has decided to allow Juul Labs’ vaping products to stay on the market temporarily, citing “scientific issues” that warrant a review of the agency’s ruling last month to ban the company’s electronic cigarettes. The agency’s decision to conduct an internal review effectively moves the dispute out of the public eye in appellate court, where Juul had initially received a temporary reprieve, and returns it to the agency’s private administrative process. But the FDA cautioned that its latest move should not be misconstrued as a decision rescinding the original order.
Ukraine is straining to help the millions uprooted by war
Hanna Obuzhevanna, 71, and her family are among more than 10 million Ukrainians uprooted from their homes — roughly one-third of the population. About 5 million Ukrainian refugees have fled west across borders into the European Union, but another humanitarian crisis has transformed life inside Ukraine: that of the millions of people who, like Obuzhevanna, have sought refuge in other parts of the country. Ukraine faces a herculean challenge to help them. Most of the internally displaced people are now coming from the country’s east, especially the Donbas region, where the Russian offensive has already emptied the land of about half its prewar population.
Some Russians won’t halt war protests, despite arrest fears
Despite a massive government crackdown on protests of the invasion of Ukraine, some Russians persist in speaking out against the invasion. One woman in the Ural Mountains city of Perm posts signs in the entrance to her apartment block bearing anti-war sayings. But it remains dangerous. Authorities rubber-stamped legislation that outlawed the spread of “false information” about the invasion and disparaging the military. They have used it against anyone who spoke out publicly against the attack or talked about the atrocities Russian troops were committing in Ukraine. One Moscow printer who made posters saying “No to war” has switched to blander messages such as “Fear is not an excuse to do nothing.”
By wire sources