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Surveys Reveal Americans’ Persistent Mistrust in COVID Vaccine Science
Levels of mistrust in the science behind COVID-19 vaccines have hovered at about 35% for the past three years among U.S. adults, while the greatest levels of trust were seen among men, those with university degrees and high median outcomes, and those who had lost someone to COVID-19, according to an analysis of surveys published in Vaccine: X.
Researchers from the City University of New York and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in Spain evaluated responses to online surveys conducted in 2021, 2022, and 2023 as part of a larger study to understand determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in 23 countries.
“As the pandemic evolved, the significance of general trust in science emerged at the forefront of public health discussions as a pivotal factor influencing vaccine uptake and particularly the willingness to receive future COVID-19 vaccine boosters,” the team wrote.
What Letting RFK Jr. ‘Go Wild’ Might Mean for Trump’s FDA
With Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, public health experts are anxiously waiting to see whether his embrace of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will translate into real policy, and perhaps chaos, at the Food and Drug Administration — the regulator tasked with ensuring that America’s drugs are effective and its food is safe to eat.
In the weeks leading up to the election, Trump promised supporters that he would give RFK Jr. an important role in his administration and let him “go wild” on health care.
In his victory speech, the president-elect name-checked Kennedy again. “He’s going to help make America healthy again,” Trump said. “He’s a great guy and he really means it. He wants to do some things, and we’re gonna let him go to it.”
Cost of Mpox Shot Deters Americans at Risk, Critics Say
A particularly deadly form of mpox, formerly called monkeypox, has led to more than 48,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths in Africa this year. The Biden administration has donated one million doses of the vaccine to affected countries. But in the U.S., mpox vaccines are out of reach for many people who need them.
In the 2022 outbreak that reached this country, doses of the mpox vaccine, Jynneos, were made available for free from the federal stockpile. That arrangement ended in April, when the vaccine became available commercially.
But insurance companies do not yet cover the vaccine or, if they do, reimburse only a tiny fraction of the cost. Some young gay or bisexual men hesitate to use insurance, because they are not out to their families.
And some people at high risk of mpox, including those with H.I.V., are less likely to have any form of insurance at all. The virus circulating in Africa has not yet reached the United States. Still, the outbreak overseas has led to a rise in the number of Philadelphia residents seeking the vaccine.
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Kroger to Pay Nearly $1.4 Billion to Settle Opioid Lawsuit Claims
Supermarket chain Kroger has finalized a nearly $1.4 billion agreement to settle the majority of the claims made by states, counties and Native American tribes that accused the company of helping fuel the opioid epidemic.
Payments are expected to begin early next year. The amount includes up to $1.2 billion for state and local governments where it operates, $36 million to Native American tribes and about $177 million to cover lawyers’ fees and costs. The agreement in principle was first announced last fall, and a coalition of 30 bipartisan attorneys general said their states had signed on.
Kroger is one of the country’s largest grocery chains, operating stores in 35 states.
“The finalization of this settlement, originally reached in Sept. 2023, will deliver over $1.2 billion in support of opioid abatement efforts nationwide while resolving nearly all the outstanding opioid-related claims against the company,” a Kroger spokesperson said in a statement.
Novo Nordisk Reports Continued Growth in Obesity Drug Sales
Sales of Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug Wegovy jumped in the third quarter, the company said Wednesday as it reported quarterly profits that were in line with analyst expectations. Novo’s third quarter performance will be seen as a win for the company, particularly after Eli Lilly — its rival in the booming obesity drug market — reported earnings last week that fell below forecasts.
Quarterly profit for the Danish pharma company reached 33.8 billion Danish kroner ($4.88 billion), compared to forecasts of 33.5 billion kroner, according to consensus data compiled by Visible Alpha. Sales of Wegovy reached 17.3 billion kroner ($2.5 billion), versus expectations of 15.8 billion kroner. Overall, the company’s obesity care business was up 44%.
Two UK Mpox Cases First Local Transmission in Europe: WHO
Two new cases of the mpox variant clade 1b detected in the U.K. are the first locally transmitted cases in Europe and the first outside Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday. The U.K. Health Security Agency confirmed late Monday that the two new cases were household contacts of Britain’s first case identified last week, bringing the country’s total confirmed cases to three.
The WHO warned that European states should be prepared for “rapid action” to contain the latest mpox variant, which spreads through close physical contact including sexual relations and sharing closed spaces.
Vaccination and awareness drives in many countries helped stem the number of worldwide cases and the WHO lifted the emergency in May 2023 after reporting 140 deaths out of around 87,400 cases.
In 2024, a two-pronged epidemic of clade 1 and clade 1b, a new strain that affects children, has spread widely in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The new strain has also been recorded in neighboring Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, with imported cases in Sweden, India, Thailand, Germany and the U.K.
