World Health Organization official urges China visit to study coronavirus origin
GENEVA — The head of emergencies at the World Health Organization says it’s “extremely important” for its international team to visit China to look into the origins of the coronavirus, saying the U.N. health agency has been reassured such a trip will happen “as soon as possible.” Dr. Michael Ryan...
Employers start sending workers shopping for health coverage
Instead of offering one or more options, some companies are turning health insurance shopping over to employees. A federal rule change last year stoked this new approach. It allows employers to reimburse workers for coverage they bought without paying a tax penalty. The concept sends employees to individual insurance markets...
Third major covid-19 vaccine shown to be effective — and cheaper
LONDON — Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Monday that late-stage trials showed its coronavirus vaccine was up to 90% effective, giving public health officials hope they may soon have access to a vaccine that is cheaper and easier to distribute than some of its rivals. The results are based on interim...
Pa.’s new ‘Pennie’ health exchange in jeopardy if Trump’s ACA lawsuit prevails
Pennsylvania’s new state-run health exchange is among the many pieces of the Affordable Care Act that would be in peril if the Trump administration’s attack on it prevails in the Supreme Court, consumer advocates warn. The state’s insurance enrollment system, called Pennie, debuts this season’s open enrollment period, which runs...
FDA allows emergency use of antibody drug Trump received
U.S. health officials Saturday agreed to allow emergency use of a second antibody drug to help the immune system fight covid-19, an experimental medicine President Trump was given when he was sickened last month. The Food and Drug Administration authorized use of the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. drug to try to...
Trump makes late-term bid to lower prescription drug costs
WASHINGTON — Trying to close out major unfinished business, the Trump administration issued regulations Friday that could lower the prices Americans pay for many prescription drugs. But in a time of political uncertainty, it’s hard to say whether the rules will withstand expected legal challenges from the pharmaceutical industry or...
Pennsylvania nears 300K covid-19 cases, records 108 more deaths
Another 6,808 cases of covid-19 were reported in Pennsylvania on Friday, according to a report from the state’s Department of Health. It’s now likely Pennsylvania will surpass the 300,000 case mark over the weekend. The state’s total number of cases — confirmed and probable — since the pandemic began in...
Allegheny County breaks 7-day covid case record
Allegheny County added 484 more cases of coronavirus Friday, according to the county Health Department. The latest batch of cases brings the county’s seven-day total to a record 3,398 cases, with a record average in that span of 485 cases per day. Since the pandemic began in March, the county...
New UPMC campus to open near Century III Mall
A new UPMC campus in West Mifflin will open Dec. 1, specializing in outpatient surgery and specialty care, officials said Friday. The 46,000-square-foot clinic will offer more than 20 outpatient services. Specialists from UPMC Magee, the Hillman Cancer Center and the Heart and Vascular Institute, as well as orthopedic and...
U.S. adult smoking rate looks unchanged, vaping rate higher
NEW YORK — The U.S. decline in cigarette smoking could be stalling while the adult vaping rate appears to be rising, according to a government report released Thursday. About 14% of U.S adults were cigarette smokers last year, the third year in a row the annual survey found that rate....
Pfizer says covid-19 shot 95% effective, seeking clearance soon
Pfizer said Wednesday that new test results show its coronavirus vaccine is 95% effective, is safe and also protects older people most at risk of dying — the last data needed to seek emergency use of limited shot supplies as the catastrophic outbreak worsens across the globe. The announcement from...
FDA allows 1st rapid coronavirus test that gives results at home
WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators on Tuesday allowed emergency use of the first rapid coronavirus test that can be performed and developed entirely at home. The announcement by the Food and Drug Administration represents an important step in U.S. efforts to expand testing options for covid-19 beyond health care facilities and...
Report: More than 1 million children have been infected with covid-19
More than 1 million children in the United States have been infected with covid-19, according to a report released by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. The report, released on Monday, shows children now make up 11.5 percent of all cases in the country. The total...
Volunteers still needed to test variety of covid-19 vaccines
Two covid-19 vaccines might be nearing the finish line, but scientists caution it’s critical that enough people volunteer to help finish studying other candidates in the U.S. and around the world. Moderna Inc. and competitor Pfizer Inc. recently announced preliminary results showing their vaccines appear more than 90% effective, at...
Highmark CEO pay climbs to $8.15M, triple what he made in 2016
Highmark Health CEO David Holmberg’s total compensation last year was $8.15 million — more than triple what the nonprofit health system executive made four years ago, newly filed Internal Revenue Service records show. Holmberg’s salary and related compensation increased by about $660,000 in 2019, marking an 8.8% pay hike from...
Pittsburgh doctor: Moderna vaccine may have logistical advantage over Pfizer’sVideo
With the alarming rise of covid-19 cases in Allegheny County and throughout Pennsylvania comes the good news surrounding another vaccine. Moderna said Monday its experimental vaccine is 94.5% effective at preventing illness, according to preliminary data from the company’s still ongoing study. Last week Pfizer Inc. announced its own covid-19...
Biden team to meet with pharma companies soon on coronavirus fight
President-elect Joe Biden’s team will begin meeting with Pfizer Inc. and other pharmaceutical companies within days as they continue the transition to a new administration amid the escalating coronavirus pandemic, his chief of staff said Sunday. “We’re going to have meetings between our top scientific advisers and the officials of...
Time to discuss potentially unpleasant side effects of covid-19 shots? Scientists say yes
Drugmaker Pfizer is expected to seek federal permission to release its covid-19 vaccine by the end of November, a move that holds promise for quelling the pandemic, but also sets up a tight time frame for making sure consumers understand what it will mean to actually get the shots. This...
Pitt medical students pen Hippocratic oath with emphasis on diversity, racial injustice
This year’s demands for social justice and the health care challenges brought on by the covid pandemic have prompted students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to create their own version of the Hippocratic oath, the ethical code doctors take to act in patients’ interest. The Hippocratic oath...
Measles cases reach 23-year high, with infections hitting 870,000
Measles cases reached the highest level in 23 years in 2019, and health authorities warned that many countries aren’t vaccinating enough people amid the covid-19 pandemic. The global total for confirmed measles infections rose to 869,770 last year, the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
Charles Morris nursing home in Squirrel Hill set to close in January
Confronting financial woes exacerbated by the pandemic, the Jewish Association on Aging announced Thursday that it plans to close Charles Morris Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The nonprofit nursing home — among the highest-rated such facilities in Western Pennsylvania — is set to shut down permanently...
Pitt researchers find Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansions led to earlier detection of cancer
Preventive health care options ushered in by the Affordable Care Act helped doctors detect cancer in more patients earlier and may have reduced the number of late-stage cancer diagnoses around the country, University of Pittsburgh researchers found in a study released Thursday. “The thing that is sort of potentially groundbreaking...
CDC declares masks also protect wearers from covid-19, joining scientific consensusVideo
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says masks, even cloth ones, protect wearers from catching, as well as spreading, the coronavirus. Yes, this is the same national health agency that initially said masks do not safeguard the general public and are needed only by health-care workers. It...
A winter surge in covid cases seems inevitable. Can we stop it?
Temperatures are dropping, nights are growing longer, the holidays are nearing, and the science is clear: The pandemic is far from over. A long, dark winter awaits. The number of new coronavirus cases in the United States each day has ballooned from less than 40,000 in early September to more...
CDC issues warnings, guidelines about ThanksgivingVideo
ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its Thanksgiving coronavirus guidelines on Monday and Tuesday, warning against travel and recommending much smaller gatherings during the annual American tradition. Thanksgiving travel is typically the nation’s busiest transportation day of the year. “Staying home is the best way to...
