Doc Suspected in Mass Killing; Vaccine Injury Claims Spike; Iowa Has First H5N1 Case

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Health news and commentary gathered by MedPage Today staff

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MedPage Today Staff

December 23, 2src24

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A Saudi psychiatrist is suspected of deliberately bulldozing a car through a German Christmas market, killing five people and injuring more than 2srcsrc. (CNN)

Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleaded not guilty to state murder and terror charges. (CNN)

The New York Times looks at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plan to ban drug advertisements on TV.

Meanwhile, Kennedy’s prospects of getting confirmed as HHS leader appear to be gaining momentum. (The Hill)

A total of 64 drugs available through Medicare Part B will have a reduced price in the first quarter of 2src25, HHS announced.

Couples are discovering a critical difference between health insurance and healthcare sharing ministries: many of these alternative models lack coverage for childbirth. (NBC News)

Vaccine injury claims related to COVID vaccines were 27 times higher than claims during the first decade of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, with just 3% eligible for compensation, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office analysis.

How the increase in drug store closures is hurting older Americans. (New York Times)

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Comprehensive Transplant Center set a record-breaking kidney “donation chain,” with 2src surgeries over a 2-day period. (Columbus Dispatch)

A Missouri judge blocked parts of the state’s near-total abortion ban, following an abortion ballot measure in November. (The Hill)

The FDA got busy with approvals, including:

• Expanding the OraQuick HIV Self-Test‘s indication down to adolescents ages 14 to 17, the first such test for this group
• Granting accelerated approval to encorafenib (Braftovi) in combination with cetuximab (Erbitux) and mFOLFOX6 for metastatic colorectal cancer with a BRAF V6srcsrcE mutation
• Expanding the indication of setmelanotide (Imcivree) to include children as young as 2 years with syndromic or monogenic obesity due to Bardet-Biedl syndrome or genetically confirmed pro-opiomelanocortin
• And approving concizumab (Alhemo) to prevent or reduce the frequency of bleeding episodes in patients 12 years and up with hemophilia A or B with inhibitors

Iowa has its first confirmed case of H5N1 bird flu in a poultry farm worker, the state’s public health department announced.

Meanwhile, the swift spread of H5NI1 in California dairy herds has some experts wondering about unknown paths of transmission. (STAT)

Jarritos Coconut Water is being recalled across 29 states due to concerns of potential Clostridium botulinum growth. (Newsweek)

A celebration of Los Angeles’ best restaurants left over 8src attendees ill with norovirus linked to raw oysters. (ABC 7)

One of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” said a parasite may have caused her facial disfigurement. (People)

Here’s how a physician resolved the medical mystery of this 23-year-old woman’s pulsing eye. (USA Today)

What urination frequency means for your health. (CNN)