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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday it has expedited the release of more than 77,000 additional doses of Sanofi and AstraZeneca's respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) drug Beyfortus. The additional doses, which the CDC said will be distributed immediately to physicians and hospitals, will help improve the availability of the drug at a time when a surge in cases of the disease is outpacing supply. (11/16)

RSV infections are rising sharply in some parts of the country, nearly filling hospital emergency departments in Georgia, Texas and some other states. At Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Dr. Laura Romano said kids and parents are spending 10 or more hours in the emergency department’s waiting room. Kids are presenting sicker than they have in previous years, with more in need of oxygen, Romano said. ... In Georgia, the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hospital system is in “surge” mode because of RSV, with a high volume of patients straining staff, said Dr. Jim Fortenberry, the system’s chief medical officer.(Stobbe and Hunter, 11/16)

Fewer U.S. health care workers are keeping up to date on their COVID-19 and flu vaccinations, according to two separate reports this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For the first study, researchers pulled data from the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) for January to June 2023. They found that flu vaccine coverage was 81% among health care employees at hospitals and 47.1% at nursing homes. (Rudy, 11/16)

A COVID-19 testing company has ceased operations in San Francisco after officials said an investigation revealed cash payments given to those being tested had facilitated drug activity. ... "At this time, almost four years into the pandemic, the public can rest assured that the vast majority of testing operators in San Francisco are legitimate and provide a much-needed public health service. However, the City has put a health order in place make sure we have the legal tools necessary to weed out any bad actors," Chiu said. (Fang, 11/16)

People with rheumatic disease who received a fourth mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose had a 41% lower risk of infection and a 65% lower risk of hospitalization or death than those who received only three doses, according to a study published yesterday in The Lancet Rheumatology. ... The authors noted that patients with rheumatic diseases who take DMARDs have suppressed immune systems: many patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases receiving DMARD therapy also have blunted humoral responses to COVID-19 vaccines." (Van Beusekom, 11/16)

Nearly half of 363,000 US veterans who tested positive for COVID-19 still had symptoms up to 6 months later, and the risk factors for this condition were Black race, older age, diabetes, and severe infection, concludes a study published yesterday in the Annals of Epidemiology. (Van Beusekom, 11/16)

“Can you lift your arms?” physician Luke Van Oeveren asked. An elderly woman stared blankly at him from the back of an ambulance, where she sat strapped onto a stretcher. After a moment, she complied, but when Van Oeveren added another instruction to the cognition test, she became confused. “Close your eyes and lift your arms up,” he said. (Clason, 11/16)