Bloomberg reports that

The Covid-19 variant that’s become the dominant strain in the U.S isn’t as deadly as earlier research indicated, although it’s confirmed to be faster-spreading than other versions, according to a study.

Among 339 patients with the coronavirus, 36% of those infected with the B.1.1.7 strain that arose in the U.K. became severely ill or died, according to research published Monday in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, compared with 38% of those who had non-B.1.1.7 infections.

“We’re not saying it’s nothing, but it’s not worse in terms of outcome in our study, in our setting,” said Eleni Nastouli, a co-author of the study and an associate professor at University College London. She noted that the study differed from some earlier research, looking at patients in hospitals, rather than in the community, and making precise identifications of variants with whole-genome sequencing.

Earlier data released by a U.K. advisory group and cited by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that B.1.1.7 might be as much as a third more deadly than other variants of the virus. 

FLASH: Bloomberg reports Tuesday morning that

U.S. health officials recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine on concerns about rare and severe blood clotting side effects. A type of brain blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis was seen in combination with low levels of blood platelets in six women between the ages of 18 and 48, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday in a joint statement. As of April 12, more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine have been administered, the agencies said.

If you had to pause one of the vaccines this would be the week to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to the manufacturing / distribution problems. Fingers crossed for a short pause.

The Department of Health and Human Services today

marked Black Maternal Health Week by announcing actions to expand access to continuous health care coverage and access to preventative care in rural areas to improve maternal health outcomes. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra announced that Illinois is the first state to provide continuity of full Medicaid benefit coverage for mothers by offering extended eligibility for a woman during the entire first year after delivery. A new data brief shows that more than half of pregnant women in Medicaid experienced a coverage gap in the first 6 months post-partum and disruptions in Medicaid coverage often lead to periods of uninsurance, delayed care, and less preventive care. The American Rescue Plan provides an easier pathway for states to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months.

Secretary Becerra also announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that will make $12 million available over four years for the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) program that will allow awardees to test models to address unmet needs for their target population. For the first time, applicants are required to focus on populations that have historically suffered from poorer health outcomes, health disparities, and other inequities.

For more information on the fourth Black Maternal Health Week, check out the Black Mamas Matter Alliance’s website.

From the prescription drug front —

• Cigna’s Evernorth unit, which includes the Express Scripts PBM, has released its 2020 Drug Trends report. The report’s by the numbers webpage is quite illuminating.
• STAT News informs us that

Patrizia Cavazzoni has been named the permanent leader of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, the agency’s acting commissioner, Janet Woodcock, announced Monday morning. The position of CDER director is one of the most influential at the sprawling agency. Cavazzoni, who is in her late 50s, was handpicked by Woodcock to join the agency in 2018 and has been leading the drug center in an acting role since last spring. Cavazzoni is known as a problem-solver who has taken on some of the FDA’s most pressing problems, former top FDA officials told STAT last year.

From the healthcare technology front —

Healthcare Dive lets us know that

Microsoft is acquiring clinical documentation and artificial intelligence company Nuance Communications for $19.7 billion, two years after first inking an R&D partnership with the speech-to-text market leader. The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant said Monday it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Nuance for $56 a share — a hefty price tag, representing a 23% premium on the closing price on Friday. Nuance develops conversational artificial intelligence and cloud-based ambient clinical intelligence for doctor’s offices and hospitals.

Jingle bells to Nuance Communications. Healthcare AI is obviously a big deal.

• Becker’s Hospital Review reports that “Google is in the early stages of a new project that aims to explore and develop a new consumer-facing health records tool for Android users, according to an April 9 STAT report. * * * The project could support the development of a medical records tool similar to Apple’s Health Records app, according to the report.”

Finally here’s an interesting smoking cessation twist from Healio:

A parental smoking intervention was effective and “inexpensive” to implement in pediatric primary care practices, with costs per quit that were comparable to other interventions, according to researchers. * * * “The impetus for screening parents for tobacco use in the pediatric setting is to protect children from exposure to secondhand smoke,” Douglas E. Levy, PhD, MPH, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate investigator at the Mongan Institute Health Policy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Healio Primary Care. “Parents may be more receptive to smoking cessation messages when the recommendation comes from pediatric health care providers because the benefits are framed in terms of protecting their child’s health.”