PENTAGON'S COVID TECH — What if a fitness tracker could predict that the wearer was Covid-positive hours or even days before they start noticing symptoms? To answer the question, the Pentagon has spent the past two years experimenting with "predictive bio-wearables" technology — in this case, a wristwatch and ring. The idea is to wear the combo daily like a fitness tracker. If users notice a change, they get tested for Covid-19, reports POLITICO's Lee Hudson. And after some promising early results, the agency is out of the research stage and ready to expand the number of testers. The project hit a new phase Wednesday when the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit awarded a contract to Philips Healthcare, which is leading the health monitoring project. The contract award allows DIU to continue its work to advance the algorithm by tracking another 200 users. ABORTION ADVOCACY GROUPS PRESS CONGRESS ON SCOTUS CANDIDATES — Groups on both sides of the abortion rights debate are researching the backgrounds of the federal judges President Joe Biden is rumored to be considering for the U.S. Supreme Court and communicating their preferences to the senators who will vote to confirm the pick, Alice reports. Advocates on both sides have paid the most attention to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Both abortion rights supporters and anti-abortion activists are flagging several decisions and actions in her record that suggest she would vote on the Supreme Court on the side of more abortion access, including when she: — Clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at the time he wrote an opinion in 2000 striking down a Nebraska law that banned a method of surgical abortion commonly used in the later stages of pregnancy. — Co-authored an amicus brief in 2001 on behalf of abortion rights groups in defense of Massachusetts' law creating a "bubble" around abortion clinics inside which anti-abortion demonstrators could not approach patients and staff. The law was ultimately upheld. — Ruled in 2018 against the Trump administration's termination of Teen Pregnancy Prevention grants in Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina, writing that the decision was "arbitrary and capricious." NARAL Pro-Choice America, which supported Jackson's prior confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has flagged these points to decision-makers on Capitol Hill. Anti-abortion activists have zeroed in on Jackson as well and have vowed to lobby against her confirmation if she ends up being the nominee. INTERNATIONAL VACCINE PASSPORTS? — The World Health Organization will convene member states and vaccine credential technology groups to work to allow different types of digital vaccine certificates to be recognized across countries and regions, a top Vaccination Credential Initiative official told Ben. WHO is bringing the groups together to develop a "trust framework" that would allow countries to validate whether the vaccine credentials from other countries are legitimate, said Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician at MITRE and a co-founder of the VCI. The VCI is behind SMART Health Cards, which have become the de facto standard for digital vaccine credentials in the U.S. Existing standards include a digital Covid certificate for European Union member nations. The U.S. has no official standard despite SMART Health Cards' dominance. As it stands, many countries and regions have different standards for proof of inoculation, creating confusion for travelers and officials. The move would be the most significant coordinated international effort to facilitate interoperable credentials among nations and regions. It's unclear whether the United States — a member of the WHO — would participate. The Biden administration has long said it wouldn't issue digital credentials and hasn't rolled out standards for vaccine credentials that it said it would issue. BIDEN'S HEALTH SUPPLY CHAIN — The Biden administration touted itself in a new report, saying over the past year it had strengthened the country's supply chains — from food and semiconductors to Covid-19 supplies — and improved its pandemic response. In a year in review report, released today, the administration says it invested $950 million to make Covid-19 vaccines, which has contributed to 64 percent of the country now being fully vaccinated. The administration highlighted its increased Covid test supply, including shipping 200 million free tests via its federal website launched in recent weeks. Readers may recall that the country faced a shortage of rapid tests as Omicron surged, leaving many Americans empty-handed. The administration also said it wants to establish an investment program under the Defense Production Act to expand health resources. "The United States remains critically dependent on imports for a range of key pharmaceutical products and active pharmaceutical ingredients — the primary ingredients of generic drugs," the administration said in a statement. Now, the administration is working on a program to provide loans, grants and other financing to expand the health supply chain. The program will, among other things, "ensure sufficient manufacturing capacity," the administration said. TELEHEALTH FOREVER FOR MEDICARE? The LIBRE Initiative, a Hispanic advocacy group, is urging lawmakers to enact legislation so Medicare continues to cover telehealth services for older Hispanics, regardless of whether a public health emergency is established — as it has been doing since the pandemic's early days. "Thanks to Congress' efforts to combat the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), millions of Latinos can conveniently access telehealth services from the health care professionals they trust," the group said in a letter to lawmakers on Wednesday. "From June 2019 to June 2020, the number of Medicare enrollees who engaged in telehealth jumped from just 134,000 to more than 10 million — a 7,400 percent increase." The group added: "Unless Congress takes bold and decisive action, millions of Americans — including many Latinos — may lose critical access to health services as soon as federal officials declare the COVID-19 crisis over."
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