| | | | |  | | By Krista Mahr and Daniel Payne | | | | | | | 
Anthony Fauci says he has an "open mind" about Covid-19's origins. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo | FAUCI TALKS PANDEMIC ORIGINS — The retiring White House chief medical adviser said on Sunday he has a "completely open mind" when it comes to the origins of SARS-CoV-2, POLITICO's Olivia Olander reports . During an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Anthony Fauci said that a group of international, respected virologists has written that strong evidence shows the virus jumped from animals to humans but added it "hasn't been definitively proven." Speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation" in a separate Sunday interview, Fauci said he'd like to know "all of the details of what went on with the original people who were infected." Meanwhile, he and Ashish Jha, the White House's Covid-19 response coordinator, put in another plug for the Covid-19 booster campaign the White House launched last week , saying they're cautiously optimistic about its prospects to get more people vaccinated by the end of the year.
WELCOME TO MONDAY PULSE — Looking for a new gig? NIH is hiring! Experience leading $6.3 billion research institutions is helpful but not required. Send more hot job tips and other news to kmahr@politico.com and dpayne@politico.com . TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST , POLITICO labor reporter Nick Niedzwiadek joins Katherine Ellen Foley to discuss the HHS' classification of long Covid as a disability, which opens up protections and accommodations that extend into the workplace. They explore what that means both to patients who seek to be productive workers and to their employers.
| | | | | | | A message from PhRMA: Costly out-of-pocket expenses tied to deductible and coinsurance requirements are a leading concern for patients with commercial insurance. These harmful practices put in place by insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are even causing patients to abandon their medicines. New IQVIA data break down how insurers and their PBMs are impacting how patients access and afford their medicines. | | | | | | | 
Protests in Beijing were sparked by China's strict anti-virus measures. | Ng Han Guan/AP Photo | IN CHINA, ZERO-COVID PROTESTS SPREAD — In a rare show of unrest in China, protesters in several Chinese cities have taken to the streets to rally against President Xi Jinping's zero-Covid policy, POLITICO's Eddy Wax reports . Covid-19 case numbers have recently begun to surge despite the government's stringent lockdown measures that confine millions of people to their homes for months. Demonstrations first erupted in the Xinjiang region, and social media footage indicates they broke out over the weekend in Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan , Guangzhou and Beijing , where street protesters tore down a Covid barrier. In Shanghai, police repeatedly clashed with demonstrators who called for Xi to step down and an end to one-party rule. THE GLOBAL FIGHT FOR ABORTION PILLS — When and how abortions can be performed has long been dictated by each county's national laws. But a new network of doctors and activists is working to increase access across international borders, Emily Schultheis writes for POLITICO Magazine . Aided by the widespread availability and safety of the two pills used in medical abortions, the group is fighting to ensure that pregnant people in countries where abortion is heavily restricted have the ability to end an unwanted pregnancy. In countries where abortion is legal, the activists work openly, registering nonprofits and setting up small offices run by a handful of staff. Where abortion is banned, they work within legal gray zones and operate clandestinely, at the risk of arrest or prosecution, to make medical abortion available.
| | | | GO INSIDE THE MILKEN INSTITUTE FUTURE OF HEALTH SUMMIT: POLITICO is featuring a special edition of our "Future Pulse" newsletter at the 2022 Milken Institute Future of Health Summit from Dec. 6 to 8. The newsletter takes readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of health industry leaders and innovators solving the biggest global health issues to ensure a healthier, more resilient future for all. SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO RECEIVE EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE . | | | | | | | | | 
Coming out and socially transitioning at 14 had been rough, but by 17, Cass was a well-adjusted teen who identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns. | Jackie Molloy for POLITICO | AS STATES RESTRICT ACCESS TO TRANS MEDICAL CARE, FAMILIES FLEE — Families with trans kids across the U.S. say policies limiting gender-affirming medical care are forcing them to leave their home states, POLITICO's Annie Connell-Bryan, Joanne Kenen and Jael Holzman report . It's not just about bathrooms or sports. Increasingly, trans people are fearful of efforts by conservative governors and legislators to restrict access to medical care for gender dysphoria, a condition that stems from one's lived experience of gender being different from the sex assigned at birth. POLITICO spoke to more than a dozen trans adults and families with trans children, including Carrie Jackson. Jackson's family was living in Texas when Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued a directive requiring the state's Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents with medically transitioning kids. Those parents could be brought up on charges of child abuse — as could people who work with trans kids if they didn't report such families to state authorities. One of Jackson's children, Cass, is transgender. "I had this realization," Carrie says, "that there is no way forward that involves staying in Texas." Carrie moved her family from Texas to Maryland to protect them against the directive. Read more about their story .
| | | | POLITICO APP USERS: UPGRADE YOUR APP BY DECEMBER 19! We recently upgraded the POLITICO app with a fresh look and improved features for easier access to POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Starting December 19, users will no longer have access to the previous version of the app. Update your app today to stay on top of essential political news, insights, and analysis from the best journalists in the business. UPDATE iOS APP – UPDATE ANDROID APP . | | | | | MEASLES IS BACK — A record high of nearly 40 million children missed a measles vaccine dose in 2021, putting them at risk for one of the world's most contagious deadly diseases, writes POLITICO's Carmen Paun. Some 9 million children were infected and 128,000 died, according to a report released last week by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly two dozen countries recorded major outbreaks. The virus' resurgence is not a threat only in faraway places: In the U.S., an outbreak in Ohio sickened 24 unvaccinated children this month, most under 2 years old. GOP AND DEMS AGREE: NO ONE SOLUTION ON GUNS — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said on Sunday that the U.S. needs to take "the best ideas from all sides that work" to crack its gun violence epidemic, Olivia writes . Speaking on "Meet the Press," Polis, a Democrat, said that the multidimensional crisis needed to be tackled from the perspective of mental health, gun policy and dangerous political rhetoric. The shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, which left five people dead, was one of two mass shootings that got national attention last week. An employee at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Va., killed six people with a handgun Tuesday, then killed himself. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who also appeared on the NBC show Sunday, said that "passing bills doesn't solve the problems," though he argued a bill should be passed to fund mental health programs and communication between law enforcement and social services. "If passing a bill would simply end gun violence, then I think you would have overwhelming support in Congress," he said.
| | | | A message from PhRMA:   | | | | | | More and more older adults are living alone, putting a new kind of burden on the health system, The New York Times reports . The Los Angeles Times reports on a plan to convert a mothballed Los Angeles County hospital, empty for the past 14 years, into affordable and homeless housing. KHN explores how some states use American Rescue Plan Act funds to improve mental health services for kids in rural areas.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: Every day, patients at the pharmacy counter discover their commercial insurance coverage does not provide the level of access and affordability they need. New data from a study by IQVIA reveal the harmful practices of insurers and their pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) can lead to significantly higher out-of-pocket costs for medicines — causing some patients to abandon their medicines completely. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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