Sen. Tommy Tuberville makes plea for solutions to mental health crisis
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville spoke with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on exploring solutions to the mental health crisis in America during a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) hearing on Thursday. Senator Tuberville made a passionate appeal for state, federal, and local action on America’s mental health crisis, calling it “the biggest problem we have in this country” and “the number one problem in this country.” “I spent 35 years traveling this country as a coach and educator. And this is not just a crisis that we have of mental health. It’s an emergency. We’ve got huge problems,” said Tuberville. “This is probably the biggest problem we have in this country. It’s getting worse every day. I saw it change in just a short period of time. The number one commodity that we have in this country is not gold and silver. It’s our young people, and we’re destroying them, and we’re sitting back and watching it happen. I’ve seen prescription drugs take over our youth, especially a lot of kids that I work with. You know, we’ve ruined the nuclear family. And that’s where a lot of this has got to come from. I counted it up yesterday, 32 mental health programs that we have in this country… We spent tens of billions of dollars, and we’re not making any progress. We’re going the opposite way.” U.S. Surgeon General Murthy said, “I wish I could circle, underscore, and star so much of what you just said because you’re right on. And you’re right that the most important asset we have is our kids, and we’ve got to do more to protect them.” “We have a program in Alabama… that our state mental health department is running through our children’s hospital,” said Tuberville. “It works to connect interested primary providers with mental health specialists across the state and operates as sort of a command center out of the hospital in Birmingham. Kids experiencing all the issues that they have are connected with providers that are close to them, whether it’s rural or inner city. Money for this particular program has tripled in the last year in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Now, I will tell you this. We can afford a lot of things around here. We cannot not afford to fund mental health. We can’t. We have to be able to afford it and through situations like this.” Tuberville continued, “So, Dr. Murthy, are we tracking the successes and failures of the rest of the billions of dollars that we spend? Are we tracking where it’s working? Have you got people that are doing that in your line of work that’s helping us track the money? Is that money helping to the degree where we can see success?” “Well, thanks, Senator, and I wish I could circle, underscore, and star so much of what you just said because you’re right on, and you’re right that the most important asset we have is our kids, and we’ve got to do more to protect them,” Surgeon General Murthy said. “I also agree with you that when we do put funds toward a cause, it’s important to know, is it actually working? Is it delivering the benefit? And while our office, the Office of Surgeon General, does not conduct evaluation trials, that’s not what we are resourced to do. We do have colleagues across the Department of Health and Human Services, at NIH, and at SAMHSA who do conduct evaluations of programs so that we understand what’s working, who it’s working for, and what more what’s missing. But I think, Senator — to pick up on something else you said here as well — I think, and I like the program you mentioned in Alabama in terms of the concept of building a network and an infrastructure so that primary care doctors in particular and others aren’t trying to manage all this on their own, like programs at the Pediatric Mental Health Access Program, for example, have been very helpful in making sure that those primary care doctors can get expertise, mental health expertise into the clinic when a patient is there. And we do need more programs like that.” “I don’t think that we will be able to keep up with the sheer, you know, disturbing trends that we’re seeing in terms of increased mental health concerns unless we attack some of these root causes,” Murphy continued. “And, you know, you mentioned our devices and particularly for young people. Social media has become — I worry for too many of them — a contributor, an important contributor to their mental health strains. I also spent a lot of time with student-athletes when I travel around the country to roundtables, specifically with student-athletes. And many of them tell me that, you know, not only are they having a hard time sometimes getting help, some of them have incredibly supportive coaches and administrations. Others do not. You know, I had one football player who told me that after having serious thoughts of taking his own life, he approached his coach and said it took a lot of courage for him. But he admitted to his coach what was going on and asked for help. But as the response from the coach was, well, you know, ‘If that’s how you’re feeling, maybe this program’s not for you, you should consider going to another university.’ And he was heartbroken. Now, thankfully, that’s not the response that most kids get. But we still have more to do in terms of making sure our kids get the help they need. But if we can focus on making social media safer for our kids, if we can focus on rebuilding the social connection and community that our kids need, families are a key part of that. Faith institutions are a key part of that. Other community organizations like YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, these all play a vital role in helping connect kids to each other families to each other. But
White House details plan to vaccinate 28 million children age 5-11
Children ages 5 to 11 will soon be able to get a COVID-19 shot at their pediatrician’s office, local pharmacy, and potentially even their school, the White House said Wednesday as it detailed plans for the expected authorization of the Pfizer shot for elementary school youngsters in a matter of weeks. Federal regulators will meet over the next two weeks to weigh the safety and effectiveness of giving low-dose shots to the roughly 28 million children in that age group. Within hours of formal approval, which is expected after the Food and Drug Administration signs off and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel meets on Nov. 2-3, millions of doses will begin going out to providers across the country, along with the smaller needles needed for injecting young children. Within days of that, the vaccine will be ready to go into arms on a wide scale. “We’re completing the operational planning to ensure vaccinations for kids ages 5 to 11 are available, easy and convenient,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said. “We’re going to be ready, pending the FDA and CDC decision.” The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses three weeks apart and a two-week wait for full protection to kick in, meaning the first youngsters in line will be fully covered by Christmas. Some parents can hardly wait. Dr. Sterling Ransone said his rural Deltaville, Virginia, office is already getting calls from people asking for appointments for their children and saying, “I want my shot now.” “Judging by the number of calls, I think we’re going to be slammed for the first several weeks,” said Ransone, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Justin Shady, a film and TV writer in Chicago, said his 6-year-old daughter, Grey, got nervous when he told her she would be getting the shots soon. But he is bribing her with a trip to Disney World, and “she’s all in.” The family likes to travel, “we really just want to get back in the swing of seeing the world,” Shady said. As for youngsters under 5, Pfizer and Moderna are studying their vaccines in children down to 6 months old, with results expected later in the year. The Biden administration noted that the expansion of shots to children under 12 will not look like the start of the country’s vaccine rollout ten months ago when limited doses and inadequate capacity meant a painstaking wait for many Americans. The country now has ample supplies of the Pfizer shot to vaccinate the children who will soon be eligible, officials said, and they have been working for months to ensure widespread availability of shots. About 15 million doses will be shipped to providers across the U.S. in the first week after approval, the White House said. More than 25,000 pediatricians and primary care providers have already signed on to dispense the vaccine to elementary school children, the White House said, in addition to the tens of thousands of drugstores that are already administering shots to adults. Hundreds of school- and community-based clinics will also be funded and supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help speed the process. In addition to doctors’ offices, schools are likely to be popular spots for the shots. In Maryland, state officials have offered to help schools set up vaccination clinics. Denver’s public schools plan to hold mass vaccination events for young children, along with smaller clinics offering shots during the school day and in the evenings. Chicago’s public health department is working closely with schools, which have already been hosting vaccination events for students age 12 and older and their families. The White House is also preparing a stepped-up campaign to educate parents and children about the safety of the shots and the ease of getting them. As has been the case for adult vaccinations, the administration believes trusted messengers — educators, doctors, and community leaders — will be vital to encouraging vaccinations. Dr. Lisa Reed, medical director for family medicine at MAHEC, a western North Carolina safety net provider that serves patients from rural Appalachia and more urban communities such as the tourist town of Asheville, said it is going to take effort to get some families on board. Reed said she lives “in a community that has a lot of vaccine hesitancy, unfortunately.” “Some have lower health literacy or belong to ethnic groups that are more hesitant in general” because of a history of mistrust, she said. And Asheville, she said, has a sizeable population of well-educated adults who are longtime vaccine skeptics. While children run a lower risk than older people of getting seriously ill from COVID-19, at least 637 people age 18 or under have died from the virus in the U.S., according to the CDC. Six million U.S. children have been infected, 1 million of them since early September amid the spread of the more contagious delta variant, the American Academy of Pediatrics says. Health officials believe that expanding the vaccine drive will not only curb the alarming number of infections in children but also reduce the spread of the virus to vulnerable adults. It could also help schools stay open, and youngsters get back on track academically, and contribute to the nation’s broader recovery from the pandemic. “COVID has also disrupted our kids’ lives. It’s made school harder, it’s disrupted their ability to see friends and family, it’s made youth sports more challenging,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told NBC. “Getting our kids vaccinated, we have the prospect of protecting them, but also getting all of those activities back that are so important to our children.” Murthy said the administration, which is imposing vaccine mandates for millions of adults, is leaving it up to state and local officials to decide whether to require schoolchildren to get vaccinated. But he said such measures would be “a reasonable thing to consider.” “It’s also consistent with what we’ve done for other childhood vaccines, like measles, mumps, polio,” he said. The U.S. has
With pandemic worsening in U.S., surgeon general worried
The U.S. surgeon general said Sunday that he’s concerned about what lies ahead with cases of COVID-19 increasing in every state, millions still unvaccinated, and a highly contagious virus variant spreading rapidly. Noting that nearly all coronavirus deaths now are among the tens of millions of people who haven’t received shots, despite widespread vaccine availability, Dr. Vivek Murthy painted an unsettling picture of what the future could hold. “I am worried about what is to come because we are seeing increasing cases among the unvaccinated in particular. And while, if you are vaccinated, you are very well protected against hospitalization and death, unfortunately, that is not true if you are not vaccinated,” Murthy said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” U.S. cases of COVID-19 last week increased by 17,000 nationwide over a 14-day period for the first time since late fall, and an increase in death historically follows a spike in illness. Much of the worsening problem is being driven by the delta variant first identified in India, that has since hit the United Kingdom and other countries, said Murthy. While U.S. case numbers and hospitalizations are still far below levels from the worst of the pandemic early this year, Murthy said the worsening situation shows the need to convince more people to get inoculations. “It is our fastest, most effective way out of this pandemic,” he said. About 186 million Americans have received at least one shot, but another 90 million eligible Americans haven’t. Officials are trying to overcome a refusal among some — particularly conservative, rural white people — to get vaccinated, but it’s unclear how to do that. So, in the meantime, at least, some places have reverted to health precautions that had been cast aside. In Las Vegas, some resorts and casinos are again requiring employees to wear masks in response to a recommendation issued by health officials amid rising COVID-19 case rates in Nevada; it ranks fifth among U.S. states for the most new cases per capita over the last two weeks. Los Angeles County late Saturday reinstated rules requiring everyone to wear masks inside public buildings. Around San Francisco’s Bay Area, which has some of the highest vaccination rates in California, health officials have recommended that everyone again wear masks inside public buildings, regardless of their vaccination status. But in conservative Alabama, where COVID-19 hospitalizations have more than doubled in a month and only about a third of the population is fully vaccinated, officials have refused to reinstitute statewide health rules or use gimmicks such as lotteries to boost immunizations. “I think the best thing for us to do is just encourage everyone to use their common sense and practice personal responsibility and make themselves and their families safe,” Gov. Kay Ivey told reporters last week. Cases also are on the rise in Springfield, Missouri, where Mayor Ken McClure told CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation” that false information about the pandemic was hampering the fight to get people vaccinated. “I think we are seeing a lot spread through social media as people are talking about fears which they have, health-related fears, what it might do to them later on in their lives, what might be contained in the vaccinations,” he said. Murthy, the surgeon general, said “not nearly enough” progress was being made in the fight against misinformation spread through social media about COVID-19 and vaccines. Individuals, not just platforms such as Facebook, need to combat the problem, he said. “Each of us has a decision that we make every time we post something on social media, and I’m asking people to pause and to see, is a source accurate? Is it coming from a scientifically credible authority? And if it’s not, or if you’re not sure, don’t share,” he said. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Newly confirmed surgeon general to focus on COVID, opioids
The Senate confirmed a soft-spoken physician as President Joe Biden’s surgeon general Tuesday. While Dr. Vivek Murthy says ending the coronavirus pandemic is his top priority, he’s also raised concerns over a relapsing opioid overdose crisis. The vote on Murthy was 57-43, giving him bipartisan support. Biden’s coronavirus response can already count on plenty of star players, but Murthy has a particular niche. As a successful author he’s addressed issues of loneliness and isolation that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. For Murthy, this will be his second tour as America’s doctor, having previously served under former President Barack Obama. COVID-19 has taken the lives of several members of Murthy’s extended family. He told senators during his confirmation hearing that he wants to help individuals and families protect themselves by conveying “clear, science-based guidance” to the general public. Persuading Americans to keep up such protective measures as wearing masks could well be his toughest challenge. Murthy served as co-chair of the Biden transition team’s coronavirus advisory board, and is said to enjoy a close personal relationship with the president. Murthy’s family roots are in India, but as a youngster he lived in Miami. His father had a medical clinic, where both parents worked. The son spent weekends helping out and says that’s where he discovered the art of healing. “As a child, I watched them make house calls in the middle of the night and wake up early to visit patients in the hospital before heading to their office,” he told senators. “I have tried to live by the lessons they embodied: that we have an obligation to help each other whenever we can, to alleviate suffering wherever we find it, and to give back to this country that made their lives, and my life, and the lives of my children possible. ” Murthy’s style evokes the bedside manner of an empathetic physician. He “effectively conveys compassion and credibility at a time of great need for just that,” said Chris Jennings, a longtime health policy adviser to Democrats. From his previous stint as surgeon general, Murthy says he is most proud of his efforts to call attention to the opioid epidemic, the consequences of which were not fully understood at the time. After dipping slightly, opioid deaths have again risen, driven by street formulations laced with the powerful painkiller fentanyl. “We cannot neglect the other public health crises that have been exacerbated by this pandemic, particularly the opioid epidemic, mental illness and racial and geographic health inequities,” Murthy told senators. Murthy has drawn opposition from gun rights advocates because of his longstanding assessment that mass shootings amount to a public health problem. But he told senators that while he supports the government studying gun violence as a problem, “my focus is not on this issue, and if I’m confirmed it will be on COVID, on mental health and substance use disorder.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Joe Biden eyes Washington veterans for key administration posts
President-elect Joe Biden is looking to build out his nascent White House staff with more traditional Washington insiders, a notable departure from four years in which President Donald Trump filled his team with outsiders and government antagonists. Ron Klain is an early favorite to become Biden’s chief of staff, according to multiple people familiar with planning who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely about private discussions. He has decades of Washington experience that includes being Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president, in addition to serving as the Ebola response coordinator in 2014 and having a central role in the Obama administration’s financial crisis response. Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a longtime Biden ally and friend, is seen as a potential choice for secretary of state. Rep. Karen Bass of California, whom Biden considered for vice president, is seen as a potential housing and urban development secretary. Both served in Congress for the past decade. Biden is expected to move quickly to name a chief of staff, but other top Cabinet positions will likely take longer. The names under consideration represent Biden’s effort to move Washington past the tumult of President Donald Trump’s administration and fill out his government with more seasoned professionals. The task is taking on even greater urgency than in past transitions because Biden will take office in January amid a raging pandemic that will likely consume the early days of his presidency and require a full government response. Biden made clear on Monday that he would focus on the pandemic by forming a coronavirus advisory board. Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who was named a co-chair of that panel, is seen as a contender for the top job at the Department of Health and Human Services. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who ran her state’s health department, is also being eyed for the position. Even for roles where Biden has the opportunity to make history and appoint the first woman or African American Cabinet secretary, like at defense and treasury, Biden is said to be considering options with decades of experience in their chosen fields. Roger Ferguson, who served as vice-chair of the Federal Reserve under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, is a potential treasury secretary, while Michele Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defense, is seen as a top pick to lead the Pentagon. Some Democrats are hopeful that the more traditional picks will help rebuild morale among the thousands of civil servants who felt thwarted at doing their jobs under Trump. “You’re not only talking about people who have an expertise in government functions, you’re talking about people who have a great deal of respect for government functions,” said Ed Espinoza, former western states political director for the Democratic National Committee. “That’s a key distinction between the Trump administration and a Biden administration.” It’s a striking shift from Trump, who built out his Cabinet with a raft of unorthodox picks, many of whom were openly skeptical of the federal government’s role in the jobs they were tasked with. Betsy DeVos, an advocate for steering federal money to private charter schools, led the Education Department. Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general who’s a skeptic of the science showing humans contribute to climate change, ran the Environmental Protection Agency. And Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, who initially served as White House budget director, supported shutting down the government to rein in federal spending and was critical of some of the proposals Trump aimed to invest in, like a massive infrastructure policy. Still, Biden faces a number of major unknowns as he prepares for the presidency. First, the scope of Biden’s first-term agenda will hinge on which party controls the Senate, which remains in question with two special Senate elections in Georgia scheduled for the first week in January. Democrats have acknowledged they will likely need to pare back some of Biden’s campaign trail promises even if they do hold the majority in a closely divided Senate, and a slim majority could also affect the kinds of nominees Biden can hope to get approved for top Cabinet slots. The most imminent unknown for Biden, however, remains to what extent Trump and his administration will work with the former vice president as his team begins its efforts to transition the government. The General Services Administration is tasked with formally recognizing Biden as president-elect, beginning the transition process. But the agency’s Trump-appointed administrator, Emily Murphy, has not started the process and has given no guidance on when she will do so. That lack of clarity is fueling questions about whether Trump, who has not publicly recognized Biden’s victory and has falsely claimed the election was stolen, will impede Democrats as they try to establish a government. There is little precedent in the modern era of a president erecting such hurdles for his successor. The stakes are especially high this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, which will require a comprehensive government response. “America’s national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signaling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power,” Jen Psaki, a Biden transition aide, tweeted Sunday. South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, an ally of Biden’s on Capitol Hill, said that if Trump continues to drag his feet, then he hopes that “my conservative friends in Congress will have an intervention.” “This country is bigger than one person, and to allow the people of this country to suffer — we are near 245,000 deaths, and we’re still messing around and won’t get the relief that people need,” he said. Indeed, some Republicans on Capitol Hill called for a smooth transition Monday. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Republican and occasional Trump antagonist, congratulated Biden on his victory and said in a statement that “presidential transitions are important” and that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris should “be given every opportunity
How the coronavirus is upending American politics
The rapidly shifting developments amounted to a kind of chaos rarely seen in an election season.
