(WASHINGTON) — The Senate will take a procedural vote to start debate on codifying abortion rights next week, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Thursday.
Democrats have pledged to take swift action on the issue after a leaked draft opinion showed the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision legalizing abortion in the U.S. The draft is not the final ruling, though the court confirmed its authenticity.
“I intend to file cloture on this vital legislation on Monday which will set up a vote for Wednesday,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor.
Any effort to protect abortion access nationwide is likely to face an uphill battle in the 50-50 divided chamber, where Democrats don’t have the 60 votes needed to overcome an expected filibuster.
The party has already experienced this problem with the Women’s Health and Protection Act. The bill cleared the House of Representatives in September 2021, but in the Senate Schumer failed to get even the entire Democratic caucus on board when he tried to start debate on the bill back in February.
The legislation would codify Roe while also banning requirements some states have put into place related to abortion care, such as waiting periods and mandatory doctor’s visits before the procedure.
Republicans have taken issue with how broad the Women’s Health and Protection Act is, prompting Democrats to draft a modified version. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., changed some of the bill’s language but it still may not be enough to sway the GOP members.
GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told ABC News’ Trish Turner that she would vote “no” on the proposal.
“My goal is to codify what is essentially existing law,” Collins said. “That means Roe v. Wade, it means Casey v. Planned Parenthood, which established the undue burden test, and it means keeping the “conscience” protections which appear to be wiped out by the Democrats’ version. So, I’m not trying to go beyond current law or, but rather to codify those Supreme Court decisions.”
Collins is one of the Democratic Party’s best chances of gaining a Republican vote on any potential bill. She and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are the sole Senate Republicans who support abortion rights.
Collins and Murkowski have their own proposal to codify Roe. Their bill — dubbed the Reproductive Choice Act — would prohibit states from imposing an “undue burden” on the ability of a woman to choose to terminate a pregnancy pre-viability but also allows states to keep other restrictions in place.
Senate Democrats held a news conference on Thursday afternoon to discuss next week’s vote.
“This is a life or death moment and we need to fight,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told reporters.
Schumer said next week’s vote is intended to put on the record exactly where lawmakers stand on abortion rights.
“You will hear plenty from us,” Schumer said. “This is not just one vote and then this issue goes away. You will hear a lot from us through the next month all the way through November.”
(FLORENCE, Ala.) — The inmate who escaped from a Florence, Alabama, jail with a corrections officer last Friday was awaiting trial on capital murder charges. But those charges were just the latest in a litany of other offensives in his past, according to authorities in multiple states.
Inmate Casey White, 38, and Lauderdale County Assistant Director of Corrections Vicky White, 56 — who are not related — should be considered dangerous, the U.S. Marshals Service warned.
Authorities said they believe Vicky White willingly participating in the escape from the Lauderdale County facility.
The pair “may be armed with an AR-15 rifle, handguns and a shotgun,” the U.S. Marshals Service said.
At the time of his escape, Casey White was facing two counts of capital murder for the stabbing Connie Ridgeway, a crime he allegedly confessed to, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
Ridgeway, an Alabama mother, was found dead in her living room on Oct. 23, 2015, in an apparent murder-for-hire, AL.com reported.
He could face the death penalty if convicted, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said.
“We really need to get Casey White behind bars again as soon as possible before someone else is hurt,” Ridgeway’s son, Austin Williams, told ABC News this week.
Casey White was previously convicted of a 2015 crime spree involving a home invasion, carjacking and a police chase, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
After a crime spree in Alabama, Casey White stole an SUV and drove to a rest stop in Giles County, Tennessee, where he allegedly tried to carjack a semi-truck, Giles County Sheriff Shane Hunter said. Casey White allegedly opened fire but no one was hit, Hunter said.
Casey White then tried to carjack a woman and fired shots into her car, the sheriff said. She was shot and survived, he said.
He then allegedly carjacked a man at gunpoint and led police on a chase, the sheriff said. Casey White fired at police and was later arrested, Hunter said.
Casey White was sentenced to 75 years for the 2015 crime spree, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
He has also been convicted of trying to kill an ex-girlfriend and kidnap her roommates, AL.com reported.
The U.S. Marshals warns that, after his arrest in 2015, Casey White “made threats against his ex-girlfriend and her sister,” saying “if he ever got out, he would kill them.”
Now that he’s on the run, the U.S. Marshals said authorities have spoken to Casey White’s “potential targets” and “have taken appropriate protective actions.”
Casey White previously planned an escape from the Lauderdale County Detention Center in the fall of 2020, but officials thwarted the plot before he could attempt it, Singleton said. When officials got word of the plot, they found a homemade knife in his possession and learned that he was planning to take a hostage, the sheriff said.
Casey White was subsequently transferred to a state prison, where he remained until February 2022, when he returned to the Lauderdale County facility for court appearances related to Ridgeway’s murder, the sheriff said.
Vicky White and Casey White disappeared on Friday morning, after Vicky White allegedly told her colleagues that she was taking Casey White to the Lauderdale County Courthouse for a “mental health evaluation,” the sheriff said. He didn’t have a court appearance scheduled, Singleton said.
Vicky White also allegedly told her colleagues that she was going to seek medical attention after dropping the inmate off at court because she wasn’t feeling well, but Singleton said his office confirmed that no appointment was made.
Vicky White planned to retire; Friday — the day of the escape — was her last day, the sheriff said.
The pair may be driving a 2007 orange or copper Ford Edge with minor damage to the left back bumper, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A new, imposing eight-foot-high fence was erected overnight at the U.S. Supreme Court in the wake of protests over a bombshell draft opinion on abortion.
The leaked ruling, not yet final but confirmed to be authentic by the court, indicated its conservative majority is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade — the landmark decision that has guaranteed a woman’s right to abortion for almost the past 50 years.
Abortion rights activists — and some anti-abortion protesters — have rallied at the Supreme Court each day since Politico reported the draft document on Monday, including the preliminary votes of the majority.
More protests were expected on Thursday.
Neither the Supreme Court nor Capitol Police have said anything publicly about possible threats to the court or the justices.
The protests outside the court’s marble front steps have been largely peaceful, prompting some to question why the new security barrier — reminiscent of the unscalable fencing placed around the U.S. Capitol after the violence of Jan. 6, 2021 — is necessary.
John Becker, a spokesperson at Catholics For Choice, said the measures appear “ominous and disproportionate to what has actually been transpiring on that plaza.”
But the court has often been a magnet for threats and security concerns. Just two weeks ago, a man reportedly described as an environmental activist died after setting himself on fire on the court’s front plaza, possibly related to his views on climate change.
A Supreme Court spokeswoman declined to comment on the fencing, citing a longstanding policy of not discussing security operations.
The justices are scheduled to next meet in person for a private conference on May 12. A final decision in the abortion case, which centers on a Mississippi law banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy, is expected by the end of June or early July.
In the draft opinion, dated Feb. 10, Justice Samuel Alito wrote, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” adding, “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled.”
If the draft document written by Alito were to hold as written, access to abortion across the country could be upended. Thirteen states have so-called “trigger laws” in place to swiftly ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is repealed.
Democrats on Capitol Hill are working to bring forward legislation to codify abortion rights at the federal level. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he plans to hold a vote as soon as next week.
The House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act to codify Roe last fall but the bill has stalled in the Senate. Any other legislation would likely meet a similar fate in the evenly divided chamber.
The Supreme Court’s leaked opinion draft’s language has sparked concern that other unenumerated rights may be at stake, including gay marriage and contraception.
“This is about a lot more than abortion,” President Joe Biden said while giving remarks at the White House on Wednesday.
“What are the next things that are going to be attacked?” Biden asked. “Because this MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that’s existed in American history — in recent American history.”
Roberts confirmed the draft was authentic on Tuesday, stating he’s directed the start of an investigation into the leak. Supreme Court Marshall Gail Curley, a career Army lawyer, will lead the probe.
“We at the Court are blessed to have a workforce — permanent employees and law clerks alike — intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of law. Court employees have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Court,” Roberts said in a statement. “This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here.”
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Pink is marking Mental Health Awareness Month and sharing her story about suffering from “pretty awful panic attacks” when she was in her early 20s.
“I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t have anybody to talk to about it and I didn’t know what to do,” the “Just Like Fire” singer admitted in a new Instagram video.
She said her attacks felt “like I was having strokes, like, stroke symptoms. It was terrifying.”
When she went to the hospital for help during the attacks, Pink said she was always told, “You’re fine. There’s nothing wrong. You’re imagining it all. It’s all in your head.”
The “Try” singer said she didn’t take that as a final answer and sought a therapist to help figure out what was causing her issues.
“I started learning all these steps on how to take care of myself,” she said. “I’d never been taught how to take care of myself.”
Pink said she turned to meditating, healthy eating, surrounding herself with the right people and using a “spiritual toolbox” that she keeps under her bed to help manage the panic attacks.
What has helped the most, she noted, is music: “Writing songs is probably the thing that has saved my life.”
“I will tell you – from being a very, very afraid seven-, eight-, 13-, 23-, 31- and now 42-year-old woman – it does get better and there are beautiful moments waiting for you,” she said. “And there are beautiful people waiting to love you, and one of those people is yourself.”
Pink is partnering with the nonprofit Child Mind Institute to promote its “Dare to Share” campaign, which encourages children to be open about their own mental health.
Eric McCandless/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Little Women: LA creator and star Terra Jolé is opening up about her personal health battle hoping to help others, she says.
Jolé announced her breast cancer diagnosis to fans and her social media followers in an emotional Instagram video post last week.
“I have breast cancer,” the 41-year-old TV personality wrote in the caption. “Hardest call I’ve ever made was this video telling my mom for the first time.”
While she initially felt the cancer on her right side, evidence of cancer was later found in both breasts, Jolé told Good Morning America.
“I had two choices,” Jolé continued. “1. Hide and not share on social media. 2. Take you along the fight with me. Since our lives have been public for the last 10 years, it’s only fair we make this journey together.”
In Jolé’s video post, the Dancing With the Stars alum revealed to her mother that she decided to undergo a double mastectomy, a type of surgery where both breasts are removed, along with cancerous tissue, according to the American Cancer Society. While mastectomies are one of the multiple treatment options for individuals with breast cancer, they are typically reserved for women with high-risk cancers or those who have genetic mutations placing them at increased risk of recurrence.
GMA caught up with Jolé eight days after her surgery, one that she said she opted for to prevent a recurrence of cancer.
“I didn’t want that for my children, I didn’t want to go through this multiple times,” Jolé said. “So I want to take off both now and not think ‘what if’ in the future.”
Jolé has been in the spotlight for years, bringing awareness to skeletal dysplasia, the condition behind her 4′ 2″ stature.
“Showing you’re not alone through an experience like this whether you’re a little whether you’re average, this can happen to anyone,” Jolé told GMA.
“If I had someone like a friend or someone that experienced this in a positive light, then this would have made the beginning process much easier for me.”
As she takes on her breast cancer journey, Jolé said she is leaning on her family for support.
Jolé’s husband, Joe Gnoffo, told GMA he’s in awe of her strength. “I can’t believe how she’s handling this,” he said.
“Never once have I heard like, ‘Why me?’ She’s just not like that.”
Jolé’s main message for others is to pay attention to their own bodies and to get care if needed.
“If you feel something, say something. It can be a matter of life or death for you,” Jolé said.
She also encouraged others not to wait too long to seek advice from a doctor. “Ask your OB if it’s something to take a closer look at!” Jolé wrote in another Instagram post Wednesday.
“If they don’t give you a breast exam in their office, find another OB. My OB (whom I love dearly but…) had a 3 month appointment out, so, I found another OB. I couldn’t wait 3 months to know if I was feeling something normal or not normal.”
(NEW YORK) — The leak of a draft opinion showing the Supreme Court’s conservative majority of justices is poised to overturn abortion rights established by Roe v. Wade has led to a sharp increase in donations to abortion funds, grassroots organizations that help people access abortion care.
The National Network of Abortion Funds, a network of more than 90 funds across the country, said it has received more than $1.5 million in donations since the draft ruling was published by Politico Monday night.
“That is only what is being funneled through the National Network of Abortion Funds and we’ve heard from our local members that many people are also donating directly to abortion funds,” Debasri Ghosh, managing director of the National Network of Abortion Funds, told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “Given the groundswell of support … we wouldn’t be surprised if those numbers were pretty high as well.”
In North Dakota, the WIN Fund, which helps people access abortion care at the state’s sole abortion clinic and travel to other states for care, has also seen an “exponential” increase in donations since Monday, according to Destini Spaeth, one of the volunteers who runs the fund.
“There’s absolutely been an influx of donations,” Spaeth told GMA, adding that people from across the country had donated. “The only thing that I can compare it to on even some type of scale was the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, when we also saw an influx of donations.”
Spaeth said that donations are the lifeline of WIN Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization that, like all abortion funds, relies purely on donations and does not receive any government funding.
“We pride ourselves on being able to say yes to every caller,” said Spaeth. “We believe that abortion is a human right and that nobody should be denied access because of financial barriers.”
Abortion funds like WIN Fund began to form over three decades ago in response to the Hyde Amendment, a provision that since 1976 has banned federal funding for most abortions, according to Ghosh.
“So many people who use government insurance, including Medicaid recipients in most states, cannot have their abortion covered by their insurance,” she said. “So we were seeing droves and droves of people trying to put together funding for this out-of-pocket health care expense.”
Abortion funds now exist at the local, state and regional levels, but they are primarily locally-based organizations that provide on-the-ground resources for people, from providing direct funding for abortions to offering transportation money, child care, lodging and doula support.
The average funding given to people supported by the WIN Fund, for example, is around $250, according to Spaeth.
“People are traveling great distances so travel assistance is something we see quite a bit of,” said Spaeth, who said the fund often works with college students and members of North Dakota’s rural and indigenous populations. “Many of the patients travel three to four hours from Western parts of the state and also from Minnesota and we see a lot of patients from South Dakota as well.”
In West Virginia, a team of mostly volunteers runs the Holler Health Justice Fund, an abortion fund that serves people across the Appalachian Region, from West Virginia to Kentucky and Tennessee.
The volunteers coordinate care for people in the region who come from rural communities and often lack funds to pay for abortion or to travel, according to Hayley McMahon, a member of the fund’s board of directors.
West Virginia currently has one abortion clinic in the state, where abortion is currently allowed up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
McMahon said the fund has been “overwhelmed” with support since Monday, but said even more donations will be needed if Roe v. Wade is overturned and West Virginia and nearby states enact abortion bans.
Last year, the fund was able to help over 530 people get abortion care, averaging donations of around $260 per person, according to McMahon.
“A lot of our folks are going to need to leave the state to get care, which means it’s going to be harder to coordinate and more expensive,” she said. “We expect to see higher gestations which means higher costs for the procedure and greater transportation needs.”
It’s a concern echoed by abortion funds across the country as they brace for the impact of the Supreme Court’s final decision in the case of Mississippi, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the source of the draft opinion that was leaked.
If the Court rules in Mississippi’s favor and fully overturns Roe v. Wade, more than half of the nation’s 50 states are prepared to ban abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights organization.
Twenty-one states already have laws on the books that would immediately ban abortion if Roe were overturned. Five additional states are likely to ban abortion should Roe be overturned, the Guttmacher report said.
In response to potential bans, leaders of abortion funds say they plan to continue to do their work, but will need increased resources as they help more people who will likely need to travel further.
Because the states that plan to ban abortion are focused in specific geographic regions, including the South, an expected effect is that women will have to travel much longer distances, at a greater cost and inconvenience, to seek abortion care, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
“North Dakotans aren’t going to stop needing and wanting abortions just because abortion becomes illegal here, and the North Dakota WIN Fund won’t be going anywhere,” said Spaeth. “I know the sentiment is true for other abortion funds in abortion-hostile states as well.”
Spaeth said she and other abortion fund leaders are looking at the example set by funds in Texas, where a law went into effect last year that bans nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
“We’ve seen the amazing work that the Texas funds have done in getting their callers out of state and into surrounding states where they can have the abortions they want and need, so we can look to Texas and learn from them,” said Spaeth, who added that collaboration is also already happening between abortion funds in states where abortion access is limited and those where it is not.
Ghosh, of the National Network of Abortion Funds, said she hopes the current spotlight placed on abortion funds keeps the support coming for the long-term.
“I hope that individuals, that institutional philanthropy will really rethink the way that we connect and resource abortion funds, beyond this one-time, crisis moment,” she said, adding, “People shouldn’t have to privately fundraise and rely on private philanthropy to have a basic health care need met, but this is where we are, and we have an infrastructure to do it.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military last month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, attempting to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and to secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 05, 7:48 am
Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region damages homes, power line, governor claims
Ukrainian forces continued to shell villages in neighboring Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, the regional governor claimed Thursday.
In a statement via Telegram, Belgorod Oblast Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov alleged that Ukrainian shelling had damaged at least five homes and a power line in the villages of Zhuravlevka and Nekhoteevka, which share a border with eastern Ukraine. There were no casualties reported among civilians in the area, according to Gladkov.
“We will start working within an hour to resume power supply,” Gladkov said, noting that the shelling had stopped for now. “We will also carry out the necessary measurements to restore every damaged house. No one will be left without help.”
May 05, 6:19 am
Mariupol men are being ‘forcibly detained’ in Russian ‘filtration camps,’ deputy mayor claims
The deputy mayor of embattled Mariupol claimed Thursday that some of the city’s residents are being “forcibly detained in appalling conditions” in Russian “filtration camps” in a nearby village.
“Filtration camps in the village of Bezymyanne have been turned into a real ghetto for Mariupol residents,” Mariupol Deputy Mayor Petro Andryushchenko said in a statement via Telegram. “This is the most horrible story that needs to be told to the whole world. Without exaggeration, this is a new page in Russia’s war crime that is happening right now.”
Andryushchenko alleged that, about a month ago, Russian forces took thousands of men from several Mariupol neighborhoods, confiscated their passports and placed them in filtration camps in Bezymianny, about 20 miles from Mariupol. As for the women who were left behind, they don’t leave their homes because they fear being raped by Russian troops who have settled in the area, according to the deputy mayor.
“All this once again shows the realities of the occupation,” he said.
Andryushchenko posted videos on Telegram alongside his statement, purportedly showing a school in Bezymianny that he alleged Russian force are using as a filtration camp. He claimed that the detainees are forced to sleep on the floor, don’t have access to medical care and can only wash themselves in a single sink with cold water. He alleged that all detainees, including the sick and those with disabilities, are forced to do landscaping work in the village. He also claimed that at least one man has died because he was refused medical assistance and another has been diagnosed with tuberculosis.
The deputy mayor alleged that the Russian military is planning to dress the detainees in the uniform of the Ukrainian military and parade them as “prisoners” during a celebration in Mariupol on Monday to coincide with Moscow’s Victory Day Parade, which celebrates Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
The Russian military claimed Wednesday to have taken complete control of Mariupol, a strategic port city in eastern Ukraine’s war-torn Donetsk Oblast that has been under heavy Russian bombardment since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24. Ukrainian fighters and civilians who remain in Mariupol are holed up inside the sprawling Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, which has a network of underground tunnels and bunkers.
ABC News recently spoke to Denys Prokopenko, a commander of the Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian military that was among the units defending Mariupol. Prokopenko is now trapped inside the Azovstal plant with others and said the fighters there have tried to initiate a cease-fire with Russian force to create conditions that would allow people to flee. But he said there are grave concerns about where those who choose to leave will end up because Russian authorities have said that all civilians will be allowed to choose to go to either Ukrainian- or Russian-controlled territory, but only after processing through Russian filtration camps.
“If our people are captured against their will and forcefully, forcibly relocated to the Russians, it’s unacceptable,” Prokopenko told ABC News.
May 05, 4:39 am
Russian shelling on residential areas of Kramatorsk injures 25, officials say
At least 25 civilians were injured by Russian shelling on residential areas and the central part of Kramatorsk on Wednesday night, according to the local city council.
Six of the wounded required hospitalization, and at least nine homes, a school as well as various civilian infrastructure sustained damaged, the Kramatorsk City Council said in a statement via Telegram.
Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko confirmed in a statement via Facebook that a kindergarten was seriously damaged.
Kramatorsk is a city in eastern Ukraine’s war-torn Donetsk Oblast.
May 05, 3:50 am
Over 300 civilians evacuated from Mariupol, surrounding areas
More than 300 civilians have been evacuated from the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and surrounding areas, officials said late Wednesday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it facilitated the safe passage of the civilians in coordination with the United Nations and both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The evacuees arrived Wednesday in Zaporizhzhia, a Ukrainian government-controlled city about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol.
“We are relieved that more lives have been spared,” Pascal Hundt, the ICRC’s head of delegation in Ukraine, said in a statement Wednesday night. “We welcome the renewed efforts of the parties with regards to safe passage operations. They remain crucial and urgent in light of the immense suffering of the civilians.”
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed that 344 people were evacuated to Zaporizhzhia from the Mariupol area, Manhush, Berdyansk, Tokmak and Vasylivka.
The evacuation did not include civilians trapped inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.
(NEW YORK) — When Laura Martin tested positive for COVID-19 last month during an extended stay in California, she was prescribed Paxlovid, the highly touted antiviral drug created by Pfizer.
Just one day after her diagnosis, she started her five-day course of pills, which have been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and death.
Martin, a 63-year-old Boston native who now resides in Canada, said she was thrilled when her symptoms began to subside.
“By the end of [the treatment], on Day 5, I was negative and feeling completely normal like without any symptoms, so I thought, ‘Wow, this is really great. What a great drug,’” Martin told ABC News.
Martin resumed her normal activities, but a week later, she began to feel ill again. When her symptoms worsened, she tested again.
“It came roaring back, and this round two has been much more severe than round one was,” Martin said. “This is like four days of much more significant symptoms than round one.”
Martin’s case is part of a seemingly rare, but increasingly reported phenomenon of COVID-19 symptom recurrence after being treated with Paxlovid. While it is largely unknown what is causing the reported viral resurgence, scientists say they are investigating.
Pfizer says that it is taking the reported incidences of recurrence “very seriously,” but that the rates mirror those who received a placebo in clinical trials. Experts urge that the benefits of the drug, in preventing hospitalization and death, outweigh the potential risk of a second positive test or symptom reemergence.
In additional analysis of the Paxlovid clinical trial data, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that most patients “did not have symptoms at the time of a positive PCR test after testing negative, and, most importantly, there was no increased occurrence of hospitalization or death or development of drug resistance.”
Company executives also reported, this week, that the use of Paxlovid continues to expand rapidly, particularly as infection rates across the country rise again. In the U.S., use of the treatment has increased by nearly ten-fold in recent weeks.
The number of locations in the U.S. with Paxlovid supply has grown to more than 33,000 sites now available, a four-fold increase since late-February. In addition, the company reported that there are now more than 2,200 Test to Treat locations now open.
‘Game-changer’
Long heralded as a “game-changer” in the fight against COVID-19, the push to make Paxlovid available to Americans has ramped up in recent weeks, with the White House looking to increase supply of the treatment.
The drug, which was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA in December 2021 for people with mild to moderate COVID-19 at high risk of disease progression, is also strongly recommended by the World Health Organization. It has been shown to be highly effective, estimated to provide an 89% reduction in virus-related hospitalizations and deaths.
However, in recent weeks, a number of patients, who have taken the treatment, have taken to social media to disclose what they say is a perplexing phenomenon of COVID-19 symptoms reemerging after they finished the prescribed five-day treatment course.
Some individuals claimed on Twitter that after their initial symptoms dissipated, leading to a negative test, they are once again testing positive.
“We’re seeing people get better on Paxlovid,” Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center, told ABC News. “But then, when they stop at the end of five days, we’re hearing stories of symptoms coming back and even, tests becoming either more positive, i.e. a darker line, or tests that had gone negative turning positive.”
Studies have found that a dark line can “indicates a strong positive with a high level of virus and is usually seen when people are at or near peak virus load.”
Reports of these “rebound symptoms” are largely anecdotal so far but with an increasing number of questions about the puzzling viral recurrence, scientists across the country are trying to assess what may be happening in new research.
Pfizer taking reports of viral rebounds ‘very seriously’
In February, a 71-year-old man in Massachusetts who had been vaccinated and boosted recovered after being treated for COVID-19 with Paxlovid, Dr. Michael Charness, chief of staff at the VA Boston Healthcare System, who has been researching the phenomenon and recently put out a preprint study last week, told ABC News.
However, around nine days after his initial positive test, Charness said his patient developed cold symptoms and tested positive again for the virus.
Molecular testing soon revealed that the patient’s viral load had increased to an even higher point than when the diagnosis was first made, according to an analysis by Charness and his team.
“We were interested in whether this was a new infection or whether this was maybe an adaptation or mutation that somehow changed the variant,” Charness said, adding that gene sequencing demonstrated that this second positive test demonstrated a recurrence of the original infection in an individual who had no symptoms for a week.
“We just were very struck by that,” said Charness. “I heard from people all over the country and some from other parts of the world, who had had the same experience.”
Representatives from the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, told ABC News that teams of scientists are investigating the surprising relapse reports, and they will provide further recommendations, if appropriate.
“The phenomenon of recrudescence reiterates the importance of following CDC’s isolation guidance – anyone who develops symptoms of illness during or after isolation should remain isolated, masked, and seek out testing and clinical care,” a representative from the CDC told ABC News in a statement. “Anyone who is concerned about having been exposed or who for any other reason wants to determine their infection status should test for COVID-19.”
The FDA stressed that the reports “do not change the conclusions from the Paxlovid clinical trial which demonstrated a marked reduction in hospitalization and death.”
The viral recurrence had been observed and reported in Pfizer’s application to the FDA, last year, in which the company said several trial participants had appeared to “have a rebound” of COVID-19 around day 10 or day 14.
Pfizer executives said Tuesday that they are taking the reports “very seriously,” but they do not believe that it is related to the drug, given that the same rate of rebound was observed in people who took the placebo. Further, no connection was noted between the viral load increase and subsequent severe illness.
“We’ve taken a preliminary look at our high-risk data, and so we’ve seen for example, that we have about an incidence about 2% of that viral load rebound, but we also see the same, or close to the same, percent in the placebo arm. So it’s something that’s not particularly associated with Paxlovid itself, but may have something to do with the virus itself,” Dr. William Pao, Pfizer’s executive vice president and chief development officer, said during an investors call on Tuesday. “It’s preliminary data so far, we again take it very seriously. But it’s very current, and a very low incidence, and we continue to learn as we go.”
A representative from Pfizer told ABC News that although it is too early to determine the cause, initial indications suggest an increased viral load is both uncommon and not uniquely associated with the Paxlovid treatment.
“We remain very confident in its clinical effectiveness at preventing severe outcomes from COVID-19 in high-risk patients,” the representative said.
Reports uncommon but happening ‘frequently enough’
Although official reports of these relapses still appear to be rare, such occurrences are happening “frequently enough” in those treated with Paxlovid that Charness said that it should be studied further.
“I think the first step in studying something is to know that it exists,” he explained, adding that it is particularly important for clinicians to be informed about potential rebounds, and for the public to know, so that people do not become unduly alarmed.
Thus far, researchers know very little about the reason for the recurring symptoms.
Of critical importance in the investigations is whether an individual, in the midst of such a rebound, remains infectious, Charness said.
“We are sufficiently concerned about whether people can transmit, when they’re on day 12 and 13 and 15, that we are essentially recommending that when people have a recurrence, a rebound, that they restart their isolation, and isolate until their antigen test is negative,” Charness said. “We’re seeing people whose antigen test stays positive for a week after they rebound, which means that they’re well outside the CDC’s 10-day guidance.”
Should you experience a viral rebound, the FDA is now recommending that health care providers and patients refer to CDC guidance, wear a mask and isolate if they have any COVID-19 symptoms — regardless of whether or not they have been treated with an antiviral.
Charness and his team are also encouraging their patients to start their isolation period over again and stay away until their antigen test is negative.
“It’s important to exercise caution until you clear the virus the second time,” Charness said, further urging people to notify their provider.
In terms of further treatments, Charness noted it is still largely unclear what patients should do. While there are no limitations, within the authorized label, around additional usage of the drug for a subsequent COVID-19 infection, according to Pfizer, the FDA said “there is no evidence of benefit at this time for a longer course of treatment … or repeating a treatment course of Paxlovid in patients with recurrent COVID-19 symptoms following completion of a treatment course.”
Despite the reports of rebounding, health experts stress that Paxlovid is still largely achieving its original goal, to keep people out of the hospital, and severe disease at-bay.
“The bottom line is if it prevents hospitalization, if it keeps you from progressing to severe disease, hospitalization and death, the fact that you might have a recurrence of some of the symptoms and even the recurrence of a positive test is sort of secondary,” said Doron. “The main thing is Paxlovid is to prevent progression to severe disease [and] hospitalization, and it does. So, it’s still doing its job.”
(NEW YORK) — When Laura Martin tested positive for COVID-19 last month during an extended stay in California, she was prescribed Paxlovid, the highly touted antiviral drug created by Pfizer.
Just one day after her diagnosis, she started her five-day course of pills, which have been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and death.
Martin, a 63-year-old Boston native who now resides in Canada, said she was thrilled when her symptoms began to subside.
“By the end of [the treatment], on Day 5, I was negative and feeling completely normal like without any symptoms, so I thought, ‘Wow, this is really great. What a great drug,’” Martin told ABC News.
Martin resumed her normal activities, but a week later, she began to feel ill again. When her symptoms worsened, she tested again.
“It came roaring back, and this round two has been much more severe than round one was,” Martin said. “This is like four days of much more significant symptoms than round one.”
Martin’s case is part of a seemingly rare, but increasingly reported phenomenon of COVID-19 symptom recurrence after being treated with Paxlovid. While it is largely unknown what is causing the reported viral resurgence, scientists say they are investigating.
Pfizer says that it is taking the reported incidences of recurrence “very seriously,” but that the rates mirror those who received a placebo in clinical trials. Experts urge that the benefits of the drug, in preventing hospitalization and death, outweigh the potential risk of a second positive test or symptom reemergence.
In additional analysis of the Paxlovid clinical trial data, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that most patients “did not have symptoms at the time of a positive PCR test after testing negative, and, most importantly, there was no increased occurrence of hospitalization or death or development of drug resistance.”
Company executives also reported, this week, that the use of Paxlovid continues to expand rapidly, particularly as infection rates across the country rise again. In the U.S., use of the treatment has increased by nearly ten-fold in recent weeks.
The number of locations in the U.S. with Paxlovid supply has grown to more than 33,000 sites now available, a four-fold increase since late-February. In addition, the company reported that there are now more than 2,200 Test to Treat locations now open.
‘Game-changer’
Long heralded as a “game-changer” in the fight against COVID-19, the push to make Paxlovid available to Americans has ramped up in recent weeks, with the White House looking to increase supply of the treatment.
The drug, which was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA in December 2021 for people with mild to moderate COVID-19 at high risk of disease progression, is also strongly recommended by the World Health Organization. It has been shown to be highly effective, estimated to provide an 89% reduction in virus-related hospitalizations and deaths.
However, in recent weeks, a number of patients, who have taken the treatment, have taken to social media to disclose what they say is a perplexing phenomenon of COVID-19 symptoms reemerging after they finished the prescribed five-day treatment course.
Some individuals claimed on Twitter that after their initial symptoms dissipated, leading to a negative test, they are once again testing positive.
“We’re seeing people get better on Paxlovid,” Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center, told ABC News. “But then, when they stop at the end of five days, we’re hearing stories of symptoms coming back and even, tests becoming either more positive, i.e. a darker line, or tests that had gone negative turning positive.”
Studies have found that a dark line can “indicates a strong positive with a high level of virus and is usually seen when people are at or near peak virus load.”
Reports of these “rebound symptoms” are largely anecdotal so far but with an increasing number of questions about the puzzling viral recurrence, scientists across the country are trying to assess what may be happening in new research.
Pfizer taking reports of viral rebounds ‘very seriously’
In February, a 71-year-old man in Massachusetts who had been vaccinated and boosted recovered after being treated for COVID-19 with Paxlovid, Dr. Michael Charness, chief of staff at the VA Boston Healthcare System, who has been researching the phenomenon and recently put out a preprint study last week, told ABC News.
However, around nine days after his initial positive test, Charness said his patient developed cold symptoms and tested positive again for the virus.
Molecular testing soon revealed that the patient’s viral load had increased to an even higher point than when the diagnosis was first made, according to an analysis by Charness and his team.
“We were interested in whether this was a new infection or whether this was maybe an adaptation or mutation that somehow changed the variant,” Charness said, adding that gene sequencing demonstrated that this second positive test demonstrated a recurrence of the original infection in an individual who had no symptoms for a week.
“We just were very struck by that,” said Charness. “I heard from people all over the country and some from other parts of the world, who had had the same experience.”
Representatives from the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, told ABC News that teams of scientists are investigating the surprising relapse reports, and they will provide further recommendations, if appropriate.
“The phenomenon of recrudescence reiterates the importance of following CDC’s isolation guidance – anyone who develops symptoms of illness during or after isolation should remain isolated, masked, and seek out testing and clinical care,” a representative from the CDC told ABC News in a statement. “Anyone who is concerned about having been exposed or who for any other reason wants to determine their infection status should test for COVID-19.”
The FDA stressed that the reports “do not change the conclusions from the Paxlovid clinical trial which demonstrated a marked reduction in hospitalization and death.”
The viral recurrence had been observed and reported in Pfizer’s application to the FDA, last year, in which the company said several trial participants had appeared to “have a rebound” of COVID-19 around day 10 or day 14.
Pfizer executives said Tuesday that they are taking the reports “very seriously,” but they do not believe that it is related to the drug, given that the same rate of rebound was observed in people who took the placebo. Further, no connection was noted between the viral load increase and subsequent severe illness.
“We’ve taken a preliminary look at our high-risk data, and so we’ve seen for example, that we have about an incidence about 2% of that viral load rebound, but we also see the same, or close to the same, percent in the placebo arm. So it’s something that’s not particularly associated with Paxlovid itself, but may have something to do with the virus itself,” Dr. William Pao, Pfizer’s executive vice president and chief development officer, said during an investors call on Tuesday. “It’s preliminary data so far, we again take it very seriously. But it’s very current, and a very low incidence, and we continue to learn as we go.”
A representative from Pfizer told ABC News that although it is too early to determine the cause, initial indications suggest an increased viral load is both uncommon and not uniquely associated with the Paxlovid treatment.
“We remain very confident in its clinical effectiveness at preventing severe outcomes from COVID-19 in high-risk patients,” the representative said.
Reports uncommon but happening ‘frequently enough’
Although official reports of these relapses still appear to be rare, such occurrences are happening “frequently enough” in those treated with Paxlovid that Charness said that it should be studied further.
“I think the first step in studying something is to know that it exists,” he explained, adding that it is particularly important for clinicians to be informed about potential rebounds, and for the public to know, so that people do not become unduly alarmed.
Thus far, researchers know very little about the reason for the recurring symptoms.
Of critical importance in the investigations is whether an individual, in the midst of such a rebound, remains infectious, Charness said.
“We are sufficiently concerned about whether people can transmit, when they’re on day 12 and 13 and 15, that we are essentially recommending that when people have a recurrence, a rebound, that they restart their isolation, and isolate until their antigen test is negative,” Charness said. “We’re seeing people whose antigen test stays positive for a week after they rebound, which means that they’re well outside the CDC’s 10-day guidance.”
Should you experience a viral rebound, the FDA is now recommending that health care providers and patients refer to CDC guidance, wear a mask and isolate if they have any COVID-19 symptoms — regardless of whether or not they have been treated with an antiviral.
Charness and his team are also encouraging their patients to start their isolation period over again and stay away until their antigen test is negative.
“It’s important to exercise caution until you clear the virus the second time,” Charness said, further urging people to notify their provider.
In terms of further treatments, Charness noted it is still largely unclear what patients should do. While there are no limitations, within the authorized label, around additional usage of the drug for a subsequent COVID-19 infection, according to Pfizer, the FDA said “there is no evidence of benefit at this time for a longer course of treatment … or repeating a treatment course of Paxlovid in patients with recurrent COVID-19 symptoms following completion of a treatment course.”
Despite the reports of rebounding, health experts stress that Paxlovid is still largely achieving its original goal, to keep people out of the hospital, and severe disease at-bay.
“The bottom line is if it prevents hospitalization, if it keeps you from progressing to severe disease, hospitalization and death, the fact that you might have a recurrence of some of the symptoms and even the recurrence of a positive test is sort of secondary,” said Doron. “The main thing is Paxlovid is to prevent progression to severe disease [and] hospitalization, and it does. So, it’s still doing its job.”
(NEW YORK) — Amid a nationwide wave of what they call legislation targeting LGBTQ rights and representation, advocates are concerned about the impact on the mental health of LGBTQ youth.
“LGBTQ youth suicide is a major public health crisis,” said Amit Paley, chief operating officer of The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth.
This population already struggles disproportionately with mental illness and suicide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports LGBTQ students are about four times more likely to have attempted suicide than their heterosexual peers, according to a study released in late March that tracked data from 2009 to 2019.
That same study showed LGBTQ youth self-reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness at more than twice the rate of their heterosexual peers.
Matthew Goldenberg, a psychologist at the Seattle Children’s Hospital Gender Clinic, explained that additional everyday “environmental factors” create a higher prevalence of suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts among LGBTQ youth.
He cited family conflicts, heightened stress, lack of community support, bullying and whether or not a child has an affirming environment as potential risk factors.
“I think the really important point to make is that LGBTQ young people are not born inherently more likely to attempt or consider suicide,” Paley said. “LGBTQ young people end up attempting or considering suicide because of the stigma and discrimination and isolation that they face in society.”
Paley explained The Trevor Project has been monitoring an upward trend in reported suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts among this population over the last few years.
“And that coincides with a really difficult time for so many LGBTQ young people, as they are being attacked in legislative contexts,” Paley said.
More than 300 bills targeting LGBTQ people have been introduced so far this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
“When you hear people in positions of power saying people can’t talk about your identity in schools, that you can’t use the restroom, that you can’t access medical care. That’s very scary,” Paley said. “Those policies are harmful and dangerous, but even more than that, the words around them really impact the mental health of LGBTQ youth.”
Along with the impacts of hostile legislation, LGBTQ young people are feeling the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has heightened attention on mental health concerns across the nation over the last two years.
“The pandemic has been incredibly difficult for LGBTQ youth, who may not be able to live as their authentic selves when they’ve been home so much during the last few years, and that’s really exacerbated the mental health crisis among that population,” said Hannah Wesolowski, chief advocacy officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
On Tuesday, co-chair of the congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, introduced the Pride in Mental Health Act. The bill would create a new program at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to “assess and improve LGBTQ+ youth mental health,” according to a press release from the caucus.
The legislation would also amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to provide specific protections for LGBTQ youth with the aim of improving data collection related to abuse and neglect among that population.
“Mental health is a growing concern for families and communities across the country, and frankly, we are failing many of our most vulnerable children on this issue,” Davids said in a press release. “When we talk about improving mental health, we’re really talking about saving these kids’ lives.”
Resources to support LGBTQ young people experiencing mental health crises are available. The Trevor Project offers a crisis line via phone, text and online chat for LGBTQ young people. Trans Lifeline operates a peer support and crisis line for transgender people.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers crisis support services as well. In July, that hotline will transition to a new three-digit number, 988, that advocates envision as the mental health equivalent of 911.
The Trevor Project was among the advocates for the establishment of the new number for the Lifeline. Paley says the organization is working with the Department of Health and Human Services SAMHSA to create an integration in the Lifeline service to connect LGBTQ young people who call in to counselors specifically trained to support and understand their needs.
“I think the biggest thing about providing these crisis resources is they need to be culturally competent,” Wesolowski said. “Somebody who identifies as LGBTQ talking to somebody who can understand their experience is really important to de-escalating that.”
There is no current timeline for when that integration with the Lifeline will be up and running. Efforts to get the new number launched are still underway and complicated by underfunding.
“We think the intention of 988 is so incredibly important,” Paley said. “We need to make sure that the federal government puts the resources to execute it properly. And so that’s what we’re in discussions about to make sure that we can provide more access for LGBTQ youth.”
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also reach the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or the Crisis Text Line by texting “START” to 741741.
