Health News Roundup: Vaccine alliance eyes range of prices for COVID shots; U.S. CDC reports 4,225,687 coronavirus cases and more

The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on Sunday versus its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/2SGLijD) White House meeting with top pharmaceutical executives called off A meeting with top pharmaceutical executives that President Donald Trump promised for Tuesday has been called off, a White House official said on Monday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Exclusive: Vaccine alliance eyes range of prices for COVID shots, says $40 would be maximum

Coordinators of a global coronavirus vaccine funding scheme are looking at a wide range of potential prices for COVID-19 shots, with a reported $40 per dose price tag the "highest number" in that range, one of the co-leads of the project said on Monday. Seth Berkley, chief executive of the GAVI vaccine alliance, which is co-leading the COVAX facility designed to ensure fair global access to COVID-19 shots, said the facility had no specific target price and would also seek to negotiate tiered pricing for richer and poorer countries.

U.S. CDC reports 4,225,687 coronavirus cases

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday reported 4,225,687 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 61,795 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 564 to 146,546. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on Sunday versus its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/2SGLijD)

White House meeting with top pharmaceutical executives called off

A meeting with top pharmaceutical executives that President Donald Trump promised for Tuesday has been called off, a White House official said on Monday. "We've been more than accommodating" in trying to set it up, the White House official told Reuters, adding that they couldn't get all the executives at the same time.

The U.S. has more COVID-19 testing than most. So why is it falling so short?

The United States might have more COVID-19 testing capacity than any other country. So why have we seen laboratories overwhelmed and many patients again waiting a week or more for results? At the heart of the crisis is a reliance by public and private labs on automated testing equipment that locks them in to using proprietary chemical kits and other tools made by a handful of manufacturers.

In California breadbasket, hospitals overwhelmed as COVID-19 infections soar

Nearly 200 federal healthcare workers have been deployed to California's Central Valley agricultural breadbasket, where hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases as new infection rates soar, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday. The arrival over the past several days of Department of Defense personnel will help hospitals in the stricken region, where some hospitals and intensive care units are two-thirds full of COVID-19 patients. That has left little room for people who are ill from other conditions and is putting immense pressure on doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers trained in providing care to the sickest patients.

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine could be ready for use by end of year, U.S. says

Moderna Inc's vaccine against COVID-19 could be ready for widespread use by the end of this year, U.S. and company officials said on Monday, after the drugmaker announced the start of a 30,000-subject trial to demonstrate it is safe and effective, the final hurdle prior to regulatory approval. The trial is the first such late-stage study under the Trump administration's program to speed development of measures against the novel coronavirus, adding to hope that an effective vaccine will help end the pandemic. Moderna shares were up 7.5%.

California probes Amazon worker treatment during pandemic: court filing

California's attorney general and state and local agencies are investigating whether Amazon.com Inc has taken adequate steps to protect its workers from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a court filing on Monday. Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office, California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the San Francisco Department of Public Health "have all opened investigations into Amazon's practices" around the pandemic, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman wrote in the filing.

Miami medical teams feel helpless as COVID-19 devastates South Florida

As the coronavirus ravages Florida, healthcare workers in Miami hospitals are struggling to cope with the emotional and physical impact of treating a crushing wave of COVID-19 patients. After seeing 10,000 new cases a day become the norm across the state in July, many of those on the frontlines are frustrated with the apparent inability of local, state, and federal governments to coordinate an adequate response. They are equally aghast with what appears to be the reluctance or refusal of many Floridians to honor safety precautions to stop the spread of coronavirus.

U.S. COVID-19 deaths rise for third week, new cases drop 2%

U.S. deaths from COVID-19 rose for a third week in a row to more than 6,300 people in the seven days ended July 26, though the number of new cases fell 2%, dropping for the first time after rising for five weeks, a Reuters analysis found. Fifteen states have reported weekly increases in deaths for at least two consecutive weeks, according to the Reuters tally of state and county reports. In Texas, more than 1,000 people died in the last seven days, or 20% of the state's more than 5,000 total deaths.

New heart problems discovered post COVID-19; virus mutation may make vaccines more effective

The following is a brief roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. New heart problems seen in recovered COVID-19 patients