Tag: Access

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Politics

Put up-Roe Resolution, Abortion Tablet Suppliers Work to Broaden Entry

Post-Roe Decision, Abortion Pill Providers Work to Broaden Access

This company and others who are caring for patients who are 11 or 12 weeks pregnant can legally do so at their doctor’s discretion, as studies suggest that abortion pills are safe and effective at this stage. The World Health Organization supports medical terminations of pregnancy up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

dr Daniel Grossman, professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, said medical abortion is safe and effective late in the first trimester, but “there is a slightly higher risk of some complications, including heavy bleeding.” , and an additional dose of misoprostol is often required to fully expel the tissue.

Some services, including abortion telemedicine, automatically send a second round of the four misoprostol tablets to patients undergoing a late first trimester abortion.

Reproductive health experts said patients should be cautioned that expelled tissue earlier in pregnancy resembles a heavy period, but may appear more like a fetus at 10 weeks. dr Abigail RA Aiken, an associate professor at the University of Texas, Austin who leads a medical abortion research group, said preparing patients for what the tissue might look like could also help them protect themselves from legal risks in states that allow abortions forbid – for example , in a situation where a patient is surprised by what he sees and “then you expose that to someone who’s like, ‘Well, I’ll report you.'”

Joann, 23, a single mom, was 10 weeks pregnant when she decided to have an abortion, so she contacted Abortion Telemedicine. She said she initially intended to carry her pregnancy to term, but then her 3-year-old son was diagnosed with autism and her employer, the US military, decided to transfer her to another state. Joann, who asked to be identified by her first name only to protect her privacy, was in Colorado at the time, where abortion is legal but her community was conservative.

The service nurse told her that since she would be taking the pills after the 10th week of pregnancy, she would have to expect more pain and bleeding, advising that the tissue that was expelled might resemble a fetus “so I would be prepared.” . said John.

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Politics

Kamala Harris’ chief of employees limits entry to vp

Kamala Harris' chief of staff limits access to vice president

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waits to speak during an event on high-speed internet access in the South Court Auditorium at the White House complex on June 3, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Drew Angerer | Getty Images

Kamala Harris’ chief of staff has effectively shut out several longtime of the vice president’s political and business world allies as the Biden administration contends with several challenges, including battles over voting rights and the border, according to people familiar with the matter.

Harris has not been returning phone calls to people who have considered themselves members of her inner circle, including donors and people who supported her Senate and White House runs, according to some of the people with knowledge of the situation. 

Under chief of staff Tina Flournoy’s watch, Harris speaks regularly to President Joe Biden, her family members, a tight group of friends, and her strategists, these people said. The people declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Yet as Flournoy, who built a tough reputation while working for former President Bill Clinton, exerts her power as a gatekeeper to the vice president, several of Harris’ allies outside the federal government are struggling to get their calls returned after years of regularly being in touch with her, some of these people said.

A person familiar with Flournoy’s handling of incoming communication with these associates says she sometimes starts a conversation asking, “What is it that you want from the vice president?” If the person wants to just say hello and have a brief conversation, Flournoy says that time will come at future private events.

If a person wants to speak to Harris about where she stands on policy, Flournoy will, at times, say they can’t speak to the vice president about policy and will make an introduction to one of her policy advisors.

Some of these same advisors and donors are trying other routes, including by attempting to speak with Douglas Emhoff, the vice president’s husband. Many of those calls have yet to be returned, these people said.

Chiefs of staff, especially those in the highest echelons of government, are expected to run a tight ship for their bosses, including by limiting who gets in the door for meetings or who reaches them on the phone. In the vice president’s world, some allies can get in – but they guard their status so they don’t run afoul of Flournoy. 

For instance, an influential Democratic donor who raised money for Harris’ failed bid for president recently tried to reach out to the vice president, and had yet to receive a call back. Then this person decided to contact Flournoy. 

That didn’t work. The donor reached out to a fellow Democratic financier for Flournoy’s contact information. But the fellow financier declined to share Flournoy’s email address for fear of losing access themselves.

Another Harris supporter said she hasn’t heard from the vice president since a call with supporters during the transition period.

While Flournoy has made it tougher to get in touch with Harris, some of the vice president’s supporters accept it as a consequence of Harris building out her portfolio. Harris recently made her first visit as vice president to the U.S.-Mexico border, she touted President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, and is expected to have a role working on criminal justice reform, among other items.

One person close to Harris said they appreciated what Flournoy is doing and has accepted that it’s simply going to be harder to get in touch with Harris now that she is vice president and begins working on big-ticket initiatives.

“There’s no question she [Flournoy] is a strong chief of staff and there’s no question that she is very focused on making sure that the VP is able to be focusing on the coronavirus pandemic and getting people vaccinated, the border, voting rights,” said another Harris ally who has spoken to Flournoy. 

“So by making sure that she is able to focus on what she’s being charged with, there could be people who are not necessarily getting access because the chief of staff is prioritizing those tasks for the VP over political outreach,” this person explained.

A spokeswoman for Harris did not return a request for comment.

In this May 31, 2008 file photo, Tina Flournoy, then Democratic National Committee Rules and Bylaws committee member, during a hearing in Washington.

Susan Walsh | AP

Flournoy’s background

Flournoy has deep roots in Washington, D.C., and is a veteran of the mainstream Democratic establishment.

In the latter half of the 1980s, she worked as a law clerk for Julia Cooper Mack,  a judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals, before jumping into politics, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

CRP also says she later had stints as a counsel for the Democratic National Convention, as a leader on Clinton’s transition team after he was elected in 1992, and then as counsel for the former president’s office of presidential personnel.

Flournoy is listed as general counsel for cigarette maker Phillip Morris in a 1995 White House press advisory naming Kennedy Center advisory committee members. Later, she served as traveling chief of staff for Sen. Joe Lieberman during the 2000 presidential campaign, when he was Al Gore’s running mate.

After working on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign for president, she became assistant to the president for public policy at the American Federation of Teachers, an influential union. Flournoy was originally connected to Harris by Minyon Moore, who was an assistant to Clinton when he was president. Moore, who didn’t return a request for comment, was once named as one of the 100 most powerful women in Washington.

Before she became Harris’ chief of staff, Flournoy led the staff working for former President Bill Clinton starting in 2013. At that post, Flournoy oversaw a staff of approximately 10 people who worked directly with Clinton, and had regular engagement with the Clinton Foundation, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

While Flournoy was chief of staff, Clinton held an infamous tarmac meeting with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch while his wife ran for president in the 2016 election. Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server was being investigated at the time by the FBI, which is part of the Justice Department.

Flournoy’s style working for Harris is familiar to people who knew her while she worked for Clinton. She took over managing access to Clinton after the departure of his longtime right-hand man, Doug Band. Band, who co-founded corporate consulting firm Teneo, is known for helping create Clinton’s post-presidential life, including assisting in launching the foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative.

According to a report by Vanity Fair, Clinton and Band interacted with some controversial celebrities and executives, including the late Jeffrey Epstein, who later died by suicide in prison after being arrested for child sex trafficking.

“If you look at Doug’s tenure, it ranges from Epstein to others,” a person with direct knowledge of Flournoy’s work told CNBC.

“If you look from 2013 through about a year a half ago when Tina was here, you can’t point to any single one of them being here [Clinton’s orbit]. I call some of those people who were once around ‘the unsavory humans,'” this person added.

Clinton praised the hiring of Flournoy in a tweet after Harris made the official announcement. A spokesman for Clinton did not return a request for comment.

Band did not comment.

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Politics

White Home to Permit Undocumented College students Entry to Pandemic Support

White House to Allow Undocumented Students Access to Pandemic Aid

The Biden Administration Early Tuesday it announced an ordinance would be enacted to allow undocumented students access to some of the $ 36 billion in emergency aid that goes to colleges. This is a disconnect from the Trump-era decision to ban these students – even among the nationwide protected known as dreamers. from access to previous funding rounds.

“The pandemic has not discriminated against the students,” Miguel Cardona, the education minister, told reporters during a phone call on Monday that previewed the government’s plans. “We know the final rule will include all students, and we want to make sure that all students have access to funds to get them back on track.”

The decision is a 180-degree lynchpin in attempts by Trump administration officials to prevent most immigrant students from accessing relief supplies. Last June, Betsy DeVos, Donald J. Trump’s Education Secretary, issued an emergency rule banning international undocumented students – including tens of thousands of so-called dreamers protected under the Deferred Action on Child Arrivals program – Access to an earlier round of over $ 6 billion in emergency funds. This decision was quickly made by legal challenges.

Biden administrative officer for months considered whether the emergency benefits should be extended to undocumented students who are not entitled to other forms of study allowance. Under current welfare laws, undocumented immigrants are still largely ineligible to receive money from federal programs. including funds from the $ 1.9 trillion pandemic relief package signed by President Biden on March 11.

On Monday evening, an education spokeswoman who was not empowered to explain the planning publicly stated that the administration had the authority to allocate funds to undocumented students through the $ 2.2 trillion Emergency Fund for Higher Education under the CARES Act distribute Former President Trump signed in March last year, and Congress “did not draw sharp lines on who is a student” when determining who could get money from this fund.

Existing admission requirements for the fund “make it clear that the emergency financial aid can support all students who are or were enrolled at a university during the national COVID-19 emergency, and it is up to the institution to distribute the funds to the students on most in need, “said the spokeswoman in a statement. (Last year, Ms. DeVos relied on a similarly vague definition to create the Trump-era rule.)

Mr. Cardona previewed the decision to reporters and phrased it for convenience: “What she’s doing is really simplifying the definition of a student. This makes it easier for colleges to manage the program and get money into students’ hands sooner. ”

About half of the $ 36 billion allocated for colleges will go directly to students, Cardona said, and about $ 10 billion will be given to community colleges.

Aside from direct grants to individual students, the funds will be used to strengthen academic support services, purchase laptops, and expand mental health programs. All students, including those who have not previously applied for formal federal grants, are now eligible for grants, according to the Department of Education.

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Health

Medicare must OK rule giving seniors entry to FDA-approved medical units

Medicare needs to OK rule giving seniors access to FDA-approved medical devices

Mina De La O | Digital vision | Getty Images

Dr. Anand Shah is an oncologist and former FDA Assistant Commissioner and former Chief Medical Officer of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation. He is also an advisor to Morgan Stanley.

Navigating public and commercial health insurance to cover innovative medical products can be a never-ending cycle of bureaucracy.

Medical technologies classified as “safe and effective” by the Food and Drug Administration – the global gold standard for regulating drugs and devices – are not always covered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, adding the added hurdle for companies Proof of their requirements must be met Product is “reasonable and necessary”.

Unlike medications, which are typically covered by CMS immediately after FDA approval, seniors can only access many FDA cleared or approved medical diagnoses and devices if they can participate in a CMS approved clinical trial. These studies can take years – additional data and a lengthy regulatory process to determine coverage criteria – and in the meantime sustain potentially life-saving medical interventions from Medicare beneficiaries.

A new policy, due to go into effect in mid-March, would have allowed seniors and their doctors to decide whether or not they needed these devices. However, it was postponed along with other pending regulations when the Biden Administration took office. The proposed Medicare Innovative Technologies Coverage Policy, postponed until May 15 for regulatory review, leverages existing FDA legal expertise under the Breakthrough Devices program to identify a limited number of promising medical technologies, and offers these products a short Medicare warranty. granted on the day of FDA approval.

The proposed policy would be a critical step forward for Medicare beneficiaries to make informed decisions about their care.

Currently, the FDA has approved, authorized, or cleared at least 26 breakthrough diagnoses and devices. These medical products include in vitro diagnostic and imaging platforms for implants and wearable devices that cover a range of diseases, including Ebola, traumatic brain injury, severe emphysema, and heart disease.

As an oncologist who helped develop this medical device policy at CMS, I have looked after many patients who have not had access to state-of-the-art tests such as next-generation DNA sequencing as part of a cancer screening because Medicare does not allow them. The same product can often be obtained by the patient through a commercial insurance policy, which many do not get under the Medicare program after aging. As a last resort, the patient has no choice but to pay out of pocket.

Seniors deserve access to FDA-named breakthrough medical devices – narrowly defined by Congress to include the most promising new technologies, such as those that can treat life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating conditions – once the FDA deems them safe and effective.

It is important that the proposed rule maintain the same high standards required by both the FDA and the CMS. In addition, the existing FDA requirements for post-market surveillance will be maintained. This policy bridges the void for patients who would otherwise not have access to the latest FDA authorized technology while waiting for CMS coverage. Still, it encourages researchers to continue collecting real-world evidence of health outcomes that are specific to Medicare beneficiaries.

Patient protection is maintained as MCIT uses existing procedures to restrict access to new technology when safety or efficacy concerns arise.

There is no disadvantage in approving this policy change. Seniors will have more treatment options, and medical technology innovators can work with CMS to carefully examine these patients over a four-year period, generating meaningful real-world evidence to prove that a new device is “sensible and necessary.” “Is Medicare coverage decision and potentially offers more permanent security.

This policy also encourages early investors to support innovation for the most pressing medical conditions as it creates a clear and predictable path – from investing to developing medical products to regulatory review and subsequent patient access.

If the federal government wants to incentivize investment in developing transformative medical innovations and expand choices for our seniors while promoting rigorous evidence generation, MCIT offers a clear way forward. Too many lives depend on it.

Correction: This editorial has been updated to correct the name of the agency that needs to approve the rule in the headline. It’s CMS.

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Politics

Texas Republicans Concentrating on Voting Entry Discover Their Bull’s-Eye: Cities

Texas Republicans Targeting Voting Access Find Their Bull’s-Eye: Cities

HOUSTON – Voting in the 2020 election presented Zoe Douglas with a tough choice: As a therapist who met with patients through Zoom late into the evening, she simply couldn’t complete before the polls closed during the early voting.

Then Harris County introduced 24-hour voting for a single day. On the Thursday before the 11pm election, Ms. Douglas met with fast food workers, nurses, construction workers, night owls and other late shift workers at the NRG Arena, one of eight 24-hour polling stations in the county where more than 10,000 people were voting cast their ballots in a single night.

“I can clearly remember people who still wear uniforms. You can tell that they have just left work or maybe go to work. It’s a very varied mix, ”said Ms. Douglas, 27, a native of Houston.

The 24-hour voting was one of the numerous options Harris County had introduced to help residents cast their votes, along with drive-through voting and proactive sending of ballot requests. The new alternatives, tailored to cater to a diverse workforce struggling amid a pandemic in Texas’ largest county, helped increase voter turnout by nearly 10 percent compared to 2016. Nearly 70 percent of registered voters cast ballots, and a task force found that there was no evidence of fraud.

However, Republicans are pushing for action through state law to target the very process that led to such a large turnout. Two bulk bills, including one the house is slated to tackle in the coming week, aim to undo virtually any expansion of the county for 2020.

The bills would make Texas one of the toughest states in the country to pass. And they’re a prime example of Republican-led efforts to roll back access to elections in Democratic cities and populous regions like Atlanta and Maricopa Counties, Arizona, while having far less control over voting in rural areas that tend to be Republicans lean.

Bills in several states indeed create a two-pronged approach to urban and rural areas, raising questions about the different treatment of cities and the large numbers of color voters who live in them. This gap helps fuel opposition from companies that are based in or have a workforce in these locations.

In Texas, Republicans have taken the rare approach of sketching restrictions that only apply to counties over a million residents and target the booming and increasingly diverse metropolitan areas of Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas.

Republicans’ focus on different urban areas, electoral activists say, is reminiscent of the state’s history of racially discriminatory electoral laws – including election taxes and “white primary laws” during the Jim Crow era – that essentially excluded black voters from the electoral process.

Most early Harris County voters were white, according to a study by the Texas Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit group. But the majority of those who used drive-through or 24-hour voting – the early voting methods that Republican bills would ban – were people of color, the group noted.

“It is clear that they are trying to make it harder for people to choose who are exposed to everyday circumstances, particularly things like poverty and other situations,” said Chris Hollins, a Democrat and former Harris County interim clerk who advised many of them overseen and implemented policies during the November elections. “With a 24-hour vote, there weren’t even any claims or legal challenges during the elections.”

Efforts to further restrict voting in Texas come against the backdrop of an increasingly tense showdown between lawmakers and Texas-based companies. Republicans in the House of Representatives are proposing financial retaliation for companies that speak out.

American Airlines and Dell Technologies both strongly opposed the bill, and AT&T issued a statement in support of “electoral laws that make it easier for more Americans to vote,” despite no explicit mention of Texas.

American Airlines also dispatched Jack McCain, son of former Senator John McCain, to the Republican lobby in Austin to help lift some of the more stringent restrictions.

Republicans in state legislature appear to be unbowed. In amendments tabled to the state budget this week, House Republicans suggested that “a company that publicly threatened negative reactions related to” electoral integrity “would be ineligible for some state funding.

While these changes did not end up in the final budget, a broader proposal was added to the state’s “wish list,” a compilation of Longshot proposals, threatening companies who comment on “legislative or executive action”. Even if the likelihood of existence is unlikely, the mere inclusion of the proposals on files is viewed by Austin lobbyists and activists as a thinly veiled warning to corporations to keep quiet on voting bills.

The Perryman Group, an economic research and analysis firm based in Waco, said in a recent study that implementing controversial voting measures could result in conferences or events being taken out of the state and causing companies or workers to avoid them. The group estimated that restrictive new laws would cause a huge decline in business activity in the state by 2025 and cost tens of thousands of jobs.

Restrictions in two bulk acts in Texas law include a ban on 24-hour voting, a ban on drive-through voting, and harsh criminal penalties for local election officials who provide support to voters. There are also new limits on the distribution of voting machines, which could lead to a reduction in the number of districts and a ban on the promotion of postal voting.

The bills also include a measure that would make it much more difficult to remove an election observer for inappropriate behavior. Partisan poll observers trained and empowered to observe elections on behalf of a candidate or party have occasionally crossed the line into voter intimidation or other types of misconduct. Harris County election officials said they had received several complaints about Republican election observers over the past year.

Mr. Hollins, a former Harris County employee, said Republicans have recognized that “blacks and browns and the poor and youth” are more likely than others to use flexible choices. “You’re scared of it,” he said.

As Republican-controlled legislatures in Georgia and Arizona pass new electoral bills after November’s Democratic victories, Texas pushes for new restrictions despite the support of former President Donald J. Trump with more than 600,000 votes. The effort reflects the dual reality that Republicans are facing in state lawmaking: a base that is intent on voting changes following the loss of Mr Trump in 2020, and a booming population that is becoming increasingly diverse.

Senator Bryan Hughes, a Northeast Texas Republican who sponsored the Senate bill, defended it as part of a long effort to strengthen “electoral security” in Texas.

“I know there is a big national debate going on now and we may get drawn into this, but this is nothing new to Texas,” said Hughes in an interview. He said lawmakers had tried to reset access to email voting as the process was more prone to fraud. He offered no evidence, and numerous studies have shown that electoral fraud is exceptionally rare in the United States.

Mr Hughes said the proposed ban on thoroughfare was due to the difficulty of gaining access to partisan election observers at the sites and that a 24-hour vote was problematic as it was difficult to find election observers to work night shifts.

But many voters in Harris County, with its 4.7 million population ranks third in the country and larger than 25 states, see a different motive.

Kristie Osi-Shackelford, a Houston costume designer who worked on temporary contracts to support her family during the pandemic, was voting 24/7 because it gave her the flexibility she needed when juggling work and her three Raised children. She said it took her less than 10 minutes.

“I’m sure there are people who may not have voted in the last election but got the chance to do so at night, and it’s kind of sad that the powers that be who feel that way have to be taken away for the integrity of the elections to protect, ”said Ms. Osi-Shackelford. “And I struggled to find words because it’s so irritating and I’m tired. I’m tired of hearing the same stuff and seeing the same stuff so blatantly over and over for years. “

Brittany Hyman, 35, was eight months pregnant by the time election day approached and was also raising a 4-year-old. For fear of Covid-19, but also of the mere logistics of navigating a line in the surveys, Ms. Hyman voted at one of the transit locations.

“The opportunity to go through the set-up was a savior for me,” said Ms. Hyman. She added that because she would have been pregnant, she likely would not have risked waiting in a long line to vote.

The Harris County’s drive-through vote, which was used by more than 127,000 voters in the general election, immediately caught the attention of Republicans, who sued Mr. Hollins and the county to outlaw the practice and overturn all votes cast -through process. The Texas Supreme Court ruled against the Republicans in late October.

Other provisions in the GOP bill, while not targeting Harris County as directly, will most likely still have the greatest impact on the state’s largest county. A proposal to provide a uniform number of voting machines in each district could affect the ability to deploy additional machines in densely populated areas.

This month, in another escalation of public pressure on lawmakers, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a Democrat, gathered more than a dozen speakers, including business leaders, civil rights activists and former athletes, for a 90-minute press conference in which he denounced the bill.

“What is happening here in Texas is a warning shot for the rest of the country,” said Lina Hidalgo, Harris County judge and Democrat, who is campaigning for more electoral access in the county. “First Georgia, then Texas, then more and more states, and soon we will take the biggest step back since Jim Crow. And it’s up to all of us to stop that. “

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World News

On Easter, Pope France Urges Common Entry to Coronavirus Vaccines

On Easter, Pope France Urges Universal Access to Coronavirus Vaccines

Pope Francis conveyed his annual Easter message “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the city and into the world”) to a small group of believers in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, while the coronavirus pandemic ban kept the usual audience of around 70,000 pilgrims for a second Year away from St. Peter’s Square.

The Pope conveyed the message after presiding over the Easter mass in the presence of about 200 believers.

Francis spoke of the economic and social difficulties many people, and especially the poor, are experiencing due to the pandemic that has recently worsened in Italy and much of Europe. He also addressed the ongoing armed conflict, civil unrest and increased military spending in Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria and other regions and nations.

As in the past, the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics urged the international community “in a spirit of global responsibility” to ensure that everyone had access to vaccines, which he considered “an essential tool” in the fight against the US designated pandemic. Delivery delays had to be overcome to “facilitate their distribution, especially in the poorest countries,” said Francis.

He called on all governments to take care of the many people who have lost jobs and faced economic difficulties as a result of the pandemic, as well as those who lack “adequate social protection”.

“The pandemic has unfortunately dramatically increased the numbers of the poor and the despair of thousands of people,” he said.

The Pope also noted the youth’s difficulty “being forced to spend long periods of time without going to school or university or spending time with their friends”. He paid tribute to the children who had written meditations on Good Friday for the Torchlight Way of the Cross, which this year took place in front of the basilica instead of the Colosseum and spoke of loneliness and sadness as a result of the pandemic.

“The risen Christ is hope for all who continue to suffer from the pandemic, both the sick and those who have lost a loved one,” said Francis.

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Health

Bloomberg Staff Get Entry to Hospital’s Vaccine Slots

Bloomberg Employees Get Access to Hospital’s Vaccine Slots

NYU Langone Health, a major New York City hospital system, has put aside Covid-19 vaccination shots for employees of Bloomberg LP, billionaire Michael R. Bloomberg’s financial data and media company.

Bloomberg employees were informed of the agreement in an internal memo on February 16. On Tuesday, when adults aged 30 and over were eligible for vaccination in New York, Bloomberg Human Resources Director Ken Cooper sent a second email to employees on the subject with the subject “* URGENT * Covid-19 Vaccines in New York”.

“NYU Langone has informed us that they are able to provide limited quantities of vaccines to Bloomberg employees who meet the approval requirements on a weekly basis,” Cooper wrote in the email received from the New York Times.

In the email on Tuesday, employees were informed that they would be sent registration instructions after filing a ticket in the company’s financial terminal system. The memo added that only Bloomberg employees were eligible under the plan, not their loved ones.

“Given the complexity of vaccine delivery and distribution, we continue to encourage you to do whatever you can to make an appointment yourself if you are eligible to receive the vaccine,” the email said. “You may find these appointments come in sooner than those made available through NYU.”

A Bloomberg spokesman declined to comment.

Mr Bloomberg has donated billions of dollars to the environment, education, public health, and other causes, including more than $ 3 billion in gifts to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University.

His philanthropic arm has given New York University at least two gifts. The university’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service announced on March 2 that it would receive a $ 25 million donation from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The gift was made for a scholarship on behalf of Mr. Bloomberg’s daughter Georgina and his mother Charlotte. In 2017, Mr Bloomberg’s philanthropic arm donated nearly $ 6 million to set up an environmental law center at New York University School of Law.

NYU Langone Health has “formal corporate partnerships with organizations, school districts and communities that we are the preferred providers offering corporate wellness programs and facilitating access to our services,” a hospital system spokeswoman said in a statement. “Through this partnership, we have helped secure vaccines for Bloomberg employees, who are our patients, in accordance with New York State guidelines.”

“Philanthropy is not tied to NYU Langone’s vaccination programs,” added the spokeswoman. Commenting on Mr. Bloomberg’s March 2 donation, she said, “It is important to note that the gift went to NYU’s Wagner Graduate School. It wasn’t done to NYU Langone Health or NYU Grossman School of Medicine. It was completely independent of our institution. “

New York residents over 30 qualified for the vaccine Tuesday, resulting in a rush to book appointments.

Mr Bloomberg has told his staff that he expects them to return to the office after vaccination. “As soon as vaccines are available, we expect people to use the security they provide and return to the office,” he wrote in a February 2 memo reported by Business Insider. “Any questions? I’m at my desk.”

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World News

Entitled to Vaccines, Undocumented Immigrants in U.Okay. Battle for Entry

Entitled to Vaccines, Undocumented Immigrants in U.K. Struggle for Access

LONDON – In early February, the UK government announced that anyone living in the country, regardless of their immigration status, could get a coronavirus vaccine for free. Public health experts praised the decision, which is necessary to keep everyone safe while others sound the alarm over the prospect of non-citizens jumping ahead of legitimate Britons.

“Nobody’s going to get their vaccination out of line,” said Edward Argar, a UK health minister, in an interview. The disease, he added, was “looking for victims, not worrying about immigration status”.

As in much of the world, the virus has devastated immigrant communities in the UK, many of whom tend to the bulk of frontline grocery and home care workers. Many immigrants also live in overcrowded multi-generation homes where older family members were exposed during the pandemic. The government’s so-called vaccine amnesty should encourage those without legal status to come forward and get vaccinated.

But more than a month after the announcement, many undocumented immigrants said they continued to fear that asking for a vaccine could risk arrest or deportation. Others said they have been denied registration at local medical offices, which often ask for ID or proof of address – although neither is required for access to primary care.

The most common response, however, was confusion or confusion about what services were available – the lasting effects of years of “hostile environment” policies aimed at forcing illegitimate people to leave the country by blocking their access to jobs. Bank accounts and free medical care.

“It’s all very good to say, ‘Anyone can get a vaccine,” said Phil Murwill, director of services at Doctors of the World UK, preventing people from getting access to any type of care, and we are seeing it now. “

External estimates suggest that the number of undocumented immigrants in Britain ranges from 800,000 to 1.2 million, or just under 2 percent of the population. (The UK government has not estimated the size of this population since 2005, when it was estimated at 430,000.) It is a significant group that includes many vulnerable workers and one that epidemiologists refer to as a vaccination campaign – which so far is the Case was Almost half of the population needs at least one dose if Britain is to safely end the pandemic.

This month Ghie Ghie and Weng, two undocumented domestic workers from the Philippines, walked arm in arm to the Science Museum in London, one of more than 1,500 vaccination centers across the country. (Like other undocumented individuals interviewed for this article, the women asked to be identified only by their first name for fear of arrest.) Ghie Ghie had gotten her first shot of the vaccine last weekend and was hoping Weng might get hers .

Both women, ages 40 and 51, were younger than the eligible age groups but had booked an appointment online in the Health and Social Worker category, which the government calls “Doctors, Nurses, Midwives, Paramedics, Social Workers, Nurses” defined and other health and social care workers on the front lines. “(As of last week, people aged 50 and over are eligible in England.)

There was no reference to housework and they hoped no one would ask for it. Other domestic workers they knew had been turned away at vaccination centers that required proof of employment.

Updated

March 30, 2021, 9:52 a.m. ET

“My employer was concerned; She kept asking me to get my vaccine, ”said Ghie Ghie, who looks after four children, three of whom are back in school. “But they wouldn’t write me a letter, they don’t want to interfere. They ask you to do it, but they don’t support you. “

Efforts are being made in the United States to prioritize vaccination of those who work mainly by undocumented immigrants such as farm work. However, the UK has not expanded the category of social workers to include domestic workers, a Department of Health and Social Affairs spokesman confirmed in an email.

“We care for children, the elderly and the disabled,” said Marissa Begonia, founder of the Voice of Domestic Workers. “It’s not a lie. We are social workers by our definition. “

Weng works part-time for two families and travels between households every week. “I want to get my vaccine in case the government demands it, so I can show that I am not putting anyone at risk,” she said while waiting in line at the vaccine center. She reappeared about 30 minutes later, proudly clutching the card stating that she had received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In 2018, the Home Office, the government ministry responsible for immigration, officially withdrew a data-sharing agreement that used patient information from the National Health Service to track down people believed to be in violation of immigration regulations. (Data is still exchanged for deportation cases involving serious crimes.) The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs has stated that people who undergo vaccination, test or treatment against the coronavirus would not be subject to an immigration check.

However, there are still cases of the two authorities sharing patient information, most common among undocumented immigrants with an unpaid medical debt of £ 500 (about $ 690) over a period of more than two months. Basic care, including treatment by a general practitioner, is free, but secondary care – hospital visits, operations, maternal care – is not.

Those who work for undocumented immigrants say that this hybrid health system only adds to the confusion about the benefits of undocumented immigrants. “The government must stop all billing and data sharing if it wants to prioritize the broadest possible access to public health,” said Zoe Gardner, policy advisor to the Joint Council on Immigrant Welfare.

When Huseyin, a 30-year-old undocumented cook, found out he could see a family doctor for free and eventually get a vaccine, he said he tried to register immediately. That was three months ago.

He said a family clinic in London asked for a valid passport or ID card before turning him away. A few weeks later he moved to Brighton, England to get a full time job in a restaurant. He tried a local doctor again there but was falsely informed that he needed an NHS number to register with them.

“The NHS guide says nothing about documentation, but nobody teaches you when you are in medical school about a patient’s right to see a family doctor,” said Dr. Elizabeth Bates, an Associate General Practitioner in the West Midlands. “That the NHS is there for everyone is something that many Britons are very proud of, but even some doctors fail to understand that their practice has these guidelines that prevent people from registering.”

Huseyin is now receiving help with registration from Doctors of the World UK, a nonprofit that works to ensure that people with uncertain immigrant status have access to health care. However, he is young and is unlikely to be asked about a vaccine for months.

“I want the vaccine to protect me and my community,” he said. “We’re everywhere – in shops, restaurants, factories, hotels. Undocumented people are everywhere. “

Categories
World News

California and Florida Put together to Give Vaccine Entry to All Adults

California and Florida Prepare to Give Vaccine Access to All Adults

United States governors accelerate coronavirus vaccine approval as new cases rise nationally, making vaccination efforts more urgent.

California will open vaccination eligibility to residents aged 50 or older on April 1 and expand it to residents 16 and over on April 15, state officials said Thursday, saying they could do so because of U.S. vaccine supplies increases federal government. And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that any state resident aged 40 or older would be eligible starting Monday, and that the minimum age would drop to 18 on April 5.

In Connecticut, one of the most vaccinated states in the country, Governor Ned Lamont said Thursday that all residents 16 and older would be eligible from April 1. New Hampshire will begin making footage available to residents aged 16 and over beginning April 2nd. and North Carolina on April 7th. In Rhode Island, Governor Dan McKee said the state is on track to make vaccines available to all residents 16 and older by April 19.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the state will open vaccinations for people 40 years and older starting Monday and keep a mask mandate in place for at least another 30 days. And in Minnesota, Governor Tim Walz is expected to announce on Friday that all residents over the age of 16 will be eligible from March 30th.

Alaska, Mississippi, Utah, and West Virginia are the only states where all adults are now eligible to receive shots. However, many more have announced plans to upgrade eligibility on or before May 1, a goal that President Biden has set. Some local jurisdictions have also started vaccinating all adults.

The nation takes an average of 2.5 million vaccine doses a day. At this rate, around half of the country’s population would be at least partially vaccinated by mid-May.

California will also allow health care providers, at their own discretion, to immediately vaccinate family members of eligible individuals, even if the family members would otherwise not be eligible, Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

State officials said they expected California to receive 2.5 million doses per week in the first half of April and more than 3 million in the second half of the month, a significant increase from the current pace of about 1.8 million doses per week.

Mr Newsom has been under heavy pressure for weeks to accelerate the state’s vaccination efforts. Experts say its ability to fend off a recall campaign could depend on vaccinating millions of residents and lifting remaining restrictions so the state can be closer to normal when voters are asked to decide its fate.

The governor has repeatedly stated that short and unpredictable deliveries are responsible for a confusing and chaotic vaccination process that has left many poorer communities behind.

State officials abruptly announced earlier this month that 40 percent of the state’s new vaccine doses would go to communities at risk, but the move frustrated local Bay Area officials who had almost none of the prioritized communities.

Dr. Jeffrey V. Smith, the executive director of Santa Clara County, recently described the program as “a fake stock plan”. Mayor Vicente Sarmiento of Santa Ana, the seat of Orange County and home to many lower-income Latinos, praised the plan.

Florida, more than most states, has emphasized age rather than occupation or other risk factors in its approach to vaccine approval. The state initially focused on people 65 and older, then lowered the age limit to 50. By Wednesday, 24 percent of the total Florida population had received at least one shot, and 14 percent were fully vaccinated, according to a New York Times analysis of the centers for control data and disease prevention.

The number of new virus cases reported in Florida has been around 4,600 per day in the past few weeks, a figure that health officials say is still too high, although it has fallen significantly from a high earlier this year.

The state’s efforts to reopen its tourism industry have not been without problems. In Miami Beach, local officials have been overwhelmed by night owls who have ignored safety precautions like wearing masks and social distancing. It got so bad that the city imposed a curfew and sent police in riot gear to disperse the crowd.

Categories
Business

To Assist Black Builders, Applications Begin With Entry to Capital

To Help Black Developers, Programs Start With Access to Capital

Harvey Yancey has been building and renovating marketable homes, affordable apartments, and commercial space in Washington, DC for 15 years. During that time, his company H2DesignBuild has overcome funding challenges and found its way into profitable businesses.

But all along, Mr Yancey, who is black, said he was aware of the racial homogeneity of the industry and the restrictions he was exposed to because of the color of his skin. “It was always the quiet conversation in the room,” he said.

Commercial real estate to this day is an area where the vast majority of developers are white. Few reliable statistics are available, but the industry association NAIOP reported in a survey from 2013, the most recent year available, that 4.4 percent of commercial real estate professionals were black. That year, only 5 percent of the Urban Land Institute members identified themselves as black or African American.

The inequality has many causes, including many African Americans’ ignorance of the area and the resulting lack of connections. However, according to Black developers, the biggest challenge is getting access to capital, including loans, loan guarantees, and equity. This can be due to limited balance sheets, short track records, or a lack of wealthy and influential networks. As a result, their businesses struggle to grow and stay on the sidelines as cities across the country see their inner cities being reshaped by other deeply pocketed developers.

Observers say it is not a new problem.

“Real estate has a long history. It’s been systematic and distinct for decades, centuries, ”said Christopher J. Mayer, professor of real estate at Columbia Business School. “People have been talking about it, watching that fact, but the really strong commitment to doing something is much younger.”

The assassination of George Floyd last May and the subsequent protests against Black Lives Matter have increased the focus on racial differences across the country. Over the summer and fall, lenders and other financial services firms announced initiatives aimed at eradicating racial inequalities. As an industry, financial services themselves are overwhelmingly white, even though their leaders commit to change.

Banking giants like Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase, as well as smaller institutions, have announced multi-billion dollar initiatives focused primarily on communities and entrepreneurs with color. A portion of the funds are earmarked for affordable housing and commercial development in low-income communities, from which all real estate developers will benefit.

Longtime practitioners and analysts in the field say that if new dollars are to eradicate the industry’s racial imbalance, funds must be carefully designed so that more money gets into the hands of black developers.

In October, JPMorgan Chase announced a $ 30 billion racial justice initiative that included significant commitments for minority-run small businesses and black and Latin American households. The announcement also listed $ 14 billion in new loans and investments over the next five years to expand affordable rental housing in low-income communities.

Observers welcome the size and breadth of these initiatives, but some point out that funding such as this is often not directed specifically to color developers.

And when the funding isn’t for minority developers, “history has shown us that it ultimately goes to majority developers,” said Ken McIntyre, executive director of the Real Estate Executive Council, a trade association for color commercial real estate managers.

That’s a disadvantage for the black developers who are focused on affordable housing – and for the communities themselves, McIntyre said. Black developers are more likely to hire black contractors and other workers, some of whom may live in these neighborhoods, so the money can be turned over multiple times and an area can be gradually improved. But when the developers are white, “they take home equity at the end of the day,” he said.

“If you don’t tell the money to go to the community in a way that you know it will stay, it will go away and you will do the same,” he said.

JPMorgan Chase will continue to build on its efforts to identify and strengthen the Black developer pipeline, said a bank director who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details were not public.

In September, Citigroup announced $ 200 million in equity and funding for affordable housing projects from minority developers.

Proponents say it’s important to make sure that capital goes to companies that need it.

“It’s a lot easier to tie up the money than to deliver it,” said Alicia Glen, founder of real estate development platform MSquared and former deputy mayor for housing and economic development in New York. “You have to find the people who have the relationships, either with minority developers or in minority communities.”

This could mean that capital is channeled through lenders known as financial institutions for community development. These are tasked with deploying funding in marginalized communities and tend to have close ties with developers and color communities.

For example, City First Bank, a Washington lender, has strong relationships with its borrowers and finds ways to raise capital to promising but young companies. The bank is seeing a surge in interest from larger financial institutions, said its chief lending officer, Sonja Wells, “but everything is still smaller than it could be.”

Regardless of how well the initiatives are designed, most black developer loan funds tend to focus on the same thing: affordable housing. Many proponents agree that developers should look like the communities they are building in, but steering color developers solely to low-income homes or workers diminishes their potential influence – and profits. Margins on affordable housing are limited, which makes it difficult for developers who only work in this area to grow.

“What I have found is that the resources that exist for color developers are driving you into lower affordability, or limited to it altogether,” said Moddie Turay, founder of City Growth Partners, a Detroit development company.

However, market price projects require more private equity. And that has traditionally been a challenge for black developers, who often have fewer connections to generational wealth. Before the pandemic, the net worth of a typical black family in America was one-tenth that of a white family, according to a study by the Brookings Institution. Black developers say it’s often impossible to raise millions of dollars in equity for “friends and family” because their networks don’t have that money.

“Equity is not readily available,” said Craig Livingston, managing partner at Exact Capital and chairman of the New York Real Estate Chamber. He and his colleagues may have an incredible track record, he said, “but we don’t have the same financial base or access to venture capital when competing with second- or third-generation developers.”

A number of initiatives have emerged to address this problem. In June, for example, Morgan Stanley and the Ford Foundation launched a $ 26 million fund to provide equity to emerging minority and women-owned companies. The fund, which is the result of nearly a decade of strategizing how best to help color developers, is managed by TruFund Financial Services, a community development financial institution.

And Blue Vista, a Chicago investment management firm, is creating a $ 100 million private equity fund for minority and women-owned real estate companies. Moved by the racial justice protests that summer, Robert G. Byron, co-founder of the company, examined the company’s history. In doing so, he found that the deals in which the company had provided capital to new ventures run by people of color and women had been successful in a Good Getaway.

In response, Blue Vista structured its new fund with a plan to provide seed capital and mentoring to a handful of talented new developers. Within a few years, recipients will be more willing to raise capital from more established sources.

Blue Vista’s program is similar to what Don Peebles, a successful Black developer in New York, announced in 2019. Mr. Peebles aims to raise $ 450 million in investments for undercapitalized developers in several key markets. But there doesn’t seem to be any real competition among private equity firms, Byron said, to find and invest in these developers.

“Just by scratching the surface, without marketing, we found really capable people – smart, talented, experienced,” said Byron. Investors are also enthusiastic.

“What I hear from both investors and potential users is, ‘That’s exactly what we asked for,” he said. “It’s a no-brainer.”