| More equity efforts: Uber and Walgreens to offer free rides to COVID-19 vaccine sites Uber and Walgreens are partnering to offer free rides to COVID-19 vaccination sites in an effort to expand vaccine availability in communities of color. The companies said in a joint statement that Uber will offer free transportation to Walgreens and offsite vaccination clinics. Once an individual has made an appointment, they will then be able to schedule a free ride. The companies also plan on partnering with the National Urban League to help convince people of the benefits of a vaccine. The goal is both to address the lack of transportation and to address vaccine hesitancy among communities of color. States continue to struggle with appointment availability, as confusing, glitchy websites crash. At the same time, the supply of doses has not kept up with demand, as states expand eligibility and more people try to schedule a shot. The program will begin in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and El Paso, Texas. Read more here. About the lab accident theory of coronavirus: WHO team says it’s ‘extremely unlikely' Coronavirus is unlikely to have escaped from a government lab in Wuhan, China, experts with the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday following an investigation into the virus's origins. “Our initial findings suggest that the introduction through an intermediary host species is the most likely pathway and one that will require more studies and more specific targeted research,” Peter Ben Embarek, an expert with the WHO food safety and animal diseases division, said in an early morning press conference. A team from the WHO arrived in Wuhan on Jan. 14, more than a year after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the city, to investigate the lab in a bid to learn about how the virus's origin and how it spreads. There was speculation early in the pandemic, much of which was fueled by former President Trump, that the virus was either deliberately manufactured or leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. “The findings suggest that the laboratory incidents hypothesis is extremely unlikely to explain the introduction of the virus to the human population," Embarek said, adding that it does not warrant future study. WHO on the upswing: Trump frequently attacked the WHO as being too soft on China and announced the U.S.’s intent to withdraw. The Biden administration announced it is scrapping that move and staying in the WHO. “This is a good day for WHO and a good day for global health,” said Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus late last month. “The role of the United States, its role, global role is very, very crucial.” But for critics of the agency, the lack of any concrete findings is yet another example of how the WHO is too deferential to China. Read more here. Democrats urge Biden FDA to drop in-person rule for abortion pill A group of House Democrats pressed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Tuesday to lift “medically unnecessary” restriction on the abortion pill that have been in place for several years. Under the FDA rule, mifepristone, which is used to end early pregnancies and treat early pregnancy loss, can only be dispensed in person, a requirement that has received renewed criticism during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Imposing this requirement in the midst of a deadly pandemic — one that has disproportionately impacted communities of color across the United States — needlessly places patients and providers in harm’s way, and further entrenches longstanding health inequities,” Chair Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.) and other Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee wrote in a letter to acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock. Why now? Doctors and abortion rights groups have said for years that the in-person distribution requirement for mifepristone is medically unnecessary and should be removed. But the pandemic renewed the fight when the FDA paused similar requirements for other drugs but not mifepristone. A legal battle ensued, and while it is still ongoing, the lawsuit would be moot if the FDA — now under the Biden administration — suspended the requirement, notes the American Civil Liberties Union, which is leading the litigation. Read more here. | 
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