‘Sex Party’ COVID Czar Fired; Undiagnosed Iron Deficiency; Many Papers Partly Fake?

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Jay Varma, MD, a former advisor to New York City’s health department was fired from his current private-sector job after video was uncovered showing him talking about attending sex parties at a time when the city was advising people to socially distance. (AP)

The U.S. government is donating 1 million mpox vaccines to Africa to help stop the outbreak there. (Reuters)

Vice President Kamala Harris said she supports getting rid of the filibuster in the Senate to codify abortion rights into law. (The Hill)

Singer Demi Lovato says she can’t remember much of her time working for the Disney Channel during her childhood, a phenomenon called “dissociation.” (USA Today)

Feeling fatigued? You may be among the nearly one in three adults with undiagnosed iron deficiency. (JAMA Network Open)

Some Republicans are trying to dissuade former President Donald Trump from pledging to change or repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Meanwhile, Trump’s vice presidential candidate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) is putting his own spin on the history of the ACA. (The Hill, KFF Health News)

Fewer than half of jails offer medication for opioid use disorder. (JAMA Network Open)

Some smaller employers are trying a different approach to employee health insurance: giving employees money to buy their own plans. (KFF Health News via NPR)

A federal judge in North Dakota issued a preliminary injunction that will allow more than 8,000 Catholic employers to be exempt from following federal laws requiring them to support employees seeking abortion or fertility care. (AP)

A former Rikers Island guard won’t be charged in the 2022 death of a detainee even though the guard failed to render aid when the detainee was “leaning against a wall and sliding down to the floor, clearly disoriented, unable to stand up, and apparently about to lose consciousness.” (Gothamist)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s desire to scrutinize chemicals more heavily conflicts with previous policy under the Trump administration. (NBC News)

No, you’re not imagining it: women are more sensitive to pain than men. (The Hill)

Climate change can affect health in many ways, one of which is decreasing the number of blood donations, according to Rachel Levine, MD, MPH, assistant secretary for health at HHS. (STAT)

One in seven scientific papers may be at least partly fake, a researcher estimated. (Retraction Watch)

The WHO announced new guidance it says will make clinical trials more effective and equitable.

Nearly 200 chemicals associated with breast cancer are used to make food packaging and plastic tableware, and many of them can find their way into the human body, a study found. (CNN)