By Trevor Hunnicutt and Ernest Scheyder

WASHINGTON -U.S. President Joe Biden could invoke a Cold War-era defense law as soon as this week to encourage domestic production of minerals needed to make electric vehicle batteries, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Such an order under the Defense Production Act is expected to help companies access government funding for feasibility studies for new projects that extract lithium, nickel and other EV metals, or to make existing facilities more productive.

The funds would not be used to dig new mines or buy minerals for government stockpiles, nor would invoking DPA let the mining industry bypass regulatory or permitting standards. It was not immediately clear how much funding could be allocated.

Biden’s economic program has prioritized fighting climate change and stimulating domestic manufacturing using electric vehicles. Administration officials have said national security has been harmed by dependence on fossil fuels from other countries, including Russia, which is also a major nickel producer.

Last month, Biden voiced support for new U.S. mines, but said they must benefit host communities and not damage the environment. The president also said the Pentagon would boost its reserves of certain EV metals, a plan likely to require sourcing from overseas mines due to low U.S. production.

“We must ensure that we secure the materials necessary for the clean energy economy in a way that holds to our strong environmental, labor, Tribal engagement standards and does not leave us reliant on unreliable and unsustainable foreign supply chains,” one of the sources said.

Securing enough raw materials to make electric vehicle batteries has been a major obstacle, with domestic mines facing extensive regulatory hurdles and environmental opposition. Biden blocked a proposed Minnesota copper mine earlier this year, and his administration is heightening scrutiny on other proposed mines.

The DPA gives the Pentagon wide berth to procure equipment necessary for national defense. Invoking it would essentially be a declaration that relying on rival nations for EV battery building blocks would constitute a national security threat.

Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, invoked the DPA in 2019 to build up a stockpile of rare earths, the specialized minerals used to make magnets found in weaponry and EVs.

Biden’s use of the DPA would show the United States “will support responsible domestic mining, processing and recycling of battery materials as a matter of national importance,” said Todd Malan of Talon Metals Corp, which has a deal to supply Tesla Inc from a Minnesota nickel mine it is developing.

The National Mining Association, an industry trade group, said the expected order from Biden may be limited in scope, but would send a strong signal to global markets.

“Unless we continue to build on this action … we risk feeding the minerals dominance of geopolitical rivals,” said Rich Nolan, the NMA’s president.

Several industry executives said the decision shows Biden is taking the looming supply shortage seriously and they were eager for details on how Biden would use DPA to boost domestic EV metals production.

“This is a good signal, and we’re glad about it,” said James Calaway, chairman of ioneer, which is developing a lithium and boron mine in Nevada.

Biden has made broad use of the DPA in his presidency, including using it to stimulate manufacturing of supplies used in the response to COVID-19.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington and Ernest Scheyder in Houston; Editing by Sandra Maler and David Gregorio)

(Corrects first name of CDC researcher in fourth paragraph)

By Michael Erman

NEW YORK -Children ages 5 to 11 who received the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were 68% less likely to be hospitalized during the Omicron wave in the United States than unvaccinated children, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Adolescents aged 12-18 who received two shots of the vaccine were around 40% less likely to be hospitalized with the Omicron variant of the virus, the study led by scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Boston Children’s Hospital found. It was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The risk of more serious outcomes, including need for mechanical breathing assistance or death, was nearly 80% lower for those who received the shots in that age group.

“Infections like COVID and respiratory infections have a range of severity,” said CDC researcher Dr. Manish Patel. “But action against severe disease can still be maintained.”

The study looked at vaccinated and unvaccinated patients with and without COVID-19 at 31 hospitals in 23 states.

The vaccine performed better against the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which was circulating last year. Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization in adolescents when that variant was dominant was around 93%, the study found.

The results of the CDC study were better for the younger age group than a study that New York state researchers published in February. That study found the vaccine was around 48% effective in keeping children out of the hospital, with 73% efficacy against hospitalization among adolescents in January of 2022.

“Most kids that have critical illness were unvaccinated,” Patel said. “And we should be able to prevent that with a simple act of vaccination.”

(Reporting by Michael ErmanEditing by Bill Berkrot)

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON -U.S. President Joe Biden rolled up his sleeve for a second COVID-19 booster shot on Wednesday as his administration rolled out efforts to help Americans live with the coronavirus, including a new website and a renewed push for vaccinations and funding.

“If we fail to invest, we leave ourselves vulnerable if another wave hits,” Biden said in remarks at the White House to launch COVID.gov, a clearinghouse of information aimed at helping people manage the virus as they seek a return to normalcy.

On Tuesday, U.S. health officials authorized a second booster shot for Americans age 50 and older and those who are immunocompromised, two years after the start of the pandemic.

Biden, 79, received his fourth dose of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE vaccine. A second booster of Moderna Inc’s shot also was authorized.

Several drugstore chains, including CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance, said they would start offering second booster doses.

Nearly 982,000 people in the United States have died from COVID since early 2020 over several waves of the disease, according to a Reuters analysis of local data.

Although vaccines and increasingly available therapies for COVID-19 have reduced severe illness and deaths, public health officials are monitoring BA.2, an Omicron subvariant that now accounts for more than half of all U.S. cases.

U.S. officials have said they do not expect another major surge, but noted COVID cases could rise from BA.2 or a subsequent variant, reflecting the administration’s position that the country must learn to live with and adapt to some level of this coronavirus.

Biden has asked Congress for another tranche of funding to pay for current vaccinations and treatments, as well as to shore up the nation’s preparedness for future outbreaks.

“We need to secure additional supply now,” he said on Wednesday, warning free COVID vaccines may not be available this autumn without more funds, especially if a new vaccine is needed. “Congress, please act… immediately. The consequences of inaction are severe.”

Biden, who had sought $22.5 billion, this month warned the U.S. government would run out of funding for supplies without more support.

Lawmakers lowered the amount before dropping it altogether from the most recent government funding bill, with congressional Democrats saying they will take up COVID funding separately.

No. 2 House Democrat Representative Steny Hoyer told reporters that he hopes the chamber can vote on a separate COVID measure next week if the Senate can reach an agreement.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky and other senior Biden administration health officials are scheduled to update lawmakers at a U.S. House hearing on Wednesday afternoon.

Several members of the White House communications office, including Jen Psaki, recently tested positive for COVID.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Amruta Khandekar; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill Berkrot)

By Maria Caspani

(Reuters) -The Republican governors of Oklahoma and Arizona on Wednesday signed bills banning transgender athletes from girls’ school sports, joining a growing list of states that have passed or enacted similar laws on a contentious election-year issue.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey also signed a bill banning irreversible gender reassignment surgery for minors.

“This legislation is common-sense and narrowly-targeted to address these two specific issues ⁠- while ensuring that transgender individuals continue to receive the same dignity, respect and kindness as every individual in our society,” Ducey said in a statement.

The American Civil Liberties Union signaled it would challenge the ban on gender reassignment surgery in court, saying on Twitter that “the government can’t violate our rights without a fight.”

Transgender rights have been pushed to the forefront of the culture wars playing out across the United States in recent years, together with issues such as reproductive rights. Ducey on Wednesday also signed a bill banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Supporters of the sports bans argue they are needed to ensure transgender athletes do not have an unfair advantage, while opponents call the measures discriminatory.

Oklahoma’s Save Women’s Sports Act http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20ENR/SB/SB2%20ENR.PDF applies to public schools in the state through college.

“We are protecting women’s sports, we’re ensuring a level playing field for female athletes,” Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said at a signing ceremony, surrounded by young female athletes.

Oklahoma and Arizona are now among 14 states that have enacted legislation prohibiting transgender girls from participating and competing in girls’ sports in school.

A similar bill passed in Kentucky last week and awaits action from Democratic Governor Andy Beshear.

Opponents of the bans have characterized the laws as backed by conservative special interests to drum up support ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections, when Republicans seek to win back a majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6803a3.htm in 2019 that 1.8% of high school students in the country are transgender. The advocacy group Human Rights Campaign has said that according to surveys https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/PlayToWin-FINAL.pdf, only about 12% of them play on girls’ sports teams.

The Human Rights Campaign said it is tracking more than 300 bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community that are currently moving through state legislatures, many specifically aimed at transgender youth.

Gender reassignment surgery for people under 18 is extremely rare and would take place only after years of treatment in cases where the patient’s wishes are unwavering, according to experts in transgender medicine.

(Reporting by Maria Caspani in New York; Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, Calif.Editing by Donna Bryson and Matthew Lewis)

By Ted Hesson and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON -U.S. health officials are planning to end a sweeping, pandemic-related expulsion policy that has effectively closed down the U.S. asylum system at the border with Mexico by May 23, a U.S. official familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the decision had not yet been finalized.

A draft notice by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that the so-called Title 42 order blocking asylum seekers was no longer needed to protect U.S. citizens from COVID-19 and that the May 23 date would give border authorities time to prepare for its end, the official said.

A second U.S. official told Reuters the CDC is set to lift the order as early as Thursday with a delayed effective date of a month or longer. Both officials requested anonymity to discuss internal planning.

Leading Democrats, medical experts and the United Nations have urged the United States to end Title 42, but Republicans argue it will encourage more migrants to enter illegally at a time when border crossings are already breaking records.

The order was put in place in March 2020 during the administration of former Republican President Donald Trump to curb the spread of coronavirus in crowded border facilities. Since then, more than a million migrants apprehended at the border have been rapidly expelled to Mexico or other countries, often within hours of being caught and without a chance to ask for refuge in the United States.

Democratic President Joe Biden, who took office in January 2021, said on Wednesday that his administration would make a decision regarding the policy “soon.”

A spokesperson for the CDC, which issued the order, said the agency was finalizing a standard 60-day review of it and would release more information later this week.

The Biden administration has kept Title 42 in place despite fierce criticism from his own political party and campaign promises to reverse Trump’s hardline immigration policies.

Border arrests soared to record levels in 2021 during Biden’s first year in office and are expected to climb even higher this year.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said on Tuesday they were preparing to handle a sharp spike in border crossings, but that it remained unclear whether lifting the COVID-era order would increase migration.

DHS said on Monday that it had started giving COVID-19 vaccines to migrants in custody at the border.

The Biden administration rolled out a major regulation last week that aims to speed up asylum processing and deportations at the U.S.-Mexico border and which is set to take effect in late May, close to the time Title 42 would be ended.

The Associated Press first reported the plans to terminate the order by May 23.

COURT DECISIONS COMPLICATED ORDER

Advocates and U.N. officials have argued that Title 42 forces migrants back to precarious and dangerous conditions in Mexico. Human Rights First, an immigrant rights organization based in New York, has documented nearly 9,900 kidnappings and other attacks on migrants stuck in Mexico due to the Title 42 order since Biden took office.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, has called Title 42 a “terrible and inhumane policy” and urged Biden to “stop the madness” of leaving it in place.

Republicans have blasted Biden for his approach to border security as they aim to take control of Congress in the November mid-term elections. Texas and other Republican-led states have sued to block Biden’s immigration moves and could potentially challenge the decision to end Title 42.

The Biden administration began leaning toward ending the order after two federal court decisions complicated its implementation, Reuters reported earlier this month. At the same time, U.S. public health officials loosened pandemic restrictions across the United States in late February, undercutting the rationale for keeping it in place.

Early in his presidency, Biden exempted unaccompanied children from the expulsion policy, but a federal judge in Texas ruled on March 4 that minors could not be excluded in a case brought by the state of Texas against the administration.

In a separate ruling on the same day, a federal appeals court said the United States can continue to use Title 42 to expel migrant families caught crossing the southwest border, but should not send them anywhere they could be persecuted or tortured.

(Reporting by Ted Hesson and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Mica Rosenberg and Aurora Ellis)

By Jonathan Stempel and Dietrich Knauth

(Reuters) – Florida has reached more than $878 million in settlements with CVS Health Corp and three drug companies to resolve claims and avert a trial next month over their roles in fueling an opioid epidemic in the third most populous U.S. state.

CVS will pay $484 million, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd will pay $194.8 million, Abbvie Inc’s Allergan unit will pay $134.2 million and Endo International Plc will pay $65 million, Florida’s attorney general Ashley Moody said in a statement on Wednesday.

Most of the money will be spent on opioid abatement. Teva will also provide $84 million of its generic Narcan nasal spray, which can temporarily reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.

The four companies denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. Endo’s accord had been reached in January.

West Virginia reached a similar $26 million settlement with Endo on Wednesday, attorney general Patrick Morissey said in a press conference.

After the settlements, Florida and West Virginia will both begin pared-back opioid trials next week. West Virginia will proceed to trial on April 4 against Johnson & Johnson, Teva and Allergen. Florida will proceed to trial against pharmacy chain Walgreens, with jury selection scheduled to begin on April 5.

Walgreens said its 2012 opioid-related settlement with Florida covered the state’s latest claims, and that it will defend against “unjustified attacks” on its pharmacists.

CVS and Teva said they would defend against other opioid lawsuits, and Teva said it is “actively” negotiating a national settlement of similar claims. Allergan said its settlement also covers claims for generic opioids it sold to Teva in 2016.

Endo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Florida announced the settlements nine days after Rhode Island reached similar accords with Teva and Allergan valued at $107 million.

More than 500,000 people have died from opioid overdoses in the past two decades nationally, including 75,673 in the year ending April 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Feb. 25, Johnson & Johnson and drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and McKesson Corp reached final settlements worth $26 billion over their roles in the nationwide epidemic.

State, local and Native American tribal governments in the United States have filed more than 3,300 lawsuits accusing drugmakers such as OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma of fueling opioid abuse, including by downplaying the risks of addiction.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Dietrich Knauth in New York; Nate Raymond in Boston; Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; and Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Will Dunham, Chizu Nomiyama and Aurora Ellis)