Suncor, Imperial scramble to make contingency plans in case Michigan's order cuts off Ontario's oil supply

© Provided by Financial Post Michigan’s governor ordered Enbridge to shut down the 540,000-barrels-per-day Line 5 pipeline by May, which would affect gasoline prices and jet fuel availability in Ontario.

CALGARY – Canada’s largest oil companies plan to use the St. Lawrence Seaway to ship crude oil into Ontario as a contingency plan in case Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is successful in shutting down the Line 5 pipeline that supplies the province’s fuel

In November, Whitmer ordered Calgary-based pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. to shut down the 540,000-barrels-per-day Line 5 pipeline by May, which would affect gasoline prices and jet fuel availability in Canada’s most populous province by cutting off oil to refineries in Sarnia, Ont.

Enbridge has said it would defy the order, which it is fighting in U.S. federal court, but oil companies with refineries in Ontario and Quebec have been scrambling to make contingency plans. Line 5 is the main conduit to move oil and products like propane from Alberta to refineries in Ontario, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

On Thursday, Suncor Energy Inc.’s CEO Mark Little revealed that the company has purchased the stake it didn’t previously own in the Portland-Montreal pipeline and plans to import oil from Maine to Quebec and Ontario through the pipeline if Line 5 is shut down.

“We have this Portland-Montreal pipeline, which we now own exclusively, that allows us to bring water-borne crude into Montreal,” Little said on an earnings call, adding that he believes Suncor is “much stronger positioned” than competing refinery operators in Central Canada.

Suncor operates a 137,000-bpd refinery in Montreal and an 85,000-bpd refinery in Sarnia, which the company believes it can fill with oil delivered via the 223,000-bpd Portland-Montreal pi

peline, which carries oil from Portland, Maine into Quebec, but hasn’t been fully utilized for years.

Suncor did not respond to a request for comment on how it would ship oil from Montreal to Sarnia to ensure its refinery in southern Ontario was fully supplied if Line 5 were to shut down.

Other oil companies are also making contingency plans that include ships through the St. Lawrence Seaway and railway cars to bring oil into Ontario.

Line 5, which brings oil and products such as propane from Alberta to southern Ontario and the U.S. Midwest,” is a “critical piece of infrastructure” for Imperial Oil Ltd., the company’s president and CEO Brad Corson said on a Tuesday earnings call.

Imperial operates a 120,000-bpd refinery and petrochemical complex in Sarnia and a 113,000-bpd refinery in Nanticoke that rely on Line 5 for feedstock.

“We are developing appropriate contingency plans that would allow us to supply our refineries in Ontario, that being Sarnia and Nanticoke, with alternate sources of crude both through the Seaway, as well as through other pipelines and rail alternatives that are available,” Corson said.

Corson said he believes there’s a low chance Line 5 is shut down in May but noted, “We’re watching that very carefully.”

Shell Canada Ltd., which operates an 85,000-bpd refinery near Sarnia, did not respond to a request for comment

.

© Tim Ruhnke/The Recorder and Times A ship on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Calgary-based oil companies are particularly concerned about having well-supplied refineries in the region as demand for fuel is recovering and the so-called “summer driving season” is generally a period that buoy refinery earnings.

Suncor said Thursday the company’s refineries processed 438,000-bpd in the fourth quarter, meaning they were roughly 95 per cent utilized, up from 87 per cent utilization in the third quarter when demand for fuel was hampered by the pandemic.

Little said the company’s Canadian refineries, however, were 100 per cent utilized in the fourth quarter. Suncor also operates a refinery in Colorado but did not indicate how busy that refinery was in the fourth quarter.

Scotiabank analyst Jason Bouvier said he expected Suncor’s refineries to operate at 92 per cent of capacity this year.

Suncor produced 769,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the fourth quarter, down roughly 1 per cent from 778,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day a year earlier. The company also reported a $168-million net loss in the fourth quarter of 2020, which is smaller than the $2.3-billion net loss it posted in the same quarter a year earlier.

The loss included a $142-million charge stemming from the cancellation of TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline project, which Suncor had planned to use to send crude from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The company also announced plans to pay down between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in debt this year and buy back up to $1 billion of its own shares. But the company did not hike its dividend, which was cut when oil prices plunged at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

Suncor shares dipped on the day, closing 1.2 per cent lower to $21.97 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

“This was a solid finish to an otherwise choppy year for Suncor,” Raymond James analyst Chris Cox wrote in a research note Thursday, adding that “it will be a wait-and-see story on the dividend increase.”

Cox upped his price target on the company from $32 to $33 per share.

Financial Post

Sarnia fears thousands of job losses if Michigan blocks Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline
Enbridge sets high bar to build pipelines as big projects get riskier
New legal challenge to Enbridge pipeline in Michigan threatens higher gas prices in Ontario
‘It’s going to be felt at the pump’: Ontario could see gas price hikes if Enbridge’s Line 5 stays shut

Every vaccine maker was asked to make their doses in Canada and all said no: Anand


OTTAWA — Every COVID-19 vaccine maker Canada signed a contract with last summer was asked if they could make the doses in Canada and all of them concluded they could not, Procurement Minister Anita Anand said Thursday.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Anand told the House of Commons industry committee that her department "proactively and repeatedly approached leading vaccine manufacturers" about the matter.

"We took this issue up with suppliers at every turn at the negotiating table to discern whether they would come to the table with this possibility of domestic biomanufacturing," Anand said.

"The manufacturers reviewed the identified assets here in Canada and concluded that biomanufacturing capacity in this country, at the time of contract, which was last August and September, was too limited to justify the investment of capital and expertise to start manufacturing in Canada."

Many of the COVID-19 vaccine makers sought partners to help produce their product. Moderna signed a 10-year exclusivity agreement with Swiss manufacturer Lonza to make its vaccine. AstraZeneca sought deals with multiple countries to produce its vaccine last summer and fall, including China, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, India and South Korea.

NDP MP Don Davies questioned why Canada isn't among them, and Anand said "I raised this issue personally with AstraZeneca last August."

A spokesman for AstraZeneca confirmed Anand's statements related to its vaccine, known as AZD1222.

"During the course of our discussions with the Canadian government, we reviewed in-country manufacturing capability and available capacity against the technical requirements for AZD1222," said Carlo Mastrangelo, AstraZeneca's director of corporate communications and sustainability.

"After discussion with the government and our technical experts, we agreed that the fastest and most effective option to ensure timely Canadian supply of AZD1222 was to leverage an existing supply chain that was already established and beginning the qualification process."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced earlier this week Canada has a new contract with Maryland-based Novavax to eventually make doses of its vaccine at a new National Research Council facility going up in Montreal.

Novavax CEO Stanley Erck said in a statement his company sees the deal with Canada as "an important step forward in our quest to deliver an urgently needed safe and effective vaccine.”

"The memorandum of understanding also includes a broader intention for the government of Canada and Novavax to work together to increase the company’s Canadian presence," he said.

But the new NRC building won't be finished until the summer and the new doses are not likely to start being pumped out until late fall at the earliest, long after Canada expects to import enough doses to vaccinate the entire population.

Vaccine manufacturing will be newly available at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan next year, and at Precision Nanosystems in British Columbia in 2023. But none of that helps Canada make doses of COVID-19 vaccines today, and the delays to Canada's shipments continue.

Delays getting Lonza's second and third production line up and running in Switzerland is blamed for Moderna's smaller deliveries this month. Moderna was to deliver 230,000 doses to Canada this week, but 180,000 arrived Thursday morning instead.

A spokeswoman for the company says it will still deliver two million doses total by the end of March. The company has delivered about half a million thus far, leaving 1.5 million for the only two shipments planned after this week before that deadline.

But Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the military commander managing logistics of vaccine deliveries for the Public Health Agency of Canada, said Thursday Canada doesn't expect to get the 249,600 doses it was initially allocated for the Feb. 22 shipment either.

That comes after a month of smaller shipments from Pfizer-BioNTech, which was supposed to deliver more than 1.1 million doses between Jan. 18 and Feb. 14, and instead is delivering fewer than 340,000.

Fortin said Pfizer is resuming more normal shipments on Feb. 15, with 335,000 doses coming that week, and almost 400,000 the week after.

Provincial governments are expressing their exasperation with the vaccine supply shortages and the lack of clear information from Ottawa about what is coming and when.

"I have advocated for both a consistent supply of vaccines and a consistent supply of information," Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said

"Unfortunately, we continue to get neither."

He said he would push Trudeau to do better during the weekly first ministers' phone call later Thursday.

After that call, a federal official said Trudeau assured premiers that despite the uncertainty over the supply of vaccines from week to week, Pfizer and Moderna continue to promise that Canada will receive six million doses by the end of March, as they contracted to do.

He also told premiers that the federal government is sharing all information it gets from the companies about the vaccine supply as soon as it receives it and is holding nothing back, according to the official, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the call.

Canada's reliance on foreign production of vaccines came to the forefront in the last week when Europe — where all of Canada's current vaccines are made — imposed export controls to protect their own supplies. Europe has assured Canada it won't affect Canada's shipments and Anand said so far that is true.

Canada's shipments from Pfizer and Moderna this week were allowed to go out, and Anand said next week's Pfizer shipment has been approved as well.

Canada is also going to get fewer than 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine this winter, after believing just two days ago it could be more than twice that. Those doses are coming from the global vaccine initiative known as the COVAX Facility but can't be released until the World Health Organization approves AstraZeneca's vaccine.

Dr. Seth Berkley, the CEO of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, which is one of the COVAX's coordinators, said some doses are now not coming until the summer because of a delay getting that approval from WHO.

Canada should get about 475,000 doses before the end of March, and another 1.4 million by the end of June, pending approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine by WHO and Health Canada. Both are expected imminently.

Canada has also ordered 20 million doses from AstraZeneca directly, but Fortin was tight-lipped about when any of those doses will arrive.

"We are planning a number of contingencies," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2021.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

Leaders of the anti-vaccine movements used 'Stop the Steal' to crusade to advance their own conspiracy theories

As the Trump faithful gathered around the Capitol on January 6, two conspiracy theories peddling in government mistrust converged: The fraudulent belief that the election was stolen, and the dangerous narrative that Covid-19 vaccinations are wildly unsafe

.

© Samuel Corum/Getty Images Pro-Trump supporters gather outside the US Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.

"We're being led off of a cliff," Del Bigtree, an anti-vaccine activist, told the crowd at the "MAGA Freedom Rally D.C." about a block from the Capitol.

"I wish I could tell you that Tony Fauci cares about your safety..." he said. "I wish I could believe that voting machines worked... but none of this is happening."

In the wake of Trump's electoral defeat, some leaders of the anti-vaccine movement latched onto the "Stop the Steal" crusade, advancing their own conspiratorial claims and, in some cases, promoting private business ventures, CNN has found. Some prominent anti-vaxxers say they directly coordinated with organizers of the DC rallies in January and pushed their message at other MAGA demonstrations, and on pro-Trump podcasts and social media platforms.

The anti-vaccine message may have found a particularly receptive audience among some fervent Trump supporters, many of whom flout wearing masks and contend the lethality of the virus is overblown.

"It's marketing at a basic sales level," said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which has analyzed the strategies of anti-vaccine advocates. "Conspiracism that allows you to connect anything together if you want to, because it doesn't require fact."

Contrary to the statements of vaccine critics, the two vaccines authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration have been shown to be safe and effective.

But public health experts warn that anti-vaccine messages now pose a unique threat to the nation's health given the urgency for widespread coronavirus vaccination.

"One of our big concerns is that because people are seeing this anti-vaccine rhetoric we may not be able to reach levels of herd immunity we really need to stop virus proliferation," Tara C. Smith, an epidemiology professor at Kent State University, told CNN.

A national poll published this week from Monmouth University found 24% of people in the US will avoid getting the coronavirus vaccine if they can help it. The poll also found that willingness is driven more by political leanings than demographics.

The rally at the US Capitol featuring Bigtree, advertised as "The MAGA Health Freedom Event of the Century," included other notable vaccine conspiracy theorists such as Mikki Willis, the filmmaker behind "Plandemic," which falsely suggests Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was responsible for the creation of the coronavirus.

Bigtree, who says he's "not anti-vaccine" but rather "pro-science" and neither a Republican nor a Democrat, told CNN he did not speak at the rally to promote or benefit from "Stop The Steal" but rather to share his own message. "Wherever there is an audience, I want to get the message across that our bodies are ours. We should be in control of what's injected into them," he said.

The event was organized in part by a political action committee run by Ty and Charlene Bollinger, a married couple who run websites and sell documentaries that claim to reveal "the truth about vaccines" and range in price from $199 to $499. They also market alternative health books and other products.

The Bollingers have engaged for years in what they describe as health-freedom activism. But in recent months they took up another cause.

In early November, they co-authored a post about "voter fraud and election meddling" for the website of political operative Roger Stone, who has taken credit for coining the phrase "Stop the Steal" to help then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016. Last November, Stone wrote in a webpost that he "strategized" with the Bollingers.


Blending conspiracy theories

On November 21, the Bollingers spoke at a "Stop the Steal" rally in Nashville and blended election conspiracy theories with claims that then President-elect Joe Biden planned to force vaccinations.

"There is no pandemic. It's all BS," Ty Bollinger told onlookers.

In a video posted on January 4, Charlene Bollinger said she was working with other organizers on plans for the January 6th protests including "Ali" -- an apparent reference to Ali Alexander, a leader of the broader "Stop the Steal" movement.

Two days later, Charlene Bollinger introduced the speakers at her group's rally near the US Capitol, plugged her documentaries and blasted what she called, "the forced Covid vaccine, such a scam." She also told attendees that her husband Ty wasn't with her because he had gone to join the siege.

"I told him... they are storming the Capitol, and he looked at me and said, 'Do I need to stay here?' I knew he wanted to go. I said, 'Honey go,' so he did," she said.

Charlene Bollinger added that Ty texted her and said he was "outside" the Capitol. She then prayed "for the patriots that are there now inside. They're trying to get inside that Capitol. Lord, use these people to eradicate this evil, these swamp creatures."

The Bollingers did not respond to CNN's phone calls and emails that requested comment.

While outlandish claims of a stolen election may appear disjointed with vaccine fearmongering, their union at recent political rallies does not surprise Ahmed, of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

Ahmed said fulltime anti-vaccine advocates often search for new audiences within other fringe movements with which they can build alliances. And he said it's not a coincidence that some of these professionals sell products like health supplements.

A July report by Ahmed's organization CCDH unpacked what it described as the "Anti-Vaxx Industry." The report noted that fulltime anti-vaccine campaigners expand their reach by appearing on conspiracy-theory-based YouTube channels and also lend their audiences to anti-vaccine entrepreneurs who seek to sell them products.

"What you're talking about is old fashioned snake-oil salesmen," Ahmed said.


Alex Jones and InfoWars

Another promoter of the stolen-election conspiracy theory is Alex Jones, who has long peddled falsehoods about vaccines and mainstream medicines on his show InfoWars. The show frequently advertises Jones' dietary supplements and survival products.

In April, the FDA warned Jones to take down a number of products marketed on his site as possible coronavirus treatments, such as "Superblue Fluoride Free Toothpaste." Those products no longer appear on his site.

Jones, who previously said a "form of psychosis" made him believe events like the Sandy Hook massacre were staged, has continued to promote other supplements next to segments on his show that stoke fears about coronavirus vaccines.

In recent months, he has woven in false allegations of widespread election meddling.

On January 3, Jones referenced "pure evidence of election fraud" just before a "news" alert about "forced inoculations" and other coronavirus claims. The video remains online next to an ad for "DNA Force Plus" supplements. The InfoWars Store includes a disclaimer that the products are "not intended for use in the cure, treatment, prevention or mitigation of any disease..."

Jones also traveled to Washington and spoke at a pro-Trump rally on the eve of the Capitol siege. There, he blasted what he falsely described as the "engineered virus that Bill Gates owns."

InfoWars did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

Spreading theories on social media

Other vaccine skeptics have promoted election conspiracy theories on social media.

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a physician, supplement salesperson and author of the books such as "Saying No To Vaccines," repeatedly promoted the January 6 Washington protests on Telegram. A January 5 post, for example, included a "call to action" and quoted the founder of the Oath Keepers extremist militant group as saying, "Get to DC and STAND!" Those posts were interspersed among her more usual anti-vaccine content.

Tenpenny also shared the "Stop the Steal" hashtag on Twitter in a quote tweet of a post about the DC rally from Dr. Simone Gold.

Gold, who founded the group America's Frontline Doctors, made headlines last summer for her appearance in a video that was later removed from social media for coronavirus misinformation. Trump retweeted the video, which also featured Stella Immanuel, who said in the past that DNA from space aliens is used in medicine.

On January 5, "Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander introduced Gold at a Washington rally and reminded attendees that they weren't just fighting for the election but also against "medical tyranny."

Gold then took the stage and told the crowd, "If you don't want to take an experimental biological agent deceptively named a vaccine, you must not allow yourself to be coerced!"

The next day, Gold and her colleague entered the Capitol building during the siege, according to an affidavit for a criminal complaint against her. She was later arrested, according to the Department of Justice.

America's Frontline Doctors told CNN in a statement that Gold is not a political organizer and "did not participate in any incident that involved violence or vandalism and has categorically rebuked any such activity" by others. The statement added that America's Frontline Doctors' physicians have recommended vaccines to patients but said the organization believes "more study and greater transparency are needed with respect to COVID-19 vaccines."

Since the riot, she has continued to spread her message.

"Definitely you should not be calling this the Covid-19 vaccines. The reason is, whatever you call it, it's experimental. It's not been approved as a vaccine," Gold said in a video posted January 14 that showed a talk she gave at a Tampa, Florida-based church led by a pastor who has appeared on Alex Jones' show.

While some audiences may have concerns after hearing anti-vaccine messages that reference actual instances of allergic reactions or other anecdotes, context is key, says Smith of Kent State University.

"You've had a handful of allergic reactions as compared to 4,000 people dying a day from actual coronavirus infection," she said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that severe allergic reactions to Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccines are rare.

Smith said that when anti-vaccine activists' claims about coronavirus vaccines are put in the larger context of scientific literature, "all of those concerns are just dwarfed."

While the momentum of the "Stop the Steal" movement may have died down, vaccine skeptics and far-right political groups will likely continue to trade audiences and ideas, which could translate into more public demonstrations, says Devin Burghart, executive director of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights.

Burghart, who tracks far-right groups, said he has watched these two movements develop an increasing symbiotic relationship during the coronavirus pandemic.

"There is a larger constituency that is mobilized and they have adopted a far more destructive view of vaccines than they had before, and they have united with far-right paramilitaries and others," he said.

 

Alex Jones, the founder of right-wing media group Infowars, addresses a crowd of pro-Trump protesters after they storm the grounds of the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC

 

Del Bigtree, an anti-vaccine activist, speaks at "MAGA Freedom Rally" on January 6, 2021.
 

Ty and Charlene Bollinger sell documentaries that claim to reveal the "truth about vaccines."

Dr. Simone Gold speaks at pro-Trump rally on January 5, 2021.

Texas temporarily blocked from kicking Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid
By Shannon Najmabadi, The Texas Tribune

Planned Parenthood asked for a six-month delay to help its Medicaid patients find new doctors, citing the ongoing pandemic. File Photo by Erin Schaff/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A state district judge in Travis County has temporarily stopped Texas from kicking Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program, after the health provider filed an emergency lawsuit in a bid to keep providing non-abortion services to thousands of low-income patients.
In a last-minute proceeding on Wednesday, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble granted a temporary restraining order and set a hearing for Feb. 17.

The state had given Planned Parenthood's Medicaid patients until Wednesday to find new doctors after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas officials who have long sought to block the health provider from participating in the joint federal-state health insurance program for the poor.

It is difficult to qualify for Medicaid in Texas, which has the highest uninsured rate nationwide. A single parent with two children cannot make more than $230 a month.

A lower court blocked the state from removing Planned Parenthood from Medicaid in 2017 but was overruled by the 5th Circuit in November, in a development cheered by state officials including Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Planned Parenthood asked for a six-month delay to help its Medicaid patients find new doctors, citing the ongoing pandemic. The state health commission granted a 30-day grace period that was scheduled to end this month.

Texas does not pay for abortions through its Medicaid program except in extremely limited circumstances, such as rape or incest.

Dyana Limon-Mercado, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, the health provider's political arm in Texas, said the governor's "attempts to block Medicaid patients from getting care at Planned Parenthood health centers is the latest in a long history of Texas politicians trying to score points with relentless attacks on Planned Parenthood patients."

Gov. Greg Abbott's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the health commission said it was not appropriate for them to comment on pending litigation.

Disclosure: Planned Parenthood has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a non-profit, non-partisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune. Read the original here. The Texas Tribune is a non-profit, non-partisan media organization that informs Texans -- and engages with them -- about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Texas accidentally issues Amber Alert for cursed doll Chucky


Feb. 1 (UPI) -- The Texas Department of Public Safety said an Amber Alert that was issued for the cursed doll Chucky from the Child's Play horror films was a test that was accidentally sent out.

The Amber Alert message that was sent out to subscribers of the Texas Alerts System three times on Friday describes the suspect, Chucky, as wearing "blue denim overalls with multi-colored striped long sleeve shirt" and says he was last seen "wielding a huge kitchen knife."

Chucky was suspected of abducting "Glen Ray," the cursed doll's son from the film Seed of Chucky. The alert included photos of both movie characters.

The Texas Department of Safety said the fake Amber Alert was set up as a system test and was never meant to be seen by the public.

"This was actually a test we were running on a dev server and it accidentally went out," DPS spokesman Ruben Medina told KPRC-TV.

Medina said DPS would like to "apologize for this inconvenience."

CDC: LGBT adults may be at higher risk for severe COVID-19


The CDC is raising concern that people in LGBT communities may be at risk for more severe COVID-19. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults are more likely to suffer from several chronic health conditions that place them at increased risk for severe COVID-19, according to data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among the conditions linked to risk for more severe illness more common among LGBT adults is asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.

The agency recommends that more data on sexual orientation and gender identity be included with COVID-19 surveillance to improve treatment in LGBT patients.

"The higher prevalence of conditions like heart disease, COPD and diabetes in those who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual compared to those who identify as heterosexual is not surprising when considering the impacts of discrimination and stigma [on this population]," Dr. Kacie Kidd, who has researched LGBT health disparities, told UPI.

Nearly 20% of those the CDC classifies as "sexual minorities" age 18 and older have a history of asthma, compared to 14% of people who identify as "heterosexual," the data showed.

In addition, just over 10% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, while 7% of heterosexual adults have the breathing disorder.

Rates of heart disease -- 8% versus 7% -- as well as diabetes -- 13% versus 12% -- and high blood pressure -- 36% versus 34% -- are also slightly higher among LGBT adults in the United States compared to their heterosexual peers, according to the agency.

Discrimination and stigma are associated with disparities "that are likely to worsen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for this population, including higher rates of unstable housing and unemployment," said Kidd, a specialist in adolescent and young adult medicine at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. She was not part of the CDC analysis.

"Sexual minority" adults who also are members of racial and ethnic minority groups "disproportionately affected by the pandemic" have higher rates of several health conditions than their heterosexual peers, according to the CDC.

For example, 45% of Black LGBT adults in the United States have high blood pressure, compared to 35% of White LGBT and 32% of White heterosexual adults, the CDC data showed.

And, 19% of Black LGBT adults nationally have diabetes, compared to 11% of White LGBT and 10% of White heterosexual adults, the agency said.

LGBT adults of all racial and ethnic backgrounds also have higher rates of cancer, obesity and kidney disease, compared to their heterosexual peers, according to the CDC -- which may also place them at higher risk for severe COVID-19.

Smokers also are believed to be at higher risk for serious illness from the virus, and 22% of LGBT adults in the United States smoke, compared to 15% of heterosexual adults, the data showed.

Based on these findings, the CDC is urging for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity data in COVID-19 surveillance in order to "improve knowledge about disparities in infections and adverse outcomes."

Having this information would enable "more equitable responses to the pandemic," the agency said, and Kidd agreed.

"Including validated questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in national surveys as proposed by these authors is critically important to understand the prevalence of the LGBTQ population and the disparities they face," she said.

"Doing so is the only way to know how to best allocate resources and equip researchers and health systems with the means to ultimately reduce and eliminate these disparities moving forward, something that is even more important during a compounding health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic."

upi.com/7073096

Report: Breast cancer now the most commonly diagnosed cancer globally


Female breast cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the most commonly diagnosed cancer globally, a new report has found. Photo by Rhoda Baer/Wikimedia Commons

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Female breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, overtaking lung cancer, according to a report released Thursday by the American Cancer Society and the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Of the 19.3 million new cancer cases in 2020, female breast cancer accounted for 2.3 million, or 12%, while lung cancer was involved in just over 11%, the report, Global Cancer Statistics 2020, showed.

That marks the first time lung cancer was not the most commonly diagnosed cancer globally, the American Cancer Society said.

"Dramatic changes in lifestyle and built environment have had an impact on the prevalence of breast cancer risk factors such as excess body weight, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, postponement of childbearing, fewer childbirths and less breastfeeding," the authors of the report wrote.

"The increasing prevalence of these factors associated with social and economic transition results in a convergence toward the risk factor profile of transitioned countries and is narrowing international gaps in the breast cancer morbidity," they said.

Cancer ranks as a leading cause of death in every country in the world, according to the report.

One in five men and women worldwide develops cancer during their lifetimes and one in eight men and one in 11 women dies from the disease.

Lung cancer remained the leading cause of cancer death in 2020 with an estimated 1.8 million, or 18%, of all deaths from the disease, followed by colorectal cancer, at 9%; liver cancer, at 8%; stomach cancer, at 8%; and female breast cancer, at 7%.

With about two-thirds of lung cancer deaths worldwide attributable to smoking, the disease can be largely prevented through effective tobacco control policies and regulations, the authors of the report said.

After female breast and lung cancers, colorectal, prostate and stomach cancers were the most commonly diagnosed last year at 10%, 7% and 6%, respectively.

RELATED Cancer deaths in U.S. down by nearly one-third in last 20 years, analysis finds

Researchers in the study estimate that 28.4 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2040, a 47% rise from 2020 globally.

This growing rate of incidence could overwhelm health care systems, if left uncontrolled, highlighting the need for sustainable infrastructure for dissemination of proven cancer prevention measures and the provision of cancer care globally, they said.

"The burden of cancer incidence and mortality is rapidly growing worldwide, and reflects both aging and growth of the population, as well as changes in the prevalence and distribution of the main risk factors for cancer," report co-author Freddie Bray, head of cancer surveillance at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, said in a press release.

Study: Vaccines have saved 37M lives, mostly children, since 2000


Researchers say that since 2000, vaccines have prevented more 

than 37 million deaths -- and they're expected to prevent more 

than 20 million more over the next decade.

File Photo by Adam Gregor/Shutterstock

They're medical miracles: A new report finds that vaccines against 10 major diseases prevented 37 million deaths between 2000 and 2019 in low- and middle-income countries worldwide, with young children benefiting most.

Vaccinations are also projected to prevent a total of 69 million deaths between 2000 and 2030, researchers say.

Their modeling study also shows that vaccination against the 10 diseases -- including measles, rotavirus, HPV and hepatitis B -- means that people born in 2019 will have a 72% lower risk of death from those diseases over their lifetime.

"There has been a much-needed investment in childhood vaccination programs in low-income and middle-income countries [LMICs] and this has led to an increase in the number of children vaccinated," explained study co-author Caroline Trotter, an infectious diseases researcher at the University of Cambridge in Britain.

The greatest benefit of vaccination is among children under age 5. In this age group, deaths from the 10 diseases would be 45% higher without vaccination, according to findings published recently in The Lancet medical journal.

Vaccinations against measles will have the biggest impact, preventing 56 million deaths between 2000 and 2030. Over the lifetime of people born between those years, vaccination will prevent 120 million deaths - 65 million of them in kids under age 5.

The study assessed vaccination programs in 98 countries.

Other pathogens studied were Haemophilus influenzae type B, or Hib; Japanese encephalitis, or JE; Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, or MenA; Streptococcus pneumoniae; rubella virus; and yellow fever virus, or YF.

The findings suggest that if progress continues, the public health gains vaccines provide will continue to increase in coming decades.

Evaluating the impact of these programs on public health is key to continued investment, she said.

"Our modeling has provided robust evidence on the effectiveness of vaccination programs in [low- and middle-income countries] and indicated what might be lost if current vaccination programs are not sustained," Trotter said in a journal news release.

Corresponding author Neil Ferguson, a professor at Imperial College London, said the findings show the huge public health benefits possible through national vaccination programs.

"By projecting up until 2030 in these 98 countries, we have provided insight on where investments in vaccine coverage should be directed to achieve further gains, for example increasing HPV coverage in girls and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines [PCV] coverage in children under 5 will have the most impact according to our modeling," he said.More information

The World Health Organization has more on vaccines.
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White House: Biden supports NASA program to send astronauts to moon


White House press secretary Jen Psaki holds her daily news briefing

 at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden supports NASA's plan to return Americans to the surface of the moon, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday, relieving some doubt as to the fate of the Trump-era Artemis program under the new administration.

The Trump administration called for NASA to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 as part of an overall mission to ultimately send humans to Mars. But with weak congressional funding for the program and a presidential transition, it was unclear whether that goal would -- or even could -- be met.

"Through the Artemis program, the United States will work with industry and international partners to send astronauts to the surface of the moon ... conduct new and exciting science, prepare for future missions to Mars, and demonstrate America's values," Psaki said during Thursday's press briefing.

"Lunar exploration has broad and bicameral support in Congress, most recently detailed in the fiscal year 2021 omnibus spending bill and certainly we support this effort and endeavor.

This fiscal year, NASA sought $3.2 billion for a human landing system to meet the 2024 target, but Congress approved less than one-third of that -- $850 million.

NASA said the overall Artemis program would cost in the neighborhood of $28 billion. It's meant to be a precursor to eventually sending Americans to Mars.

The first Artemis mission is to send an uncrewed launch on a new rocket called the Space Launch System in November. NASA's behind schedule testing the SLS' core stage after a brief shutdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and hurricanes near the launch site.

Also Thursday, Psaki told reporters Biden would "love to see action" by Congress on gun-control measures. She was asked about the issue in reaction to a Washington Post report showing an increase in gun sales after the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

"This is an issue [Biden] is personally committed to," Psaki said. "And, you know, I think he would love to see action on additional gun safety measures to protect families and children and knows that there is support across the American public for that."

Paul Brinkmann contributed to this report.

EPA nominee Michael Regan pledges to focus on environmental justice


President Joe Biden's nominee for Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Michael Regan, said he would place a focus on environmental justice, climate change and regulation that preserves economic growth. Pool photo by Caroline Brehman/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Michael Regan, President Joe Biden's selection to head the Environmental Protection Agency, pledged Wednesday to place a focus on environmental justice if confirmed.

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate environment and public works committee, Regan said that limiting the impact of pollution and other environmental hazards on communities of color and lower-income communities, combatting the effects of climate change, and implementing environmental regulation in a way that promotes economic growth are key goals of the EPA.

"We all have a stake in the health of our environment, the strength of our economy, the well-being of our communities and the legacy we will leave the next generation in the form of our nation's natural resources," he said.

As North Carolina's secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality, Regan, 44, created an Environmental Justice and Equity Board.

Regan would be the first Black man to lead the EPA, and on Wednesday said he would establish an environmental justice and equity advisor, who would work with the agency's civil rights office to assign staff at regional offices to focus on issues of environmental justice.

"As the government, we think we know, until we start to hear directly from the community," he said.

While saying he would "move with a sense of urgency" to combat climate change, Regan said he would seek compromise and not put the country in a position to "simply regulate ourselves out of every problem we face."

"I've learned that if you want to address complex challenges, you must first be able to see them from all sides, and you must be willing to put yourself in other people's shoes," he said.

Facing questions from Republicans about plans to regulate fracking and limit emissions from the nation's automotive and fossil fuels industry, Regan said he and the Biden administration would work to guide the nation toward a more green economy.

"We all understand the anxiety and the fear as we make this transition that folks in your states have," he said. "What I know is we've been instructed that we are not to leave any community behind. In order for us to be successful, every state and every community has to see itself in our vision."