A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended that Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine be cleared for use by people 18 and older, reports the Wall Street Journal . This sets the stage for the agency to approve emergency-use authorization by late Friday and makes the Moderna treatment the second COVID-19 vaccine to receive authorization after last week's approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Panel member and Stanford University pediatrics professor Hayley Gans said "the evidence for the vaccine highly outweighs any issues that we have seen." The emergency-use authorization would sanction the beginning of the Moderna vaccine's distribution as soon as this weekend. Federal officials expect to ship almost six million doses to over 3,200 sites nationwide in the initial batch, while Moderna expects to deliver 20 million doses in all by the end of December. Moderna's vaccine can be transported and stored at higher temperatures than Pfizer's, which needs special freezers and dry ice.

The Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is holding an information gathering session Dec. 18 on vaccine confidence. The session, which runs from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST, is set to cover the current state of vaccine confidence, reasons for hesitancy, and best practices for messaging. Facilitated discussions are expected to incorporate special attention to communities at higher risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19, including underserved and vulnerable communities. Drawing from what is known about reaching and engaging diverse audiences to change beliefs and attitudes, the goal of this session is to illustrate strategies that are likely to promote uptake of FDA-approved vaccines to prevent COVID-19. Register at the session link above, if interested.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice this week declared that all assisted living communities in the state, including residents and staff, should be inoculated against COVID-19 in the next 30 days, reports WTRF-TV . He added that West Virginia had already vaccinated 2,000 residents and staff in long-term care communities as of Wednesday. The first Pfizer vaccines should be administered on Dec. 21, and Justice said West Virginia's nursing home community is on a faster timetable.

People with dementia faced social isolation even before COVID-19. On Jan. 13 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST, the American Society on Agency is set to host a special webinar that will chronicle experimental outreach and engagement techniques and programs for this community. It will include a description of a collaborative care coordination model used in Virginia to help individuals living with dementia. In particular, the focus will be the challenges experienced by people living alone with dementia and challenges related to reaching them. Those interested can register at the webinar link above.

The U.S. National Institute on Aging partly funded an observational study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry indicating that a positive outlook may help maintain healthy brain function in older adults. The integrity of the brain's white matter and stable executive function appear to play an important role in maintaining healthy mood states in late life. The authors looked at 716 community-dwelling adults who were assessed to have normal cognitive and neurological function, with mood measured using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). The assessment covered executive function, memory, and processing speed, while a subset of 327 participants also received brain magnetic resonance imaging within six months of completing the GDS and neuropsychological evaluations. Mood improved with increasing age until around the early 70s, at which point the positive effect of age on mood leveled out and eventually reversed. Stable white matter integrity, along with stable executive function and processing speed, appeared to protect against the reversal.

A study from a team of Iowa State University researchers in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease determined that red wine, cheese, and a weekly serving of lamb could help reduce cognitive decline, reports Big Think . The team analyzed data from 1,787 adults and learned that earlier dieting affects the risk of cognitive decline later. They found cheese to be particularly helpful in protecting against age-related cognitive decline, along with daily consumption of alcohol, especially red wine. Eating lamb on a weekly basis, as opposed to other red meat, also appears to have a beneficial impact, while excess salt promotes cognitive deterioration over time. The researchers suggested calcium, vitamin B12, gut-friendly bacteria, and lactopeptides in cheese are potentially critical elements in the protective effect. Finally, the research found that volunteers with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's seemed to benefit the most from red wine consumption.

The Miami Times reports that a trial conducted by the Duke Clinical Research Institute and funded by the U.S. National Institute on Aging and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute will investigate whether cholesterol-reducing statins can help prevent dementia and heart disease in adults 75 or older. The study aims to increase minority participation. The University of Miami's Olveen Carrasquillo said 12 percent of the 300 participants enrolled so far at the university are Black, and he hopes to boost that number to at least 20 percent. "We know minorities are disproportionately affected, yet all the studies don't sample enough minorities, so we don't know," he stated. Approximately 20,000 subjects will be included from across the United States. Participants lacking heart disease or dementia will randomly be given 40 milligrams of Atorvastatin, which can prevent heart attacks by lowering high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, or a placebo. These will be administered to subjects in three-month intervals, with individuals monitored for up to five years to test their memory and physical abilities.

The CDC has released a toolkit for healthcare professionals with fact sheets, FAQs, social media messaging, posted, and more. Today's resource: A one-page factsheet with direct answers to frequently asked questions such as those about "natural immunity." Check back often, as the CDC is developing a communication toolkit especially for long-term care communities.

CNN reports that limitations in the vaccine supply are hindering a Trump administration plan to procure an additional 100 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, with officials on both sides confirming that they are negotiating for the U.S. government to purchase the doses for shipment between April and June 2021. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar admitted that certain supply chain issues at Pfizer could complicate the production of another 100 million doses in the spring. He said options under discussion to expedite production include evoking the Defense Production Act. Azar added that Pfizer has not been forthcoming about manufacturing issues and the production process, unlike other vaccine makers partnered with the Operation Warp Speed program. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said his company has asked the White House to use the Defense Production Act "very soon because some components . . . are running at critical supply limitations."

FierceHealthcare reports that the startup Papa is branching out into virtual clinical care services for its members, with expansions into virtual primary care, urgent care, and chronic care management via its new Papa Health health management platform. The platform links members with a Papa Doc virtually, while their companion Papa Pal is alongside the member to help them navigate the appointment and provide transportation and care facilitation. According to Papa CEO Andrew Parker, Papa Pals — usually college students — also function as "boots-on-the-ground" to ensure that members are eating right, exercising, and taking their medications outside of medical appointments. "Engaging in a healthy lifestyle is imperative to leading a long, fulfilling life, and our Papa Pals represent the missing link in delivering high-quality and effective healthcare to older adults," said Joel Rabasco, head of Papa Health.