The Westerly Sun reports that the University of Rhode Island's (URI's) Engaging Generations Cyber Seniors program will supply smart devices and online services to older adults, as well as collaborate with community and senior centers to boost digital literacy in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The initiative is part of a partnership between URI, the Rhode Island Office of Healthy Aging, and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. The digiAGE program aims to connect seniors to digital tools, opening up access to information, linking them to others, and helping to combat the COVID-19 crisis. DigiAGE will augment efforts to outfit residents in areas hard hit by the coronavirus with smart devices, Internet services, and related training so they can access online resources and virtually communicate with family and friends. URI students and faculty members will deliver tech support and training, with no cost to participants.

CNBC News reports that an industry group that ensures regulatory standards are met for health-benefit cards approved President Trump's long-promised $200 Medicare drug-discount cards earlier this week. While this is an important step, other complications loom. For one, the Trump administration would need a plan to let some 39 million beneficiaries know the cards are on the way, and it is uncertain how many could be shipped before Trump's term ends. The Biden administration is not expected to support the cards, which have come under fire for their $7.9 billion cost and dubious legality. The White House insists the cards would be covered under a Medicare program that is generally designed to test innovations to reduce prices or enhance healthcare. The concept involves measuring whether the extra money would improve a person's ability to take drugs as prescribed because they could better afford them. Medicare has no out-of-pocket limit for Part D prescription drug costs, but lower-income beneficiaries already get additional help and appear to be omitted from this proposal. "At this point, a $200 drug card looks more like a party favor than a serious attempt to address drug costs or test strategies to improve adherence to a drug regimen," said Tricia Neuman at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this week that Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine was "highly effective," setting the stage for an emergency authorization later this week. The agency posted online documents, prepared by its staff and by Moderna, evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine in a large clinical trial. The findings will be presented to an independent advisory panel that will vote Thursday on whether to recommend authorization. If all goes as expected, the FDA will authorize emergency use of the vaccine Friday. Analysis suggests the first dose of the vaccine can reduce asymptomatic infections. Confirmation via further analysis could mean that it not only protects individuals from disease, but also curtails person-to-person transmission of the virus.

AM 1100 The Flag reports that the Minnesota Department of Health has opened the official public comment period for new rules that would set up an assisted living license for senior care communities in the state. Before, assisted living communities had separate licenses for housing and services. The new ordnance stipulates that each community will now have one license that combines housing with services and home care regulations. "These changes are designed to create clarity for consumers and caregivers, and a process for ensuring high quality of housing and care for Minnesota's seniors," explained Minnesota Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm. The new assisted living licensure regulations will go into effect on Aug. 1, 2021.

Alzheimer's disease sufferers are collateral damage in the pandemic, resulting in tens of thousands of early deaths among people who never got coronavirus, reports CBS 13 Sacramento . The Alzheimer's Association says there have been more than 30,200 more deaths than expected from Alzheimer's disease and dementia since the pandemic started. Researchers estimated this by comparing the average number of dementia-related deaths over the last five years to the number of dementia deaths this year. The biggest blow to people living with Alzheimer's is the ban on face-to-face visits. "We know that individuals with dementia really rely on structure and routine and repetition, and that's been taken from individuals and families right now," explained Susan DeMarois with the Alzheimer's Association.

A study published in eLife shows a drug that increases the purgation of cellular debris in immune cells may boost the protective effects of vaccines in older adults, reports ScienceDaily . The researchers looked at immune cell samples from young and older people participating in clinical trials for vaccines against the respiratory syncytial virus and the hepatitis C virus. They determined that autophagy increases in T cells from younger people after receiving vaccines, but not in older people. Lab analysis of T cells from the older individuals revealed that these cells have less of the natural compound spermidine, which boosts autophagy and T-cell function. Supplementing these older immune cells with spermidine raised autophagy to the same levels seen in T cells from younger subjects. "Our work suggests that boosting autophagy during vaccination may help make vaccines more effective for older people," said Ghada Alsaleh of the University of Oxford.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine will likely secure emergency-use authorization later this week, starting with today's issuance of data on the effectiveness of the shot by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will discuss this data on Thursday. The FDA is expected to fast-track approval of the Moderna vaccine if there is a favorable recommendation. The drugmaker previously declared that its experimental vaccine was 94.1 percent effective in protecting people against the disease, with 196 people in the 30,000-person trial experiencing symptoms — 185 of those were administered a placebo while 11 got the vaccine. Moderna expects to have 20 million doses available for the United States to ship by year's end, sufficient for inoculating 10 million people with the two-shot regimen. The company anticipates manufacturing between 500 million and 1 billion doses in 2021 for global use.

WBAL-TV 11 reports that Howard County, Md., students are bringing music to seniors in the Baltimore suburb of Clarksville using a virtual platform. The students are members of the Songs for Seniors club at River Hill High School, which before the pandemic performed on Saturdays at senior and nursing communities. "I really like seeing the seniors smile and enjoying the music we make, especially since this last year, COVID-19 has affected senior homes severely, and I knew we couldn't just not send them videos," said Songs for Seniors President Victoria Cheng. Every month, club members submit videos of themselves performing at home. Club officers compile the videos and send them to the various care communities. The club plans to keep producing videos every month until performing in person becomes safe again.

A Langley, British Columbia, woman wants to lift the spirits for seniors in care communities during the pandemic and the current holiday season, reports News 1130 . Danielle Axton, the memory living manager at Chartwell Langley Gardens, has launched a Christmas card campaign and is looking for participants. "I have visions of us sitting around a table and opening the cards together and then putting them on the wall for everybody to enjoy and reminisce," she said. There are more than 300 residents at the retirement community, and Axton is encouraging the public to also reach out to local communities to try to spread holiday cheer. Axton added, "I want do it as a group because then the conversation gets going, those memories start flowing. It's really beneficial for residents who are living with any kind of cognitive impairment to reminisce and get your brain thinking about those things that you used to do."

The Wall Street Journal reports that a massive coordination effort is needed for the U.S. distribution of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to be successful. "The biggest concern that I have is not that we don't know what to do. We have contingency plans in place for just about everything," said Shawn Seamans at McKesson, which is now dispatching syringes and other supplies for administering the vaccine. "You don't know if it's going to work until you get there." Long-term care communities are expected to get most of their vaccines via CVS and Walgreens, and the chains said they expect to receive supplies via FedEx or UPS in roughly 1,000 hubs from which teams of pharmacists and other staffers will go to the various senior communities. The most challenging aspect of delivering the vaccine is the need to keep it chilled at -94 degrees Fahrenheit as it travels and awaits use at vaccination sites. "Everything has to come together — the packaging, the dry ice, the vials, the material itself," said Yossi Sheffi at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Transportation & Logistics.