• District of Columbia: The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to intervene in a lawsuit from a New York woman who wanted to send her child to kindergarten while a challenge to the state's vaccine requirements is in progress. Currently, courts are weighing whether New York can legally deny religious exemptions for unvaccinated students. After a 2019 measles outbreak in the state, New York eliminated religious exemptions to school vaccination requirements but still allows medical exemptions. In her lawsuit, the women said that her Catholic faith prevents her from further vaccinating herself and her child, and her attorney said she faced "imminent forced relocation" to Florida since New York "provides no school-attendance route for a religiously objecting unvaccinated child." Although the Supreme Court denied the woman's request, Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch said they would have personally granted it. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) has defended the state's decision to repeal the religious exemption to vaccine requirements, saying that it is "rational because vaccination is widely recognized as an effective tool in promoting public health and preventing the severe harms that may result from vaccine preventable diseases." (Brams, The Hill, 9/8)
• Indiana: Eli Lilly has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Merida Biosciences for up to $2.875 billion in cash. Merida is a biotechnology company focused on advanced therapeutics for serious autoimmune and allergic diseases. Currently, the company is developing biologics that selectively target pathogenic autoantibodies that cause autoimmune and allergic conditions instead of broadly suppressing the immune system like existing therapies. Merida's lead program MER511 is being tested in Phase 1 trials for Grave's disease and thyroid eye disease. It also has MER769, a preclinical program that is targeting food allergy, asthma, and chronic spontaneous urticaria. "We're building our pipeline around therapies that meaningfully change the course of disease, not just its downstream effects," said Francisco Ramírez-Valle, SVP of Lilly immunology research and early clinical development. "Merida's lead program is designed to do exactly that: selectively and directly eliminating the autoantibodies causing Graves' disease and thyroid eye disease, while preserving normal immune function, with initial Phase 1 data already pointing to the potential for improved efficacy and safety." (Scheetz, Becker's Hospital Review, 8/31)
• Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania has reported a fourth measles-related death amid an ongoing outbreak in the state. The death occurred in an unvaccinated 18-year-old who experienced a rare neurological complication from the disease. Other measles-related deaths include a 40-year-old woman and two infants. All were unvaccinated. "My thoughts are with the two families who lost loved ones to this highly-contagious virus, as Pennsylvania faces the worst measles outbreak in more than three decades," said Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Debra Bogen. "We remain committed to working with our partners across Pennsylvania to stem this outbreak and prevent more deaths. That means ensuring people have the facts about measles and access to the MMR vaccine – which kept measles outbreaks at bay for decades." According to CNN, this is the highest number of measles deaths in the United States in decades. The last time the country reported four measles deaths in one year was 1992. However, there has been some controversy around the latest measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania, with both HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CDC questioning the legitimacy of attributing the two initial infant deaths to measles. So far, CDC has not recorded any deaths related to measles this year. (Blum, New York Times, 9/15; Gumbrecht/Tirrell, CNN, 9/15)

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory illness, and as more cases are reported in the United States, health experts are underscoring the importance of vaccination to protect yourself and others from potential infection.