The startup helping people get leftover shots

Hello,

Today in healthcare news: Meet the startup connecting people to leftover vaccines, Hims faces a class action lawsuit over alleged spam texts, and what the US looked like a year ago before we took masks and social distancing seriously.

A new website will connect people with leftover COVID-19 vaccines by sending texts when a shot is going spare

• Allocating excess doses has been a challenge in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
• Dr. B, a triaged vaccine-standby list, could help get those doses to high-priority recipients.
• The team behind Dr. B is trying to reach vulnerable groups through community partnerships.

Read the full story from Andrea Michelson here>>

Hims has been hit with a class-action lawsuit in California over alleged spam text messages

• Digital health company Hims became the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed in California on Tuesday.
• The complaint alleges Hims violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act with a series of alleged spam text messages.
• The suit was brought by David Vaccaro, a California resident who maintains he was not a Hims patient when he began receiving programmed voice and text messages from the company.

Read the full story from Megan Hernbroth here>>

Photos from a year ago show how little the US understood about the pandemic to come

• A year ago, public-health officials didn't fully understand how the coronavirus spreads.
• Masks weren't yet recommended.
• Photos show people blowing their noses in public, meeting at bars, and attending basketball games.

Read the full story from Aria Bendix here>>

More stories we're reading:

• US coronavirus vaccinations have surpassed the country's number of known COVID-19 cases (Insider)
• Adaptive's FDA-authorized T-cell test, which could be a big help for long-haulers who haven't gotten a clear answer if they've been infected (ABC News)
• CDC: People with a very high or a very low BMI have a much higher risk of severe COVID-19 (Insider)
• America's vaccine system is making people with preexisting conditions fight for shots (The New York Times)
• Cedar just raised a $200 million Series D at a $3.2 billion valuation. Here's a look at the pitch deck it used to raise its Series C. (Insider)

- Lydia