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08.29.25

The shooting in Minneapolis this week was one of the nearly 300 mass shootings this year. There’s so much devastation in moments like this, but I want to tell you about a growing effort to help empower people of all ages, called Stop the Bleed. But before we get to that, this week’s health headlines...

— Sanjay

FDA approves updated Covid-19 vaccines for limited groups as US cases continue to rise

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved updated Covid-19 vaccines, but for a limited group: adults 65 and older, and younger people who are at higher risk from Covid-19. Federal officials insist the shots remain available to everyone, but experts sat that claim is misleading, as the more narrow approval may raise significant barriers to access for many Americans.

To get an updated Covid-19 vaccine for the upcoming respiratory virus season, healthy children and adults younger than 65 will need to get it prescribed “off-label” — the practice of using a medical product outside of the terms for which the FDA has explicitly approved it.

Off-label prescribing requires a visit with a physician or other health care provider. But some physicians may not be as comfortable prescribing off-label as others, experts say, and pharmacies may take a more conservative approach, too.

Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as US surgeon general during the first Trump administration, also noted this week that about 11% of US adults are uninsured and lack access to a doctor.

Flesh-eating bacteria cases are rising. Climate change is to blame, scientists say

Just southwest of New Orleans, in a tranquil fishing village on the Louisiana bayou, Linard Lyons spent the morning on his 19-foot boat, preparing crab traps for his grandchildren just like he had done thousands of times before.

This time, he noticed a tiny scratch on his leg — a scratch that nearly cost him his life.

Lyons woke up the following morning feeling “delusional.” Feverish and vomiting, he initially thought he had just contracted a stomach bug but then discovered a series of blackening sores spreading across his left leg.

That small scratch on Lyons’ leg became the entryway for Vibrio vulnificus, a type of flesh-eating bacteria. The potentially deadly bacteria, once confined to the waters of the Gulf coast, is now being found farther north as water temperatures rise.

New GLP-1 pill for weight loss may be closer to reality

The latest results from a trial of a pill form of popular GLP-1 medications offer enough information for Eli Lilly to request global regulatory approval this year, the company said.

Lilly, which makes the injectable drugs Zepbound to treat obesity and Mounjaro and Trulicity to treat diabetes, is among several companies chasing an effective pill form of such GLP-1 receptor agonists.

GLP-1s have been highly popular, with millions of people using them for weight loss and diabetes, but injections can have several disadvantages compared with pills. They have to be refrigerated and are more difficult and more expensive to make — and many people just don’t like needles.

Trial results showed that Lilly's GLP-1 pill helped study participants lose an average of 22.9 pounds (10.5% of their weight) on the highest dose of the medication (36 milligrams) after they took the pill once a day for 72 weeks. The pill also lowered A1C — a measurement of the average amount of glucose in the blood over the previous three months — by an average of 1.8%, Lilly said.

Thinking about trying out a weighted vest? Watch this first

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell meets up with Peloton instructor Rebecca Kennedy and Wake Forest University exercise scientist Kristen Beavers to talk about the proper ways to use a weighted vest. 

Using the Mediterranean diet, exercise and nutritional support, severely overweight people stopped their progression to type 2 diabetes, a large study found.

But wait, there's more!

• Kennedy names deputy Jim O’Neill as acting CDC director after Monarez ouster

• Rare human case of flesh-eating parasite New World screwworm identified in US

• For the first time, a genetically modified pig lung was transplanted into a brain-dead man
• Why a drink called Feel Free has many saying they’re trapped in addiction, debt and rehab
• Your AI therapist might be illegal soon. Here’s why

Chasing Life

From Dr. Sanjay Gupta — 

As of Thursday, the Gun Violence Archive counted 286 mass shootings this year. These stories are among the hardest for me to report on. I see the emotional devastation they take on families and communities, and as a trauma surgeon, I see the physical brutality these shootings have on the body.

This week’s shooting in Minneapolis reminded me of a story I covered last year about Kate Carleton, a trauma nurse who is teaching elementary-age children how to “stop the bleed.” It’s a growing movement among trauma specialists, born out of the tragedy of the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. The idea is simple: teach people the basics of packing a wound and using tourniquet to help control bleeding.

As impressed as I was with how quick and engaged the kids were, I couldn’t help but feel sad that this is where we are as a country. When I shared that with Carleton, she told me that she felt the same way at first, but she had to change her approach.

“When I would initially go into that with that kind of feeling, I just found that I couldn’t teach the information in a way that it really resonated with them. It was being taught out of fear from me, and I don’t want that,” she said. Instead, she said it’s about empowering people to save lives.

“We can teach it, like teaching hands-only CPR or how to use an AED. It just becomes part of what we do,” Carleton told me. “It can be used in all situations, whether it’s a violent situation or not. But either way, it’s saving somebody’s life.”

When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the devastation was overwhelming — and left behind more than physical damage. Listen in on my conversation about how trauma lingers, what resilience really looks like, and what Katrina can teach us about facing the crises ahead.

CNN Health's The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows up in your

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