By the end of the summer, New York City will bypass pharmacies and directly offer the antiviral drug Paxlovid at mobile test-to-treat sites, Bloomberg reported June 30. 

CVS Health has tapped Ahmed Hassan to be president of Omnicare, effective July 1, CVS confirmed to Becker's. Mr. Hassan previously was the vice president and general manager of pharmacy benefit manager care management.

A week after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion, pharmacy chains limited purchases to emergency contraceptives and companies selling abortion pills noted a surge in demand. 

Here are nine of the biggest actions pharmacy chains Walmart, Walgreens and CVS took so far this year, listed in order of Becker's Hospital Review's coverage:

The FDA told vaccine manufacturers June 30 to focus on leading omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, two days after an independent panel voted to recommend modified omicron-targeted vaccines. 

Pfizer-BioNTech has inked a deal for $3.2 billion with the federal government to deliver 105 million COVID-19 adult and child vaccines by the end of summer 2022, according to a June 29 press release. 

Pharmacy chain Rite Aid has curbed its net debt of $2.9 billion last year to $2.7 billion, The Washington Post reported June 29. 

Saint Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Mo., stopped providing emergency contraceptives for about a day before offering them again June 29, a spokesperson told Becker's. 

Pharmaceutical company Sanofi plans to lower the cost of its 30-day packages of insulin from $99 to $35 for uninsured Americans with diabetes.

Organizations offering medication abortion, a regimen of taking two drugs to terminate a pregnancy in the first 10 weeks, are seeing a hike in demand after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade June 24. 

In a 19-2 vote, FDA advisers recommended vaccine-makers to focus on updated, omicron-containing vaccines after a daylong meeting June 28. 

Retail pharmacies are imposing purchase limits and increasing prices for the emergency contraceptive Plan B after people flocked to stores hours after the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, The Wall Street Journal reported June 27.

Pfizer's updated vaccine candidates, a monovalent and a bivalent option, both delivered a "substantially higher immune response" against omicron compared to its current version among study participants 56 and older when used as a fourth booster dose. 

Some Florida physicians are tossing usable COVID-19 doses in the trash after Gov. Ron DeSantis failed to authorize state programs' to administer the vaccine to younger children, the Miami Herald reported June 27 — the latest setback to inoculating the state's 1.15 million children younger than 5.

The FDA is opening a second probe into Abbott Nutrition after a complaint reported a 10th infant death after consuming the company's baby formula. 

The following 10 hospitals, health systems and hospital operators have posted job listings seeking pharmacy leaders in the last week.

Walgreens agreed to shell out $105 million in cash to its shareholders June 23 after a seven-year class-action lawsuit about the spike in generic drug prices and reimbursement rates, according to court documents. 

Abortion pills, known as medication abortion, are expected to take center stage after the Supreme Court struck down a nearly 50-year-old precedent with a 6-3 vote to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24. 

Children between 6 and 17 now have a second option to be vaccinated against COVID-19 after the CDC joined the FDA in authorizing Moderna's vaccine, according to a June 24 press release. 

Billionaire Mark Cuban launched an online pharmacy in January that aims to dramatically slash prices for generic drugs, including treatments for diabetes, cancer, mental health issues and hormone therapy.