Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
1 in 6 US Adults Have Had All Their Covid Vaccine Doses
Axios: CDC: 1 In 6 U.S. Adults Has Been Fully Vaccinated Against COVID
One in six U.S. adults has been fully vaccinated for the coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions' vaccine tracker. The U.S. has administered a total of 121 million doses and vaccinated 42.9 million people 18 years and older, representing 16.7% of the adult population. Roughly 40.8% of people 65 years and older have been fully vaccinated. (Knutson, 3/20)
USA Today: COVID Vaccine Motivation: Krispy Kreme Is Giving Away Free Donuts For Showing Vaccination Card
Krispy Kreme is providing a sweet incentive to encourage more people to roll up their sleeves for the COVID-19 vaccine: Free doughnuts through the end of 2021. Starting Monday, consumers who show a valid COVID-19 vaccination card at locations nationwide will get a free Original Glazed doughnut, the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based chain announced. (Tyko, 3/22)
Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Workers' COVID-19 Vaccine Demand Still Outpaces Supply
With demand for the COVID-19 vaccine far outpacing supply, some healthcare workers have been caught in the decentralized scramble for vaccination, industry experts say. Even months into vaccination efforts in the U.S., only 52% of frontline health workers have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and just 42% have received both doses, according to a new survey by Kaiser Family Foundation and The Washington Post completed in early March that polled healthcare workers who are not self-employed. (3/19)
NPR: COVID-19 Vaccine Embraced By Black And Latinx Americans
When COVID-19 vaccines began arriving in Memphis, Tenn., late last year, some Black residents had questions. Did the vaccines cause infertility? Did they alter a person's DNA? They don't. And local community leaders worked hard to counter these and other vaccine myths as they came up in public forums around town or appeared online. Even so, Dr. Pat Flynn, an infectious disease specialist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, was worried that early public vaccination events might be dominated by white people in a town where most residents are Black. (Hamilton, 3/20)
Boston Globe: Should Pregnant Women Get The COVID-19 Vaccine? With Little Data, Some Are Eager, Some Wary
When COVID-19 vaccines became available late last year, Dr. Lauren Westafer faced a double challenge. She’d been asked to help develop a guide for pregnant women and their doctors in deciding about vaccination. And Westafer, an emergency medicine physician at Baystate Health in Springfield, had just learned that she herself was pregnant. She would have to navigate the very process she was developing for doctors and patients everywhere — and on that road she would confront a surprise: her emotions were suddenly running counter to the choice she had expected to make. (Freyer, 3/21)
KHN: So You’re Vaccinated Against Covid. Now What?
As you surely know, this country’s covid vaccination effort has been plagued by major birth pangs: registration snafus, poor communication, faulty data and a scant supply of vaccine — all exacerbated by inequitable allocation, alleged political favoritism and unseemly jockeying for shots. Still, as of Friday, over 118 million shots had gone into arms, and about 42 million people, 12.6% of the nation’s population, had been fully vaccinated. Nearly one-quarter of U.S. residents have had at least one dose. (Wolfson, 3/22)
In news about Trump supporters and the covid vaccine —
Modern Healthcare: Chicago Hospital Board Under Fire In Trump Tower Vaccine Controversy
A Chicago hospital is scrambling to contain fallout from the controversial decision to vaccinate workers at Trump Tower and members of the CEOs suburban church. In a statement, the board of safety-net Loretto Hospital said it had reprimanded hospital CEO George Miller Jr. and Chief Operating Officer Dr. Anosh Ahmed "for their roles in mistakes of judgment made," but did not specify any sanctions. (Strahler, 3/21)
The Washington Post: In This Rural Trump Country, Covid Vaccine Is An Easy Sell—For Now
Cindy Stidham is a nurse with faith in most vaccines — but as scientists raced to produce one to counter the coronavirus, she figured she'd hang back. “I’ll be the last in line to get it,” Stidham, a political conservative from the reddest corner of Virginia, told herself as the first two vaccines, developed with uncommon speed, won FDA approval late last year. Yet there she was last week at a clinic at Mountain Empire Community College, in an Appalachian county where President Donald Trump won 80 percent of the vote in November, sweeping her long hair off to one side so her arm could get jabbed. (Vozella, 3/21)
