Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Ahead Of Schedule: Canada Gets First Pfizer Vaccines Next Week
Bloomberg: Canada Has Reserved More Covid Vaccine Doses Per Person Than Anywhere
Canada already had enough potential Covid-19 vaccines secured to protect a population almost four times its size. It just added another 20 million doses to the pile and accelerated its vaccination calendar. The government doubled its order from Moderna Inc. to 40 million doses, the U.S. pharmaceutical company said Monday. And the first 249,000 doses from another supplier, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, are set to arrive next week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday, kick-starting a vaccination campaign ahead of schedule. (Rastello and Bolongaro, 12/7)
Axios: Canada To Get First Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines Next Week, Trudeau Says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that Canada will begin receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from next week. ... "The first Canadians will be vaccinated next week if we have approval from Health Canada this week," Trudeau told a briefing confirming that the country will receive up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine by the month's end. (Falconer, 12/8)
Bloomberg: Abu Dhabi To Start Clinical Trials For Russian Covid-19 Vaccine
Abu Dhabi has started a volunteer program for Phase 3 clinical trials of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V. The oil-rich capital of the United Arab Emirates is initially seeking 500 volunteers, according to the Abu Dhabi Government Media Office. Russian president President Vladimir Putin announced the registration of Sputnik V in August and a second inoculation was approved in October. (Elbahrawy, 12/8)
AP: UN Makes Dec. 27 'Epidemic Preparedness' Day
The United Nations General Assembly has approved a resolution proclaiming Dec. 27 as the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness to keep a global spotlight on the need to strengthen global measures to prevent pandemics like COVID-19. The resolution adopted Monday by consensus by the 193-member world body expresses “grave concern at the devastating impacts of major infectious diseases and epidemics, as exemplified by the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, on human lives.” (12/8)
AP: Puerto Rico Seeks To Arrest US Tourist Who Refused Face Mask
A judge on Friday ordered the arrest of a tourist from the U.S. mainland who is accused of attacking a National Guard trooper at Puerto Rico’s airport after refusing to wear a face mask as required under pandemic restrictions. The suspect was identified as 31-year-old Adrien Williams. He faces charges including assault in the Nov. 28 incident caught on video that went viral. (12/4)
In other global developments —
The New York Times: As Pandemic Threatens Britain’s Mental Health, These ‘Fishermen’ Fight Back
The group of seven volunteers in high-visibility vests, equipped with GPS trackers and radios, gathered in the parking lot of a nature preserve on the outskirts of town. “We’ll take the red route,” Rick Roberts said, shining his flashlight over a map of the woodland, as his breath formed a cloud in the cold, late-November air. ... They were there as part of Night Watch, a suicide-prevention initiative started just a few weeks earlier to monitor known suicide hot spots in the area, and they were looking for people in crisis. (Specia, 12/6)
AP: Report Finds Microwave Energy Likely Made US Diplomats Ill
A new report by a National Academy of Sciences committee has found that “directed” microwave radiation is the likely cause of illnesses among American diplomats in Cuba and China. The study commissioned by the State Department and released Saturday is the latest attempt to find a cause for the mysterious illnesses that started to emerge in late 2016 among U.S. personnel in Havana. (12/6)
