Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
All Adults Can Have A Covid Shot By April 19, Biden Says
NPR: Biden Says All Adults Will Be Vaccine Eligible By April 19
President Biden announced Tuesday that he is moving up the deadline for states to open up COVID-19 vaccinations to all U.S. residents 18 and older by about two weeks. Less than a month after directing states to expand eligibility to all adults by May 1, Biden changed that deadline to April 19. "No more confusing rules, no more confusing restrictions," Biden said. (Treisman, 4/6)
Roll Call: Biden COVID-19 Vaccination Timeline Ends Confusion About State Criteria
President Joe Biden urged unvaccinated seniors to get their COVID-19 vaccines as quickly as possible on Tuesday, before announcing that all adults across the country should be eligible for shots starting April 19. "They're going to have to make the appointment now," Biden said of seniors during a visit to a vaccination site at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. The visit came ahead of his formal announcement at the White House about eligibility expanding to adults nationwide in less than two weeks. (Lesniewski and Kopp, 4/6)
In related news —
CNN: Half Of Adults Could Have A Covid-19 Vaccine Dose By The Weekend, But Experts Say It's Too Soon To Declare Victory
The US is on track to vaccinate half of all adults by the weekend with at least one Covid-19 shot, according to a White House adviser, but that does not mean the country is finished with the pandemic. "We do have to remember that there are 100 million-plus adults that still haven't been vaccinated," White House senior adviser for Covid-19 response Andy Slavitt told CNN's Chris Cuomo Tuesday. "They're not there yet, and you don't win the war until you bring everybody over with you." (Holcombe, 4/7)
The New York Times: About 80 Percent Of K-12 Teachers And Staff Have Gotten A Vaccine Dose
Nearly 80 percent of school staff and child care workers in the United States have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Tuesday. The announcement comes as the Biden administration has made an ambitious push to reopen schools and return to in-person instruction by the president’s 100th day in office. That goal has been tempered by new dangerous virus variants, protests from teachers’ unions, and the fears and frustrations of students and parents. (Waller, 4/7)
The Hill: Vaccination Pace Picks Up Steam; Normality Appears Closer
The accelerating pace of vaccinations across the United States is offering hope that something close to normality is on the horizon. A significant taming of the pandemic in the U.S. could be just a matter of a few weeks, with an average 3 million people being vaccinated each day and 4 million alone getting shots on Saturday. Across the country, more than 75 percent of people 65 or older have received at least one shot, as have more than 40 percent of all adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Sullivan, 4/6)
