Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Administration Targets Long Covid With New Office, Clinical Trial
ABC News: Biden Administration Opens New Office To Study Long COVID Response, NIH Begins Clinical Trials
The Biden administration announced Monday it is forming a new Office of Long COVID Research and Practice to study the condition and help those who have been diagnosed with it. The office, which will be under the Department of Health and Human Services, "is charged with on-going coordination of the whole-of-government response to the longer-term effects of COVID-19," according to a news release. (Kekatos, 7/31)
CBS News: First Long COVID Treatment Clinical Trials From NIH Getting Underway
Up to 900 patients will be enrolled in the study, which is named RECOVER-VITAL — a smaller number than was previously planned. The trial's design has also been tweaked to test taking the pills for 25 days, a difference from another recent study from Stanford University that was stopped early. That study had failed to find evidence the drug benefited patients, MedPage Today reported earlier this year. (Tin, 7/31)
AP: Brain Fog And Other Long COVID Symptoms Affect Millions. New Treatment Studies Bring Hope
Monday’s announcement from the NIH’s $1.15 billion RECOVER project comes amid frustration from patients who’ve struggled for months or even years with sometimes-disabling health problems — with no proven treatments and only a smattering of rigorous studies to test potential ones. “This is a year or two late and smaller in scope than one would hope but nevertheless it’s a step in the right direction,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly of Washington University in St. Louis, who isn’t involved with NIH’s project but whose own research highlighted long COVID’s toll. (Neergaard, 8/1)
In other covid developments —
Politico: What The New Covid-19 Surge Really Means
Covid-19 hospitalizations are rising for the first time since the beginning of 2023, but public health experts and the White House appear confident the U.S. is well-positioned to manage the virus heading into the fall. It is more difficult than earlier in the pandemic to know how many infections are circulating in the U.S. due to the end of state data reporting requirements that were tied to the public health emergency, which ended in May. But a 10.3 percent increase in weekly Covid-19 hospital admissions in mid-July to 7,109 is a reminder that the virus is still a public health challenge. (Lim, 7/31)
Stat: National Panel Will Explore Requiring Free Covid Tests
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force will discuss recommending Covid-19 screening, the first step in requiring insurers to permanently cover the tests at no cost to patients. The national panel of experts will convene and “determine whether and how Covid-19 screening might be considered within the Task Force’s scope,” chair Michael Barry wrote in a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) exclusively shared with STAT. (Owermohle, 7/31)
USA Today: 'Fairly Shocking': Secret Medical Lab In California Stored Bioengineered Mice Laden With COVID
A months-long investigation into a rural California warehouse uncovered an illegal laboratory that was filled with infectious agents, medical waste and hundreds of mice bioengineered "to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus," according to Fresno County authorities. Health and licensing said Monday that Prestige Biotech, a Chinese medical company registered in Nevada, was operating the unlicensed facility in Reedley, California — a small city about 24 miles southeast of Fresno. The company, according to Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba, had a goal of being a diagnostics lab. (Nguyen and Martin, 7/31)
WLRN 91.3 FM: Appeals Court Backs University Of Miami In Campus Shutdown During COVID
As the Florida Supreme Court prepares to decide a similar case, a federal appeals court Monday rejected a lawsuit alleging the University of Miami should refund money to students because of a campus shutdown early in the COVID-19 pandemic. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district judge’s ruling that sided with the private university in a potential class-action lawsuit filed by student Adelaide Dixon. The case was one of numerous filed in Florida and across the country after students were forced to leave campuses and learn remotely in 2020 to try to prevent spread of the virus. (Saunders, 7/31)
AP: RFK Jr. Says He’s Not Anti-Vaccine. His Record Shows The Opposite. It’s One Of Many Inconsistencies
Again and again, Kennedy has made his opposition to vaccines clear. In July, Kennedy said in a podcast interview that “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective” and told FOX News that he still believes in the long-ago debunked idea that vaccines can cause autism. In a 2021 podcast he urged people to “resist” CDC guidelines on when kids should get vaccines. “I see somebody on a hiking trail carrying a little baby and I say to him, better not get them vaccinated,” Kennedy said. (Smith and Swenson, 7/31)
