Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Coronavirus Task Force To Meet With Vaccine Makers This Week
AP: Biden Seeks Window On Vaccine Plans As Trump Stalls Handoff
President-elect Joe Biden’s scientific advisers plan to meet with vaccine makers in coming days even as a stalled presidential transition keeps them out of the loop on government plans to inoculate all Americans against COVID-19. President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept that he lost the election means that the Biden team lacks a clear picture of the groundwork within the government for a mass vaccination campaign that will last the better part of next year, says Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Weissert, 11/16)
CNBC: Biden Team To Meet With Coronavirus Vaccine Makers This Week
[Ron] Klain, the former Ebola czar under President Barack Obama, told MSNBC’s “Meet the Press” that Biden’s top health officials can’t coordinate with federal government employees until the General Services Administration approves the transition process. Despite the lack of access, Klain said Biden’s team will meet with the drug makers, naming Pfizer as one of those companies. (Higgins-Dunn, 11/15)
NBC News: Incoming Biden Chief Of Staff Warns Transition Delay Puts Vaccine Distribution At Risk
President-elect Joe Biden's incoming chief of staff, Ron Klain, urged the Trump administration Sunday to reverse course and begin working on a presidential transition so "nothing drops in this change of power" that would jeopardize the new administration's ability to distribute a coronavirus vaccine. (Kamisar, 11/15)
Also —
The Wall Street Journal: Washington Lobbyists Know Biden Well—As Their Former Boss
President-elect Joe Biden’s ambitious Democratic agenda—including raising corporate taxes—faces formidable opposition from a power center he knows well: former aides who are now lobbyists or advisers to companies and industries at odds with his goals. Scores of Mr. Biden’s former aides now on K Street represent hundreds of companies, trade groups and foreign companies. ... The drug lobby is one of the most powerful in Washington and has long fought a plan embraced by Mr. Biden to lower the cost of prescription drugs by letting Medicare negotiate discounts. The president-elect also campaigned on imposing tax penalties on drugmakers that raise the price of certain drugs over the general inflation rate. (Bykowicz and Mullins, 11/16)
CNN: Health Care: Here Are 7 Trump Measures That Biden Will Likely Overturn
When it comes to health policy, President Donald Trump made it his mission to undo many measures his predecessor put in place. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to do the same. In their four years in office, the Trump administration made sweeping changes that affected the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, abortion and transgender rights, in many cases reversing the efforts of the Obama administration. (Luhby, Kelly and Cole, 11/16)
