Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Signs Covid Origin Bill To Declassify Intel On Wuhan Lab
The Washington Post: Biden Signs Bill To Declassify Intelligence About Coronavirus Origins
President Biden on Monday signed a bill into law that directs the federal government to declassify certain information about the origin of the coronavirus, three years after the virus caused a global pandemic that has killed millions of people worldwide. “I share the Congress’s goal of releasing as much information as possible about the origin” of the coronavirus, Biden said in a statement after the signing, adding, “We need to get to the bottom of COVID-19’s origins to help ensure we can better prevent future pandemics.” (Wang and Johnson, 3/20)
CNBC: Biden Signs Legislation To Declassify Certain Intelligence On Covid Pandemic Origins
President Joe Biden on Monday signed legislation requiring the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information on any possible links between a lab in China and the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. The House and the Senate unanimously passed the legislation earlier this month. (Kimball, 3/20)
Politico: Biden Will Release Covid-19 Origin Intelligence
The legislation, called the Covid-19 Origin Act of 2023, which passed the Senate and House with unanimous support earlier this month, orders the Director of National Intelligence to declassify within 90 days of enactment all information relating to potential links between China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology and Covid-19. The director is then to submit the information in a report to Congress. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sponsored the bill. (Paun, 3/20)
CIDRAP: WHO Details Discussions Over Newly Revealed Wuhan Market SARS-CoV-2 Sequences
Over the weekend, the World Health Organization (WHO) detailed conversations with Chinese researchers, its advisory group, and international researchers who found previously unknown SARS-CoV-2 sequences from the animal market outbreak epicenter on the GISAID database. The new development comes against the backdrop of intense scrutiny on China, potential global impacts of its wildlife trade, and the possibility that the virus may have come from a lab in the same city where the outbreak began. (Schnirring, 3/20)
In other news about vaccines and covid treatments —
CIDRAP: 5,000 US COVID Deaths May Have Been Averted In Winter 2022 Under Higher Paxlovid Use
About 4,800 US lives could have been saved during the winter 2021-22 SARS-CoV-2 Omicron wave if 5% of COVID-19 patients had taken the antiviral drug Paxlovid, estimates a modeling study published late last week in JAMA Health Forum. (Van Beusekom, 3/20)
Reuters: Moderna Expects To Price Its COVID Vaccine At About $130 In The US
Moderna Inc expects to price its COVID-19 vaccine at around $130 per dose in the U.S. going forward as purchases move to the private sector from the government, the company’s president Stephen Hoge said in an interview on Monday. ... Moderna previously said it was considering pricing its COVID vaccine in a range of $110 to $130 per dose in the United States, similar to the range Pfizer Inc said in October it was considering for its rival COVID shots sold in partnership with BioNTech. (Wingrove, 3/20)
Stat: 8 Burning Questions Senators Should Ask Moderna's Bancel
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel has some explaining to do. Bancel will appear alone before Sen. Bernie Sanders’ health committee on Wednesday, where he’ll have to defend his company’s suggestion it will likely quadruple the price of its Covid vaccines once sales transition from bulk federal purchases to the open market. The Senate hearing will be a watershed moment for Bancel, a biotech superstar forged during the pandemic. (Branswell, Cohrs and Garde, 3/21)
Bloomberg: New York School Vaccination Rules Left Intact By Supreme Court
The US Supreme Court refused to consider forcing New York to give more children medical exemptions from the state’s school vaccine requirements. The justices, without comment, turned away an appeal by parents who claimed the state violated their constitutional rights when it put in place stricter rules for medical exemptions in 2019. (Stohr, 3/20)
In other pandemic news —
AP: Anthony Fauci Documentary On PBS Covers A Career Of Crises
There’s a moment in the new PBS documentary about Dr. Anthony Fauci when a protester holds up a handmade sign reading, “Dr. Fauci, You Are Killing Us.” It says something about Fauci that it’s not initially clear when that sign was waved in anger — in the 1980s as AIDS made its deadly rise or in the 2020s with COVID-19 vaccine opponents. “American Masters: Dr. Tony Fauci,” offers a portrait of an unlikely lightning rod: A government infectious disease scientist who advised seven presidents. Fauci hopes it can inspire more public servants like him. (Kennedy, 3/21)
CIDRAP: Survey: Most Teens Lacked Sleep, Struggled With Schoolwork In 2021 During COVID
Three quarters of US high school students didn't get enough sleep, and two-thirds had difficulty completing schoolwork, in 2021 amid the pandemic, according to a survey study published late last week in Preventing Chronic Disease. ... Most respondents (76.5%) reported sleeping for an average of less than 8 hours per school night, and 66.6% said they struggled more with schoolwork than they did before the pandemic. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that adolescents aged 13 to 18 sleep 8 to 10 hours a night. "Short sleep duration among adolescents is linked to higher risk of injury, worse metabolic and mental health, and difficulty focusing," the researchers wrote. (Van Beusekom, 3/20)
CNN: Pandemic Lowered US Step Count And We Haven't Bounced Back, Study Says
Americans took fewer steps during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and they still haven’t gotten their mojo back, a new study found. “On average, people are taking about 600 fewer steps per day than before the pandemic began,” said study author Dr. Evan Brittain, associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. “To me, the main message is really a public health message — raising awareness that Covid-19 appears to have had a lasting impact on people’s behavioral choices when it comes to activity,” he said. (LaMotte, 3/20)
