Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Covid Rates Fall In California, Where One County Nears 100% Vaccination
Los Angeles Times: California Has The Lowest Coronavirus Rate In The U.S.
California officially has the lowest coronavirus case rate of any state, federal figures show, underscoring the progress made in the ongoing battle against the highly infectious Delta variant. The state has been among the national leaders in that metric for the last week, as the number of newly confirmed coronavirus infections continues to tumble from a peak earlier this summer. California’s new case rate per 100,000 people is less than half of neighboring states, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some hard-hit states have more than quadruple California’s numbers. (Lin II and Money, 9/20)
San Francisco Chronicle: One Bay Area County Is Approaching 100% Of Eligible Residents With One COVID Vaccine Dose
Marin County has marked a new pandemic-fighting milestone, with more than 90% of its eligible population now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. According to county data, 90.7% of residents 12 and older were fully vaccinated as of Monday. A whopping 97.3% of Marin’s eligible population has received at least one vaccine dose. Among its total population, Marin’s rate of completed vaccinations is 78%, with 84% partially vaccinated. Marin has the highest overall vaccination rate of all counties in California and is among the top 10 most highly vaccinated counties in the U.S. (Hwang, 9/20)
In news about covid treatments —
Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Recommends The Vaccinated Lose Access To Monoclonal Antibodies
The Tennessee state government now recommends nearly all vaccinated residents be denied access to monoclonal antibody treatment in a new effort to preserve a limited supply of antibody drugs for those who remain most vulnerable to the virus, largely by their own choice. The federal government began capping shipments of these drugs last week because the majority of the national supply is being used by a small number of poorly vaccinated southern states, including Tennessee. (Kelman, 9/20)
Georgia Health News: Georgia To Get Less Monoclonal Antibodies As Feds Take Over Supply
A recent surge in demand for powerful Covid antibody drugs has generated concerns about supply shortages in states that are heavy users of the treatment, including Georgia. About 70 percent of these lab-created drugs are being used in the Southeast. With that uneven distribution, federal health officials recently decided to take over supplies and allocate them through state agencies. Georgia and other Southern states are expected to get less supply of the monoclonal antibody drugs while the shortage continues. (Miller, 9/20)
In other news about the vaccine rollout —
The New York Times: Some Parents Aren’t Ready For Young Children To Get Vaccine
With Pfizer-BioNTech’s announcement on Monday that its coronavirus vaccine had been shown to be safe and effective in low doses in children ages 5 to 11, a major question looms: How many parents will have it given to their children? If authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, the vaccine could be a game changer for millions of American families with young children and could help bolster the U.S. response as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads. There are about 28 million children ages 5 to 11 in the United States, far more than the 17 million adolescents ages 12 to 15 who became eligible when Pfizer’s vaccine rolled out to that age group in May. (Mervosh and Goldstein, 9/21)
The Baltimore Sun: What To Know About Pfizer's COVID Vaccine For Kids
Pfizer and BioNTech said Monday that their COVID-19 vaccine was safe, well-tolerated and produced a strong immune response in children aged 5 to 11, bringing hope to many parents that their children could soon be protected. Officials for the vaccine makers said in a news release that they would take the data to federal regulators soon, prompting estimates that younger kids could be vaccinated by the end of October. The companies also said they will seek authorization for the vaccine’s use in children younger than age 5 before the end of the year. The vaccine already is approved in adults and has emergency authorization for use in children as young as 12. (Cohn, 9/20)
CIDRAP: COVID Vaccine Hesitancy Found In 32% Of Healthcare Workers, Survey Says
About 68% of frontline healthcare workers said they were planning on getting vaccinated against COVID-19 when asked at the end of 2020, according to survey results published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. Nurses, females, and minorities were more likely to report vaccine hesitancy. The researchers surveyed 5,929 healthcare workers, 49.5% of whom were nurses; 38.0%, physicians; 9.8%, nurse practitioners (NPs); and 2.7%, physician assistants (PAs) at two academic hospitals in Philadelphia. About 67.8% said they planned on getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Nurses had the highest proportion of vaccine hesitancy while physicians had the least (47.3% vs 13.1%). Regardless of position, Black healthcare workers were about 5 times more hesitant than White healthcare workers (75.3% vs 44.8%), and women were about twice as hesitant as men (53.2% vs 22.3%). (9/20)
CIDRAP: Study: Allergic Reactions To MRNA COVID Vaccines Rare, Manageable
Allergic reactions to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are rare and usually mild, according to a study late last week in JAMA Network Open. Stanford University researchers led the study of 22 reported allergic reactions to the first 38,895 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines given to healthcare workers from Dec 18, 2020, to Jan 26, 2021 (less than six hundredths of a percent). Of all vaccinations, 80.6% were of the Pfizer vaccine, while 18.7% were of Moderna. The study population was 60% women, 64% White, 2% Black, 20% Asian, 16% younger than 50 years, and 54% aged 70 and older. (Van Beusekom, 9/20)
