Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Covid Vax Mandate Ends For NYC City Workers; Navy's Policy Argued In Court
ABC News: New York City To End COVID Vaccine Mandate For City Workers
New York City workers will no longer need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to be employed by the city, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday. The mayor said the vaccine mandate for city employees will end Friday, nearly 15 months after his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, implemented the policy, during a vote by the city's Department of Health. Adams said 96% of the city workforce has received both shots so the mandate for current and prospective employees served its purpose. (Pereira, 2/6)
Politico: Lawyers For U.S., Navy Seals Battle Over Revoked Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate
A lawyer representing Navy Seals who do not want to be vaccinated against Covid-19 told a federal appeals court Monday that their lawsuit over a now-withdrawn vaccine mandate isn’t moot even though Congress passed legislation last December ordering the policy canceled. During arguments before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, attorney Heather Hacker said the service members still face the possibility of discipline over their refusal to get vaccinated and the government has not ruled out taking vaccination status into account when doling out future assignments. (Gerstein, 2/6)
In related news about covid misinformation —
The Washington Post: Conservative Doctors Were More Likely To View Ivermectin As Effective
It turns out that doctors who are politically conservative were actually more likely to consider hydroxychloroquine as an effective treatment, despite the understood research. (Bump, 2/6)
Newsweek: Yolk Defense Against COVID? Chicken Egg Shortage Fuels Conspiracy Theories
A number of prominent social media accounts have suggested, explicitly or implicitly, that eggs are disappearing off the shelves because they could provide natural protection from coronavirus, a solution that is seemingly blocked by the government and Big Pharma. Many of these comments include a link to the same scientific study, titled "Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies (IgYs) block the binding of multiple SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variants to human ACE2," or a screenshot of the paper's abstract. (Kuklychev, 2/2)
AP: Study Doesn’t Prove Egg Yolks Protect Against COVID-19
CLAIM: A protein naturally found in egg yolks protects against COVID-19 in humans, which is why there is an egg shortage. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The claim misrepresents a 2021 study by a group of Chinese researchers who immunized hens with part of the coronavirus spike protein in order to extract antibodies from yolks in the hens’ eggs. Experts say these antibodies would not be very useful for humans, nor do eggs naturally provide these antibodies. Further, the current egg shortage is caused by an avian flu outbreak leading to reduced egg production and a rise in prices. (Tulp, 2/6)
In news about mask-wearing —
Bloomberg: Face Masks’ Ability To Stop Viruses Needs Study, Review Finds
More than three years after Covid-19 emerged, and despite influenza outbreaks that kill thousands of people annually, there’s still not definitive proof on how much — or whether — wearing masks slows the transmission of respiratory viruses. That’s the takeaway message from a 2023 Cochrane Review, the gold standard analysis of medical research that’s intended to help shape future health care decisions. (Fay Cortez, 2/6)
