Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: A New Look At Convalescent Plasma Versus Covid; Preparing For The Next Variant
The Star Tribune: COVID Treatment Warrants Fresh Look
COVID-19's omicron variant spelled trouble in multiple ways. It is highly transmissible. It weakened vaccines' defense against infection, though the shots still confer strong protection against severe illness. In addition, two of three widely used monoclonal antibody treatments for those infected with it are essentially ineffective. The virus's ability to surprise requires a medical arsenal that adapts nimbly as well. Given that, it's time for the World Health Organization (WHO) and other officials to take a fresh look at a historic infectious disease treatment — convalescent plasma. (2/6)
NBC News: How To Fight The Next New Covid Variant After Omicron? Plan For It Now
Every few days, the story goes, villagers hear cries for help coming from the river and pull out people who are drowning. This cycle repeats itself, over and over. The village builds floats; it trains search and rescue teams. But as time passes, people continue to drown, and it feels like an impossible battle to win. Some people in the village start to say, “We should just let them drown.” Arguments ensue, until one day they realize the drowning people are all coming from rapids upstream. When villagers put up a sign warning boaters about the rapids, boats stop capsizing — and drowning passengers stop drifting down into the village. (Dr. Megan Ranney, 2/5)
Los Angeles Times: What Americans Can Learn From Brazil’s COVID Fight
Getting vaccines into arms remains a huge challenge for policymakers and public health experts as we struggle to manage COVID-19 and prepare for the next pandemic. On this front, Brazil’s experience can offer some compelling and relevant guidance. For one, Brazil is messy like the United States. It is geographically sprawling and diverse, with similar patterns of racial injustice and economic inequality, and with a similarly decentralized government that makes it hard to carry out coherent national policies. (Jessica Rich, 2/6)
The New York Times: The Covid Policy That Really Mattered Wasn’t A Policy
If the C.D.C. had recommended better masks from the beginning, how many people would have worn them and for how long? If the Biden administration had flooded stores with cheap rapid tests, would people have used them? If boosters had been pushed earlier, and more loudly, would the United States no longer trail peer nations in vaccinations? Put differently: How much would getting our pandemic policies right have mattered? (Ezra Klein, 2/6)
Stat: High-Risk Individuals Aren't Getting Priority For Monoclonal Antibodies
Ms. S, a primary care patient in one of our clinics (M.L.B.), recently called in with loss of taste and a terrible cough, worse than her regular breathing problems. She said she had gone out to play bingo the past weekend with friends, her first outing in weeks. Two days later, one of her friends called and told Ms. S she had tested positive for Covid-19. Ms. S was frightened — as an older woman with heart and lung conditions, getting Covid-19 posed a serious threat to her life, especially since she hadn’t yet received her booster vaccine. But she didn’t have a home test to check for Covid-19.“What do I do now?” she asked. (Caroline Behr and Michael L. Barnett, 2/4)
Stat: A Supreme Court Ruling Led To The Shortage Of Home Covid-19 Tests
Many pharmacies across the nation are sold out of Covid-19 rapid diagnostic tests, making it exceedingly difficult for Americans to contain the spread of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Similar shortages and backlogs hampered efforts to control earlier surges, too. The lack of diagnostic tests has been blamed on everything from slow FDA approval of rapid tests to manufacturers deliberately restricting supplies to keep prices high. But there’s another culprit — the U.S. Supreme Court. (Paul R. Michel, 2/7)
