Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: How To Get More Children Vaccinated Against Covid; Covid.gov Is A Failure
The New York Times: What Will Motivate More Parents To Vaccinate Their Kids?
Almost a year ago, when the Covid vaccine first became available for teenagers, I talked to parents who had received the vaccine themselves, but were hesitant about their kids getting the shot. Most parents I spoke to cited concerns that were based in misinformation or disinformation, like the idea that the vaccine might damage their daughters’ future fertility, a notion not backed up by evidence. (Jessica Grose, 4/6)
Bloomberg: Covid.Gov Comes Far Too Late And Offers Too Little
More than two years into a global pandemic that has claimed millions of lives, the U.S. government has finally launched what it calls a “one-stop shop” website for resources on Covid-19 services, mitigation and treatment options. While the page — Covid.gov — links to the existing tool for ordering rapid test kits, it mostly just aggregates information. That’s a far cry from the one-stop shop the Joe Biden administration led us to believe was in the offing. But even as an information tool, Covid.gov gets a failing grade. (Scott Duke Kominers, 4/6)
The Washington Post: Congress Is Choosing To Prolong The Covid-19 Pandemic
Congressional negotiators have reportedly decided to remove foreign aid from their bipartisan emergency covid funding package. If they do not correct this error, they will be choosing to prolong the pandemic, leading to needless suffering and death and harming the global economy — and our own. (Gavin Yamey and Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, 4/6)
Houston Chronicle: Congress Shouldn’t Shrug Off Responsibility To Vaccinate The World
Twice before, just when it began to look as if we were past the worst of the pandemic, a new strain of the coronavirus sent us back home, looking for our masks as hospitals filled. With cases rising in parts of the country once more, some health officials are warning that another season of danger could be just ahead. That’s why Senate negotiators’ decision this week to strip $5 billion in funding for international vaccinations from a COVID relief bill is so alarming. That money is needed to maintain the nation’s important work to slow the spread of the virus by helping some of the world’s poorest countries speed up efforts to vaccinate their residents. (4/5)
The Washington Post: China's Covid Zero Strategy Is Failing In Shanghai
For two years, China’s leadership has bragged to anyone who would listen that its authoritarian system did a better job of fighting the pandemic than the undisciplined and chaotic democracies. Pointing to the towering death toll in the United States, Beijing expressed pride that its policy of clamping down mercilessly whenever an infection was discovered, a policy called “zero covid,” was working. For the most part, it did, and China’s population was spared the sacrifices and misery seen elsewhere. (4/6)
The New York Times: How Republicans Failed The Unvaccinated
Last fall, a group of researchers conducted a vaccine promotion experiment: They showed an advertisement to millions of U.S. YouTube users highlighting Donald Trump’s support for Covid-19 vaccines, using news footage in which the former president urged people to get vaccinated. This was a randomized controlled trial, comparing counties that were exposed to the ads to counties that weren’t, and in a new paper, the researchers claim the ads worked: Over the course of the two-and-a-half-week experiment, the 1,014 counties that were part of the campaign saw an estimated 104,036 additional vaccinations overall. (Ross Douthat, 4/6)
