Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Monkeypox Inaction Feels Familiar; We Can And Should Contain Monkeypox Quickly
The Washington Post: Monkeypox Is The Latest Epidemic The U.S Is Handling Badly
We have yet to put the coronavirus pandemic behind us, and already we are facing another public health crisis. New York has declared monkeypox a public health emergency as U.S. cases of the disease tick upward. Once again, the United States is unprepared to keep an emerging virus at bay — and just as unprepared to talk about it. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, 8/2)
Los Angeles Times: What Is Monkeypox? The Latest Global Outbreak Caused By Indifference
The recent discovery by Stanford scientists that wastewater in Palo Alto, Sacramento and other cities in the Bay Area contains monkeypox DNA means that the outbreak has gained traction in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a monkeypox emergency on Monday. (Wendy Orent, 8/2)
The Baltimore Sun: Monkeypox Became An Emergency Because We’ve Neglected LGBTQ Community Health
The World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency on July 23, but in New York we’ve been seeing the outbreak’s effects for weeks. As gay men working in medicine, watching the monkeypox virus spread through our community has been devastating. (Eric Kutshcer and Lala Tanmoy Das, 8/1)
Also —
The Washington Post: Biden Has Tested Positive Again. That’s No Reason To Avoid Paxlovid
President Biden has tested positive for the coronavirus again, which is being attributed to his use of the antiviral pill Paxlovid. While a second round of isolation is inconvenient, the possibility of such a rebound should not deter Americans from making use of this highly effective treatment. (Leana S. Wen, 8/1)
Stat: WTO: Don't Grant IP Waivers For Covid-19 Therapeutics
The World Trade Organization recently agreed to suspend patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines. The trade body is now considering going one step further: extending the intellectual property waiver to Covid-19 therapeutics and diagnostics. (Kenneth E. Thorpe, 7/31)
