Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Pros, Cons Of Biden's Half-Dose Plans For Vaccines; Lessons On Separating Dying Patients From Their Families
Stat: Biden’s Plan To Release Covid Vaccine Doses Is The Start Of A Difficult Journey
The transition team of President-elect Biden has taken its first step to reexamine the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines put in place by the Trump administration. Instead of keeping half the doses in reserve to make sure that every person who received their first dose can receive their second dose, the transition said Friday that it would release the vast majority of available doses of authorized vaccines at once. It’s a great start. But it is also only a start. (Matthew Herper, 1/8)
The Washington Post: Biden's Plan To Release More Vaccines For First Doses Could Create More Problems Than It Solves
President-elect Joe Biden’s team suggested on Friday that, when the new administration takes office, it intends to release every available dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Biden, a spokesman said, “believes the government should stop holding back vaccine supply so we can get more shots in Americans’ arms now.” This is a 180-degree reversal from the Trump administration’s strategy of keeping enough vaccines in reserve so that everyone who receives the first dose is guaranteed a second. Although the Biden team’s urgency is well-intentioned, such a change could create more problems than it solves. (Leana S. Wen, 1/9)
Stat: Even In A Pandemic, Hospitals Must Find Ways To Allow Family Visits
Since the start of the pandemic, more than 370,000 Americans have died of Covid-19, many of them alone, isolated from those who love them by hospital policies cutting off family visits. As the virus continues its relentless spread across the country, the next few months may be the deadliest ones we’ve seen. And as hospitals once again begin to shut their doors to visitors, we are in dire need of national leadership around visitor policies and medical communication with patients and families. (Richard E. Leiter and Samantha Gelfand, 1/9)
Stat: We Lost To SARS-CoV-2 In 2020. We Can Defeat B-117 In 2021
We are barely a week into 2021 and already there are urgent warnings about a novel pandemic virus strain spreading surreptitiously and exponentially across the world. This seems like déjà vu. But in a sense that’s a good thing: This is not just another chapter in the exhausting saga of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, which newly available vaccines will slowly bring under control. (Kevin M. Esvelt and Marc Lipsitch, 1/9)
The Wall Street Journal: A Light Regulatory Touch To Keep Covid Drugs Current
New variants of the Covid virus appear more infectious, and it’s urgent to get as much protective immunity into the population before these strains can take root. These new variants are evolving in ways that may allow them to slip past diagnostic tests, drugs and vaccines. The effort will require a new scientific and regulatory framework that allow countermeasures to be adapted and updated quickly as the threat evolves. The recent variants don’t seem to make Covid infections more severe, but they do make the virus easier to transmit. Some have mutated part of the coronavirus spike protein called the receptor binding domain, which is a target of drugs and vaccines. This genetic evolution was inevitable. The virus has been racing around the world for a year. Countermeasures curtail its spread, but they also enrich the survival prospects of some mutant strains. Two steps would help us stay ahead of these developments. (Scott Gottlieb and Mark McClellan, 1/10)
Los Angeles Times: Amidst D.C. Chaos, Jobs Vanish While COVID Deaths Skyrocket
You might think that the record number of deaths this week — more than 4,000 Americans died from COVID-19 Thursday, a new high — would be enough to spur people to start complying rigorously with the stay-at-home orders and the admonitions to avoid gatherings, wear a mask and maintain social distance. And maybe it will. But we’d still have a problem with the disease spreading at workplaces deemed essential, whether it be grocers, malls or movie sets. So, as bad as the news has been out of Washington, we can’t ignore the bright, flashing warning signs telling us that economy is headed for worse times ahead. Stay safe and wear a mask, for everyone’s sake. (Jon Healey, 1/8)
USA Today: Why Giving Birth In U.S. During Pandemic Is Riskier Than It Should Be
As COVID-19 ravages the United States, one overlooked casualty is maternity care. While the cracks in our maternity care system were apparent even before women across the nation were forced to give birth in overwhelmed hospitals, the pandemic has shed light on the dearth of options for pregnant Americans. Women are being separated from their partners, support persons and even their infants as hospitals struggle to contain the spread of COVID-19. Mothers like Bronx resident Amber Rose Isaac have died — not from the virus — but because overwhelmed maternity care systems couldn’t keep up during the pandemic. (Lauren K. Hall, 1/10)
The Washington Post: This Is The America That Black People Know
Many have said that what transpired on Wednesday was not America. They are wrong. This is the America that Black people know. To declare that this is not America is to deny the reality that Republican members of the U.S. House and Senate incited this coup by treasonously working to overturn the results of the presidential election. It’s to deny the fact that one of my senators, Josh Hawley, went out of his way to salute the white supremacists before their attempted coup. (U.S Representative Cori Bush, 1/9)
