Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Vaccine Access, Not Hesitancy, Is Real Issue; Will Vaccines Defeat The Variants?
The Baltimore Sun: Vaccinating Vulnerable Populations And The Myth Of Widespread Hesitancy
How often have you heard that our most vulnerable populations are desperately seeking access to the COVID vaccine? Almost never? Instead, the prevailing narrative is that people who are Black or impoverished or isolated or elderly or homeless or who use various drugs and so forth are suspicious of, and resistant to, the vaccine. There is, of course, some truth to this narrative. For a variety of reasons, many people in these groups and others are not yet ready to get a vaccine. Many will require discussion and outreach from trusted sources to make a well-informed decision. They deserve that and should receive these services and much more. (Deborah Agus and Harriet Smith, 4/12)
The New York Times: Coronavirus Variants Don’t Need To Be Scary
News about emerging coronavirus variants can sound scary to a public not accustomed to genomic jargon. But viruses undergo mutations frequently, both within infected people and as they travel from one person to another. That’s why it’s important to remember this (modified) adage: All variants are innocent until proven guilty. The coronavirus responsible for the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, has nearly 30,000 bases, or nucleotides. As the virus evolves and spreads from host to host, some of these bases change. If just 20 bases changed, that would yield more than a trillion possible variants different from the strain responsible for the first outbreak. Of the 136 million confirmed Covid-19 cases in the world to date, one million individuals have had their virus sequenced. And of those one million sequences, scientists have been concerned about only a handful of variants, because they are more infectious, cause more severe illness or partly evade our immune response or all of the above. (Eric J. Topol, 4/13)
CNN: Michigan Vaccine Rebuff Puts Biden And A Top Ally In A Dicey Political Spot
President Joe Biden is confronting his most controversial and politically unpalatable moment yet since assuming responsibility for the US' response to the pandemic. His administration's blunt rebuff of a plea by his ally and Michigan's Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to target the state for an increased supply of vaccines to combat a Covid-19 spike represents the kind of tough decision the President will increasingly face on the exit road from the crisis. (Stephen Collinson, 4/13)
Stat: No Evidence That Patents Slow Vaccine Access
At this point in the exhausting and deadly Covid-19 pandemic, people around the globe are giving thanks for the multiple vaccines that have been produced and authorized in record time. All governments now share the goal of quick and worldwide vaccination. To reach this goal, many are latching onto the idea of suspending intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines and medicines, including more than 400 health, labor, religious, and other groups. Late last year, the governments of India and South Africa petitioned the World Trade Organization to waive patent protections for Covid-19 therapies. (Andrei lancu, 4/13)
USA Today: COVID Vaccine Certificates Are Tickets For Return Trip To Normal Life
It is becoming increasingly clear that once you have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19, you have very little chance of either getting sick from it or spreading it to someone else. This is especially true after two doses of an mRNA vaccine, either the Pfizer or Moderna versions. There is an almost palpable sense of freedom two weeks after the second dose, but I also believe that the science of diminished risk should translate directly into tangible freedoms that might entice others who are still hesitant to take the vaccine. (Dr. Marc Siegel, 4/13)
