Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Dual Events, Dueling Messages: Trump, Biden Paint Discordant Pictures Of Pandemic Future
The Hill: Biden, Trump Offer Dueling Outlooks On Coronavirus Pandemic
President Trump's and President-elect Joe Biden's starkly different outlooks on the coronavirus pandemic were on display in real time on Tuesday, underscoring the distrust and problems that have hindered the country’s pandemic response for months. (Samuels, 12/8)
The New York Times: Two Presidents, Two Messages, One Killer Virus
One president all but declared victory over the pandemic, hailing new vaccines as a “medical miracle” and congratulating himself for doing what “nobody has ever seen before.” The next president declared the pandemic deadlier than ever, calling it a “mass casualty” event that is leaving “a gaping hole” in America with more misery to come. “We’re here to discuss a monumental national achievement,” President Trump boasted on one screen. “From the instant the coronavirus invaded our shores, we raced into action.” “We’re in a very dark winter,” President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said minutes later in his own speech on another screen. “Things may well get worse before they get better.” (Baker, 12/8)
The Washington Post: In Competing Events, Trump And Biden Offer Conflicting Messages On The Pandemic — And Illustrate An Ongoing Fight For Attention
The nation’s top infectious-disease expert was a notable no-show at President Trump’s coronavirus vaccine summit at the White House on Tuesday. Anthony S. Fauci told colleagues that he had a scheduling conflict, so he wasn’t seated among the government health officials in the Southcourt Auditorium. Which made it all the more jarring when he popped up via video message on the jumbo screen at a health-related event with President-elect Joe Biden in Wilmington, Del., at the same time. (Nakamura, 12/8)
In other news about the presidential transition —
The Hill: Operation Warp Speed Officials Will Meet With Biden Transition On Thursday
President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team will meet with officials representing the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed coronavirus vaccine program on Thursday, according to the initiative's chief adviser Moncef Slaoui. “We have a meeting planned on Thursday. We look forward to, you know, sharing all the information and working together,” Slaoui said on “Good Morning America” on Tuesday. (Chalfant, 12/8)
The Hill: Vaccine Distribution, Regulatory Rollbacks Top 2021 Health Agenda
Health care battles in Washington are going to take a new turn next year with the arrival of a Democratic president and the departure of President Trump. President-elect Joe Biden has vowed the federal government will take a far larger role on COVID-19 than the Trump administration, which mostly left the response to individual states. Biden is also likely to take unilateral action to shore up ObamaCare and undo regulations issued by Trump, and there might even be some room for bipartisan action on health care. (Hellmann, 12/7)
