Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Advisory Panel Recommends Monovalent Covid Vaccine For Fall
NPR: Vaccine Advisers To The FDA Recommended Changes To COVID Vaccines
The companies that make COVID-19 vaccines should update the shots again to target a variant closer to the strains currently on the rise, a committee of independent advisers to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended Thursday. Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Novavax should target strains related to the JN.1 variant with their vaccines for next fall and winter because that strain is closer to the new variants of the virus that are circulating, the advisers voted after a day-long meeting. (Stein, 5/22)
CIDRAP: Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules On COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack Of Consensus, Clarity
Yesterday the Vaccine Integrity Project (VIP), a panel of leading public health and policy experts, published a viewpoint on the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) decision this week to issue new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations via an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). (Soucheray, 5/22)
MedPage Today: FDA Chief Defends Job Cuts, COVID Booster Policy At Senate Hearing
Seven weeks into his job as FDA commissioner, Marty Makary, MD, MPH, held his own answering a barrage of sometimes acrimonious questions from Senators about agency staffing cuts, limits on COVID boosters, and more. He had been asked by a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee to explain -- or defend -- the Trump administration's fiscal 2026 budget request, which some committee members complained they hadn't yet seen. (Clark, 5/22)
KFF Health News: Trump’s Team Cited Safety In Limiting Covid Shots. Patients, Health Advocates See More Risk
Larry Saltzman has blood cancer. He’s also a retired doctor, so he knows getting covid-19 could be dangerous for him — his underlying illness puts him at high risk of serious complications and death. To avoid getting sick, he stays away from large gatherings, and he’s comforted knowing healthy people who get boosters protect him by reducing his exposure to the virus. (Armour, 5/23)
On covid, measles, pneumonia, and RSV —
CBS News: U.S. Reports Cases Of New COVID Variant NB.1.8.1 Behind Surge In China
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's airport screening program has detected multiple cases of the new COVID-19 variant NB.1.8.1, which has been linked to a large surge of the virus in China. Cases linked to the NB.1.8.1 variant have been reported in arriving international travelers at airports in California, Washington state, Virginia and the New York City area, according to records uploaded by the CDC's airport testing partner Ginkgo Bioworks. (Tin, 5/22)
CIDRAP: Low-Cost Genome Sequencing Project To Expand Beyond COVID
Scientists in the United Kingdom yesterday announced plans to expand use of a low-cost, real-time genome sequencing technique used to detect COVID-19 variants to cover a wider variety of pathogens. Funded by Wellcome, the ARTIC 2.0 project will use an integrated, field-deployable viral sequencing system that was developed by scientists at the University of Birmingham and has been used by thousands of laboratories worldwide to look for COVID-19 variants of concern. (Dall, 5/22)
The Colorado Sun: Measles Cases Went Through DIA, Hotel And Pueblo, State Says
Coloradans’ potential exposure to measles grew rapidly in recent days with a confirmed traveler’s case coming through Denver International Airport and a nearby hotel, as well as a different case with an out-of-state driver staying at a hotel in Pueblo hotel, state officials said. (5/22)
CIDRAP: Tool Predicts Progression To Severe Pneumonia In Kids
A new model developed through the international Pediatric Emergency Research Network (PERN) creates a predictive tool that will help clinicians decide if a child's pneumonia warrants hospitalization or intensive care, according to new findings in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. (Soucheray, 5/22)
CIDRAP: RSV Confers Greater Risk Of In-Hospital Cardiac Events Than Flu, COVID In Adults, Research Suggests
Today in JAMA Network Open, researchers in Singapore document higher rates of cardiovascular events among adults hospitalized for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) than among those admitted for influenza or COVID-19 Omicron infection. The nationwide study, conducted before RSV vaccines were rolled out in Singapore, compared the risk of cardiovascular events (any cardiac, cerebrovascular, or thrombotic event) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission with or without a cardiovascular event among 32,960 adults hospitalized for an RSV, flu, or COVID-19 infection. (Van Beusekom, 5/22)
