Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Feds Digging Out From Vaccine Setbacks Created By Winter Weather
The Hill: Six Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Delayed By Winter Storms: White House
The White House said Friday that winter storms have caused a backlog of 6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, about three days worth of shipments, but they expect to clear the backlog within a week. (Sullivan, 2/19)
NBC News: Fauci: Vaccine Distribution Should Be Back On Track By Midweek After Storm Delays
The severe winter storms that have devastated Texas and surrounding states have delayed the distribution of 6 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, but Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that it's only a "temporary setback" that will be fixed by the middle of the week. "Obviously, it is a setback, because you'd like to see the steady flow of vaccine getting out there to get into people's arms. But we can play pretty good catch-up," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press." (Kamisar, 2/21)
AP: Beyond 100M: Biden Team Aiming For Bigger Vaccine Numbers
It sounded so ambitious at first blush: 100 million vaccination shots in 100 days. Now, one month into his presidency, Joe Biden is on a glide path to attain that goal and pitching well beyond it to the far more ambitious and daunting mission of vaccinating all eligible adults against the coronavirus by the end of the summer. (Miller, 2/21)
The Hill: Biden Visits Pfizer Vaccine Manufacturing Plant In Michigan
President Biden on Friday toured a Pfizer manufacturing plant in Michigan, seeking to highlight efforts to mass produce a coronavirus vaccine as his administration looks for ways to increase supply and streamline distribution. Biden visited a factory in Kalamazoo, where he met with lab workers and learned about the process behind creating one of the two COVID-19 vaccines that is being widely used across the country to inoculate Americans. (Samuels and Sullivan, 2/19)
In other news about President Biden's administration —
The Hill: Biden Pick For Surgeon General Made Over $2M On COVID-19 Consultations And Speaking Events: Report
President Biden’s pick for surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, was paid more than $2 million last year for coronavirus-related consulting and speeches, according to ethics documents filed this month obtained by The Washington Post. According to the financial disclosures, Murthy received hundreds of thousands of dollars each in consulting fees from companies such as Netflix, Airbnb and Carnival Cruise Line, among others. (Castronuovo, 2/20)
The New York Times: Who Will Be The Next F.D.A. Chief?
One month into his presidency, President Biden still has not named a candidate to head the Food and Drug Administration, a critical position at a time when new vaccines and coronavirus treatments are under the agency’s review. The glaring vacancy lags behind the president’s selections of most other top government health posts, and has spurred a public lobbying campaign by supporters of the two apparent front-runners, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a former high-ranking F.D.A. official and Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner. (Kaplan, 2/20)
