Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Freedom And Unity: Living Up To Its Motto, Vermont Hits 80% Vaccination
Burlington Free Press: Vermont Has Best COVID Vaccination Rate In The U.S. What To Know.
Vermont is lifting all of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions after becoming the first state in the U.S. to have 80% of its eligible population get one dose of the vaccine, Gov. Phil Scott announced Monday. This means any remaining restrictions about wearing masks, physical distancing, or crowd size limits have been rescinded by the state. State officials had initially planned to lift all remaining restrictions by July 4, but they later set the 80% goal in light of Vermont's high vaccination rate to potentially lift restrictions earlier. They have been counting down Vermont's progress for weeks, sharing a running total almost each day of how many people still needed to get their shot until the state reached its goal. (Murray, 6/14)
Bloomberg: New York Benefits Most, South Dakota Least From 70% Vaccination
Vaccinating more people against Covid-19 is always going to be a good thing but the benefits vary widely by state, according to a new computer simulation whose results are charted below. New York would get the biggest reduction in cases from getting 70% of its population fully vaccinated vs. 50%, followed closely by Florida and North Carolina, while South Dakota would see the smallest benefit, the simulation says. The simulation was performed by Epistemix Inc., a Pittsburgh-based company spun out of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health that performs agent-based modeling. To track epidemics, Epistemix simulates the interactions of millions of imaginary people who are statistically similar to the actual U.S. population, taking into account their demographic characteristics and where they live, work, or go to school. (Coy, 6/15)
In other news about the vaccine rollout —
Des Moines Register: Iowa Fires Prison Nurses Who Gave COVID Vaccine Overdoses To Inmates
The Iowa Department of Corrections has fired two nurses who gave large overdoses of coronavirus vaccine to dozens of inmates at the Fort Madison prison in April, an agency official said Monday. Department spokesman Cord Overton said in an email to the Des Moines Register that the nurses had been terminated. Overton did not identify them, or cite a legal reason for keeping their names private. The incident happened April 20 at the maximum security prison for men. Authorities said at the time that 77 inmates were given up to six times the proper dose for the Pfizer version of the coronavirus vaccine. The department has never explained how the overdoses happened. (Leys, 6/14)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Sisolak Planning To Offer ‘Exciting’ Prizes To Spur COVID Vaccinations
Gov. Steve Sisolak is expected to announce within days that Nevada will join a growing number of states in offering “exciting” prizes to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19. Nevada’s program will be “pretty innovative” and “a little different than what the other states’ have been,” the governor said last week, according to KVVU-TV, Channel 5. “And it’s exciting,” the governor added, hinting that an announcement might come “within five to seven days.” (Hynes, 6/14)
CNN: Efforts To Vaccinate The US May Continue For Years As Covid-19 Variants Circle The Globe, Expert Says
Covid-19 infections may be on the decline, but the urgency to continue vaccinating the US population is far from over, one expert said. "We are going to need to have a highly vaccinated population for years if not longer. This virus is going to be circulating in the world for a long time," said Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the US Food and Drug Administration's Vaccine Advisory Committee. (Holcombe, 6/15)
The Wall Street Journal: Companies Push Employees To Prove They Are Vaccinated For Covid-19
Companies are stepping up the pressure on workers to get vaccinated—not necessarily with mandates but with strong nudges. For months, many employers have attempted to coax workers into receiving a Covid-19 vaccine. Companies dangled cash, time off and other prizes to encourage vaccinations. Executives made personal appeals in town-hall meetings and internal memos. (Cutter and McCaffrey, 6/14)
In related news about the spread of the coronavirus —
The Washington Post: Coronavirus Infections Dropping Where People Are Vaccinated, Rising Where They Are Not
States with higher vaccination rates now have markedly fewer coronavirus cases, as infections are dropping in places where most residents have been immunized and are rising in many places people have not, a Washington Post analysis has found. States with lower vaccination also have significantly higher hospitalization rates, The Post found. Poorly vaccinated communities have not been reporting catastrophic conditions. Instead, they are usually seeing new infections holding steady or increasing without overwhelming local hospitals. (Keating, Ahmed, Nirappil, Stanley-Becker and Bernstein, 6/14)
AP: Kansas Governor Tries To Keep COVID State Of Emergency Alive
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is trying to persuade deeply skeptical Republican lawmakers to extend Kansas’ state of emergency for the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that it’s still necessary for vaccinations and some testing for COVID-19. Eight leaders of the GOP-controlled Legislature, six of them Republicans, were meeting Tuesday to consider whether to extend a state of emergency that’s been in place since early March 2020. A law enacted in late March requires the legislative leaders to sign off on an extension, and if top Republicans reject Kelly’s request, the state of emergency will expire by day’s end. (Hanna, 6/15)
