Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Gaps In Data May Impact Rollout Of Moderna, J&J Booster Shots
Axios: Data Holes Could Complicate Moderna And J&J Coronavirus Booster Shot Process
Deciding which Moderna and Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine recipients should get booster shots may end up being even messier than the process for Pfizer recipients was. More Americans may very well need another round of shots, particularly older people and those who received J&J's one-dose vaccine. But regulators had issues with the quantity of data available for boosting with Pfizer, and there's even less — at least publicly available at this time — for the other two vaccines. (Owens, 10/1)
The Boston Globe: J&J Recipients Feel Left Out In Rollout Of Booster Shots
“As a physician and as a public health professional and as someone who’s just on Twitter, I frequently get questions from patients, colleagues, and strangers who say, ‘What about me? I got J&J, and nobody’s talking about me,’ ” Ranney said. “It’s like the world forgot that 14½ million people got this vaccine.” Forgotten or not, federal regulators and J&J have provided scant guidance to recipients of the vaccine, who make up just 8 percent of the more than 185 million fully vaccinated Americans. In Massachusetts, 336,269 people have received the J&J vaccine as of Wednesday, compared with 1.7 million who have received both doses of Moderna and 2.6 million who have received both doses of Pfizer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Rhode Island, those numbers are 52,941 for J&J, 263,170 for Moderna, and 406,018 for Pfizer. (Saltzman, 9/30)
In more news about the vaccine rollout —
USA Today: Americans Getting Vaccinated At The Lowest Rates This Year
Americans are getting vaccinated at the lowest rates yet this year, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The U.S. is giving first-dose COVID-19 vaccinations to fewer than 1.5 million people each week, down from a peak of nearly 14 million in mid-April. It's also less than half the rate the country was administering during part of August, when people were more worried about surging case counts driven by the delta variant. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey released earlier this week found racial disparities in vaccination have closed. But the survery warned "large gaps in vaccine uptake remain by partisanship, education level, age, and health insurance status." (Stucka, 9/30)
The Washington Post: Turns Out A Lot Of Those Never-Vaxxers Were Really ‘I’ll Get It If Required’
Since the government approved the first vaccine to fight the coronavirus last year, polling has found that there are four general views of the vaccination process. The first is those who were eager to get vaccinated, telling pollsters that they would do so as soon as possible and then actually doing it. Next, there were those who were cautious, saying that they would wait and see before getting a dose. In polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) over the past 10 months, those two groups combined have been about three-quarters of the country. (Bump, 9/30)
The Boston Globe: Mass. Begins Reporting Number Of COVID-19 Booster Shots Administered
Eligible Massachusetts residents have started receiving their COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, and the state on Thursday released data for the first time showing how many such shots have been administered so far. The Department of Public Health said in its daily COVID-19 vaccination report on Thursday that 93,344 boosters have been administered in Massachusetts. The state also reported that 86,751 boosters had been administered as of Wednesday, though it did not provide a day-by-day breakdown for the number of shots reported on previous days. (Kaufman, 9/30)
AP: AP Source: NBA Vaccination Rate Climbing, Now To 95%
The NBA has seen a rise in vaccination rates in recent days when factoring in those players who have received at least one of the necessary shots, a person with direct knowledge of the situation said Thursday. The leaguewide rate is now around 95% when counting those who are now at least in the vaccination process, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the NBA nor the National Basketball Players Association released the figure publicly. (Reynolds, 9/30)
KHN: A Colorado Town Is About As Vaccinated As It Can Get. Covid Still Isn’t Over There
San Juan County, Colorado, can boast that 99.9% of its eligible population has received at least one dose of covid-19 vaccine, putting it in the top 10 counties in the nation, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If vaccines were the singular armor against covid’s spread, then on paper, San Juan County, with its 730 or so residents on file, would be one of the most bulletproof places in the nation. (Bichell, 10/1)
