Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Gibraltar Has Finished Vaccinating Its Adults — And Life Is Back To Normal
The Washington Post: Gibraltar Has Vaccinated Its Entire Adult Population, British Health Official Says
The small British territory of Gibraltar has finished administering coronavirus vaccines to all adults who want one, British health secretary Matt Hancock announced Thursday. Home to roughly 30,000 people, Gibraltar had two key advantages in the vaccine race: its minuscule size, covering less than three square miles of rock, and a steady stream of vaccine doses imported from Britain. That’s allowed the government to begin giving shots to thousands of workers who live in Spain but commute across the border to Gibraltar every day. (Farzan, 3/18)
AP: Mexico Seizes Fake Sputnik Vaccine Bound For Honduras
Mexican customs officials have seized purported vials of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine en route to Honduras that the Russian entity that bankrolled the vaccine’s development said Thursday were fake. The seizure came aboard a private plane in the Gulf coast state of Campeche, according to a statement from Mexico’s tax agency late Wednesday. Customs agents and soldiers found 1,155 vials containing more than 5,700 doses inside two coolers packed with ice and sodas. The crew and Honduran passengers were turned over to the Attorney General’s Office. (3/18)
Reuters: Paris Goes Into Lockdown As COVID-19 Variant Rampages
France imposed a month-long lockdown on Paris and parts of the north after a faltering vaccine rollout and spread of highly contagious coronavirus variants forced President Emmanuel Macron to shift course. (Overstraeten and Lough, 3/18)
CNN: Coronavirus Spread On Flight, In Hotel Corridor, New Zealand Study Finds
The coronavirus spread on an international flight, in a hotel corridor and then to household contacts despite efforts to isolate and quarantine patients, New Zealand researchers reported Thursday. Careful genomic tracing confirmed the spread of the virus among nine patients and shows how people can infect one another despite careful efforts, the researchers reported in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. (Sealy and Fox, 3/18)
Also —
CBS News: "Moral Failure": More Than A Year Into The Pandemic, 1/3 Of The Globe Lacks Access To Safe Drinking Water Or Decent Toilets
It's been more than a year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Many countries have started to recover as vaccines continue to become more readily available, but for much of the globe, one vital component to life remains inaccessible: Access to safe drinking water. At a United Nations meeting on Thursday to address water-related goals and targets as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations General Assembly president Volkan Bozkir said that, at this point, the world has committed a "moral failure" in getting everyone access to safe drinking water. (Cohen, 3/18)
