Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Israelis Over 60 Start To Get Fourth Covid Shots
CNN: Israel Begins Fourth Covid-19 Dose Vaccine Rollout For People 60 And Over As Omicron Cases Surge
Israel is to begin rolling out a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine with immediate effect for people ages 60 and over, medical workers and people with suppressed immune systems, the Prime Minister's Office announced Tuesday, following a recommendation from the country's panel of coronavirus experts. Those eligible for the fourth dose can receive it provided at least four months have passed since the third dose, it said. In Israel, almost all vaccinated citizens have received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. (Carey, Williams and Gold, 12/21)
AP: Omicron Compels Portugal To Reimpose COVID-19 Restrictions
Portugal is reimposing coronavirus restrictions because of fears over the threat from the omicron variant, despite the country having one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the world. With new daily infections ticking slowly but steadily higher, and despite almost 87% of the population being fully vaccinated, the government announced Tuesday a new raft of restrictions over the holidays — a week earlier than it had planned. Prime Minister António Costa announced that from midnight Saturday, working from home will be mandatory and discotheques and bars will be closed. (12/21)
CIDRAP: Study: 0 Of 107 French Teens With MIS-C Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19
A study of 107 French teens hospitalized with the COVID-19–related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) shows that none had been fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, and only 7 had received one dose. (12/21)
In other global developments —
CIDRAP: Report Underscores Superbug Risk Of Medical Tourism
An investigation led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has linked an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant infections among US medical tourists in 2018 and 2019 to a single facility and surgeon in Mexico. The results of the investigation, published last week in Emerging Infectious Diseases, revealed that 38 US patients who traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, for bariatric surgery from January 2018 through December 2019 came back with an infection caused by carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa—a virulent and opportunistic pathogen capable of causing severe illness. Of the 38 patients, 31 were operated on by the same surgeon, with 27 undergoing surgery at the same facility. (Dall, 12/21)
Stat: 3 Issues To Watch In Global Health In 2022
Welcome to Year 3 of the Age of Covid. We’d hoped by now, with the country awash with vaccine doses, that the pandemic would have entered a different phase. We frankly thought that, after the stunning science that brought multiple SARS-CoV-2 vaccines into use around the globe in less than a year, countries with highly vaccinated populations might be heading toward a time when humans and SARS-2 could co-exist in a way that didn’t crash hospital systems and end lives. But the dastardly virus keeps upping the ante. (Branswell, 12/22)
