Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lauded For 'Courageously Defending Science,' Fauci Wins $1M Israeli Prize
AP: Fauci Wins $1 Million Israeli Prize For 'Defending Science'
Dr. Anthony Fauci has won the $1 million Dan David Prize for “defending science” and advocating for vaccines now being administered worldwide to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The Israel-based Dan David Foundation on Monday named President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser as the winner of one of three prizes. It said he had earned the recognition over a lifetime of leadership on HIV research and AIDS relief, as well as his advocacy for the vaccines against COVID-19. (Kellman, 2/15)
Philadelphia Inquirer: Penn Immunotherapy Pioneer Carl June Shares Prize From Israeli Foundation That Also Honors Fauci
In the 1980s, Israeli immunologist Zelig Eshhar took a giant step toward finding the Holy Grail of cancer treatment: a way to make the immune system attack when its own bodily tissue turns malignant. But it wasn’t until almost two decades later that his American colleagues, Carl June and Steven A. Rosenberg, figured out how to make that attack so potent that it would eradicate advanced, recurrent blood cancers. On Monday, the three pioneers of “chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy” — CAR T cells — shared a $1 million prize awarded by the Dan David Foundation, headquartered at Tel Aviv University. It annually bestows awards in three categories — past, present and future — to honor “outstanding contributions that expand knowledge of the past, enrich society in the present, and promise to improve the future of the world.” (McCullough, 2/15)
In news about China and covid —
The Hill: Biden Team Calls On China To Provide All Data On COVID-19 Outbreak
The White House is calling on China to release all the data it has pertaining to the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak amid reports the Chinese government has refused to turn over key information to World Health Organization (WHO) investigators. (Easley, 2/13)
The Hill: WHO Investigator Says China Refused To Hand Over Key Data On Early COVID-19 Cases
World Health Organization investigators are saying that China refused to hand over key data on early coronavirus cases during their four-week long investigation of the origins of the virus in China. The investigators said Chinese authorities would not let them look at data from 174 coronavirus cases in the country from December 2019 to study the origins of the virus, The Wall Street Journal reported. (Lonas, 2/13)
The Hill: WHO Wuhan Probe Finds Signs Original Outbreak More Widespread Than Previously Thought: Report
The coronavirus was already spreading widely throughout Wuhan, China, by December of 2019 and had already mutated into more than a dozen strains before the end of that year, World Health Organization (WHO) investigators said Monday. (Bowden, 2/15)
In other global developments —
The Hill: WHO Grants Emergency Authorization For AstraZeneca Vaccine
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said that it has approved two versions of a vaccine produced by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and would begin distributing them through the WHO's COVAX program. In an emailed statement, the WHO said that the approval of the AstraZeneca version would allow for more countries that have yet to obtain access to the vaccine to do so. (Bowden, 2/15)
The Washington Post: North Korea Tried To Steal Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine Technology, South Says
North Korea tried to hack into the servers of U.S. drugmaker Pfizer to steal coronavirus vaccine technology, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday, citing the country's intelligence officials. Yonhap said lawmakers had been informed of the allegation by the National Intelligence Service at a regular closed-door hearing of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee. It was not clear when the hack occurred or if it was successful, and a Pfizer representative said she was not immediately able to comment. (Denyer, 2/16)
Reuters: Man Pleads Guilty To Breaking Quarantine To Meet Up With Fiancee
A British man pleaded guilty on Monday to breaking Singapore's strict coronavirus rules by sneaking out of his hotel room to meet his fiancée while he was undergoing two weeks of mandatory quarantine. Nigel Skea, 52, faces six months in prison for leaving his room three times on Sept. 21 last year, one of which was to meet Singaporean partner Agatha Maghesh Eyamalai, who was not in quarantine but had booked a room in the same hotel. (2/16)
The Wall Street Journal: Ebola Returns To West Africa As Region Battles Covid-19
Health officials in Guinea are rushing to contain the first outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease in the region since 2016, days after authorities detected new cases of the hemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of Congo, testing a continent that is already battling the coronavirus pandemic. Guinea was one of the three most-affected countries during the 2014-2016 epidemic. The current outbreak began in late January, but was only identified as the Ebola virus on Sunday, health officials said, suggesting it may have spread substantially in the intervening weeks. (Bariyo, 2/15)
