Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Many States Limit Pharmacies' Ability To Give Young Children Covid Shots
The Washington Post: Pharmacies In Most States Can't Administer Covid Vaccines To Babies And Toddlers
It’s been a difficult road to get coronavirus shots for children under 5, but a vaccine could become available next month. But unlike prior age groups, many kids likely won't be receiving their vaccines in pharmacies. That’s partly because the majority of states prohibit pharmacists from vaccinating children under 3. Even in areas where it’s allowed, pharmacies are wrestling with whether to administer shots to the youngest kids. Some may decide not to, depending on the comfort level of their staff, corporate rules and whether they have the space for such a setup. (Roubein, 5/2)
CIDRAP: Moderna COVID Vaccine May Have Slight Edge Over Pfizer In Infections Only
Relative to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the Moderna version confers slightly more protection against infection—but not hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, or death—90 days after the second dose, suggests a modeling study of more than 3.5 million fully vaccinated Americans published today in Nature Communications. Optum Labs scientists in Minnesota compared the effectiveness of the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines by analyzing healthcare claims from fully vaccinated Americans insured by a single US insurer (Medicare Advantage and commercial insurance). Among 8,848 infected participants, 35% had received the Moderna vaccine, and 65% had received Pfizer. (Van Beusekom, 5/2)
On vaccine hesitancy —
CIDRAP: COVID Vaccine Uptake At Minnesota Workplace Rose After $1,000 Incentive
The rate of full COVID-19 vaccination among employees of a private Minnesota medical device manufacturer rose 10.4 percentage points after the company began offering $1,000 incentives for immunization, finds a study published late last week in JAMA Network Open. Researchers from Starkey Hearing Technologies and the University of Minnesota studied COVID-19 vaccination outcomes at Starkey from the incentive period of Aug 6 to Sep 30, 2021. Employees who agreed to watch and acknowledge an online educational program and show proof of two doses of an mRNA vaccine received $1,000 in October. (5/2)
NBC News: A Major Threat To The Next Pandemic: Vaccine Hesitancy
"There's all this emphasis on science and labs. It's one thing to do that, but it's a whole other thing to get what you develop in the lab into people's arms," said Richard Carpiano, a public health scientist who studies issues surrounding vaccine uptake at the University of California, Riverside. Scientists at the World Vaccine Congress acknowledged that, for all of their education and training, one issue has remained frustratingly hard to overcome: the growing anti-vaccine movement. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told NBC News that there is no doubt that vaccine misinformation is harming Americans, and could be detrimental in years to come. (Edwards, 5/2)
In news on access to vaccines and treatments —
The Hill: White House’s Paxlovid Push Hits Hurdles
The White House has said it will nearly double the amount of Paxlovid available around the country and that it is working to set up more Test-to-Treat locations in pharmacies and other locations. But the administration faces a number of obstacles in really making Paxlovid, and a similar treatment from Merck and Ridgeback known as molnupiravir, easily accessible to Americans. Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams even made note of the difficulty people have had in acquiring antivirals on Monday, sharing a thread on Twitter about the many steps one COVID-19 advocate had to go through to get Paxlovid for her eligible child. (Choi, 5/2)
Stat: U.N. Committee Urges Wealthy Nations To Widen Access To Covid Vaccines
A United Nations committee urged wealthy nations to support a proposal before the World Trade Organization to widen access to Covid-19 vaccines over concerns that people living in poorer countries face a “pattern of unequal distribution” that mirrors historical discrimination. In a new statement, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination noted that “the vast majority of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in high and upper-middle-income countries and that, as of April 2022, only 15.2% of the population of low-income countries has received even one vaccine dose.” (Silverman, 5/2)
