Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Microcephaly Before Zika
The New York Times: One Family’s Struggle With Microcephaly, The Birth Defect Now Linked To Zika
The morning after Christine Grounds gave birth to her son Nicholas, she awoke to find a neurologist examining her baby. It was summer 2006, and Nicholas was her first child. There had been no indication that anything was wrong during her pregnancy, but it was soon clear that there was a problem. “Did you know he has microcephaly?” she remembers the doctor asking matter-of-factly. (Santora, 10/17)
Meanwhile, Zika money is going unspent in Florida —
The Hill: Most Of Florida's Zika Money Is Unspent
Federal health officials are pushing back against Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s criticism about the slow flow of money to fight the Zika virus into his state. Florida has spent only about $3.5 million out of the $27 million that’s been given to the state by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this year, according to a federal health official. The state has also been given $8 million in Zika-specific funding that it has not used, according to the source. (Ferris, 10/14)
