Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
No Longer A Skeptic?: Trump Quietly Got A Covid Shot In January
Axios: Trump Received COVID Vaccine At White House In January
Former President Trump and former first lady Melania Trump were both vaccinated at the White House in January, a Trump adviser tells Axios. Trump declared at CPAC on Sunday that "everybody" should get the coronavirus vaccine — the first time he's encouraged his supporters, who have been more skeptical of getting vaccinated, to do so. (Treene, 3/1)
CNN: Donald And Melania Trump Received Covid Vaccine At The White House In January
Trump's decision to quietly receive the vaccine, without public fanfare, contrasts sharply with his successor and predecessors. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were each vaccinated on live television in December, and former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton volunteered in December to get their Covid-19 vaccines on camera to promote public confidence in the vaccine's safety. ... During his CPAC speech, Trump, who oversaw the rapid development of coronavirus vaccines through the Operation Warp Speed task force, said his administration deserves much of the credit for the current pace of vaccinations in America and repeatedly referred to Covid-19 using a racist term. "Never let them forget this was us. We did this," he said of the vaccine development. (Acosta and Kelly, 3/1)
Also —
Stat: Trump Administration Spent Billions In Hospital Funds On Warp Speed
The Trump administration quietly took around $10 billion from a fund meant to help hospitals and health care providers affected by Covid-19 and used the money to bankroll Operation Warp Speed contracts, four former Trump administration officials told STAT. (Cohrs, 3/2)
New York Post: Fauci's Boss: Trump Admin Deserves Credit For COVID Vaccine
The Trump administration deserves credit for the “breathtaking” speed at which two COVID-19 vaccines were developed, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s boss said. Speaking to “Axios on HBO” in an interview released Monday evening, National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins made the remarks after being asked what the previous administration got right in their pandemic response. “The Operation Warp Speed, for which I give a great deal of credit to [former Health and Human Services] Secretary [Alex] Azar, was an effort that many of us were not initially convinced was going to be necessary,” Collins told the program. (Jacobs, 2/23)
