Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Officials Able To Distribute Twice As Many Monkeypox Shots As Planned
AP: US Offers More Monkeypox Vaccine To States And Cities
U.S. officials said they are able to ship out more monkeypox vaccine doses than previously planned — because of a strategy shift that allows more shots to be drawn from each vial. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had previously anticipated allowing 221,000 doses to be ordered starting Monday. But officials said they would release 442,000 doses for order by state, local and territorial health departments. (Stobbe, 8/15)
Axios: States Are Unhappy With How The Feds Are Handling Monkeypox
The Biden administration is facing increasing criticism from frustrated state health officials over a troubled system for distributing monkeypox vaccines that's slowing their ability to quickly reach patients. (Reed and Dreher, 8/16)
Stat: Immunization Leader Lays Bare Challenges Facing The Monkeypox Response
In the United States, the circumstances around monkeypox vaccine are a good news, bad news kind of story. (Branswell, 8/15)
Vanity Fair: “A ‘Hunger Games’ Contest”: How Unforced Errors Hobbled America’s Monkeypox Response
The first diagnosed case of monkeypox in the US, on May 18, did not seem like a major cause for alarm. Unlike the virus that causes COVID-19, monkeypox was not novel, not airborne, and rarely fatal. In fact, the US government already possessed a robust arsenal of tools that could be used to combat it. In 2003 the US government began developing a detailed response plan for smallpox, a far more lethal virus that belongs to the same family as monkeypox. The plan, which over two decades grew to fill 333 pages, offered a playbook for how to mount an effective response to such pathogens. (Eban, 8/16)
On monkeypox myths —
NBC News: Monkeypox Misinformation Spreading Faster Than The Virus, Experts Say
In interviews with NBC News, epidemiologists and infectious disease experts dispelled some of the most common misconceptions, including whether the virus spreads easily through the air, that cases among women and children are being undercounted, and that health care workers are at high risk. (Ryan, 8/15)
The 19th: Monkeypox: Experts Debunk 11 Myths And Misconceptions
Can monkeypox spread on the subway? Can it kill like COVID-19? Is it transmitted through sex? Misconceptions, myths and a lack of public knowledge on the monkeypox virus are widespread. (Rummler, 8/15)
Fox News: Why Some Communities Are Distrustful Of Doctors And Public Health Efforts
As the latest updates on COVID-19, the monkeypox virus, polio and other health concerns and issues continue to circulate, one doctor pointed out that health care is very much like a product. Dr. Alexander Salerno, an internist in New Jersey, told Fox News Digital, "If you don't trust the seller or the product, why would you buy it?" Salerno works at Salerno Medical Associates, a family-run, second-generation practice that serves East Orange and Newark. (Sudhakar, 8/15)
More on the spread of monkeypox —
ABC News: 7th Child In US Tests Positive For Monkeypox
A child in Martin County, Florida, has tested positive for monkeypox, state health data shows. Across the U.S., at least seven children have now tested positive for monkeypox. The child in Florida is between the ages of 0 and 4 years old, according to the state health data. (Mitropoulos, 8/16)
PBS NewsHour: The COVID Lessons The U.S. Still Needs To Learn To Tackle Monkeypox
“Without even finishing the COVID pandemic, we’re already facing monkeypox,” said Dr. Caitlin Rivers, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security and a founding member of the CDC’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics. (Santhanam, 8/15)
