Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Parents' Bereavement Leave For Miscarriages Now Law In New Zealand
Axios: New Zealand Bereavement Leave For Miscarriages, Stillbirths Introduced
New Zealand's Parliament unanimously passed on Wednesday a law enabling parents who experience a miscarriage or stillbirth to take three days' paid bereavement leave. Ginny Andersen, the Member of Parliament from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party who drafted the bill, noted NZ "may well be the first country" to pass such legislation, with the law applicable at any time of a pregnancy, per the New York Times. (Falconer, 3/25)
In other global developments —
AP: EU Moves Toward Stricter Export Controls For COVID-19 Shots
The European Union moved Wednesday toward stricter export controls for coronavirus vaccines, seeking to make sure its 27 nations have more COVID-19 shots to boost the bloc’s flagging vaccine campaign amid a surge in new infections. The EU’s executive Commission said on the eve of a summit of the EU’s leaders that it has a plan to guarantee that more vaccines produced in the bloc are available for its 450 million citizens even if that comes at the cost of helping nations outside the bloc, most notably Britain. (Casert, 3/24)
Politico: Italian Authorities Discover 29M Oxford/AstraZeneca Doses: La Stampa
Italian authorities have discovered 29 million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that had been stocked at a manufacturing site in the country, reported La Stampa on Wednesday. According to the newspaper, the doses likely come from AstraZeneca's Halix plant in the Netherlands, which hasn't yet been approved for EU production. La Stampa cites EU sources who say that those doses were originally destined to the U.K. But exports stopped after the bloc introduced a mechanism to restrict exports on vaccines. (Martuscelli, 3/24)
AP: Germany Funds Vaccine Assistance For Holocaust Survivors
Germany has committed millions of dollars in extra funding to help ensure all Holocaust survivors are able to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, an organization that handles claims on behalf of Jewish victims said Wednesday. By virtue of their ages alone, survivors of the Holocaust are at higher risk of dying of COVID-19. Many suffer serious medical issues related to early childhood malnutrition and mistreatment at the hands of the Nazis during World War II. (Rising, 3/24)
Axios: Brazil Second Country To Surpass 300,000 COVID Deaths
Brazil became on Wednesday the second country after the U.S. to surpass 300,000 COVID-19 deaths. The health ministry confirmed Wednesday another 2,009 Brazilians had died of the coronavirus, taking the total pandemic death toll to 300,685. Brazil's population is much smaller than the U.S., which reached the milestone on Dec. 14, 2020. (Falconer, 3/25)
