Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Public Trust Must Be Rebuilt To Overcome Vaccine Hesitancy
Nature: An Epidemic Of Uncertainty: Rumors, Conspiracy Theories And Vaccine Hesitancy
The COVID-19 ‘infodemic’ continues to undermine trust in vaccination efforts aiming to bring an end to the pandemic. However, the challenge of vaccine hesitancy is not only a problem of the information ecosystem and it often has little to do with the vaccines themselves. (Ed Pertwee, Clarissa Simas and Heidi J. Larson, 3/10)
New England Journal of Medicine: A Malaria Vaccine For Africa — An Important Step In A Century-Long Quest
Malaria, particularly that caused by Plasmodium falciparum, has shaped the history of humankind and continues to devastate people’s health and livelihoods worldwide. In 2020, roughly 4 billion people in 87 countries were at risk for malaria, and there were an estimated 241 million cases and 627,000 resulting deaths, most of them among children younger than 5 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa.1 Despite unprecedented gains in the first 15 years of this century, progress has stalled, and we have gotten increasingly off track when it comes to meeting the 2030 targets of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Technical Strategy for Malaria and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. (Pedro L. Alonso, M.D., and Katherine L. O'Brien, M.D., 3/12)
The Washington Examiner: Light Starts To Shine On Opaque Drug Pricing Tactics
Late last month, the Federal Trade Commission announced it would seek public comments on the ways pharmacy benefit managers distort the prices of prescription drugs. PBMs deserve the scrutiny, as they're to blame for much of the rise in prescription drug costs. Insurers hire PBMs to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers and determine which medicines end up on a plan's formulary. To guarantee their drug has a spot on the list, pharmaceutical firms routinely offer these gatekeepers deep discounts on medications. Savings on insulin, for example, can reach up to 70%. (Sally Pipes, 3/8)
