Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer Starts Exports Of US-Made Covid Vaccines; Mexico Gets First Batch
Reuters: Exclusive: Pfizer Begins Exporting U.S.-Made COVID-19 Vaccine To Mexico
Pfizer Inc’s shipment of COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico this week includes doses made in its U.S. plant, the first of what are expected to be ongoing exports of its shots from the United States, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. The vaccine shipment, produced at Pfizer's Kalamazoo, Michigan plant, marks the first time the drugmaker has delivered abroad from U.S facilities after a Trump-era restriction on dose exports expired at the end of March, the source said. (O'donnell, 4/30)
AP: Delivery Delays Force Mexico To Put Off Sinovac Second Doses
Mexican authorities said Thursday that delays in the delivery of 1.5 million doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine will mean that almost 1.3 million Mexicans won’t get their second doses on time. The Health Department said delaying the second shot beyond the recommended 35-day interval between the two doses will not affect the effectiveness of the vaccine. Almost 1 million people will need their second dose by the first week of May; almost 300,000 more will need it in the weeks after. (4/30)
In other global developments —
Bloomberg: Ontario Virus Cases Cresting At ‘Very High Level’ Amid Lockdown
Ontario’s latest Covid-19 wave appears to be peaking, albeit at a very high level, as sweeping restrictions introduced earlier this month start to have an impact, along with efforts to vaccinate more people in virus hot spots. Officials cautioned, however, that because of an earlier swell in infections, intensive care units are still seeing fresh records in the number of virus patients. That’s putting the hospital system under incredible pressure, according to data from the Ontario Covid-19 Science Advisory Table. (Bochove, 4/29)
Reuters: Russia Produces First Batch Of COVID-19 Vaccine For Animals -Regulator
Russia has produced the world's first batch - 17,000 doses - of COVID-19 vaccines for animals, its agricultural regulator said on Friday. Russia registered Carnivac-Cov in March after tests showed it generated antibodies against COVID-19 in dogs, cats, foxes and mink. (4/30)
Stat: Virologist Angela Rasmussen On Russia's Controversial Sputnik V Vaccine
By all accounts, the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, called Sputnik V, has looked really good. In a study published in The Lancet in February, the vaccine’s efficacy was 91.6%, putting it among the most effective vaccines for this pandemic in the world. The technology used for Sputnik V is similar to the approach from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. It uses adenoviruses, essentially cold viruses, as vectors to ferry genetic instructions for the coronavirus-like protein to the body’s cells, causing the immune system to makes antibodies to this protein and thereby conferring protection. (Garde and Tirrell, 4/30)
Also —
CNN: Cancer Rates Much Higher In Medieval Britain Than Previously Realized, Study Suggests
The earliest description of cancer is from an ancient Egyptian papyrus, and going back further, even dinosaurs suffered a form of the disease. But cancer long has been thought to have become a common disease only in the last two centuries or so. This is, in part, down to longer life expectancies, habits like smoking, and exposure to tumor-inducing chemicals post-industrial revolution. However, new research published in the journal Cancer on medieval skeletons has suggested that cancer was more widespread than previously realized -- although still less common than today. (Hunt, 4/29)
CIDRAP: UN Meeting Calls For More Action, Less Talk, On Antimicrobial Resistance
Global health officials, scientists, members of nongovernmental organizations, and leaders from United Nations (UN) member states met today to reaffirm their commitment to tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The High-Level Interactive Dialogue on AMR, originally scheduled for April 2020 but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, comes 5 years after the UN General Assembly held a high-level meeting to address AMR. That meeting concluded with commitments from UN member states to develop and implement national AMR action plans, as called for by the World Health Organization (WHO). (Dall, 4/29)
