Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer To Begin Testing Covid Pill In Younger Children
NBC News: Covid Pill: Pfizer Launches Kids Trial To Test Antiviral
Pfizer announced Wednesday that it has started a clinical trial testing its Covid-19 antiviral pill in children as young as 6. The drugmaker said it aims to enroll approximately 140 participants in the trial, which will look at whether the drug, called Paxlovid, can safely treat Covid in children who are at risk of becoming severely ill. (Lovelace Jr., 3/9)
Politico: Pfizer To Begin Late-Stage Testing Of Covid-19 Antiviral For Kids
Pfizer will begin Phase II/III testing of its Covid-19 antiviral pill in children, the company said on Wednesday. In December 2021, the Food and Drug Administration authorized Paxlovid, a combination of two antivirals, to treat Covid-19 in high-risk individuals 12 and older weighing at least 88 pounds. The upcoming trials will test the drug at different doses for children as young as 6 years old who test positive for Covid-19 and are not hospitalized, but are also at risk of developing severe disease. (Foley, 3/9)
In news about the vaccine rollout —
NBC News: A 2nd Booster May Come This Fall. It Might Not Be The Same Shot You Got Last Time
If another Covid-19 booster shot is needed this fall, it might not be the same shot you got the last time. ... If Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna get their way, the next round of vaccines will contain a new formulation that targets the supercontagious omicron variant, or perhaps two strains of the coronavirus, instead of just one. (Lovelace Jr., 3/9)
Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly Health Department Admits The City Is Far Less Vaccinated Against COVID-19 Than It Has Been Saying
Philadelphia’s vaccination rates are significantly lower than the Department of Public Health has been saying, officials acknowledged Wednesday, blaming data errors for the inflated figures. Most significant, only a third of Philadelphia’s 5-to-11-year-olds have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, far fewer than the 53.6% officials have been touting for weeks. About 26% of the city’s children in that age range are fully vaccinated, the health department announced in a news release Wednesday, the first day children could attend public schools in the city without masks. (Laughlin and Graham, 3/9)
Side Effects Public Media: How A Rural Hospital Broke Language Barriers To Provide COVID Vaccines To Immigrants
In the days leading up to her hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic, hospital administrator Bethany Daugherty carefully monitored pre-registrations. The numbers were low: only about 30 people signed up to receive their shot. “I thought, ‘Well, 30 is better than zero,’” said Daughtery, the health and wellness education specialist at the Schneck Medical Center in the southern Indiana town of Seymour. Last summer’s vaccine clinics were targeted toward the growing number of immigrants from Central America in Seymour, Indiana, which includes Indigenous Mayan people from Guatemala. Near the start of the pandemic, Daugherty spearheaded her hospital’s efforts to engage with the town’s growing Hispanic community. She connected with the local school, churches and nonprofits. Alongside community leaders, she helped launch a COVID-19 task force in 2020, initially aimed at distributing COVID information. (Barrett, 3/8)
Also —
Axios: U.S. Set To Miss COVID Vaccine Donation Goal
The U.S. has pledged to donate more than 1 billion COVID vaccines around the world, but it would have to significantly scale up its monthly donation rate to meet that goal by the end of this year, according to a new Public Citizen analysis. Vaccines not only save lives, but also help protect the world against new variants. The U.S. had shipped 474 million doses abroad by the end of February and was recently donating around 60 million doses a month. To reach 1.2 billion doses by the end of 2022 — which USAID recently cited as the administration's goal — the U.S. would have to increase its donation rate to 73 million doses per month, per Public Citizen. (Owens, 3/9)
