Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer Vaccine Storage Rule-Change Lauded As Game-Changer
ABC News: How Greenlighting Pfizer's New Vaccine Storage Requirements Could Dramatically Improve Access
With little fanfare, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Pfizer permission this week to store its COVID-19 vaccine in a typical refrigerator for one month -- freeing the vaccine from the need to be shipped in cumbersome boxes stuffed with dry ice. Among authorized COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer's vaccine was notorious for its ultra-cold storage requirements. Now, as the only vaccine authorized for children ages 12 to 17, this new flexibility could dramatically accelerate the effort to vaccinate America's teens and adolescents. (Brownstein and Weintraub, 5/22)
Reuters: Moderna, Novavax To Produce More COVID-19 Vaccines In S.Korea
Moderna Inc and Novavax Inc entered into a deal with the South Korean government to manufacture their COVID-19 vaccines, as the country has been under pressure to secure more and faster deliveries of U.S.-made vaccines. Saturday's agreements with the U.S. drugmakers came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden said that he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had agreed on a comprehensive partnership on COVID-19 vaccines and that the United States would provide vaccinations for 550,000 South Korean soldiers. (Ponnezhath and Cha, 5/22)
Stat: Wealthy Nations, Drug Makers Offer Moves To Bridge Covid Vaccine Divide
The leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations and several drug makers took steps to widen equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, such as issuing voluntary licenses to expand manufacturing, increasing donations to a global distribution program, and investing in production capacity in Africa. Specifically, the G20 leaders asked the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization to compile a report by October on obstacles to greater vaccine access. They also agreed to extend through 2022 a WHO program called Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator, or ACT Accelerator, which was created to develop, produce and distribute vaccines, diagnostics and therapies. (Silverman, 5/21)
CNBC: Covid Vaccine Passports: Everything We Know So Far
Italy, Iceland, Greece and Spain now allow or are opening their borders to people who’ve been vaccinated or who recently tested negative for Covid-19. The European Union has agreed to open its borders to more vaccinated tourists, including from the U.S.The question is: How will individuals prove their vaccine or Covid status? (Josephs, 5/22)
More covid shot information and disinformation —
North Carolina Health News: Why Do We Get Shots In The Arm? It’s All About The Muscle
Millions have rolled up their sleeves for the COVID-19 vaccine, but why haven’t they rolled up their pants legs instead? Why do we get most shots in our arms? As an associate professor of nursing with a background in public health, and as a mother of two curious kids, I field this question fairly often. So here’s the science behind why we get most vaccines in our arm. (Richards, 5/23)
The Oregonian: Does COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Violate Nuremberg Code That Protects Against Coercion Of Medical-Experiment Subjects?
“Good morning from Prison Island UK,” a woman wrote on Twitter Friday morning. “Just a reminder that The Nuremberg Code demands voluntary consent of participants in medical experiments. It forbids duress, overreach and coercion to obtain such consent. How many of the vaxxed were made aware that the jab is an experiment?” This argument can be found all over social media -- and it’s wrong. (Perry, 5/21)
The Atlantic: A Better COVID-19 Vaccine Could Be Less Spike-Centric
In the race to build the world’s first round of coronavirus vaccines, the spike protein—the thorny knobs that adorn each of the pathogen’s particles—was our MVP. Spike is a key ingredient in virtually every one of our current pandemic-fighting shots; it has been repeatedly billed as essential for tickling out any immune response worth its salt. “People put all their eggs in the spike basket,” Juliet Morrison, a virologist at UC Riverside, told me. And it undoubtedly paid off. In recent months, though, it’s become clear that the coronavirus is a slippery, shape-shifting foe—and spike appears to be one of its most malleable traits. Eventually, our first generation of spike-centric vaccines will likely become obsolete. To get ahead of that inevitability, several companies are already looking to develop new vaccine formulations packed with additional bits of the coronavirus, ushering in an end to our monogamous affair with spike. (Wu, 5/21)
