Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Report Says UK's Official Covid Responses Killed Thousands Of People
Politico: Parliamentary Report Says UK Mistakes Cost Thousands Of Lives During Pandemic
Delaying a lockdown in the U.K. and failing to prioritize social care caused thousands of avoidable deaths, according to a parliamentary report on lessons learned to date from the coronavirus pandemic. The joint investigation published Tuesday by the House of Commons' science and health committees is lawmakers' first stab at digging into why the U.K., which was initially praised for its pandemic preparedness planning, saw cases skyrocket and deaths far outnumber many comparable countries. To date, deaths associated with the coronavirus in the U.K. stand at more than 150,000, placing the country in the Top 10 worldwide for total fatalities, according to World Health Organization data. (Collis, 10/12)
Bloomberg: Vladimir Putin Says He Has A Cold, Tells Russian Officials It's Not Covid-19
President Vladimir Putin said he has a cold and he isn’t suffering from Covid-19, after he was heard repeatedly coughing at a televised meeting with officials. “Don’t worry, everything’s fine,” Putin told a videoconference Monday with his Security Council, also shown on state television. “They do tests practically on a daily basis not only for Covid-19 but for all other infections and everything is ok.” That unannounced broadcast followed an earlier one Putin held with officials to discuss agriculture, in which he was seen and heard coughing on numerous occasions. (Halpin, 10/11)
The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine Is World’s Preferred Shot
The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE has emerged as the world’s vaccine of choice. From Latin America to the Middle East, dozens of governments are turning to the shot. Australia is now offering the vaccine, after shifting away from competitors. Turkey, the U.K. and Chile are providing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to people who took other shots. (Hopkins and Uribe, 10/11)
AP: Moderna Has No Plans To Share Its COVID-19 Vaccine Recipe
Moderna has no plans to share the recipe for its COVID-19 vaccine because executives have concluded that scaling up the company’s own production is the best way to increase the global supply, the company’s chairman said Monday. In an interview with The Associated Press, Noubar Afeyan also reiterated a pledge Moderna made a year ago not to enforce patent infringement on anyone else making a coronavirus vaccine during the pandemic. (D'Emilio, 10/11)
In updates on Ebola —
CIDRAP: DRC Confirms New Ebola Case In Earlier Outbreak Area
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the weekend reported a lab-confirmed Ebola case and three suspected infections, all fatal, in an area in North Kivu province that was one of the main epicenters in earlier outbreaks. The new case marks the country's first Ebola infection in 5 months and its 13th Ebola outbreak. It's not yet clear if the flare-up is linked to an earlier outbreak in the same area that was declared over in early May after 11 confirmed cases, 6 of them fatal, were reported. (Schnirring, 10/11)
