Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Social Network Covid Misinfo Hurts Americans, Says Murthy
The New York Times: The Surgeon General Said Misinformation On Social Networks Is Damaging Americans’ Health
Dr. Vivek Murthy, President Biden’s surgeon general, renewed the administration’s attack on coronavirus misinformation of Sunday, two days after The New York Times reported that Facebook had shelved a study showing that its most-viewed link during the first three months of the year was to an article that suggested a link between a Covid-19 vaccine and a Florida doctor’s death. “The speed, scale and sophistication with which it is spreading and impacting our health is really unprecedented,” Dr. Murthy said of coronavirus misinformation during an appearance on CNN on Sunday. “And it’s happening largely, in part, aided and abetted by social media platforms.” (Stevens, 8/23)
NPR: Facebook's Most Viewed Article In Early 2021 Raised Doubt About COVID Vaccine
A news story suggesting the COVID-19 vaccine may have been involved in a doctor's death was the most viewed link on Facebook in the U.S. in the first three months of the year. But Facebook held back from publishing a report with that information, the company acknowledged on Saturday. The social media giant prepared the report about the most widely viewed posts on its platform from January through March of 2021, but decided not to publish it "because there were key fixes to the system we wanted to make," spokesperson Andy Stone tweeted on Saturday. (Bond, 8/21)
Houston Chronicle: Fact-Checking Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's False Claim That Black Texans Are Driving COVID Surge
The raw numbers, though, tell a different story. About 24.1 million people are eligible for the vaccine in Texas, according to state population estimates. Texas has a below-average vaccination rate, with roughly 15.9 million people — or 66 percent — receiving at least one dose to date. About 13.2 million Texans, or 55 percent of the eligible population, are fully vaccinated. Most of the roughly 8 million people who have not been vaccinated are white. While exact numbers are difficult to determine, given Texas’ troubled history collecting race data on vaccines, it’s estimated that there are about three times as many white Texans as Black Texans who are eligible for the vaccine but may not have received it — about 4.9 million to 1.6 million, the state health department data shows. (Harris, 8/20)
The New York Times: A Hospital Finds An Unlikely Group Opposing Vaccination: Its Workers
Their movement started discreetly, just a handful of people communicating on encrypted apps like WhatsApp and Signal. But in just days it had ballooned tenfold. And within two weeks, it had turned into a full-blown public protest, with people waving picket signs to denounce efforts to push them to receive coronavirus vaccines. But these were not just any vaccine resisters. They were nurses, medical technicians, infection control officers and other staff who work at a hospital in Staten Island, which has the highest rate of Covid-19 infection of any borough in New York City. Outside Staten Island University Hospital this week, as passing cars and fire trucks honked supportively, employees chanted, “I am not a lab rat!” (de Freytas-Tamura, 8/22)
On the rare cases where vaccine exemptions are excusable —
Philadelphia Inquirer: Medical Exemptions For COVID-19 Vaccines, Explained
From the start, U.S. health officials have advised that recipients of COVID-19 vaccines be monitored for 15 minutes afterward in case of a severe allergic reaction — 30 minutes for those with a history of serious allergies. The precaution was prompted in part by an ingredient in the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines called polyethylene glycol (PEG), a substance known to provoke allergic reactions in a small number of people. (Avril, 8/23)
