Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
States and VA Department Work On Finalizing Vaccine Distribution Plans
AP: States Plan For Vaccines As Daily US Virus Deaths Top 3,100
States drafted plans Thursday for who will go to the front of the line when the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine become available later this month, as U.S. deaths from the outbreak eclipsed 3,100 in a single day, obliterating the record set last spring. With initial supplies of the vaccine certain to be limited, governors and other state officials are weighing both health and economic concerns in deciding the order in which the shots will be dispensed. (Metz and Foley, 12/4)
The Washington Post: Coronavirus Vaccine: VA Will Distribute Inoculations Within Weeks
The Department of Veterans Affairs expects to distribute coronavirus vaccines within a week or two, with a focus on inoculating high-risk veterans and staff members, VA officials told veteran group leaders on a call Thursday. Physicians and doctors treating veterans in covid-19 wards will be a priority for the vaccine, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, who oversees the nation’s largest integrated health network, said on the call. (Horton, 12/3)
In other vaccine news —
Stat: CDC Advisory Panel Member Explains Vote Against Vaccine Priority Plan
When a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee voted Tuesday to recommend residents of long-term care facilities should be at the front of the line — with health care providers — for Covid-19 vaccines, the lone dissenting voice came from a researcher who studies vaccines in older adults. Helen Keipp Talbot — who is known by her middle name — raised serious concerns during the meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices about using the vaccines in the frail elderly, noting there are no data yet to suggest the vaccines work in this population. (Branswell, 12/3)
The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer Slashed Its Original Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout Target After Supply-Chain Obstacles
Pfizer and Germany-based partner BioNTech SE had hoped to roll out 100 million vaccines world-wide by the end of this year, a plan that has now been reduced to 50 million. The U.K. on Wednesday granted emergency-use authorization for the vaccine, becoming the first Western country to start administering doses. (Paris, 12/3)
Bloomberg: Covid Vaccine Side-Effects Could Sideline Health-Care Workers During Case Surge
Covid-19 vaccine side-effects that range from fevers and chills to headaches and joint pain could keep some doctors and nurses from working amid a nationwide surge in hospitalizations. Health systems are gearing up to vaccinate key hospital staff with the Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. coronavirus shots, which could start shipping in the U.S. in a matter of weeks, pending emergency-use authorizations. (LaVito and Griffin, 12/3)
NPR: 'There's No Quick Fix For COVID-19,' Cautions Pennsylvania Secretary Of Health
For all the hope being placed in a coronavirus vaccine, Pennsylvania's secretary of health delivered a sobering note of caution Thursday on how long it will take to bring the pandemic under control. A vaccine is "the light at the end of the tunnel," she said, "but there's no quick fix to COVID-19. "In an interview with All Things Considered, Dr. Rachel Levine outlined a laundry list of issues that state health officials nationwide are racing to resolve now that two separate vaccines appear on the cusp of approval by the Food and Drug Administration. They cover everything from funding for distribution and how to safely store the vaccine at subzero temperatures, to more basic questions like how many doses will be available and when. (Breslow, 12/3)
Also —
CIDRAP: WHO Trial Finds No Benefit Of 4 Drugs For Hospital COVID Patients
None of the four once-promising drugs evaluated for the treatment of COVID-19 in the ongoing World Health Organization (WHO) Solidarity Trial—remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, or interferon-beta-1a—prevented in-hospital death, reduced the need for ventilation, or shortened the duration of hospitalization. The interim results of the open-label study, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved randomly assigning hospitalized COVID-19 patients equally to whichever trial drugs were available locally or to a control group from Mar 22 to Oct 4. (Van Beusekom, 12/3)
