Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Study: Safety Of MRNA Vaccines Good, With Moderna Slightly Topping Pfizer
CIDRAP: Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine's Safety Slightly Bests Pfizer's
An observational study today in JAMA Internal Medicine reports a slightly better safety profile for the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine than for the Pfizer/BioNTech version in US veterans, but both vaccines had very good safety profiles. ... Relative to the Moderna group, Pfizer recipients had an excess per 10,000 people of 10.9 ischemic strokes, 14.8 heart attacks, 11.3 other abnormal blood clotting, and 17.1 cases of kidney injury. (Van Beusekom, 6/13)
In news about vaccines for children and young adults —
NBC News: A Big Week For Children's Covid Vaccines: Here’s What To Expect
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee will meet Wednesday to weigh in on Covid vaccines for children under 5. The committee's endorsement is a crucial step before the FDA can authorize the shots, from both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, for the age group. Children under 5 are the only group in the United States who remain ineligible to get vaccinated. (Lovelace Jr., 6/13)
The Wall Street Journal: FDA Advisers To Consider Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine For Ages 6 To 17
A panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration is set to meet Tuesday to consider whether use of Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine should be expanded to include children ages 6 through 17. The advisory committee is expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on whether the benefits of vaccinating children in this age group outweigh the risks. The FDA will consider the vote in making a final decision on whether to clear the vaccine for use in children 6 years and older. (Loftus, 6/14)
Axios: Infants And Toddlers May Finally Get Their COVID Shots
COVID shots may be days away from becoming available to infants and toddlers with expert panels set to evaluate both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna pediatric vaccines this week. But it's unclear how much the number of vaccinated kids will move. Why it matters: For anxious parents of America's littlest kids, this is a big moment. Children younger than 5 are the last group without access to the shots. (Reed, 6/13)
Stat: Vaccine Panel Must Discuss Imprinting Among Infants And Toddlers
This week, when the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee considers approving the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA Covid-19 vaccines for infants and toddlers, the issue of imprinting may not be on the agenda. But it should be, given lessons from the Russian pandemic of 1889, the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the Hong Kong flu of 1968, the swine flu pandemic of 1957, and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Immune imprinting results from exposure to proteins or other biological structures of viruses, like those found in SARS-CoV-2, that allow the virus to penetrate host cells and cause infection. The process, also called original antigenic sin, refers to the preference of the immune system to recall existing memory cells (lymphocytes that “remember” the same pathogen for faster future antibody production) rather than stimulating de novo responses when encountering a novel but closely related antigen. (Brozak and Marfuggi, 6/13)
