Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Supply-Chain Shortages Could Hinder Efforts To Scale Up Production Of Needed Vaccine
Politico: Why The US Isn't Prepared To Meet Overwhelming Demand For A Coronavirus Vaccine
Meeting the overwhelming demand for a successful coronavirus vaccine will require a historic amount of coordination between scientists, drugmakers and the government. The nation’s supply chain isn’t anywhere close to ready for such an effort. The nation is already grappling with a shortage of the specialized glass used to make the vials that will store any vaccine. Producing and distributing hundreds of millions of vaccine doses will also require huge quantities of stoppers — which are made by just a handful of companies — as well as needles and refrigeration units. Low stocks of any one of these components could slow future vaccination efforts, much as shortfalls of key chemicals delayed widespread coronavirus testing. (Owermohle, 5/11)
ABC News: Drug Treatment A Stopgap For Vaccine To Eradicate COVID-19: Chief Scientific Officer
Johnson & Johnson's chief scientific officer said it's unlikely the coronavirus will be eradicated without a vaccine. Dr. Paul Stoffels, appearing on ABC's "This Week" Sunday, responded to comments from President Donald Trump last week that, "With or without a vaccine, it's going to pass, and we're going to be back to normal. "(It) would be great if the disease goes away very quickly, but we don't think so," Stoffels told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos. "It's now spreading around the world so fast." (Arnholz, 5/10)
Stat: Routine Vaccinations For U.S. Children Have Plummeted Amid The Pandemic
Routine vaccination of children in the United States appeared to have declined dramatically in March and April, in the weeks after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic and the United States government declared a national emergency, a new study published Friday shows. The authors, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other institutions, used vaccine ordering data from pediatricians who administer vaccines through the Vaccines for Children Program, which provides government-purchased vaccines to about half of the children in the United States. The study, published by the CDC in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, compared orders for the period from Jan. 7 through April 21 this year to the same period last year. (Branswell, 5/8)
The Washington Post: CDC Warns Of Potential Measles Outbreaks As Kids Fail To Get Vaccines
The decline in vaccines was not as severe for children under 2, and vaccination numbers for that group have begun to tick back up, the study found. But as of mid-April, about 1,500 young children a week were getting measles vaccines at sites tracked by the CDC, compared with 2,500 a week before the pandemic. Among older children, the numbers are much worse — only a few hundred a week are getting their measles vaccines, instead of thousands. The researchers credited intensive efforts to get vaccines to younger children through well-children visits and direct outreach to families. (Weiner, 5/8)
