Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UK Becomes First Nation To Roll Out AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid Shots
CNN: Oxford/Astra Zeneca Vaccine: UK Becomes First To Roll Out Shots As Covid-19 Cases Surge
The United Kingdom became the first nation to inoculate people with the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine outside of trials on Monday, with the country's health secretary hailing the day as a "real pivotal moment." Doses of the vaccine, approved by UK regulators on December 30, will initially be delivered at "a small number of hospitals for the first few days for surveillance purposes," before the bulk of doses arrives at medical practices later in the week, said England's National Health Service (NHS). (Halasz and Rahim, 1/4)
Reuters: UK First To Roll Out AstraZeneca Shots In Race To Stem COVID Surge
As major powers eye the benefits of being first out of the pandemic, Britain is rushing to vaccinate its population faster than the United States and the rest of Europe, though Russia and China have been inoculating their citizens for months. Just under a month since Britain became the first country in the world to roll out the vaccine developed by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, Pinker, who has kidney disease, received the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot. (Faulconbridge and Smout, 1/3)
Stat: Britain Gambles On Covid-19 Vaccines, Upping The Stakes For The Rest Of Us
In an extraordinary time, British health authorities are taking extraordinary measures to beat back Covid-19. But some experts say that, in doing so, they are also taking a serious gamble. (Branswell, 1/4)
But the United States says it will wait several months —
Politico: Warp Speed Chief: U.S. Won’t Get AstraZeneca Vaccine Until April
Americans likely won’t receive AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine before April because of lingering questions about its effectiveness in certain groups, a top Trump administration health official said hours after U.K. regulators authorized the company’s shot Wednesday. The prediction by Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed, moves back the U.S. government’s timeline for greenlighting the AstraZeneca shot by at least two months. Slaoui earlier this month estimated the British drugmaker would file for emergency use authorization with the Food and Drug Administration as early as February. (Owermohle, 12/30)
In related vaccination news from Britain —
The Hill: Britain To Allow Mixing And Matching Of COVID-19 Vaccines
Britain is set to allow the mixing of various coronavirus vaccines under special circumstances, despite limited knowledge on whether mixed doses provide the same amount of protection as uniform doses. The British government released updated guidelines on New Year's Eve that state, "[If] the same vaccine is not available, or if the first product received is unknown, it is reasonable to offer one dose of the locally available product to complete the schedule." (Jenkins, 1/2)
The New York Times: Britain Opens Door To Mix-And-Match Vaccinations, Worrying Experts
Amid a sputtering vaccine rollout and fears of a new and potentially more transmissible variant of the coronavirus, Britain has quietly updated its vaccination playbook to allow for a mix-and-match vaccine regimen. If a second dose of the vaccine a patient originally received isn’t available, or if the manufacturer of the first shot isn’t known, another vaccine may be substituted, health officials said. The new guidance contradicts guidelines in the United States, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that the authorized Covid-19 vaccines “are not interchangeable,” and that “the safety and efficacy of a mixed-product series have not been evaluated. Both doses of the series should be completed with the same product.” (Wu, 1/1)
