Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UNICEF Says US Is World's Largest Covid Vaccine Donor
CNBC: Covid: U.S. Is The World’s Largest Donor Of Vaccines, Data Shows
The U.S. is the largest donor of Covid-19 vaccines globally — way ahead of other major economies such as China, Japan and the U.K., according to public data compiled by UNICEF. UNICEF is a United Nations agency responsible for the protection and development of children. It also manages Covid vaccine supply for the COVAX initiative, which aims to share doses with lower-income countries. (Lee, 9/9)
Bloomberg: Pandemic Risks Worsening On Africa Variants, Scientists Say
The proliferation of Covid-19 variants in Africa, partly attributed to the low rates of vaccination on the continent, could lead to vaccine-evading mutations that complicate attempts to end the pandemic, a group of 112 African and 25 international organizations said. A study of genomes from 33 African nations and two “overseas territories,” published in the journal Science on Thursday, tracks the evolution of the pandemic across the continent and the emergence of a number of so-called Variants of Concern and Variants of Interest. One of those, beta, spread around the globe earlier this year and rendered some vaccines partially ineffective. (Sguazzin, 9/9)
Bloomberg: Funding Boost For U.K. Health Service Enough For Two Years Only
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cash boost for U.K. health care is insufficient to meet the medium-term costs of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The analysis published Friday raises the possibility that further tax increases or spending cuts will be required to fund the National Health Service from the middle of the decade. Johnson’s government this week announced an extra 16 billion pounds ($22 billion) for NHS England over the next two fiscal years, paying for the increase with a tax hike on workers and companies that is set to take taxation as a share of the economy to its highest sustained level in at least 70 years. (Atkinson, 9/10)
Also —
CNN: World Suicide Prevention Day: How To Help In 2021
More than 700,000 people die by suicide each year, according to the World Health Organization. Translated: Every 40 seconds, someone in the world takes their own life. That's a sobering statistic to ponder today, on 2021's World Suicide Prevention Day. Suicide rates have been climbing for years in some parts of the world. In the United States alone, suicide rates have increased by 35% between 1999 and 2018. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls suicide a "growing public health problem." (LaMotte, 9/10)
