Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Unvaxxed Foreign Children Exempt From 7-Day Quarantine, CDC Says
The Washington Post: CDC Says Unvaccinated Foreign Children Won’t Need To Quarantine On Arrival
Foreign-national children who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus will not need to self-quarantine for seven days upon arrival in the United States, health officials said Saturday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an amended order clarifying its position Saturday after some international travelers raised concerns about their children needing to self-quarantine for that long under new rules that will apply once a travel ban on visitors from 33 countries is lifted on Nov. 8. (Pannett, 10/30)
In other global covid news —
Bloomberg: Oramed To Start Oral Covid-19 Vaccine Trial In South Africa
Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. won approval to run an initial clinical trial for its orally delivered Covid-19 vaccine candidate in South Africa. The U.S.-listed company has been given permission by the South African Health Regulatory Products Authority to start enrolling patients in Phase 1 of tests, it said in a statement on Friday. A similar trial is planned in Israel and a Phase 2 trial in the U.S., Nadav Kidron, Oramed’s chief executive officer, said in an interview. While South Africa has hosted a number of Covid-19 vaccine trials, this would be the first of an oral treatment. Delivery by mouth would surmount some hurdles confronting Africa, such as the need to keep injectable shots refrigerated, sometimes at ultra-low temperatures, in the effort to improve inoculation in the least-vaccinated continent. (Sguazzin, 10/29)
AP: Shanghai Disneyland Tests 33K, Closes 2 Days Over 1 Contact
Fireworks boomed as the visitors at Shanghai Disneyland waited for their COVID-19 test results, surrounded by healthcare workers dressed from head to toe in the white protective suits. Shanghai Disneyland suddenly announced Sunday evening that they were no longer accepting any visitors and they were cooperating with an epidemiological investigation from another province. They then locked down the park, as Shanghai city healthcare workers and police rushed to the scene to conduct a mass testing. (Wu, 11/1)
AP: Israel Opens To Solo Tourists For 1st Time Since Pandemic
Israel on Monday began welcoming individual tourists for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities hope that opening the country’s gates to solo travelers will breathe new life into the struggling tourism industry. Before the pandemic, the Christmas season saw hundreds of thousands of people visit Bethlehem, believed to be birthplace of Jesus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (11/1)
Also —
CIDRAP: Tedros To Be Appointed To 2nd Term As WHO Director-General Next May
The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, will be appointed to a second 5-year term as director-general after no countries nominated another candidate. He will be formally installed in May 2022 at the World Health Assembly (WHA75). (10/29)
