Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Vaccine Skepticism: Nurses Stall Inoculation Efforts In Kansas, Maine
AP: Nurses In Kansas County Refuse To Give COVID-19 Vaccine
Four nurses at a rural health department in Kansas are refusing to administer any COVID-19 vaccines, citing the fast development and production of the shots. The Kansas City Star reports that none of the Coffey County nurses, including the public health administrator, feel “comfortable” administering a vaccine that has gone through a speedy testing process with new technology. (1/19)
Bangor Daily News: Maine Nursing Home Workers Are Less Willing To Vaccinate Against COVID-19 Than Residents
Just over a quarter of long-term care facilities surveyed recently in Maine said less than half of staffers are willing to get the coronavirus vaccine, a trend that could hamper efforts to prevent deadly outbreaks as vulnerable residents overwhelmingly accept the shots. The Maine Medical Directors Association, which represents nursing home directors, surveyed 63 skilled nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other places in the first phase of Maine’s vaccine program over a 10-day period ending Tuesday. It provides the first data showing how efforts to inoculate some of the state’s most vulnerable people are going. (Andrews, 1/21)
CNBC: Here Are 7 Of The Biggest Coronavirus Vaccine Myths Busted By Experts
Vaccine skepticism and outright anti-vaccination sentiment has become rife in recent months, with more members of the public questioning not only the efficacy of vaccines, but their development practices, safety standards and their objectives. (Ellyatt, 1/21)
In other vaccine developments —
The Hill: Three COVID-19 Vaccines Under Late-Stage Review For WHO Emergency Approval
The World Health Organization (WHO) is reportedly in the final stages of reviewing three coronavirus vaccines for international emergency distribution. Reuters reported Wednesday that an internal document obtained by the newswire indicated that the WHO could in the coming weeks or months give the green light to the inoculations developed by Moderna, AstraZeneca and China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac. (Castronuovo, 1/20)
Scientific American: The Second-Generation COVID Vaccines Are Coming
Six months ago, as the northern hemisphere was still battling the coronavirus pandemic’s first wave, all eyes turned to the COVID-19 vaccines in late-stage clinical trials. Now, a year after the pandemic first erupted, three COVID vaccines have been given emergency authorization by either the U.S. or U.K., as well as other countries. Two of the vaccines, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna, respectively, both employ a novel genetic technology known as mRNA. And the third is a more conventional vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca that uses a chimpanzee virus to deliver DNA for a component of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. (Russia, China and India have rolled out their own vaccines, but with the exception of a few countries, they have not been widely authorized elsewhere.) (Cormier, 1/20)
Chicago Tribune: Pregnant Women Want Eligibility For COVID-19 Vaccine Soon
During the 16 weeks she’s been pregnant, Tara Larson has closely followed information about COVID-19. She knows pregnant women are more likely to get severely ill should they get the virus; she knows that pregnant women were excluded from vaccine trials, so data is limited. With a police officer husband who interacts with the public daily and months to go in her pregnancy, the 40-year-old Lemont mom is ready to get a vaccine. (Bowen, 1/20)
