Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Study Showing Benefits Of Covid Vaccine Published In AMA Journal After CDC Refused To Run It In Theirs
NBC News: Covid Vaccine Study The Acting CDC Director Blocked Is Published In An Outside Journal
A study on Covid vaccines that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s acting director blocked from publication came out Tuesday in a different journal. The findings show that Covid vaccines reduced the likelihood of severe illness by about half among adults last fall and winter. The study was originally scheduled to be released in March in the CDC’s flagship scientific publication, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Instead, it was published in JAMA Network Open, a highly regarded, peer-reviewed journal from the American Medical Association. (Bendix, 6/23)
Read the study on the JAMA Network —
On flu and measles —
ABC News: Military Services Again Requiring Recruits To Get Flu Shots As Air Force Outbreak Grows
The services have already been given exceptions to the vaccine policy, according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell in a statement provided to ABC News. As part of those exceptions to the policy, the Army, Navy and Air Force are once again requiring flu shots for basic trainees, according to officials. (Cobern, Martinez, Kekatos and Beynon, 6/24)
Chicago Tribune: Health Officials Warn Of Potential Measles Exposure At O'Hare
Chicago health officials are investigating a case of measles in a traveler who arrived at O’Hare International Airport on June 17. (Schencker, 6/23)
Updates on the Ebola outbreak —
France 24: France Confirms First Ebola Case In Doctor Returning From DR Congo Mission
A doctor returning from a humanitarian mission in Congo has tested positive for Ebola, the country's first case of the virus during the current outbreak, the health ministry said on Wednesday. The health ministry "confirms today the identification of a first positive case of Ebola virus disease on national territory", it said. Contacted by AFP, the ministry specified that the case was identified in mainland France. The patient is being isolated and authorities are contact tracing, the ministry said. (6/24)
The New York Times: Ebola Symptoms In Current Outbreak May Be Milder Than In Previous Ones
Doctors treating Ebola patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo say the symptoms may be milder than in previous outbreaks of the disease. There is too little data yet to be certain, but an assessment by the ministry of health in Congo suggests that about 90 percent of patients do not seem to develop the extensive internal and external bleeding that can arise in the disease’s horrific end stages, according to Dr. Marie-Roseline Belizaire, who leads the World Health Organization’s response to the outbreak. Some early data also suggests that fewer people may be dying this time compared with previous outbreaks. (Mandavilli, 6/23)
NPR: Inside The Town Where The Ebola Outbreak Likely Started
Joseph Mute witnessed a string of mysterious deaths in Mongbwalu long before the Congolese government declared an Ebola outbreak. A neighborhood leader in the town, Mute said that the characteristic feature of these deaths was the presence of blood. "They had blood in the nose, blood in the mouth," he said, standing on an unpaved road in the Shuni neighborhood. A gold-mining town of about 130,000 people located in Ituri province, Mongbwalu is one of the epicenters of eastern Congo's Ebola outbreak. The outbreak is believed to have started here, according to the World Health Organization, but this has yet to be fully confirmed. (Livingstone and Mpiana, 6/24)
