Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Are Employer-Aided Vaccinations The Next Step?; Rural Areas Struggling To Vaccinate
Stat: Make It Easier For Employers To Help Get America Vaccinated
Businesses across the country are ready, willing, and able to help America get vaccinated. They have the reach, relationships, and trust to help overcome distribution barriers and vaccine hesitancy. There’s only one problem: There’s no easy way for them to do vaccinations. Many of the nation’s largest employers tell the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which I work for, that they’ve developed sophisticated vaccination strategies designed to get doses into the arms of any employee who wants one. Some are willing to vaccinate employees’ relatives, the employees of other companies, and even the broader communities in which they operate. (Michael Carney, 4/12)
Dallas Morning News: Our Health System Is Not Equipped To Vaccinate Rural Communities
President Joe Biden has boldly announced that 90% of Americans are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine this month. As new COVID variants continue to threaten the United States and increase our susceptibility to the coronavirus, achieving herd immunity through mass vaccination is paramount. Despite this need, many Americans still face major barriers to obtaining the vaccine, especially the 1 in 5 residents who live in rural parts of the country. The reality is that our health care system is not equipped to vaccinate rural communities. We need emergency measures to support vaccine distribution, but our response shouldn’t stop there. This pandemic should serve as a wake-up call: Rural health care can deliver during public health emergencies and otherwise if we invest in the people and infrastructure required. (Dr. Adrian N. Billings and Dr. Janice Blanchard, 4/11)
New England Journal of Medicine: Antibody Responses To Natural Infection And Vaccination
The continuing spread of SARS-CoV-2 remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. What physicians need to know about transmission, diagnosis, and treatment of Covid-19 is the subject of ongoing updates from infectious disease experts at the Journal. In this audio interview conducted on April 6, 2021, the editors discuss the role of antibodies in immunity against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. (Eric J. Rubin, M.D., Ph.D., Lindsey R. Baden, M.D., and Stephen Morrissey, Ph.D., 4/8)
CNN: The 30% Who Could End The Pandemic
When losing soldiers flee a battlefield -- or people migrate in search of a better life -- they are voting with their feet. "Foot voting" lets people control their own destiny, law professor Ilya Somin argues. In America today, people are also voting with their arms, rolling up their sleeves to get vaccinated against Covid-19 -- and the impact will likely be momentous. Nearly 70% of Americans are "arm voting" -- they either expect to be vaccinated or already have been, according to Pew Research's polling. By contrast, in November, voter turnout soared -- but still only about 62% of voting-age people cast ballots in the Biden-Trump contest. More than 114 million Americans have gotten at least one dose of a vaccine. (Richard Galant, 4/11)
NBC News: Vaccine 'Passports' Could Be Useful — But Only If Government Gets Out Of The Way
With nearly 25 percent of Americans having been fully vaccinated, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been issuing new guidelines every few weeks for what fully vaccinated people can safely do. Now, for many, the question is how to prove they've been vaccinated — or trust that others have been. The most popular answer has been some sort of certification more robust than the paper cards familiar from the Instagram feeds of the newly vaccinated — what has been somewhat misleadingly dubbed a "vaccine passport." And that has sparked a serious backlash. (Julian Sanchez, 4/11)
