Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Lessons On Keeping The Next Pandemic From Taking Place, Taming This One
Bloomberg: Stopping The Next Covid-19
As the First World War wore on, a new scourge erupted: an influenza pandemic that left even more bodies in its wake than the conflict itself. But the 1918 pandemic was overshadowed by the war, and its lessons went unheeded. One hundred years later, the world faces a similar test. When the Covid-19 pandemic eventually recedes, will we learn the lessons it is teaching us? Or once the emergency subsides and life returns to “normal,” will we carry on the same as before? (Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Michael R. Bloomberg, 2/3)
Boston Globe: A Crisis For One Is A Threat To All
The most serious crises call for the most ambitious decisions to shape the future. We believe that this one can be an opportunity to rebuild consensus for an international order based on multilateralism and the rule of law through efficient cooperation, solidarity, and coordination. In this spirit, we are determined to work together, with and within the United Nations, regional organizations, international forums such as the G7 and G20, and ad hoc coalitions to tackle the global challenges we face now and in the future. Health is the first emergency. The COVID-19 crisis is the greatest test of global solidarity in generations. It has reminded us of an obvious fact: In the face of a pandemic, our health safety chain is only as strong as the weakest health system. COVID-19 anywhere is a threat to people and economies everywhere. (Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Macky Sall, António Guterres, Charles Michel, and Ursula von der Leyen, 2/3)
The Washington Post: The Covid Questions We Don’t Want To Face
For nearly a year, most of us have assumed this pandemic could end only one way: herd immunity. Maybe we’d get there by staying inside until a vaccine arrived, or maybe we’d all give up, catch covid-19 and acquire immunity the old-fashioned way. Almost none of us considered whether it was possible that neither of those things might happen. So let’s ask: What if the virus gets more contagious and even more lethal, like the variant first identified in Britain, instead of less deadly, like the 1918 flu? What if the virus keeps reinventing itself and evading our immune defenses, so much so that it’s not possible to reach herd immunity without continually updated vaccinations? What if the pandemic never really “ends”? The situation in Manaus, Brazil, is making me ask those questions. And I don’t like the answers. (Megan McArdle, 2/2)
Bloomberg: Are Covid-19 Vaccines Safe During Pregnancy? Women Deserve Better Data
Researchers studying Covid-19 vaccines failed to get much of any data on pregnant people. That disservice was compounded last week when the WHO recommended against giving pregnant women the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, appearing to conflict with earlier advice offered by the CDC and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. It later backtracked, though too late to avoid raising a round of new questions. Experts who study sex differences, pregnancy and the immune system say the limited evidence available suggests pregnant people are more at risk from the virus than from the vaccine. (Faye Flam, 2/2)
The New York Times: What Do You Do When Your Child Has The Coronavirus?
I have spent the past 11 months filling my children with fear. Don’t touch that, I say. Lift your mask over your nose. Keep six feet away! I have chosen not to water down the reasons, explaining to my 6- and 9-year-old sons what the coronavirus is and how it infects and how many people have died and continue to die daily in the United States (2,010 on Monday). I have been especially preachy with my youngest. We’ve talked about his lungs. About the pulmonologist who told us he had tracheomalacia at 18 months and then, later, asthma. We’ve talked about all the emergency medical visits, all the nebulizers and inhalers that fill our kitchen cabinet. He gets it. He’s washed his hands so often that his knuckles have turned red and raw. What happens after you spend 11 months filling your children with fear and then the source of dread arrives? And of all the bodies in your household, it slips into only the smallest one? (Courtney Zoffness, 2/2)
Stat: Community Health Centers Can Help Stamp Out Covid-19
“If you are having difficulty breathing, go to an emergency room or call 911.” This previously routine advisory made its last appearance in a Dec. 18 news release by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, announcing that county hospitals had exceeded 5,000 patients being treated for Covid-19. (Jeffrey E. Harris, 2/3)
Dallas Morning News: Texas Needs A New COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan
We’ve got the first miles under our belt in the long drive to achieving herd immunity against COVID-19 through vaccination. But we need to reorient ourselves on this journey with a vaccine 2.0 distribution plan to get us on a better path. The coronavirus now poses the highest risk ever. Although there have been promising signs in recent weeks, with the number of COVID-19 cases in Dallas down 22%, Dallas hospital intensive care units are in crisis. A New York Times national scorecard puts Dallas at “extremely high risk,” the top of the scale. Deaths are on the increase, and new and more dangerous variants of the virus are circulating in the U.S. When it comes to administering the vaccine, Texas has a middling record, according to The New York Times, behind Arkansas and Oklahoma. (Donald F. Kettl, 2/1)
Miami Herald: Gov. DeSantis Says Florida Doesn’t Need Biden’s FEMA Plan
Florida’s COVID vaccine rollout is more like a flaming ant farm, only less organized. Day after day, millions of exasperated seniors armed with laptops, cell phones, iPads and tech-savvy grandchildren try to penetrate swamped local websites that fleetingly offer appointments. Meanwhile, in the blue-sky parallel universe accessible only to the mind of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state’s distribution networks are humming along like well-oiled machines. The only problem is a shortage of vaccines. ....The result is a daily display of doubletalk that would be comical if so many lives and jobs weren’t at stake. The governor never had a master plan for getting out the vaccine, but he’s determined to ignore and discredit Joe Biden’s. (Carl Hiaasen, 1/29)
