Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: When Will FDA Move On Full Vaccine Approval?; Vaccinated Shouldn't Have To Be Restricted
Bloomberg: The FDA Needs To Clear The Air On Covid Vaccine Approval
As calls for the Food and Drug Administration to fully approve Covid-19 vaccines grow louder, the agency itself has little to say. This is a mistake. The agency insists it is “working as quickly as possible” and has suggested that full approval may come for at least one vaccine by the end of summer. The public is left wondering: What’s taking so long? This isn’t just a minor nuisance. It undermines trust in the vaccines and damages the FDA’s most valuable asset — its credibility. (8/3)
The Atlantic: Unvaccinated People Need To Bear The Burden
When you go to the airport, you see two kinds of security rules. Some apply equally to everyone; no one can carry weapons through the TSA checkpoint. But other protocols divide passengers into categories according to how much of a threat the government thinks they pose. If you submit to heightened scrutiny in advance, TSA PreCheck lets you go through security without taking off your shoes; a no-fly list keeps certain people off the plane entirely. Not everyone poses an equal threat. Rifling through the bags of every business traveler and patting down every preschooler and octogenarian would waste the TSA’s time and needlessly burden many passengers. (Juliette Kayyem, 8/3)
Newsweek: Give Vaccine Passports A Chance
The New York vaccine passport simply acknowledges what public health experts have understood since early in the pandemic, crowds of people, indoors, without masks create an epidemiological powder keg just waiting for a spark. The real questions to ask are whether this provides enough safety, and if so, should it be implemented nationally? Will it Work? We knew from the outset that the SARS CoV-2 vaccines dramatically reduce rates of infection, rates of symptoms and disease severity. But that was alpha. This is delta. (Robert D. Morris, 8/3)
The Baltimore Sun: I Went To A Party With 14 Other Vaccinated People; 11 Of Us Got COVID
I was sitting on an examination table at an urgent care clinic in Timonium, giving my history to a physician’s assistant. An hour later, she would call me to confirm that I was positive for COVID-19. Given the way that I felt, it was what I expected. But it wasn’t supposed to happen: I’ve been fully vaccinated for months. (Allan Massie, 8/3)
The New York Times: The C.D.C. Needs To Stop Confusing The Public
“Be first, be right, be credible,” are among the most important principles for health authorities to follow in a crisis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared in a pamphlet on crisis communication in 2018. To meet those goals, the report advises, avoid sending mixed messages from multiple experts, releasing information too late, taking paternalistic attitudes, failing to counter rumors and myths in real time and engaging in public power struggles and causing confusion. (Zeynep Tufekci, 8/4)
Bloomberg: Be The Next Wave Delta Or A New Variant, Kids' Welfare Must Be The Top Priority
As new variants — delta, and then probably epsilon and whatever comes next — bring us more waves of Covid-19 in the fall and winter, policymakers and citizens in all developed countries should say out loud and in unison: This time, let’s save our kids. This means, yes, offering youngsters vaccinations if the parents agree, as Germany just decided to do for children older than 12, even while a commission of scientists still dithers about recommending this step. (Andreas Kluth, 8/4)
Houston Chronicle: Kids Are 'Collateral Damage' As Adults Balk At COVID-19 Vaccinations And Masks
We are at a crossroads with respect to COVID-19 and its impact on children. Over the first year of the pandemic in the U.S., fewer than 6 percent of COVID-19 cases occurred among children, and most produced only minor symptoms. Unfortunately, the new delta variant of COVID-19 appears to be a game changer. Having practiced and done research in pediatric infectious diseases for more than 35 years, traveling the world studying and treating HIV/AIDS and many other epidemic infectious diseases, I am worried. (Mark W. Kline, 8/3)
