Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Why We Need A Review Of The Hepatitis B Birth Dose; Nursing Must Be Recognized As A Profession
Stat: Vaccine Integrity Project Undertakes Hepatitis B Review
On Dec. 4, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is expected to vote on whether to maintain the long-standing recommendation that all medically stable newborns who meet a weight threshold receive their first dose of hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth. (Michael T. Osterholm, 11/26)
Stat: Nursing Is A Profession, Period
Walter Cronkite critiqued America’s health care system as “neither healthy, caring, nor a system” in 1993. Thirty-two years later, the U.S. health care system continues to flail. In clinical settings across the country, especially those in rural and other underserved communities, shortages of registered nurses hamper the quality-of-care patients and families receive. (Connie M. Ulrich, Mary Naylor and Martha A.Q. Curley, 11/26)
Bloomberg: China Holds All The Cards In Global Pharmaceuticals
The US and China may have called a truce on trade, but Beijing has other levers to pull should febrile relations deteriorate again. That’s a potential supply-chain chokepoint that Washington has overlooked: its strategic rival’s tight grip on the raw materials needed to make an array of medicines. (Liu, 11/25)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: On Vaccines And Autism, Listen To The Experts, Not The Saboteur
If the current Congress is an ongoing story of a Republican majority meekly refusing to stand up to President Donald Trump’s worst instincts, there are at least a few promising asterisks in terms of unqualified administration appointments. (11/25)
Capitol Weekly: Addressing California's Diabetes-Related Health Burden
Diabetes isn’t just a growing national concern – it’s a crisis in California. More than 10% of California’s adults have diagnosed diabetes, significantly higher than the national average 8.5%. (Todd Gray, 11/25)
