Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Asks For $10B More To Battle Covid
The Washington Post: White House Seeks More Covid Funding In Lame-Duck Session
The White House mounted another effort on Tuesday to secure billions of dollars from Congress for a new generation of coronavirus vaccines and treatments, even as Republicans remain skeptical about how past allocations were spent. Biden officials finalized a request this week for about $10 billion in public health funds by year’s end, part of a larger request in the lame-duck session of Congress that would also include funding for Ukraine and disaster relief for hurricane damage in Florida, according to six people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe confidential budget discussions. (Diamond, 11/15)
The Wall Street Journal: Senate Votes To End Covid-19 Emergency Declaration
Senate lawmakers voted on Tuesday to end the federal government’s emergency declaration on the Covid-19 pandemic, a status that has given the Biden administration tools to combat the coronavirus. The Senate voted 62-36 to end the emergency declaration nearly three years after it was invoked. It’s unclear if the House will take up the measure. President Biden threatened to veto any congressional efforts to end the national emergency declaration’s status, said the Office of Management and Budget in a statement. (Ferek, 11/15)
More on the spread of covid —
CNN: How To Protect Your Family Against Covid-19 Illness This Thanksgiving
With this year’s Thanksgiving the third since the onset of the pandemic, there are now many tools to help manage Covid-19 risk, including safe and widely available vaccines. But this coronavirus still presents a danger, especially to older people and those with chronic medical conditions. (Hetter, 11/16)
Stat: White House’s Jha Isn’t Predicting A Severe Covid Surge This Holiday
Ashish Jha, the White House Covid-19 coordinator, predicted Tuesday that the United States will not be heading toward another Covid-19 surge driven by holiday gatherings akin to the Omicron wave in 2021. (Florko, 11/15)
NBC News: Covid Deaths And Hospitalizations Are Falling In The U.S.
According to NBC News data, Covid deaths have fallen consistently since Aug. 31, when the seven-day average of daily Covid deaths was at 571. A month later, on Sept. 30, the number fell to 475. By Halloween, 365 were dying per day, on average, from Covid. (Edwards, 11/15)
CIDRAP: Long-COVID Rate May Be Similar Whether Hospitalized Or Not
Nearly 60% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients and 68% of their nonhospitalized counterparts seen at two healthcare centers in Madrid, Spain, early in the pandemic reported still having at least one symptom 2 years later, suggests a study published today in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 11/15)
Also —
Stat: ‘I Pushed Back’: Fauci On Becoming ‘Public Enemy No. 1’
As he faces the possibility of increased scrutiny from what is likely to be a Republican-controlled House, Anthony Fauci on Tuesday signaled he is willing to go to the mat to justify the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and viral research programs. “I’d be more than happy to discuss anything that we’ve done over the last several years with this outbreak, since I have nothing to hide and I can defend everything we’ve done,” Fauci said at the annual STAT Summit. (Joseph, 11/15)
Stat: Covid-19 Vaccines Were A Success, But MRNA Still Has A Delivery Problem. Two Startups Have An Unorthodox Solution
While billions of vaccine doses administered during the pandemic have generated reams of data about the safety and effectiveness of mRNA, they haven’t answered one of the field’s biggest questions: How do you send messenger RNA exactly where it needs to go in the body? (Wosen, 11/16)
