Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Who Gets The Shots First? CDC Panel Set To Vote
AP: CDC Panel Meets Tuesday To Vote On COVID-19 Vaccine Priority
A panel of U.S. advisers will meet Tuesday to vote on how scarce, initial supplies of a COVID-19 vaccine will be given out once one has been approved. Experts have proposed giving the vaccine to health workers first. High priority also may be given to workers in essential industries, people with certain medical conditions and people age 65 and older. (11/28)
Stat: Divisions Emerge Among U.S. Officials Over When First Covid-19 Vaccine Doses Will Be Available — And For Whom
Divisions are emerging among top U.S. officials over when the country’s first Covid-19 vaccine will be authorized — and who should be at the front of the line to get vaccinated. (Branswell, 11/30)
In other COVID vaccine news —
FierceHealthcare: Many Adults Say They'll Wait To Get COVID-19 Vaccine, Poll Finds
While many adults older than 50 say they plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available, plenty indicated they probably won't rush to get it right away, a new poll found. According to the National Poll on Healthy Aging from the University of Michigan, 58% of adults between the ages of 50 and 80 years old said they were somewhat or very likely to get the vaccine if it became available at no cost to them. (11/25)
Boston Globe: There’s A Big Obstacle Looming For Coronavirus Vaccines — A Strong Antivaccine Movement
For as long as there have been vaccines, there have been people like Winnie Harrison who shun them. Harrison, 67, a former educator and mother of four, became an ardent disbeliever in immunizations after her first child had an adverse reaction to a measles, mumps, and rubella shot some three decades ago. But it wasn’t until recent years that she and other skeptics began to forge online connections, fostering fear about vaccines and what doctors call a growing ecosystem of health misinformation that has only ramped up amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Ulloa, 11/28)
The Washington Post: Mass Vaccination Against Covid Will Be A Challenge For Alabama And Other Poor, Rural States
Overcoming distrust of a covid-19 vaccine is about “survival instincts” for Shane Lee, a family physician in Perry County, Ala., a rural, mostly African American community of about 9,000 where more than a third of people live in poverty. When the outbreak erupted in Alabama’s Black Belt in the summer and “swept through hospitals and nursing homes like a grass fire,” the 59-year-old doctor, a retired Army general, became infected. His heart muscle grew inflamed. Months later, he is still short of breath. (Stanley-Becker, 11/29)
