Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
WHO Report Says Covid Was 'Preventable Disaster'
NPR: COVID-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed dangerous failings on the national and international scale, according to an independent review ordered by the World Health Organization. The review found a range of problems, from a slow initial reaction to the coronavirus to "weak links at every point in the chain of preparedness and response." The coronavirus found a world vulnerable to the worst effects of a pandemic despite warnings from experts and a string of recent global health threats, from SARS and Ebola to Zika, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response said. COVID-19 was "a preventable disaster," the panel said as it released its report. (Chappell, 5/12)
Stat: International Panel Calls For Overhaul Of Pandemic Preparedness Efforts
The Covid-19 crisis should serve as a “Chernobyl moment” for global pandemic preparedness, triggering a series of actions to speed the end of this pandemic and to ensure it’s the last of its kind the world ever faces, according to a report from an international panel of experts. The report by the panel, which was established at the behest of member states of the World Health Organization, calls on wealthy countries with Covid vaccine to share their supplies in large volumes and quickly, with 1 billion doses donated by September and another 1 billion by the end of the year. The report calls for swift negotiations to lift intellectual property protections for Covid vaccines — and an automatic waiver if the negotiations fail to deliver within three months. (Branswell, 5/12)
And the covid surge in India shows no signs of abating —
Reuters: More Than 4,000 Indians Die Of COVID-19 For Second Straight Day
India recorded more than 4,000 COVID-19 deaths for a second straight day on Thursday, while infections stayed below 400,000 for a fourth day, though the virus has become rampant in rural areas where cases can go unreported due to a lack of testing. Experts remain unsure when numbers will peak and concern is growing about the transmissibility of the variant that is driving infections in India and spreading worldwide. (5/13)
CBS News: Volunteers Risk Lives To Collect Bodies Of COVID-19 Victims In India
An ambulance of volunteers is dispatched, but it's too late for the living. The volunteers are risking their lives to collect the bodies of those who died at home and whose families couldn't afford to cremate them. COVID-19 has killed a record 4,200 people in India in just 24 hours, according to a government tally. But experts say the daily toll could be closer to 25,000. When people die at home, they almost never get counted in the official death toll in India. (Livesay, 5/12)
In other global developments —
Bloomberg: Norway Covid Vaccination To Permanently Remove AstraZeneca Shots From Program
Norway will remove the AstraZeneca Plc shots from its Covid-19 inoculation program due to the risk of rare blood clots, in a move the country said will have little effect on the national vaccination timeline. “The government has decided that the AstraZeneca vaccine will not be used in Norway, not even voluntarily,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said at a news conference on Wednesday. (Treloar, 5/12)
Bloomberg: Slovakia To Use Russia's Sputnik V Covid Vaccine After Resolving Dispute
Slovakia is set to become the European Union’s second member to use the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine after ironing out a disagreement with Russia over negative reports by the country’s drug regulator. The eastern EU nation’s medicine agency angered Russia last month by saying it wasn’t able to asses the vaccine’s risks and benefits because it lacked data from the producer. The regulator also alleged that the doses it received had different properties than the ones described in an article in The Lancet medical journal earlier this year. (Laca, 5/12)
CNBC: Seychelles Most Vaccinated Nation On Earth But Covid-19 Has Surged
The Seychelles is causing concern for world health experts after a rise of Covid-19 cases among fully vaccinated individuals. The World Health Organization said Tuesday that it would review coronavirus data from the Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, after the health ministry said more than a third of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in the week to May 8 had been fully vaccinated. (Ellyatt, 5/13)
CBS News: USA Track & Field Team Reportedly Cancels Pre-Olympic Training In Japan Over COVID Concerns
Japanese media reported on Wednesday that the USA Track & Field team had canceled its pre-Olympic training camp in Japan. The apparent move, which the U.S. Olympic team didn't immediately confirm, came as Japan extended its third official state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic. ... Britain's Paralympic wheelchair basketball team and the Russian fencing team have also cancelled plans to hold training camps in Chiba. (Craft, 5/12)
