Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
43% Of Parents Of Children Under 5 Won't Get Their Kids Covid Shots
New survey results published Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation indicate that 43% of parents of children under 5 in the US say they will not get their child vaccinated against Covid-19, the highest percentage in the year that KFF's Vaccine Monitor survey has been asking the question. (Langmaid, 7/26)
Approximately 544,000 U.S. children under 5 received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose as of last week 鈥 that鈥檚 2.8% of the 19 million children in the age group eligible for the shots, according to federal data analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation. A little over a month since the vaccines became available to the youngest Americans, uptake has peaked and is rapidly decreasing. ... (Vaziri and Beamish, 7/25)
Ahead of the fall, Fauci speaks on future vaccines 鈥
Anthony Fauci, President Biden鈥檚 chief medical adviser, said on Monday that a COVID-19 vaccine booster specific to the BA.5 omicron subvariant 鈥 which is currently dominant in the U.S. 鈥 is the 鈥渂est guess鈥 for dealing with the virus this fall amid the ever-evolving coronavirus pandemic. (Choi, 7/25)
On long covid, surges and other pandemic matters across the states 鈥
One patient posted that he started to feel better within two days of taking ivermectin. 鈥淒on鈥檛 believe all the media lies. It鈥檚 been around for many many years,鈥 he wrote, adding that Big Pharma dismissed the drug because it鈥檚 cheap. Another patient said it cured her long-hauler symptoms in 24 hours. Though Karen Fritzemeier once worked as a respiratory therapist, is trained to weigh medical evidence, and knows to be skeptical of such anecdotes, she said for patients at a loss for treatment, it鈥檚 hard to resist these personal stories. (Goldhill, 7/26)
Fourteen senators are demanding that the federal Bureau of Prisons explain its scant use of Covid-19 therapeutics. The letter is based on STAT鈥檚 May reporting showing that the agency used just a fraction of the Covid-19 drugs it was allotted by the federal government. It urges the bureau鈥檚 leadership to revamp its approach toward Covid-19 testing in an effort to catch more infections that could benefit from these drugs, which need to be given early in a person鈥檚 illness. (Florko, 7/26)
Cities and counties throughout the United States are considering reinstating mask mandates as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise. In Los Angeles County, 8,091 new infections were reported on Friday, the latest date for which data is available, according to the Department of Public Health. This is an increase of 50% from the 5,391 cases recorded at the beginning of the month. (Kekatos, 7/25)
COVID-19 outbreaks have hit Los Angeles International Airport with at least 400 confirmed cases among Transportation Security Administration staff and workers at American and Southwest airlines, according to county health officials. (Hernandez, 7/25)
As a new school year approaches, COVID-19 infections are again on the rise, fueled by highly transmissible variants, filling families with dread. They fear the return of a pandemic scourge: outbreaks that sideline large numbers of teachers, close school buildings and force students back into remote learning. (Lurye and Binkley, 7/25)
L.A. County鈥檚 weekly COVID-19 death rate is significantly higher than that of the San Francisco Bay Area. On a per-capita basis, L.A. County was recording 96 deaths a week for every 10 million residents, while the Bay Area was recording 56 deaths a week for every 10 million residents. (Lin II and Money, 7/25)
