Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Getting Bivalent Jab By Halloween Will Protect You For Thanksgiving, Jha Says
In an interview for Andy Slavitt鈥檚 鈥淚n the Bubble鈥 podcast, Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator,聽said high-risk individuals should get the new shots right away and everyone else should get it in early fall. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really important for people to get it by Halloween,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hy Halloween? Because three weeks after Halloween is Thanksgiving, and there鈥檚 a lot of travel, and you鈥檙e seeing family, and you鈥檙e seeing friends. And few weeks later, it鈥檚 the holidays.鈥 (Fracassa and Vaziri, 9/12)
U.S. research on covid antibodies could have big implications 鈥
Using genetically modified mice, hospital researchers, collaborating with colleagues from Duke University, found the antibody SP1-77, which neutralizes the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and its variants including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron, the hospital said. SP1-77 鈥減otently neutralized all major SARS-CoV-2 variants through the recently emergent BA.5 variant,鈥 researchers said in the study, which was published in August in the journal Science Immunology. (Finucane, 9/12)
In long covid research 鈥
COVID-19 patients who had received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine reported 8 of the 10 most common long-COVID symptoms 50% to 80% less often than their unvaccinated counterparts, finds an ongoing Israeli study published in the Nature journal npj Vaccines. (Van Beusekom, 9/12)
In other pandemic news 鈥
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Monday that she will end the state鈥檚 COVID-19 state of emergency amid falling case numbers and rising criticism. While the COVID-19 pandemic has faded as a major concern for much of the American public, there are still 10 states across the U.S. with emergency orders in place. (Dress, 9/12)
Sulamai Seve has been homeless and living in a room at the Aviator Hotel in downtown Anchorage for about a year. On a recent sunny September afternoon, she sat on a concrete curb beneath the hotel鈥檚 portico. Seve held the ashy remains of a spent cigarette in her right hand, her left tucked into the pocket of her black hoodie.鈥 I like it here. They are treating me pretty good,鈥 she said. (Goodykoontz, 9/11)
The U.S. Supreme Court will allow the public to hear arguments in person for the first time in about 2-1/2 years following a closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Justice John Roberts said late on Friday, according to media reports. The court's nine justices - all of whom have been vaccinated against COVID-19 - will begin hearing a new round of cases when the court's next term kicks off on Oct. 3. (Chung, 9/12)
