Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Johnson & Johnson's Covid Shots Are No Longer Authorized In US
US regulators revoked emergency authorization for Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine after the company’s Janssen unit requested its withdrawal. Janssen informed the Food and Drug Administration that shots bought by the government had expired and there was no demand for the product in the US, the regulator said in a statement released last week. (Cattan, 6/5)
Novavax Inc's head of research and development on Monday said an updated COVID-19 vaccine the company is already producing is likely to be protective against other fast-growing coronavirus variants circulating in the U.S. Protein-based vaccines like Novavax's take longer to produce than the messenger RNA-based versions made by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech. (Erman, 6/5)
On the anti-vaccine movement —
Elon Musk on Monday hosted Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist and long-shot Democratic presidential hopeful, in his second Twitter Spaces event for a 2024 White House candidate. But unlike Republican Ron DeSantis's glitch-plagued campaign launch on Twitter in May, the live audio chat with Kennedy was broadcast without major technological problems. Their 2.5-hour conversation had an audience of over 64,000 at some points. (Bose and Singh, 6/5)
Despite the specifics of his recent illness being kept private, Jamie Foxx has become the figurehead for an anti-vax movement after a rumor went viral online. The actor was suffering from "medical complications," according to his daughter Corinne Foxx, and the family were spotted visiting him in a Chicago physical rehabilitation facility in May. With just that information and an unsubstantiated rumor started by a notable gossip columnist, some people are saying Foxx suffered a stroke brought on by a blood clot caused by a COVID vaccination. (Burton, 6/5)
In long covid research —
A new case-control study of Brazilian healthcare workers (HCWs) suggests as many as 27% developed long COVID after infection, and multiple infections raised the risk. The findings were published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. (Soucheray, 6/5)
Also —
Mandy Cohen, the former secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and Biden’s expected pick to head the public health agency, would take the helm at a critical time. The agency will spend this summer lobbying Congress to increase its funding and authorities via two must-pass bills: the reauthorization of a pandemic preparedness law which expires on Sept. 30, and fiscal 2024 appropriations legislation. (Cohen, 6/5)
