Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Novavax Covid Shot Approved For Emergency Use By EU, WHO
The WHO and EU have now cleared Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, adding another shot to the global arsenal. The biggest impact will likely be in the developing world as the American company has promised over 1 billion doses to the WHO-backed COVAX initiative. The vaccine can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures and proved highly effective in clinical trials. (Lawler, 12/20)
A growing number of countries are reducing the wait time for COVID-19 vaccine boosters from six months to as few as three in a bid to ward off a new surge in infections from the Omicron variant. They are reacting to early evidence suggesting that Omicron is spreading faster than its predecessor, Delta, and is more likely to infect people who were vaccinated or had COVID in the past. Some scientists, however, say that giving boosters too soon could compromise the level of longer-term vaccine protection. (Beasley, 12/20)
In mid-August, not long after the Tokyo Olympics had wrapped up, the situation in Japan looked grim to Dr. Hideaki Oka, an infectious disease expert at the Saitama Medical University Hospital outside Tokyo. As he treated COVID-19 patients at his hospital, Japan was in the grip of a fifth wave of infections. New cases nationwide had surged to around 25,000 a day, and the country's medical system was being stretched to its limits. By late September, cases had plunged, and Oka is now getting a respite, of sorts. "We have had zero COVID patients in our hospital for two months straight," he explains, "so we've been able to concentrate on general medicine just as in pre-COVID times." (Kuhn, 12/20)
French police have uncovered 182,000 fake health passes since the documents were introduced this summer in a bid to control the spread of the coronavirus. President Emmanuel Macron introduced the official passes in July, and they have become necessary to gain access to numerous venues, including bars, restaurants and many long-distance trains. They can be obtained through vaccination, recovery from covid-19 or a recent negative test. (Pannett, 12/21)
