Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Officials Frustrated That More In Nursing Homes Aren't Vaccinated
State and federal health officials are frustrated that thousands of seniors have landed in the hospital with Covid-19 since the holidays — despite the widespread availability of a vaccine designed to prevent exactly that. (Messerly and Cancryn, 1/12)
A key adviser to the Food and Drug Administration's vaccine panel is questioning whether more Covid booster shots are necessary for healthy, younger people. (Lovelace Jr, 1/11)
On other covid-related developments across the states —
After a fall that brought several new “Scrabble variants" of COVID-19, Dr. Peter Hotez has a more focused concern in 2023 with the emergence of XBB1.5 — as well as what may come next from China, where a late-December estimate from the country’s health officials  suggested 37 million new infections a day. (Dansby, 1/11)
A 14th Mississippi child has died from COVID-19, the state’s department of health said Wednesday. The infant under the age of one was the most recent child to die in Mississippi. The child was the first person under 18 to die from COVID-19 in the state in 2023. (1/11)
Coronavirus levels in waste water in the Boston area fell sharply last week, according to new data from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, an encouraging sign after COVID levels climbed during the holidays. (Stoico, 1/11)
Meanwhile, some government-sourced covid tests are set to expire —
Nora Boydstun is diligent about checking expiration dates. So when she received her latest batch of four free at-home Covid tests from the U.S. government in December, she quickly noticed that their packages listed expiration dates in July or August 2022. (Bendix, 1/10)
