Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: It Shouldn't Be So Hard To Get Monkeypox Treatment; Will WHO Declare Monkeypox An Emergency?
Andy couldn鈥檛 sleep more than a couple fitful hours a night because it felt like a hot fork was stabbing him in the butt. He had excruciating internal and external lesions around his anus. (Jay K. Varma and Joseph Osmundson, 7/15)
With cases of monkeypox now topping 10,000 globally, the World Health Organization will meet next week and reconsider whether this viral disease's latest outbreak is a "global health emergency." (7/14)
Earlier this week I was preparing to write a guest essay with my colleague, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an ob-gyn here in Indiana. We wanted to write about the chilling effect that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has had on medicine in our state and around the country in just a few short weeks. (Tracey A. Wilkinson, 7/15)
The Biden administration should declare a public health emergency to ensure everyone in the U.S. has access to abortion medication. (7/13)
Once a week, typically on the day that the Centers for Disease Control updates its Covid data tracker, I send my dad a text: 鈥淒id you make an appointment to get your booster?鈥 (Lisa Jarvis, 7/14)
Is this pandemic over or what? From what I鈥檝e seen in Boston, New York, and Washington, most seem to think the answer is yes. Stores, restaurants, subway trains, and airplanes have been filled to capacity with those eager to return to normal life, many of whom are opting to go unmasked. (Kimberly Atkins Stohr, 7/14)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to contradict themselves regarding COVID-19. (Gortler, 7/15)
A new variant of the coronavirus, even more contagious than previous strains, is now dominant in the United States. But rising cases should not prompt calls for most Americans to hunker down or policymakers to reimpose restrictions. Instead, the rapid spread of the BA.5 omicron subvariant is a window into what the future with this coronavirus looks like. (Leana S. Wen, 7/14)