News: Axios Vitals: Fauci talks mask guidance, boosters

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Axios Vitals: Fauci talks mask guidance, boosters

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Vitals

By Tina Reed ·May 19, 2021

Good morning.

Today's word count: 1,009, or a 4-minute read.

1 big thing: Fauci says people "misinterpreting" mask guidance

Anthony Fauci. Photo: Mandel Ngan-AFP/Getty Images

Many Americans are "misinterpreting" the latest mask guidance from the CDC, which said vaccinated individuals could forego masks in some indoor areas, NIAID director Anthony Fauci told Axios' Mike Allen.

Why it matters: The latest CDC guidance, released last week, was met with celebration and consternation from the public, and public health experts, worried that this could put unvaccinated individuals at increased risk.

What he's saying: "I think people are misinterpreting, thinking that this is a removal of a mask mandate for everyone. It's not. It's an assurance to those who are vaccinated that they can feel safe, be they outdoors or indoors," Fauci told Allen during an Axios event.

Fauci also said Americans should likely expect to need a COVID-19 vaccine booster within the next year. "I think we will almost certainly require a booster sometime within a year or so after getting the primary [shot] because the durability of protection against coronaviruses is generally not lifelong."
He also said we should expect to keep wearing masks on airplanes for some time. "The trouble is that we don't have vaccine passports, so we don't know who is vaccinated or not. We don't know who is infected or not," Fauci said.

Situational awareness: Check out more of the conversation between Fauci and Allen, as well as Caitlin Owens and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, during a virtual event on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout at 12:30pm today.

2. Scoop: Health centers hit 10 million shots

Medical worker Robert Gilbertson loads a syringe with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to be administered a vaccination site in South Central Los Angeles on Feb. 16. Photo: Apu Gomes-AFP/Getty Images

Federally funded community health centers have now administered more than 10 million COVID-19 vaccines, the Biden administration is set to announce this morning.

More than 60% of them went to racial and ethnic minorities.

Why it matters: Vaccine equity has been an ongoing concern since the shots first received emergency approval. This is one sign that efforts to reach racial and ethnic minorities are working.

Details: HHS pointed to the Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program, a collaboration between the Health Resources and Services Administration and the CDC, with accelerating the distribution of shots.

Starting Feb. 9, the collaboration began providing a direct allocation of COVID vaccines to a cohort of 25 health centers in addition to vaccines the centers received through their states.
The program later expanded to include 1,470 centers including all HRSA Health Center Program-funded health centers and Health Center Program look-alikes.

What they're saying: "We made it very clear the implementation of the rollout of the vaccinations had to have equity as a primary consideration. And that's actually what's happening," Fauci told Allen.

3. Task force: Start colon cancer screenings at 45

Women wait in line near a sign advertising free colorectal cancer screening test kits.

A free colorectal cancer screening test kit sign at the Health and Fitness Expo. Photo: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended Americans begin getting colorectal cancer screenings at age 45, rather than 50, Axios' Jacob Knutson reports.

Why it matters: The task force said the recommendation reflects the fact that colon cancer — the third-leading cause of cancer death for men and women in the country — is increasingly occurring among adults younger than 50.

It also means that most insurance companies will have to cover the screenings with no copay.

The big picture: The system is already trying to get patients to catch up on cancer screenings delayed during the pandemic.

Details: Colorectal cancer screenings dropped 81% between mid-March through April 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019, UnitedHealth Group data shows.

Screening volumes returned to pre-pandemic levels by the fall of 2020. But for the year, colorectal cancer screenings were down 21% in 2020 compared to 2019.
When comparing the five weeks before and after mid-March 2020, UnitedHealth Group data showed a 72% drop in colorectal cancer screenings. In the same time period, the health insurance giant saw a 50% drop in colorectal cancer diagnoses.

"I think delayed screening due to COVID is a ticking time bomb with a ten-year fuse," said Michael Zinner, CEO and executive medical director of Baptist Health's Miami Cancer Institute told CNN.

A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

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4. The social predictors for who gets a shot

Data: GoodRx analysis of U.S. Census and CDC data; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios

Where you live, how educated you are, whether you have health insurance and whether you have access to the internet are all correlated with how likely you are to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Why it matters: None of these factors has anything to do directly with an individual's risk. Instead, this emphasizes, yet again, the powerful role played by social determinants of health.

Driving the news: The CDC released a report yesterday showing that only 39% of Americans living in rural counties had been vaccinated as of early April, compared with 46% of people in urban counties.

Rural residents are among the groups most likely to say they don't want a shot. But the CDC also found that a larger portion of rural than urban residents traveled to nonadjacent counties — or counties farther away from where they live — to be vaccinated, suggesting access issues.

Between the lines: Experts have been warning of geographic, income, and racial vaccine disparities since before the vaccination effort even began. But other social factors also appear to have a relationship with vaccination rates, according to a new analysis by GoodRx.

For example, states with a higher portion of households without internet access tend to have lower vaccination rates. This could be related to the widespread use of online platforms for booking vaccine appointments.

Go deeper.

5. Employers expect to add new perks

Data: Willis Towers Watson; Chart: Michelle McGhee/Axios

The pandemic is driving more employers to offer benefits such as extra protection against major hospital bills and even pet insurance, according to the Emerging Trends in Health Care Survey from Willis Towers Watson.

Why it matters: In the wake of a year that brought plenty of worst-case scenarios, this analysis shows employers responding to employees' desire for security.

Details: Overall, 94% of the 238 employers who responded to the survey indicated they expect voluntary benefits — benefits that are available but largely unsubsidized — to hold great importance over the next three years.

That's up from 36% in 2018.
Some of the fastest-growing voluntary benefits provide coverage against unforeseen health costs, including hospital indemnity coverage, expected to be offered by 65% of the employers by 2022 and critical illness coverage (76%.)

What they're saying: "Frankly, we sort of expected maybe people would enroll less frequently and would want more money in their checking and savings accounts just because incomes could be a bit less stable. But we're really seeing the opposite," Lydia Jilek, who leads the voluntary benefits practice at Willis Towers Watson, told Axios.

What's next: The vast majority of employers also expect to be offering financial planning and counseling over the next two years, and nearly half of employers are also looking to expand benefits for either backup childcare (48%) and eldercare (44%).