Axios Vitals: The FDA vaccine approval effect

Plus, rage grows over masks | Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By PhRMA   Axios Vitals By Tina Reed ·Aug 24, 2021 Hello Vitals readers. Today's newsletter is 833 words, or a 3-minute read.     1 big thing: Pfizer's approval may mean more mandates Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   More employers are likely to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for their workers now that the Pfizer shot has gotten full approval from the FDA. Driving the news: Chevron, the Pentagon and New York City schools imposed vaccine mandates within hours of the FDA's announcement and President Biden called for more mandates. Experts say more public and private employers will follow suit. "What we've seen is employers don't want to be the first in their industry but certainly, as other comparable companies begin to mandate the vaccine, they feel comfortable as well mandating it for their workers," Devjani Mishra, a leader of the COVID task force at San Francisco-based law firm Littler Mendelson, told Axios. "This hopefully brings the temperature down a little bit ... where we're no longer talking about something that's experimental," she said. The big picture: Experts have also hypothesized approval might push the hesitant to get the shot. "I see this in my own medical practice where I have patients who haven't gotten vaccinated ... a fair number of them say, 'I don't want to take something that's experimental,'" said Jeffrey Singer, a general surgeon and senior fellow at the Cato Institute. Yes, but: Some experts are afraid higher uptake might come from parents seeking shots for kids who aren't yet eligible. The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly discouraged pediatricians from administering the vaccine to kids 11 and under until data was available and the CDC warned it was not approved for off-label use. The other side: "I'm all for this approval. I just don't think it's going to be a game-changer in terms of vaccine uptake," said Andrew Noymer, associate professor of public health at the University of California, Irvine. "We've seen so much death and destruction. If that's not enough to get people to vaccinate, why would some bureaucratic distinction be enough?" Share this story.     2. Americans on board with boosters Data: The Harris Poll; Chart: Thomas Oide/Axios The vast majority of Americans who are already vaccinated or plan to be vaccinated say they're likely to get a booster shot, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes from The Harris Poll. But, but, but: More than half of respondents also said the need for boosters has impacted their confidence in the vaccine they've already received — further evidence that the Delta variant has delayed our return to normal life. What they found: People of color and younger Americans are particularly likely to say that the Biden administration's booster shot recommendation impacted their confidence in the vaccine they already received. Half of vaccinated white respondents said their confidence had been impacted, compared with two-thirds of Black and Asian/Pacific Islander respondents and 60% of Hispanic respondents. 68% of Gen Z respondents said their confidence had been impacted, a contrast with the 42% of Boomers who said the same. Between the lines: Harris didn't ask unvaccinated adults whether the booster recommendation undermined their confidence in the vaccines, but there's been some concern that it could discourage vaccine holdouts from getting their shot. Share this story.     3. Mask rage erupts across industries Back-to-school mask fights have gotten so hot that teachers have been punched and hit, and parents are wielding bullhorns and even strobe lights, Axios' Ivana Saric writes. Why it matters: The fights come despite growing calls from medical professionals for kids to wear masks at school for their protection due to the highly virulent Delta variant. My thought bubble: This also reflects a growing level of incivility seen against workers in other industries, including health care workers, as the pandemic wears on and grows in its politicization. It brought to mind an article I read over the weekend about the idea that people seem to be losing their capacity to empathize with others. "There is a sense in which people's coping reserves are sort of finite entities," says Joe Ruzek, a PTSD researcher at Palo Alto University, told The Atlantic. "So if you have to cope a whole lot, you can kind of diminish your resources."     A message from PhRMA Americans reject government negotiation in Medicare     Fact: 65% of Americans oppose Medicare negotiation when it leads to tradeoffs like limits on people's access to medicines or less R‐D of new medicines. Get the facts on why Congress should abandon Medicare negotiation proposals and how they could have devastating consequences for Medicare enrollees.     4. Why one hospital CEO keeps tweeting CoxHealth built a separate COVID-19 unit at the beginning of the pandemic. It's been full the past several weeks. Photo: CoxHealth   The pandemic in Missouri right now is almost has been as bad as ever, with cases soaring and ICU beds filling up with COVID-19 patients. Vaccination rates remain low, Axios' Bob Herman writes. Driving the news: Steve Edwards, CEO of CoxHealth, a six-hospital system based in Springfield, Missouri, has been using Twitter to beg people to get vaccinated and admonish those who try to downplay the virus or vaccines. Screenshot: @SDECoxHealth (Twitter) What he's saying: "A lot of it is kind of visceral. That last tweet was really recognizing a friend of mine who lost a brother. I'm frustrated that people want to minimize or diminish the severity of the disease. I know it hurts people who've lost someone," Edwards told Axios about some of the stronger messages he's posted. Go deeper.     5. Catch up quick NIH director Francis Collins doesn't rule out COVID could have escaped from lab (CNBC) A testing glitch at Rice University led to high rates of false COVID positives, officials say. (New York Times) Scoop: Police launch new probe into muzzle sent to fired Tennessee vaccine official (Axios) Mission and money clash in nonprofit hospitals' venture capital ambitions (KHN)     A message from PhRMA Americans reject government negotiation in Medicare     Fact: 65% of Americans oppose Medicare negotiation when it leads to tradeoffs like limits on people's access to medicines or less R‐D of new medicines. Get the facts on why Congress should abandon Medicare negotiation proposals and how they could have devastating consequences for Medicare enrollees.   Like this email style and format? Learn more about Axios HQ. 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