🏥 Axios Vitals: Emergency wait times

Plus, America's next vaccine move | Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By PhRMA   Axios Vitals By Tina Reed ·Feb 23, 2022 Happy Wednesday, Vitals readers. Today's newsletter is 841 words or a 3-minute read. 👉 Don't forget: You can join Axios virtually at our inaugural What's Next Summit on April 5. Register here to attend livestream sessions with discussions on trends that will revolutionize our future.      1 big thing: America prepares for a potential 4th COVID shot Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios   Even as the Omicron wave winds down, federal health officials, experts, and the vaccine makers are already preparing for a potential fourth COVID shot to protect against whatever may come next, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes. The catch: It's not yet clear whether another booster shot will be needed. And if it is, there are even more questions around who should receive one and what kind of shot would be most effective. What they're saying: ​​"The potential future requirement for an additional boost or a fourth shot for mRNA or a third shot for J&J is being very carefully monitored in real-time. And recommendations, if needed, will be updated according to the data as it evolves," NIAID director Anthony Fauci told reporters last week. State of play: Fourth doses are already authorized for immunocompromised people. However, for most people, data suggest that a single booster shot offers strong protection against severe disease, including from Omicron. But the big question is how long that protection against hospitalization and death will last. The U.K. recently decided that it will soon offer fourth shots to the elderly and some people with health conditions, per The Sunday Times. Zoom in: Israel has already offered fourth shots and has begun to release preliminary data on their effect. One preprint released earlier this month found that a fourth shot offered only marginal improvement against infection over the third shot. However, a separate Israeli preprint found that a fourth shot led to lower rates of infection and severe disease. The bottom line: The need for another booster shot will also depend on how much the virus keeps circulating. Go deeper.     2. Data du jour Data: SysAid; Map: Kavya Beheraj/Axios Patients seeking help in an emergency room in Maryland wait an average of nearly four hours for their care, experiencing the longest waits in the nation, according to research by IT service automation company SysAid. In comparison, patients in North Dakota had the shortest wait times at an average of one hour 46 minutes.     3. CDC updates vaccine dosing interval The CDC yesterday updated its guidance to say that first and second doses of Pfizer or Moderna's coronavirus vaccines can be spaced as long as eight weeks apart for some people, Caitlin writes. Why it matters: New research suggests that spreading the doses out over a longer period of time may reduce the risk — already small — of mRNA vaccines leading to myocarditis in young men. It may also increase how long vaccine protection lasts, according to the CDC. The longer interval may be particularly beneficial for males ages 12–39 years, the CDC said. Yes, but: The original shorter intervals are still recommended for certain populations, including the immunocompromised, seniors, people at high risk of severe disease and others who need protection quickly.     A message from PhRMA Middlemen are pocketing your discounts     Government price-setting policies won't stop insurers and other middlemen from shifting medicine costs to patients. Get involved: Use your voice to stand against dangerous health care proposals like government price setting. Get more details.     4. Sanofi Pasteur pushes for high-dose flu shot Photo illustration: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images   Advisers to the CDC will consider today whether to clarify flu vaccine guidelines to recommend a "high-dose" shot over a standard dose for seniors. Why it matters: Even amid the pandemic, flu remains a major public health threat, especially for adults older than 65. Driving the news: Sanofi Pasteur is pushing the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to state a "clear preference" for its Fluzone high-dose vaccine for adults over 65 in time to factor into vaccine orders for the 2022-23 flu season. The product is the only licensed high-dose inactivated flu vaccine in the U.S. for those 65 and older. ACIP currently recommends all adults get flu vaccines, but does not indicate a preference for the high-dose version. The bottom line: ACIP recommendations have a bearing not only on what patients are seeking or doctors recommend, but what Medicare or commercial insurers pay for without cost-sharing — and what vaccine orders ultimately get placed for the next flu season.     4. U.S. maternal mortality disparities worsen Data: National Center for Health Statistics; Chart: Will Chase/Axios The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. for 2020 was 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births, up from a rate of 20.1 in 2019, newly released CDC data shows. Why it matters: The U.S. still has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world and previous research has largely attributed that to an outsized prevalence among Black mothers. Zoom in: The maternal mortality rate for Black women was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, nearly three times the rate for white women (19.1 per 100,000). That's also a significant increase over 2019, when Black mothers had a mortality rate of 44 deaths per 100,000 live births. Maternal mortality rates also increased with maternal age. Rates in 2020 were 13.8 deaths per 100,000 live births for women under age 25, 22.8 for those aged 25–39, and 107.9 for those aged 40 and over.     6. Catch up quick The trial for an Ohio doctor accused of ordering excessive pain meds that resulted in the deaths of at least 14 patients began Tuesday after he rejected a last-minute plea deal. (Columbus Dispatch) Nearly half of the 140,000 American workers who went on strike last year were in health care. (CBS News) There's a battle over single-payer health care being waged within the American Medical Association, and the political winds on this issue — at least in the profession — may be shifting. (New Yorker)     A message from PhRMA Patients need affordable medicines     Government price-setting threatens patient access to medicines and innovation. Instead, let's cap out-of-pocket costs and stop middlemen from pocketing discounts. Learn more about how these proposals have potentially devastating consequences for patients.   Like this email style and format? Bring the strength of Smart Brevity® to your team — more effective communications, powered by Axios HQ.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: