🦠 Axios Vitals: COVID cuts

Plus, where the biotech talent is | Thursday, June 09, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By PhRMA   Axios Vitals By Tina Reed · Jun 09, 2022 Good morning, Vitals readers. Today's newsletter is 1,080 words or a 4-minute read. 💻 Tune in today: Join me and Axios' Alexi McCammond at 12:30pm ET for a virtual event examining the impact of misinformation on public health and climate action. Register here. 🚨 Situational awareness: The Biden administration announced this morning its "operational plan" for getting COVID shots to kids under 5 as early as the week of June 20.     1 big thing: America starts to ration COVID tools Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   With existing pandemic funds dwindling and no new money from Congress in sight, the Biden administration is redistributing $10 billion from testing and other preparedness programs to ensure new vaccines and existing treatments remain available this fall, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim, Arielle Dreher and I report. Why it matters: Since Congress remains unwilling to approve new spending, the White House is making tough choices to avoid being caught short if new, more dangerous COVID variants emerge. "These trade-offs we are being forced to make because of Congress will have serious consequences on the development of next-generation vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, domestic vaccine production capacity, stockpiling of PPE and the procurement of tests and testing supplies for federally qualified and community health centers," a White House official told Axios. By the numbers: The Biden administration is redirecting $5 billion to purchase doses of updated versions of the vaccine for the fall. Another $4.9 billion will be redirected to buy 10 million of Pfizer's Paxlovid oral antiviral treatment courses and $300 million will be reallocated for the purchase of additional monoclonal antibody treatments, the official said. On one hand: "Our best arrow in the quiver of prevention is definitely vaccination. So if we have to prioritize that's definitely the right way to go," said Linda Dickey, the 2022 president for the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. On the other hand: "This is a really unfortunate situation in which you're just taking money from one important account for another and you need both," Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown University School of Public Health told Axios. The fallout: Blindspots in the nation's disease surveillance is one of the key concerns. Experts say they fear it will be difficult to build back testing capacity if there is a spike in cases in the fall. Other areas that may go without include critical supplies like PPE or ventilators, as well as research on new vaccines including candidates for a universal coronavirus vaccine, officials said. "Because we can't get our act together to pass the funding, it's like trying to decide between which of your children you're going to save," Nuzzo said. Read the rest.     2. Life sciences talent expands Data: CBRE; Chart: Axios Visuals Boston, the Washington D.C./Baltimore corridor and the San Francisco Bay Area rank among the top 25 life science clusters in the U.S. as the battle for talent heats up, according to a new report from CBRE. The list also includes non-coastal cities such as Pittsburgh, Dallas and Salt Lake City. "The mass and density of talent leads to these markets' success," the report says about its criteria. They also benefit from "world-leading" universities and industry presence, the report says. By the numbers: Job growth in life sciences professions including bioengineers, biochemists, microbiologists and data scientists expanded by 79% since 2001 to roughly 500,000, CBRE's report says. The overall U.S. job growth rate during that time was 8%     3. The damage of gunshot wounds There's no comparison between the severity of the wounds from a handgun versus a rifle, CNN's Sanjay Gupta writes. Driving the news: In a column, the neurosurgeon and medical reporter said he learned this firsthand in medical school via a demonstration in which a professor shot at watermelons using both kinds of firearms. His piece came the same day as an emotional and heated hearing on gun violence in Congress on Wednesday. What he's saying: The difference of the impact the rifle shot made on the melon — and, by extension, on a human body — shocked him, he said. "Instead of a predictable linear track, the watermelon looked like it had been cored out and what was left was shredded," Gupta said. "This was a phenomenon known as cavitation, which is just what it sounds like: The bullet doesn't simply travel through the body, it creates a big cavity inside it." Our thought bubble: The piece gives some sense of what emergency physicians are encountering after mass shootings, particularly ones involving military-style weapons — and why they view these catastrophic injuries through a public health lens.     A message from PhRMA Voters want Congress to address health insurance     Many Americans reject so-called government "negotiation" once they learn it could sacrifice access, choice and innovation. The story: Respondents find health care coverage costs unreasonable and a top priority health care issue for policymakers to address today. Read more in the new survey.     4. Quote of the day "In the 1990s, lawsuits forced big tobacco to pay for the harm they caused by marketing cigarettes. Just last year, Big Pharma agreed to pay $26 billion for communities devastated by opioids. Victims of gun violence also deserve their day in court. They deserve justice." — Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., during a Wednesday hearing. She was calling for an end to immunity statutes that shield gun makers from most civil liability lawsuits.     5. Treating long COVID cardiac complications Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   Patients with long COVID could be at risk for heart disease, and a group of clinicians and researchers released treatment guidelines for people experiencing symptoms or those who could following a diagnosis, Arielle writes. Why it matters: An estimated one in five adults, 18–64 years old, who had COVID previously will develop at least one persistent symptom related to the infection, a CDC analysis found. Between the lines: The guidance recommends that physicians carefully screen patients for potential cardiovascular complications following long COVID. When prescribing exercise, clinicians should individualize treatment to the patient. Doctors prescribing treatments or making referrals should consider inequities in who has access to cardiovascular care, including less availability for people of color and women. Even patients who are not high-risk for heart disease or complications may be at risk for future health problems, the guidance says. "If we don't pay attention and don't make recommendations and see behavioral changes, a much younger population could have more significant cardiovascular disease because of COVID infection and long-haul disease," Jonathan Whiteson, medical director of cardiac rehabilitation at New York University Langone Health and the author of the guidance, told reporters this week.     6. Catch up quick 🍼 A whistleblower complaint was filed with the FDA about serious problems at an Abbott Laboratories baby formula plant in Michigan as early as February 2021, months earlier than previously known. The plant at the heart of the baby formula shortage crisis. (WSJ) 👉 Health advocates say it's time to develop more preventative measures to curb the increasing rate of fatty liver disease among U.S. Latinos who are most at risk for the condition. (Axios) 🏛 Three Texas families have filed a lawsuit demanding that a court block state investigations against them for supporting their transgender kids with gender-affirming care. (Axios) 💡 At least $1 million in cash prizes are up for grabs in a new competition that aims to find the best "low-cost, scalable" ideas that address key drivers of poor health, such as social determinants, for patients in community health centers, the Health Resources and Services Administration said. (HHS)     A message from PhRMA Out-of-pocket costs create significant barriers to care     New data show that 35% of insured Americans spent more on out-of-pocket costs than they could afford in the past month. The story: Many patients are experiencing an insurance system that isn't working for those who need care. Learn how insurance is leaving patients exposed to deepening inequities.   Programming note: We will not have a COVID map today or next Thursday because the CDC won't be publishing data during that time period. Like this email style and format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   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: