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| Presented By CVS Health |
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| Axios Vitals |
| By Tina Reed · Dec 19, 2022 |
| Happy Monday, Vitals readers. Today's newsletter is 960 words or a 3½-minute read. |
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| 1 big thing: Antibiotic, drug shortages highlight America's supply chain problems — again |
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| Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios |
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| Health systems and pharmacies are running out of antibiotics like amoxicillin and other commonly used drugs just as the worst flu season in more than a decade is colliding with RSV and a rebound of COVID cases. Why it matters: It's further evidence of U.S. vulnerabilities when it comes to securing some of the most basic health care products — even children's Motrin. State of play: Antibiotics, antivirals and pediatric cold and flu medications are hard to find across the country as families deal with back-to-back illnesses and spinoffs like ear infections and pneumonia. - The problem started with antibiotics manufacturers like Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Teva and Sandoz reporting shortages because they didn't anticipate the early surge of respiratory diseases, and escalated from there.
What they're saying: Health care providers now are "seeing the knock-on effect," Sarah Ash Combs, an emergency department physician at Children's National Hospital, told Axios. "Basically, amoxicillin went on shortage so we upped our game and went to augmentin ... and that's now becoming on shortage." - "That definitely affects us in the emergency department because these are the types of things we prescribe for kids to go home with and we get calls ... with the parent saying: 'I'm at my third pharmacy and they don't have amoxicillin. They don't have augmentin. What do I do?'"
- In Utah, stores are running out of children's Tylenol and pharmacists are trying to reformulate adult doses of antivirals like Tamiflu, Intermountain Healthcare doctors told Axios Salt Lake City last week.
The big picture: The shortages are being felt around the world, with providers in both the U.K. and Germany sounding the alarm and the EU investigating, Politico reported. Between the lines: "This isn't like what we had with baby formula," former FDA commissioner and Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb said on CBS' "Face The Nation" on Sunday. - "This is a sophisticated supply chain. All the manufacturers are in the market. They just didn't anticipate this much demand this early in the season," he said.
Our thought bubble: This may be the product of an especially bad respiratory illness season. But it's hardly an anomaly. Go deeper. |
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| 2. What the health headlines told us about 2022 |
 Reproduced from Morning Consult; Chart: Axios Visuals The Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the baby formula shortage overshadowed the COVID pandemic in generating interest among registered voters this year, per a Morning Consult analysis shared first with Axios. Why it matters: Americans appeared ready to move on after two years of pandemic news and seized on other big health care story lines, said Ricky Zipp, health data reporter at Morning Consult. What they are saying: "It was still — in health care, at least — very much a pandemic-driven news cycle, but the stories weren't resonating as much as others," Zipp said. By the numbers: 71% of voters said they had seen coverage of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to an analysis of weekly surveys Morning Consult conducted with a representative sample of roughly 2,000 registered voters. - That was followed by roughly 60% of voters who said they'd heard "a lot" about the infant formula crisis.
- Pandemic news accounted for six of the top 15 headlines this year, including President Biden's positive COVID-19 test, which was "the pandemic story that broke through the most," per Morning Consult.
Read the rest. |
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| 3. FDA expert panel to discuss COVID vaccine future |
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| Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios |
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| FDA advisers will hold a key meeting next month to discuss the state of the pandemic and whether COVID vaccines need to be modified again to better limit the fast-changing virus, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez writes. The big picture: Health experts say the Jan. 26 meeting, announced on Friday, will sketch out a long-term strategy that goes beyond responding to new strains and shifting threats. - The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee last met on COVID in June. At the time, the committee recommended an Omicron-specific update to COVID boosters.
- "The vaccination program until now has been developed and revised on the fly," said Jason Schwartz, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health.
- "I think this meeting, at the start of 2023, signals that it's the right time for the FDA to really take a top-to-bottom appraisal of how they're going to think about COVID vaccination for next year and beyond," he added.
What we can expect: The FDA is looking to get input from the committee on how to better handle variants, as well as to potentially learn other strategies the U.S. can deploy "as we move from pandemic to endemic," Paul Offit, a member of the FDA committee and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told Axios. - "Whether you have a multivalent vaccine that's different to the bivalent vaccine, whether you have a nasal spray vaccine. ... I suspect we'll be looking at a number of things," Offit said.
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| A message from CVS Health |
| Healthier happens together |
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| No matter who you are, where you are or what you need to take care of your health, CVS Health is there for you. What you need to know: CVS Health connects you to high-quality, convenient and affordable care — whether it's in your community, on your phone or in your home. Learn more. |
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| 4. Data du jour: Medical school enrollment |
 Data: AAMC; Chart: Thomas Oide/Axios The number of medical school applicants dropped to pre-pandemic levels in the 2022-23 academic year following a record 18% increase the prior year, according to data recently released by the Association of American Medical Colleges. By the numbers: When compared to more normal numbers of the 2020-21 academic year, medical school applications increased 4% and total enrollment grew 3%. - The number of Black matriculants increased 6.4% year over year from the 2021-22 academic year to the 2022-23 academic year (or 9% in 2022-23 compared to 202o-21).
- Medical school enrollment increased 4% among individuals of Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin in that same time.
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| 5. While you were weekending |
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| Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios |
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| 🏛 An appeals court denied a GOP-led effort to retain COVID-era Title 42 immigration policy set to end this week. (Axios) 💉 How the race for a COVID vaccine enriched monkey poachers and endangered macaques. (NBC News) 👉 Why so many Black people distrust the health care system. (Politico) 📲 The failed promise of online mental health treatment. (Wall Street Journal) |
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| A message from CVS Health |
| From the simplest of health needs to more complex care |
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| Whether your health needs are simple or more complex, CVS Health is here to connect you to high-quality, convenient and affordable care. In your community, on your phone or in your home, CVS Health delivers care however you need it. Learn more about how we're making healthier happen together. |
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| Thanks for reading, and thanks to senior editor Adriel Bettelheim and senior copy editor Bryan McBournie for the edits. Did someone forward this email to you? Here's how to sign up. |
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