Pompeo blames WHO as US sits out global effort
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday defended the Trump administration’s decision not to participate in a global alliance to develop and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine.
The White House confirmed this week that it would not be part of the vaccine alliance, which is being led in part by the World Health Organization and involves more than 170 other countries. The global effort involves not only developing an effective vaccine but also ensuring it is equitably distributed across the globe.
Pompeo told reporters Wednesday the U.S. would not participate in the global vaccine effort because the WHO is too political. The vaccine alliance is being co-led by Gavi, which focuses on providing vaccines to children in poor countries, and other groups. – Deirdre Shesgreen
Report: CDC hopeful vaccine ready by Nov.
The CDC is telling some health officials around the country to be ready to start distributing a vaccine to prevent the coronavirus by November, the New York Times reports.
That would be on the early side of what officials have laid out as a best-case scenario, that a vaccine will be ready by the end of the year. A COVID-19 vaccine could be available earlier than expected if ongoing clinical trials produce overwhelmingly positive results, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, told Kaiser Health News.
“Limited COVID-19 vaccine doses may be available by early November 2020, but COVID- 19 vaccine supply will increase substantially in 2021,” reads the CDC document.
Study finds steroids can help severely ill
A package of new studies published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirms that patients severely ill with COVID-19 can benefit from steroids. The drugs can save about 1 in 12 patients treated.
Both dexamethasone, which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use on COVID-19 patients, and hydrocortisone are equally effective, the research found.
Overall, the research found the most severely ill COVID-19 patients, those who are on ventilators, benefited the most, Dr. Todd Rice of Vanderbilt University, who co-wrote the editorial, said in a JAMA interview. Steroids likely tamped down an immune system overreaction. – Karen Weintraub
Feds say ventilator stockpile is full
The U.S. government is canceling some of its contracts to buy new ventilators, saying the national stockpile is full after some states feared they’d run short on the life-saving machines in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that it has nearly 120,000 ventilators available for deployment to state and local health officials if needed. The Trump administration had signed nearly $3 billion in contracts to get more ventilators as demand surged in the spring, but the cancellation of some of the contracts was billed as a costsavings measure as demand was no longer as high.
President Donald Trump faced criticism in March from some mayors and governors who urged him to use his powers under the Defense Production Act to ramps up production of ventilators. At the time, the national stockpile had only about 16,660 ventilators ready to deploy.