| | | | |  | | By Sarah Owermohle and Krista Mahr | | | Editor's Note: POLITICO Pulse is a free version of POLITICO Pro Health Care's morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.
| | | —With coffers dry for global vaccination aid, USAID employees are scrambling to find new jobs. — Pfizer and BioNTech plan for a kid booster, aiming to file with U.S. regulators in the coming days. — New dietary questions reflect a health focus targeting processed foods and obesity. WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE — Happy Passover and Happy Easter to those who celebrate. Have a nice weekend and tell us what we've missed at sowermohle@politico.com and kmahr@politico.com.
| | A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association: Women of color are 3 times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related complication than white women. That's why we've identified 10 ways to improve the quality, cost, accessibility, and cultural humility of maternal health care. Together, we can make a meaningful difference. | | | | | | | 
U.S. aid workers question what's next in global vaccine efforts without funding. | Darron Cummings/AP Photo | LACK OF FUNDING PUSHING USAID WORKERS TO LIMIT — Dozens of United States Agency for International Development employees — working to get Covid-19 vaccines in arms and strengthen health systems around the world — are looking to leave the agency after Congress failed to provide additional funding for their programs, three people familiar with the matter tell our Daniel Payne and Erin Banco. The USAID Covid-19 Task Force — about 200 strong at its inception in 2020 — held a meeting last week to talk about the effect of Congress not allocating money for the agency's global Covid efforts. The task forces' executive director, Jeremy Konyndyk, told team members he would understand if they were looking for other jobs — and would write letters of recommendation if needed, according to one of the people, who was on the call. The upheaval marks another challenge in the already-difficult work of boosting vaccinations around the world — especially in developing countries, like many in Africa, where fewer than 20 percent of their populations have gotten the shots. Public health experts have repeatedly said global vaccination efforts could save thousands of lives and prevent variants that could again disrupt life in countries with high vaccination rates. Because more funding is in doubt, employees working on the global Covid response at USAID have begun telling agency partners they can no longer count on plans set for future months. Goals set for later in the year are being either rethought or dropped, one of the people with knowledge of the matter said. Under the American Rescue Plan , many were hired as Schedule A employees, with the understanding the positions would end when the work was done or when funding ran out. Last week, news broke that Congress would cut $5 billion for global pandemic responses from the Covid-19 supplemental funding package. PFIZER AIMING FOR KID COVID BOOSTER — The company and BioNTech plan to file "in the coming days" with the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a booster dose of their pediatric coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5 through 11. The move comes after Phase II and III clinical trial data shows a third dose about six months later boosts antibodies and potential protection against the Omicron strain, our Lauren Gardner reports. More than 10,000 kids under 12 participated in the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine trials, and no new safety signals were detected among the 401 booster recipients analyzed, the companies said.
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U.S. regulators are assessing how highly processed foods affect health and weight. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | HEALTH, AG OFFICIALS SUGGEST PROCESSED FOOD GUIDELINES — The Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments Thursday unveiled proposed questions for the next Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, with a new focus on obesity, weight loss, weight maintenance and ultraprocessed foods. The list is likely to be welcomed by health groups while making some in the food industry nervous, our Helena Bottemiller Evich writes. What's new: The shift toward more discussion of weight, weight loss and obesity is notable. In the past, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans have been criticized by some for sticking too closely to its mandate, which is to focus on dietary advice for healthy Americans, not those with diseases such as obesity, hypertension or diabetes — a large and growing share of the population. One question that's immediately grabbing attention in Washington: "What is the relationship between consumption of dietary patterns with varying amounts of ultra-processed foods and growth, size, body composition, risk of overweight and obesity, and weight loss and maintenance?" Equity lens: The agencies also said a new focus would be on equity throughout the process; both agencies, like many others, released equity frameworks the same day. The agencies will accept public comments on the proposed questions for 30 days.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO NATIONAL SECURITY DAILY : Keep up with the latest critical developments from Ukraine and across Europe in our daily newsletter, National Security Daily. The Russian invasion of Ukraine could disrupt the established world order and result in a refugee crisis, increased cyberattacks, rising energy costs and additional disruption to global supply chains. Go inside the top national security and foreign-policymaking shops for insight on the global threats faced by the U.S. and its allies and what actions world leaders are taking to address them. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | LEARNING FROM THE CRISIS — POLITICO's Alice Miranda Ollstein sat down with Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) to discuss the lessons learned and missed from the Covid-19 pandemic and the steps the government should take to address a range of public health issues going forward, especially for people of color and other marginalized populations. These "View from the Hill" interviews with the POLITICO team are part of a broader Harvard Chan series, Public Health on the Brink , which is designed to look at why and how our public health system has become so frayed — and how to strengthen it before the next crisis hits.
| | | CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS PULL KID VAX BILL — Legislation that would have required all California schoolchildren to be vaccinated against Covid-19 starting in 2023 has been shelved, marking the likely end of a push for the nation's strictest student vaccination rule, POLITICO California's Victoria Colliver reports. The bill's author, Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), a pediatrician, said Thursday that the state first needs to focus on increasing vaccination rates. Only about a third of Californians ages 5 to 11 have been fully vaccinated. The stakes: A statewide vaccine rule that would have barred in-school learning for students who weren't vaccinated was contentious from the start, even before waning case rates made Covid policies appear less urgent. Last fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom became the first governor to issue a statewide order mandating student vaccinations. However, the order can't go into effect until the Food and Drug Administration gives the final approval for the vaccine for young children, and it allows for religious and personal-belief exemptions. SB 871, which Pan introduced in January when the Omicron surge was straining hospitals, went further, barring personal or religious exemptions. Vaccinations have become a polarizing issue, with some California school districts already vowing to not enforce the student vaccine mandate if approved. THE POLITICS OF SEX ED — This year, states across the country have debated or passed bills that limit discussion of topics like race and sexuality in the classroom, alongside a wave of proposals aimed at restricting transgender children's rights. We look, state by state, at the latest legislative proposals in this week's Pro Statehouse Trends, a regular analysis of legislative activity. Pro Premium subscribers can read more here.
| | | | A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association:   | | | | | | Jeffrey Last is now a director of federal government affairs at Bristol Myers Squibb. He previously was a health care legislative assistant for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Jessica Kelley is joining the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness as a policy manager. She previously was a legislative assistant for Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.). Abi Sundaramoorthy joined Wellinks as chief medical officer after serving in the same role for the University Hospitals Health System in Ohio. Sundaramoorthy is also a practicing physician with Pioneer Medical Group.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | U.S. and U.K. health officials are investigating unusual cases of serious hepatitis in young children with unknown origins, Stat News' Helen Branswell reports. German authorities detained four people planning tokidnap health minister Karl Lauterbach , who said the plot indicated resistance to Covid-19 restrictions and efforts to destabilize the country, Reuters reported. Health officials in at least three states are investigating a travel nurse suspected of tampering with and potentially contaminating opioid vials and syringes, Brett Kelman reports for Kaiser Health News.
| | A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association: Now is the time to change the trajectory of racial health disparities and create a more equitable health care system. This Black Maternal Health Week, see how Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are advancing maternal health equity nationwide. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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