Biden to make the booster case to the nation

Oct 25, 2022

Driving the Day

Joe Biden gets a COVID-19 booster shot.

Biden, seen here getting his second Covid-19 booster in March, is set to get his bivalent booster today. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

BIDEN AND THE BOOSTER — President Joe Biden will get his Covid-19 bivalent booster today, joining the some 20 million other Americans that have gotten the updated jab so far.

That's just a small fraction of the population of Americans ages 5 and up who are eligible to get the vaccine. The administration has been trying to get those numbers up by spending money on a media push to nursing homes and rural Americans, including NASCAR fans, among several other measures.

Biden is set to announce additional new steps in the booster campaign in a speech he'll deliver today. A few initiatives the president is expected to cover:

#VaxUpAmerica hits the road. The Department of Health and Human Services will launch the #VaxUpAmerica Family Vaccine Tour on Oct. 26 to encourage families to get boosted before the holidays. The agency will host pop-up vaccination events at nursing homes and community health centers across the country.

Schools and businesses should pitch in. The president is expected to call on every school district, college and university in the country to host at least one vaccine clinic before Thanksgiving and ask businesses to consider offering paid time off for vaccinations and hosting vaccine clinics for employees.

Pharmacies need to give more shots. Biden will also ask pharmacies to do more to boost those booster numbers. Major pharmacies partnering with the federal government are already contacting tens of millions of customers via text, phone and email, according to the administration, and offer walk-in shots and extended hours.

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11-year-old Ansel plays video games.

A new NIH study suggests a possible upside to hours of gaming. | Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Public Health

DITCH THE SCREEN-TIME LIMITS? A new NIH study found that kids who spend at least three hours a day playing video games performed better on some cognitive skills tests than kids who had never played video games.

The study, which involved nearly 2,000 children, found the little gamers performed better on tests involving impulse control and working memory. The three-hour-plus threshold was chosen by researchers because it exceeds the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommended screen-time limit of one to two hours a day for older kids.

Unlike previous studies, the researchers didn't find that gaming increased the likelihood of depression, violence and aggression. It did find that the kids who play video games reported higher mental health and behavioral issues, but it wasn't statistically significant enough to be a definitive consequence.

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In Congress

GOP LAWMAKERS WANT ANSWERS ON SMALLPOX STOCKPILE — Reps. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) are asking HHS to say how many doses of smallpox vaccines — the newer Jynneos and older ACAM2000 — in the national stockpile have expired and haven't been replaced in a letter raising concerns about U.S. preparedness for a potential biological attack or an accidental release of the virus.

Jynneos was used to vaccinate people against monkeypox during its recent outbreak. But even before, top U.S. health officials knew the Strategic National Stockpile didn't have enough doses of both shots .

"It is important to note that unlike monkeypox, smallpox has a 30 percent mortality rate and is considered by the U.S. intelligence community to be one of the most significant biological threats we face," Hudson and Issa wrote, demanding to know the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response's plan to respond in the event of a smallpox attack or outbreak.

At the Agencies

ACCELERATED APPROVAL IN THE CROSSHAIRS — The FDA is trying to take a harder line on drugs that are approved quickly but fail to show they're safe and effective over the long term, POLITICO's Lauren Gardner reports.

Under the pathway, regulators can withdraw a drug if the required follow-up data doesn't support its safety or effectiveness.

But the FDA admits this process is taking too long in some cases, and an independent panel's 14-1 vote to pull Makena last week — a drug to reduce the risk of preterm birth and which has been sold for 11 years — signaled the agency's external advisers agree.

Earlier this year, the FDA asked Congress for clearer authority to ensure that makers of accelerated approval drugs complete and report on additional trials more quickly and make it easier to yank the drug off the market if those results don't verify effectiveness.

The House and Senate each considered proposals to change the process but ultimately failed to include any in legislation reauthorizing the FDA's ability to collect medical product user fees — a must-pass bill that often includes myriad policy directives tied to the agency's work. But there are signs on Capitol Hill that lawmakers will try to get the changes included in the year-end omnibus spending bill.

Providers

AHA PUSHES FOR A NEW HOSPITAL DESIGNATION — The American Hospital Association asked congressional leaders Monday to create a new designation for metropolitan hospitals serving high-need communities.

The designation, recently created by the AHA, would include larger hospitals that have a significant number of Medicaid and Medicare patients and is intended to preserve essential care.

A recent report exploring the possible designation found that more than 450 hospitals would meet the criteria, with facilities in the group having smaller-than-average operating margins.

The new designation comes in the wake of two large closures in urban areas: Wellstar's Atlanta Medical Center and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center in Cleveland.

Names in the News

Dr. William Shrank, the former chief medical and corporate affairs officer of Humana, has joined the board of directors of the dental company Tend.

Sabrina Bousbar has been detailed to the White House as associate director of strategic outreach in the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach. She most recently was an adviser in the office of the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS.

Sonja Nesbit will join Arnold & Porter's Legislative & Public Policy practice as senior policy adviser in Washington, D.C.

What We're Reading

Kaiser Health News' Fred Clasen-Kelly reports that some hospitals give conflicting information about whether they profit from Medicare patients.

The Washington Post reports on documents that show the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which helps shape national food policy, has longstanding ties to junk-food makers.

Doctor and Ebola survivor Craig Spencer writes for The New York Times about the closing window for the U.S. to prepare for the next pandemic.

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