Biden officials gear up for the fall vaccination campaign

Presented by The American Beverage Association: Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy.

Jun 30, 2022 View in browser   By Sarah Owermohle and Krista Mahr Presented by With help from Daniel Lippman 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. WELCOME TO THURSDAY PULSE, where your authors are relieved they didn't drive to work yesterday . Send news, tips, traffic guidance and HHS budget finds to sowermohle@politico.com and kmahr@politico.com.   A message from The American Beverage Association: America's leading beverage companies – The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo – are bringing consumers more choices with less sugar. From sparkling, flavored and bottled waters to zero sugar sodas, sports drinks, juices and teas, consumers have more options than ever before. In fact, nearly 60% of beverages sold contain zero sugar. Americans are looking for more choices to support them in their efforts to find balance, and America's beverage companies are delivering. BalanceUS.org   Driving the Day The new vaccines will be a mix of adult and pediatric doses. | Emily Elconin/Getty Images BIDEN ADMIN GEARS UP FOR FALL VACCINE CAMPAIGN — The administration has placed its first major order for a variant-tailored vaccine ahead of the expected fall push for boosters. The Department of Health and Human Services will pay $3.2 billion for 105 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccines targeting Omicron, though it's not clear yet which one — of two in studies — will fill out the order as the companies prepare for Food and Drug Administration guidance and manufacturing switches. An HHS spokesperson said the contract has flexibility so Pfizer and BioNTech "can manufacture whichever vaccine the FDA recommends." The announcement comes one day after an FDA advisory panel recommended that updated vaccines be used in the country's next major booster push. Pfizer and BioNTech said this weekend that their two updated vaccines—one targeting just Omicron, one combining that strain with the original virus — are effective against the latest variant but slightly less effective against its subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 What now? Besides securing new vaccines, the administration has to convince people to get them. While nearly 80 percent of eligible Americans have received at least one dose, just over 47 percent have received the full regimen and one booster shot. Uptake is especially slow among children, with just under 30 percent of kids between 5 and 11 considered fully vaccinated, a rate that experts expect will be mirrored in babies and infants. And then there's money. Health officials caught criticism from Republican lawmakersthis month when they reallocated $10 billion from funding that Congress had appropriated for virus testing and protective gear for antiviral drugs and vaccines. In its Pfizer and BioNTech statement, HHS said the administration was "forced" to reallocate the funds, "pulling billions of dollars from COVID-19 response efforts in order to pay for additional vaccines and treatments. The funding for this new Pfizer contract is being paid for with a portion of that reallocated funding." HHS ISSUES POST-ROE PRIVACY GUIDANCE — As promised by Secretary Xavier Becerra earlier this week, the agency's Office for Civil Rights issued privacy guidance for both HIPAA- and non-HIPAA covered data. The guidance attempts to clarify the rights of individuals and health care organizations in the context of the new legal landscape post-Roe, POLITICO's Ben Leonard writes. The gist: Information falls into two buckets: data covered by the landmark privacy law HIPAA — protected health information from providers or health plans — and data that isn't covered like internet search history or location information. While the guardrails for HIPAA data are pretty clear, the guidance explains protections for non-HIPAA information, like ways to turn off location services on cellphones and avoid downloading unnecessary apps or allowing location-tracking permissions on those apps. Telemedicine abortion groups shored up privacy defenses in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling and have urged people seeking abortions to take action to protect their data, Ben writes. But abortion advocates have been pressing the Biden administration for more action that definitively protects services and care. Becerra has also promised to boost access to the abortion pill. PROPOSED HHS BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS CONTRACEPTION — HHS needs to bolster efforts to provide affordable and accessible contraceptive services, House appropriators said in a committee report on the proposed 2023 budget released Wednesday. What's there: The House Appropriations Committee's report on the HHS and Labor Department budget said that $25 million of the nearly $2 billion allotments for the Health Resources and Services Administration's health centers will go toward grants to train health practitioners on how to provide better contraceptive services to patients. The committee also notes the challenge of "contraceptive deserts," or areas of the country without easily accessible services. The committee asked for an HHS report on how to improve access in those areas within 180 days of the budget's enactment, plus a report (in 270 days) on estimated Title X funding needs. Some other details: House appropriators chided HHS for not having a chief dental officer and urged the agency to fill the post. The committee also wants a 2024 report on telehealth use and — in a win for President Joe Biden — allotted the requested $3 million for HHS's new climate change and health equity office. What's next: The full committee meets this morning to vote on the measure. The Labor-HHS budget is expected to hit the House floor in July along with a pack of other appropriations bills.   A message from The American Beverage Association:   Elmo said this week that he got a Covid-19 vaccine. | Victoria Will/AP Photo BIDEN OFFICIALS APPEAL FOR KID VACCINATIONS — Federal health officials appeared on a Facebook Live event Wednesday to convince parents that it's safe — and necessary — for children under 5 to get one of the newly authorized Covid-19 vaccinations. The effort is part of a broader push by the Biden administration for more childhood coronavirus vaccinations : Becerra and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona have called on early-childhood education teachers to encourage vaccinations, while Sesame Street's Elmo claimed earlier this week that he, too, had gotten vaccinated. In the Facebook event, FDA vaccine chief Peter Marks and the CDC's Sara Oliver plugged pediatric vaccines on a video conference hosted by the Covid-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project, a coalition of health groups.   DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED:  Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today.     The temperature outlook for last week. | NOAA EXTREME HEAT DAYS ARE HERE — It's still the early days of summer, but we're already seeing the effect of severe heat on health, Arianna Skibell writes in POLITICO's newPower Switch newsletter.   The human toll is staggering: At least 1,300 people die each year in the U.S. because of extreme heat, according to federal data. And a report published this week in Environmental Research found that climate change–driven deaths, especially from heat, are vastly undercounted. And tragedies are already flooding in. At least 53 people died from extreme heat after being trapped in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio earlier this week. This month is already the hottest June on record for that city, with 17 days so far hitting 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, Arianna writes. "Low-income families and, accordingly, communities of color are going to be bearing the brunt of the tsunami of shut-offs and the lack of access to electricity and air conditioning," said Jean Su, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. Around the Nation FLORIDA AG DEFENDS CHILDHOOD COVID VAX PLAN —  Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo told the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis that Florida did not allow pediatricians and health care providers to place orders for young kids' Covid-19 vaccines until they were FDA approved, which could have led to short delays. Ladapo also reiterated his stance that Florida is against Covid-19 vaccinations for young children and doesn't recommend them for anyone under 18, according to a statement from the subcommittee released Wednesday. Florida was the only state in the nation not to pre-order the vaccine. It's the latest in a federal vs. Florida fight on Covid. But Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health, rejected the subcommittee's characterization of Ladapo's briefing to the panel. He argued providers in Florida couldn't order the vaccines for young children until after FDA authorization (though several states did) and that pre-ordering wouldn't have gotten the shots to Florida faster.   INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.     Names in the News Soumi Saha becomes senior vice president of government affairs at Premier on July 1. Saha, a pharmacist and lawyer, joined the health care company in 2018 and most recently worked as vice president for advocacy. RWJBarnabas Health named Lester J. Owens the new chair of its board of trustees. Owens, the first African American to hold the position, has been vice chair since 2019 and served on its governance and social justice and racism committees. He is also a senior executive and head of operations for Wells Fargo. He replaces Marc E. Benson, who just concluded his three-year term as chair. Jennifer Kuskowski is joining Siemens Healthineers as head of government affairs after a dozen years on the Hill. Kuskowski most recently served as a top adviser to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on health, commerce and education, where she helped negotiate the 2019 medical device tax repeal. The Chartis Group has launched a Health Equity Advisory Board with four inaugural members. They include Google and YouTube's Global Head of Healthcare Garth Graham, American Hospital Association Executive Director on Diversity and Health Equity Joy Lewis, Morehouse School of Medicine President and CEO Valerie Montgomery Rice and Babylon Global Chief Medical Officer Darshak Sanghavi. What We're Reading Biden is poised to nominate an anti-abortion Republican attorney to a federal judgeship role in Kentucky in an apparent deal with McConnell,The Courier-Journal's Joe Sonka and Andrew Wolfson report. Two in three Americans between ages 18 and 25 support abortion rights, 20 percent higher than the national average, according to a Cosmopolitan and YouGov poll. Cosmopolitan's Jamie Ballard reports on the Gen Z response to the Supreme Court decision so far. New York City is getting an additional $30 million to help people with opioid use disorder, bringing its total from a statewide settlement with distributors up to $286 million,POLITICO NY's Amanda Eisenberg writes.   A message from The American Beverage Association: Families are looking for more choices to support their efforts to find balance. That's why America's beverage companies are offering more choices with less sugar. It's all part of our commitment to reduce beverage calories consumed per person nationally by 20% by 2025. And it's working. Today, nearly 60% of beverages sold contain zero sugar. Our commitment to helping our consumers find balance also includes: · Putting clear calorie labels on every bottle, can and pack. · Reminding consumers to think about balance with signs on coolers and displays in store. · Working with local organizations across the country to build awareness of the many choices available – and increase the access to zero sugar beverages in communities where it's needed most. Learn more at BalanceUS.org     Follow us on Twitter Tucker Doherty @tucker_doherty Dan Goldberg @dancgoldberg Erin Banco @ErinBanco Katherine Ellen Foley @katherineefoley Lauren Gardner @Gardner_LM Ben Leonard @_BenLeonard_ Rachael Levy @rachael_levy David Lim @davidalim Krista Mahr @kristamahr Megan Messerly @meganmesserly Alice Miranda Ollstein @aliceollstein Sarah Owermohle @owermohle Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Megan R. Wilson @misswilson   Follow us

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