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This week, CNBC's Healthy Returns Spotlight: Prognosis for Recovery event featured discussions on managing the most complicated mass vaccination program in history. Alex Gorsky from Johnson & Johnson, Rick Gates from Walgreens, Anita Jenkins from Howard University Hospital and others discussed distribution timelines, vaccine skepticism, equitable access, mental health challenges and the new threat from cybercriminals. We've rounded up some of the most significant things to come out of our conversations - be sure to read those highlights from our reporters below. You can also check out the full interviews and additional coverage at CNBC.com/healthy-returns.
| | Vaccines vs. variants: J&J CEO predicts annual shots | Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky became the latest industry leader to predict we may need annual Covid vaccines. He joined CNBC's Healthy Returns spotlight in his first comments since the company reported results on its single-shot Covid vaccine, ahead of an FDA advisory panel Feb. 26. "This will be something where likely for the next several years we'll be getting a Covid-19 shot, just like we would a flu shot," Gorsky said. Similarly, AstraZeneca said this week it's working on a new version of its vaccine to address variants, after South Africa postponed its rollout of the shot following a small trial that showed the vaccine had minimal efficacy against mild disease there.
-Meg Tirrell | | | | About 60% nursing home, assisted living staff decline vaccines | About 60% of nursing home and assisted living facility employees declined to get the Covid shots, Rick Gates, Walgreens senior vice president of pharmacy and healthcare, said at Healthy Returns spotlight. Walgreens and CVS Health were tapped by the federal government to administer vaccine doses at the long-term care facilities. He said just 20% of residents declined the shots. The statistic points to a challenge that the country will face as vaccine supply increases: Overcoming the hesitance of some people to get the shots.
-Melissa Repko | | | | Anti-vaxxers jeopardize Biden's plans to protect U.S. against Covid | As President Joe Biden works to ramp up the supply of Covid vaccines in the U.S., experts warn of another big challenge for the administration: A significant portion of the U.S. population will likely refuse to get vaccinated. "We're in a tough spot," Johns Hopkins' Daniel Salmon told me. "A substantial proportion of the population thinks that Covid isn't really a big deal and it's kind of a hoax and the numbers are being, you know, overblown and doctors are making money by diagnosing Covid and calling deaths." Anita Jenkins, Howard University Hospital CEO, told Bertha Coombs at Healthy Returns Spotlight this week that her team is also working to overcome vaccine hesitancy in Black and Brown communities.
-Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | | | | A new Covid threat: Cybercriminals | Marc Rogers, former hacker and Okta executive director of cybersecurity, warned that hackers are finding creative ways to exploit the vaccine rollout. "Bad guys basically thrive on chaos. And there is no greater period of chaos than a pandemic like this. To the cybercriminals it's a gold rush," said Rogers. Rogers told CNBC Technology Reporter Kate Rooney that hackers are looking to make money by selling data while some nations are looking to "sow discord, to disrupt and to further their own agendas. Rogers said these cybercriminals are finding it easy to attack individuals, rather than companies, since so many of us are working virtually.
-Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | | | | CDC says double masking, better fit reduces Covid exposure | The CDC this week released a new study and guidance that said wearing a cloth mask over a surgical mask, or just a better-fitted mask, can drastically reduce the risk of exposure to the coronavirus. The CDC researchers said they explored the effectiveness of different masking approaches through laboratory experiments in which they placed two artificial heads 6 feet from one another and measured how many coronavirus-sized particles exhaled by one were inhaled by the other. When both heads wore two masks or a well-fitted mask overall exposure to the virus was reduced by more than 95% in the study. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the study's findings "underscore the importance of wearing a mask correctly and making sure it fits closely and snugly over your nose and mouth."
-Will Feuer | | | | New York's latest reopening strategy: more testing | Stadiums, arenas and weddings with up to 150 guests will soon be allowed to return in New York, and one of the key requirements for their reopening will be testing. Starting on Feb. 23, fans will once again funnel into Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center in New York City for professional basketball, the first time since the coronavirus ripped through the state last March. But unlike other business reopenings, everyone attending the games (crowd sizes will be reduced) will require a negative Covid-19 testing within 72 hours upon entry. The strategy of reopening the state's economy, including theaters and large venues, through testing is "something where New York wants to lead the way," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week.
-Noah Higgins-Dunn | |
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