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U.S. officials are trying to ease concerns about AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine after reports of blood clots. Noah Higgins-Dunn has the story. Amazon will expand its virtual health pilot program, Amazon Care, to all of its U.S. employees starting this summer. Dr. Anthony Fauci clashed with a GOP senator this week over masks, and the CDC relaxed its guidelines for schools. Details on that are below.
Program updates: Pfizer Head of Vaccine R&D Kathrin Jansen, Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic, former NHL player and CEO/co-founder of Wesana Health Daniel Carcillo and more are joining this year's Healthy Returns Summit. Learn more and register now.
| | U.S. health officials try to soothe AstraZeneca fears | Medical experts in the U.S., including White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, tried to ease concerns this week that the currently deployed Covid-19 vaccines may be unsafe following the decision by several European countries to suspend AstraZeneca's shot after reports of blood clots. While it was unclear whether AstraZeneca's shots were the culprit, some told CNBC that the suspensions will likely take extensive efforts to rebuild trust in the doses, even if they're allowed back online. "There's now been a pall over this vaccine," Vanderbilt University's Dr. William Schaffner told CNBC.
-Noah Higgins-Dunn | | | | CDC relaxes school guidelines | The CDC revised its guidance on social distancing in schools, saying most students can now sit three feet apart instead of six feet so long as they are wearing masks. The recommendation is for all K-12 students, regardless of whether community transmission is low, moderate or substantial, the CDC said. The guidelines are slightly difference for teachers and if the outbreak is rampant in a community. In that case, the agency recommends middle school and high school students remain at least six feet apart if schools aren't able to keep students and teachers in assigned groups.
-Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | | | | White House turns to testing to reopen schools | The Biden administration announced this week that it's pouring $10 billion from the recently passed $1.9 trillion stimulus package into Covid-19 testing for schools in an effort to hasten the return to in-person learning across the country. The funding will go out from the CDC to states next month, administration officials said, and it will be used to provide diagnostic testing to people who have symptoms as well as screening testing to mass test groups of teachers, staff and students in an effort to find people who don't have symptoms but are contagious. It's President Joe Biden's latest step to push schools to reopen for in-person learning.
-Will Feuer | | | | Pandemic pushes 75 million more people into poverty in India | The pandemic-induced economic recession has pushed about 75 million more people in India into poverty last year, according to an analysis by Pew Research Center. That accounts for nearly 60% of the global increase in poverty in 2020. India has experienced one of the largest Covid-19 outbreaks globally. As of Friday, the country reported a total of 11.51 million infections — trailing only the U.S. and Brazil — and over 159,300 deaths.
-Yen Nee Lee | | | | Amazon takes the wraps off Amazon Care for business | Amazon made it pretty clear three years ago that it aimed to shake up employer health. That was the goal of Haven, the much-heralded non-profit joint venture with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan. But the nonprofit is now winding down just as Amazon is ramping up its for-profit employer health business. Amazon is expanding its internal telehealth service Amazon Care to all 50 states to serve its employees, and is now officially marketing the service to other employers. The news sent shares of telemedicine incumbents like Teladoc tumbling, but winning share in the employer health market won't be a slam dunk for Amazon. Competition is heating up after recent deals in the telehealth sector.
-Bertha Coombs | | | | Fauci and GOP senator clash in fiery exchange over masks | Fauci squared off with Republican Sen. Rand Paul at a hearing Thursday. Paul maintains that people shouldn't have to wear masks after getting vaccinated because there is "virtually 0% chance" they are going to get Covid-19. "Isn't it just theater?" the Kentucky junior senator, an ophthalmologist, asked during a hearing on the nation's coronavirus response efforts. Fauci said the emergence of new, highly contagious variants poses a threat to people who have antibodies. ″Can I just state for the record that masks are not theater," Fauci said. "I totally disagree with you."
-Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | |
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