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Welcome to Wednesday night health care, where we follow the latest policy developments and news affecting your health. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup.
Still have questions about how COVID vaccines work? A new public service announcement from Seth MacFarlane’s “Family Guy” will help answer it. He even impressed the former General surgeon.
President BidenJoe BidenUN meeting with US and France canceled due to timing issue Schumer to lift GOP blockade on Biden state. called a COVID-19 global summit to push for more action to immunize the world, while some advocates said the effort was still insufficient.
For The Hill, we are Peter Sullivan ([email protected]), Nathaniel Weixel ([email protected]) and Justine Coleman ([email protected]). Write us with tips and comments, and follow us on Twitter: @ PeterSullivan4, @NateWeixel and @ JustineColeman8.
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Rich countries urged to ‘step up’ vaccines
President Biden called on other high-income countries to “step up” their efforts to vaccinate the world against the coronavirus during the White House COVID-19 summit on Wednesday, highlighting new steps the United States is taking in the global campaign vaccination.
What he said: âThe United States leads the world in vaccine donations,â Biden said as he opened the virtual summit. âAs we do this, we need other high-income countries to fulfill their own ambitious vaccine donations and pledges. “
âThe only way to do that is for everyone, everywhere, is for all of us to step up, which I’m sure you will do,â Biden told the group.
New dose donation: The president highlighted a US donation announced earlier Wednesday of an additional 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccine worldwide, coming next year, bringing the total donation pledged to the United States to more than 1.1 billion doses. .
Defenders demand more: Max Hadler, senior policy expert at Physicians for Human Rights, said in a statement Wednesday that âvaccine donations alone will be insufficient without high-income countries pushing pharmaceutical companies to share their expertise in vaccines â.
Read more here.
UNITED STATES COMMIT 250 MILLION DOLLARS TO NEW COVID FUND
The White House has also taken steps to focus on preparing for the next pandemic.
Vice President Harris called for a new global health security fund at the World Bank to focus on pandemic preparedness, with the Biden administration planning to contribute $ 250 million in seed funding, an official said. White House.
Harris, who made the announcement while leading a session of a global COVID-19 virtual summit, also revealed that the administration was asking Congress for $ 850 million for the Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF). The Biden administration has set itself a goal of reaching $ 10 billion for the fund from the start.
âThe truth is that working to end this pandemic and prepare for the next one is a strategic imperative. It is essential to our security and shared prosperity and it will save countless lives, âHarris said in prepared remarks at the start of the meeting.
The vice president described the $ 10 billion target for the financial intermediaries fund as âambitiousâ but âachievableâ, as she urged other countries and private organizations to contribute.
“It’s a fraction of one percent of global GDP,” she noted.
Read more here.
A MESSAGE FROM THE INDIVIDUAL

It’s time to rethinking opioid addiction. Let’s focus on ending the stigma surrounding opioid use disorders and breaking down barriers to treatment for vulnerable populations.
Average daily death toll from COVID-19 is highest since early March
The average daily death toll from COVID-19 in the United States has reached its highest level since early March, as the highly contagious delta variant infects individuals across the country.
The United States averages over 1,900 COVID-19 deaths per day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University cited by The Associated Press.
The average number of deaths has increased by 40% in the past two weeks, the AP noted, from 1,387 to 1,947.
The surge in statistics comes as the delta variant spreads across the United States, posing a threat to communities nationwide – especially pockets across the country that are largely unvaccinated.
Most of the recent hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19 have been in unvaccinated people, which strengthens the evidence that injections are effective in protecting against serious illness.
Read more here.
GOOD NEWS? DELTA SURGE SEEM MAXIMUM
The rise in the delta appears to be peaking in the United States, which means a drop in new infections and deaths could be underway, according to a new analysis.
The COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Center, a group made up of a team of researchers who produce short-term projections of various elements of infectious disease, published its latest updated projections on the path of the virus on Wednesday. As the outbreak peaks, some states may still see an influx of new cases and hospital admissions before cases start to decline over the next few weeks.
“All of us who have been following this closely, given what has happened with delta, are going to be very cautious of being overly optimistic,” Justin Lessler, University of Carolina researcher. North, which helps manage the hub, says NPR. “But I think the trajectory is towards improvement for most of the country.”
According to the latest projection, of the four possible scenarios highlighted, the most likely indicates that children will be able to be vaccinated and another highly contagious variant will not emerge, leading to a drop in new cases and deaths.
Read more here.
OVERDOSE DEAD SKYROCKET
Methamphetamine overdose death rates among adults aged 18 to 64 nearly tripled from 2015 to 2019.
A study published Wednesday in the journal “Jama Psychiatry” showed that drug mixing and more frequent use of methamphetamine were among the possible reasons for rising death rates.
The research was conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and found that the number of people using methamphetamine had only increased by 43% in four years , according to a NIH Press Release.
However, deaths from overdose of psychostimulants other than cocaine, which researchers mostly attribute to methamphetamine use, increased by 180% over the same period.
Historically, the drug has been used by middle-aged white people, but recently groups of American Indian / Alaska Natives have used it most often, the statement said.
Read more here.
A MESSAGE FROM THE INDIVIDUAL

It’s time to rethinking opioid addiction. Let’s focus on ending the stigma surrounding opioid use disorders and breaking down barriers to treatment for vulnerable populations.
WHAT WE READ
- Pfizer CEO mobilizes staff to fight Democrats’ drug price negotiation (Politics)
- Texas doctor fired for using remaining doses of Covid-19 vaccine is suing county for discrimination (CNN)
- Most of the $ 9.2 billion in questionable Medicare payments went to 20 insurers, investigators say (the Wall Street newspaper)
- Remdesivir reduces Covid hospitalizations when given early, study finds (Statistical)
STATE BY STATE
- ‘An Unprecedented Event in Modern Medicine’: What Happens When a State Fails to Flatten the COVID Curve (BuzzFeed News)
- Alaska Governor Dunleavy activates statewide crisis care standards to help hospitals overwhelmed by COVID (Daily News from Anchorage)
- Massachusetts State Police Union fighting COVID-19 vaccine mandate ordered by Governor Charlie Baker (WCVB)
That’s all for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s healthcare page for the latest news and coverage. On Thursday.
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