About the public’s health
First shipments of Moderna vaccine roll out, a new weapon in U.S. Covid-19 response: The headline speaks for itself. The vaccine received emergency use authorization late Friday.
Congress seals agreement on $900 billion COVID relief bill: Lots in the bill for economic relief and funding unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic. As far as health-related provisions, “$22 billion would help states and local governments with COVID-19-related health expenses like testing and vaccines.”
Surprise medical bill prevention included in year-end legislative package: “The measure uses a process known as arbitration to determine how much the insurer will pay the doctor, a shift from earlier versions that would have set the payment rate based on the median rate in that geographic area.
The latest version moves even further towards doctors and hospitals by banning the arbiter from considering the lower payment rates paid by the Medicare and Medicaid programs.”
Panel: People over 75, essential workers next for vaccines: Even before everyone in the first tier is vaccinated, the CDC recommends “that people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers should be next in line for COVID-19 shots…”
UK says new coronavirus strain is more infectious, but vaccines should still work: The headline speaks for itself. This story is an update of previous reports about the UK from which 40 countries have banned travel.
Federal guidance enables employers to mandate workers get COVID-19 vaccine: This story was previously reported; the guidance comes from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It is a reminder now that more vaccines are on the way.
CVS, Walgreens begin distributing vaccine in long-term care facilities: “Walgreens said its pharmacists would begin giving the shots at nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Ohio, Connecticut and Florida while CVS said it'd give the shots at centers in Ohio and Connecticut.”
COVID-19 Community Profile Report: CNBC calls this report “the most comprehensive data report made public by the federal government since the virus began to spread across the U.S. about nine months ago.”
About healthcare IT
IBM links with Salesforce to offer digital COVID-19 vaccine passports: “Big Blue’s health pass app, which debuted earlier this year, aims to provide individual, sharable health credentials following test results, vaccinations and temperature checks through an encrypted digital wallet on a smartphone…
Now, IBM is working with Salesforce to help employers deliver wellness surveys to employees and customers through its Work.com platform, as well as perform contract tracing and schedule coronavirus test or vaccine appointments.”
The Solarwinds breach — What do CIOs need to do now?: A good summary of the implications of the breach for this major supplier of network security and management software.
About pharma
Agios offloads oncology unit to Servier in $1.8B deal, zeroes in on genetically defined diseases: “Agios Pharmaceuticals’ roots are in cancer drug development, but it’s passing that baton to Servier as it doubles down on its programs in genetically defined diseases, including a drug it’s developing for noncancerous blood diseases.”