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Presented by Humana: Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy. | | | | | |  | | By Sarah Owermohle and Adam Cancryn | Presented by Humana | Editor’s Note: Weekly PULSE is a weekly version of POLITICO Pro’s daily Health Care policy newsletter, Morning PULSE. POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that 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. | | | — Southern health officials are struggling to rally support for Covid-19 shots, demonstrating the broad barriers to convincing the unvaccinated. — Infrastructure talks continue with more health provisions in play, including the possibility of rechanneling CARES Act provider funds. — China’s resistance to a WHO plan to probe Covid origins has scientists worried about future confidence and preparations for new viruses. WELCOME TO MONDAY PULSE — Reader poll: Are you spending your nights watching the Olympics, or Love Island? The rare reader balancing both need not respond, but send tips to sowermohle@politico.com and acancryn@politico.com. | | | | A message from Humana: Medicare Advantage: Saving seniors money. At Humana, we’re committed to affordable, quality care. Did you know: with Medicare Advantage, seniors save an average of $1,640 in annual out-of-pocket spending compared to fee-for-service Medicare. Learn More. | | | | | | MISINFORMATION, POLITICS PLAGUE SOUTHERN VACCINE DRIVES — Persistently low Covid-19 vaccinations in the Southeast have the Biden administration sending surge teams and amping up vaccination calls. But state and local public health officials say the effort isn’t helping — and might even be leading skeptical people to dig in their heels. Despite the worsening situation in Alabama and Louisiana, for instance, officials say they don’t want White House help, fearful it would prolong partisan divides that drive some peoples’ hesitation, Erin Banco reports. The challenge: The federal government may never be able to convince rural, conservative populations in parts of the South to get the shot. And it raises questions about how the Biden administration will shape its response to Covid-19 over the next several months as more schools and businesses reopen and Delta spreads. “To say that politics doesn’t play a part would be wrong,” said Mike Melton, Covid vaccine coordinator for Lauderdale County in Alabama. “I think the national figures get people talking about the vaccine and that can sometimes take the wrong fork in the road and go the wrong way.” Officials in both Alabama and Louisiana say their governments have in the past shied away from door-knocking campaigns — something President Joe Biden is proposing — instead trusting that if they put up enough flyers and promote the safety of the vaccine through the media, people would sign up. But that strategy isn’t working: Vaccination rates have declined in recent weeks, and the coronavirus crisis has worsened. In a series of interviews, Louisiana regional medical directors and physicians described a horrific last two weeks marked by overcrowded ICUs, people showing up to emergency rooms after suddenly developing shortness of breath, and Covid-19 patients clinging to their last hours before abruptly letting go and dying. Almost all of these people died because they chose not to get the vaccine. And that’s what’s triggered doctors and nurses who are experiencing more anxiety and exhaustion now than they did during the first, second and third surges. “At least then we didn’t have a vaccine and there was nothing we could do,” said Tonya Jagneaux, a critical care physician at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge. “Sometimes you just feel like screaming.” FAUCI: LOCAL LEADERS SHOULD ‘SPEAK OUT’ — Biden’s chief medical adviser said Sunday that more leaders in areas that are lagging in Covid vaccination should "speak out" to persuade people to get inoculated as the Delta variant surges. Speaking of: Fauci's comments, made in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," came after Alabama's Republican governor, Kay Ivey, publicly blamed unvaccinated people for the disease's spread. Asked about Ivey's comments , Fauci said the red state governor "has every right to be frustrated" with resistance to the vaccine in her state. "I generally don't like to get involved in blaming people, because I think that would maybe push them back even more," Fauci said. "I can totally understand the governor's frustration. So I don't have any problem with that." The longtime NIAID director added that he'd like to see more leaders in areas with lagging vaccination rates “get out and speak out and encourage people to get vaccinated."
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HUCKABEE SANDERS ENCOURAGES ‘TRUMP VACCINE’ — Will this help? President Donald Trump’s former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders penned an op-ed for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette pressing people to get the coronavirus vaccine while heralding her former boss for Operation Warp Speed.
“I believe the Trump vaccine will help keep our state open for business and our economy growing,” the Arkansas gubernatorial candidate wrote. “It's clear that the Trump vaccine works and is saving lives.” While Sanders touted the Trump administration’s successes in launching new vaccines in record time, she left plenty of room for people hesitant about a shot. “I have many friends who have expressed sincere concerns about being vaccinated, and it isn't my place to tell them what to do.” Sanders instead underscored conservative frustration with Fauci and his supporters, calling them “arrogant, condescending politicians and bureaucrats.” She added that if Biden wants to convince people on the right to get vaccinated “they should admit they were wrong to cast doubt on Operation Warp Speed, and give President Trump and his team the credit they are due for the development of a safe and effective vaccine in record time.” ARKANSAS GOV: ‘MYTHS’ HARDENING VACCINE RESISTANCE — The Republican governor of Arkansas on Sunday said resistance to the coronavirus vaccine "has hardened" in some areas of the state, blaming the hesitancy on "false information" and “myths” that have become pervasive. "I don't know if I underestimated it, but, certainly, the resistance has hardened in certain elements, and is simply false information," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union." It is "a pivotal moment" for the state with the school year nearing, he said. "What's holding us back is a low vaccination rate. We're doing all that we can," Hutchinson said. "And I made the decision that it's really not what the government can tell you to do, but it is the community and their engagement and citizens talking to other citizens and trusted advisers, whether it's medical community or whether it's employers. Those are key." MORE HEALTH PROVISIONS DRAWN INTO INFRASTRUCTURE TALKS — Lawmakers plan to announce details of the bipartisan legislation as soon as today. It still could include a delay to the Medicare rebate rule aimed at offsetting some major costs, but the hot debate this weekend was whether to reroute billions of dollars in emergency money that hasn’t been used yet. In focus: The Provider Relief Fund was allotted $178 billion by the CARES Act. But it hasn’t all been spent: As much as $43 billion was left as of May, according to a report this month by the Government Accountability Office. But provider organizations are railing against the move. “The possibility that remaining Provider Relief dollars could be used to fund the bipartisan infrastructure package is outrageous,” James Balda, CEO of the senior care organization Argentum, wrote in a letter . “Senior living caregivers have already been left behind in federal relief distributions—on several occasions. We’ve been waiting for the promised Phase 4 allocations for months, and some providers are still awaiting funds from earlier phases.” | | | |   | | | | | | CHINA’S REBUFF OF A COVID PROBE WORRIES EXPERTS — Leading U.S. infectious disease experts are warning that China's rejection of a World Health Organization plan for another Covid-19 investigation inside the country threatens to deny the world critical data needed to identify and head off future pandemics. Experts told POLITICO’s Phelim Kine, Carmen Paun and Ryan Heath that the denial of access to Wuhan, the original epicenter of the virus outbreak, deepens growing suspicion the Chinese government is attempting to cover up the possibility that the virus was intentionally engineered. WHO recently outlined a plan for a second investigation in China for the origins of the virus, following up on a January WHO investigation hampered by Chinese authorities. The new plan includes a proposal for “audits of relevant laboratories and research institutions operating in the area of the initial human cases identified in December 2019,” a veiled reference to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Chinese government has bristled at international focus on China as the possible origin location of Covid-19 and instead insisted that it “ has multiple origins and broke out in multiple places.” And yet: “We have had already two coronavirus pandemics come out of China and it’s more likely than not that we will have another coronavirus pandemic come out of China, so [a China-based probe] is our best chance to get our hands around how this gets out of bats and into humans,” said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “We can’t do this without going to China. There is no way you can get to the bottom of this from 5000 miles away.” | | | | A message from Humana: Medicare Advantage: Saving seniors money. At Humana, we’re committed to affordable, quality care. Did you know: with Medicare Advantage, seniors save an average of $1,640 in annual out-of-pocket spending compared to fee-for-service Medicare. Learn More. | | | | | | Top Biden officials increasingly anxious about the coronavirus surge and worsening outbreaks across the country, concerns that could sidetrack other White House goals, The Washington Post’s Annie Linskey, Tyler Pager and Dan Diamond write. Florida leads the country in Covid-19 hospitalization rates with deaths also at worrisome highs, The Wall Street Journal’s Arian Campos-Flores reports. Let’s wrap with some positive news: New York on Saturday reported only one coronavirus death for the second consecutive day, the New York Post’s Melissa Klein writes. | | | | Be a Policy Pro. 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