BIDEN ADMIN PREPS FOR BOOSTER SHOTS THIS FALL — The administration will soon recommend that Americans get a coronavirus booster shot eight months after completing their initial vaccination, a pivot from officials’ rhetoric in recent weeks insisting boosters aren’t necessary yet. The announcement, which is expected this week, comes as administration health officials have coalesced around a plan to start distributing the shots as early as mid- to late September, according to three people familiar with discussion. The strategy is still dependent on FDA first authorizing boosters for all Americans, and officials are still hammering out the specifics of the rollout. But officials in recent days reviewed a raft of data on the vaccines' effectiveness over time — including new information collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that helped convince health officials boosters would be needed within weeks. The administration plans to make that data public when it officially unveils the booster recommendation, a person familiar with the discussions said. What’s next: The World Health Organization and other international organizations have called on higher-income countries to delay their booster shots until millions of people in developing countries were able to get their first vaccines — a contrast that some U.S. officials were eager to avoid. Meanwhile, Pfizer on Monday said it submitted early clinical data on booster vaccines to the FDA. Their trials, with partner BioNTech, focus on administering a third dose to people 16 and older roughly nine months after their second vaccination. But for now, the companies say they won’t have late-stage data until later this year and won’t file for approval until after the original two-dose regimen is approved. BECERRA TAKES BIDEN’S DRUG PLAN ON THE ROAD — The HHS Secretary appeared in New Jersey Monday to tout President Joe Biden’s proposal to slash drug costs, days after Biden’s White House speech positioning drug pricing and Medicare negotiation as some of his top policy goals. “Lowering the cost of care and prescription drugs is a priority for the Biden-Harris Aadministration, and I am committed to advancing this goal,” Becerra said at a New Brunswick, N.J., Protect Our Care event alongside Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone. Becerra, like Biden, stayed away from endorsing specific legislation and instead highlighted the president’s Build Back Better agenda. But Pallone brought up House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Medicare negotiation bill, H.R. 3, several times in remarks, underscoring his own longtime involvement in drug-pricing legislation. For his part, Becerra also referenced his history on drug-pricing policies, saying “Congressman Pallone and I have been fighting to do something about high drug prices for forever.” As California Attorney General, Becerra led the first-in-nation ban on pay-for-delay agreements that stalled generic drugs from entering the market. But as Biden’s health secretary, his agenda so far has been crowded with the border crisis and the ongoing pandemic. FLORIDA COUNTY RETHINKS MASK POLICY AFTER MASS QUARANTINES — One of Florida’s largest school districts encompassing the Tampa area is considering mask requirements amid thousands of Covid-19 exposures since schools reopened last week. At least 5,599 students and 316 employees in Hillsborough County are already in quarantine or isolation because of coronavirus exposures, our Andrew Atterbury writes. Leaders said Monday they’re calling an emergency board meeting to “discuss the best way to mitigate against the spread of the virus, up to and including mandatory face coverings for all students and staff.” That could put the county at odds with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has taken a hands-off approach to the recent coronavirus surge while fighting local mask mandates. Only two of Florida’s 67 school districts — Alachua and Broward counties — are requiring all students to wear face coverings in school, and both are facing possible sanctions from the DeSantis administration for their stricter policies. In both cases, the districts could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funding, repercussions the Board of Education weighs today.
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