|
Presented by PhRMA: Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy. | | | | | |  | | By Adam Cancryn | Presented by |  | | | With Susannah Luthi, Carmen Paun and Alice Miranda Ollstein Editor’s Note: POLITICO Pulse is a free version of POLITICO Pro Health Care's morning newsletter, which is delivered to our s each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform 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. | | | — Once his Covid aid package passes, President Joe Biden will face a new challenge: explaining it to Americans. — Maryland is the latest state to roll back Covid restrictions, while Alaska will be the first to drop vaccine eligibility requirements. — Biden will host top executives from Johnson & Johnson and Merck, a week after the companies' major vaccine production deal. WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE. Want to know how mRNA vaccines work? There's a TikTok for that. Have a tip? There's an email address for that: acancryn@politico.com. | | | | A message from PhRMA: As we usher in a new administration and Congress, there are many things on which we can all agree, like building a more just, equitable society. We must address systemic racism, and the biopharmaceutical industry remains committed to this important issue on behalf of our communities, the patients we serve and our employees. | | | | | | BIDEN PREPS FOR COVID AID VICTORY LAP — Biden devoted the opening months of his presidency to stabilizing the Covid response and getting nearly $2 trillion in pandemic aid through a narrowly-divided Congress. Now, POLITICO’s Christopher Cadelago and Natasha Korecki report, Biden is plotting a publicity tour to sell his administration’s first accomplishments, beginning with a primetime address Thursday focused on the pandemic. He’ll follow with his first press conference later this month and an eventual address to Congress. — The top talking points: Biden, first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be among the top officials touting the package’s $1,400 checks, as well the billions of dollars set aside to help reopen schools and speed the vaccine distribution process. They’ll also draw attention to wonkier elements of the bill, including health provisions subsidizing coverage for laid-off workers and expanding Obamacare’s subsidies. — For Biden, this is a significant shift in strategy. The White House has so far taken an extremely cautious approach to public messaging, wary of overpromising and consumed with keeping the focus on the administration’s Covid response. But Biden’s roadshow will mean the president will be in front of reporters more often and will need to make more unscripted appearances. MARYLAND LIFTS COVID CAPS ON BUSINESSES — Republican Gov. Larry Hogan signed an executive order Tuesday to roll back capacity limits on restaurants, retailers, fitness centers and religious establishments and loosen those on large venues like convention centers and concert halls. Hogan’s order also eliminates quarantine requirements for out-of-state travelers — but the state’s masking requirement is so far still in place, and bars and restaurants must still keep customers physically distanced. — Hogan on Tuesday pointed to “significant improvements” in the state’s Covid metrics as justification for beginning to reopen, a decision backed by Robert Redfield, CDC director under former President Donald Trump, who is now advising Hogan on the pandemic. Yet that comes as the decline of new daily Covid cases has begun to flatten, prompting Biden officials to admonish states for dropping their public health restrictions too early. ALASKA OPENS VACCINES TO ALL — Alaska GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Tuesday announced that coronavirus vaccines will be available to anyone over 16 who lives or works in the state, making it the first in the nation to do so. Alaska leads all states in the proportion of residents that have been fully vaccinated, with certain areas at or above 90 percent vaccination rates among seniors. The state will make the Pfizer vaccine available to all those 16 and older, Dunleavy said, with the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines open to those 18 and up. TODAY: BIDEN HOSTS J&J, MERCK EXECS — The drug companies’ CEOs will visit the White House a week after Merck agreed to help Johnson & Johnson speed production of its Covid vaccine, a deal that allowed Biden to pledge the country would have enough shots for every adult American by mid-May. Yet the 3 p.m. ET event is the result of some last-minute shuffling by the White House. Biden was originally scheduled to meet the executives at a Baltimore vaccine plant run by Emergent BioSolutions. But that trip was scrapped following a New York Times report about Emergent’s outsized influence over the contents of the Strategic National Stockpile. | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO “THE RECAST” TO JOIN AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION: Power dynamics are changing. “Influence” is changing. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. “The Recast” is our new twice-weekly newsletter that breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics, policy and power in America. And POLITICO is recasting how we report on this crucial intersection, bringing you fresh insights, scoops, dispatches from across the country and new voices that challenge “business as usual.” Don’t miss out on this important new newsletter, SUBSCRIBE NOW. Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | | | | | SLAVITT TO EXIT BY JUNE — Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser to Biden’s Covid response team, is planning to leave the White House at the end of May, he confirmed on Tuesday. Slavitt joined the Covid response team in mid-January to help coordinate the effort and aid the administration’s vaccine messaging. He has since become one of the most prominent faces of the response, often helming the White House’s regular Covid briefings and touting progress in combating the pandemic on podcasts and in interviews. As a special government employee, Slavitt can only serve in his temporary capacity for a limited period, which is set to expire come June. His planned four-and-a-half months on the Covid response would be similar to Biden chief of staff Ron Klain’s tenure as Ebola czar during the Obama administration. | | | |   | | | | | | FIRST IN PULSE: MURRAY PITCHES BOOST TO PUBLIC HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE — Senate HELP Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) will propose legislation Wednesday that would set aside an additional $4.5 billion in annual funding to bolster the nation’s public health infrastructure, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. The bill — dubbed the Public Health Infrastructure Saves Lives Act — aims to help fund the on-the-ground response to the pandemic and improve preparedness for future public health crises. Its introduction comes a day after state officials, health workers and medical experts testified to the HELP Committee that the U.S. public health system is under-resourced and understaffed, leaving it vulnerable to future outbreaks. | | | GLOBAL COALITION PLOTS VACCINE ACCELERATOR — The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations is unveiling a five-year, $3.5 billion plan to cut vaccine development for new pandemics to 100 days, from the 10 months that it took to authorize the first Covid vaccine, POLITICO’s Carmen Paun writes. The CEPI plan’s goals include preparing clinical trial networks to quickly respond to new threats, coordinating with global regulators to streamline vaccine oversight and linking manufacturing facilities to speed up production. CEPI also plans to put some of the $3.5 billion toward improving existing vaccines, in hopes of combating emerging variants and developing vaccines that could work against other kinds of coronaviruses. | | | TRUMP’s REGULATION ‘SUNSET’ RULE FACES LEGAL CHALLENGE — A range of groups that includes the American Lung Association, the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners and the Center for Science in the Public Interest are suing HHS over a Trump-era rule that assigns automatic experiation dates to tens of thousands of regulations unless the department reviews them, POLITICO’s Susannah Luthi reports. The rule finalized the day before Biden took office applies to every agency under HHS’ umbrella, such as the FDA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Indian Health Service, and is set to take effect on March 22. — The Biden administration is expected to ax the policy. But that looming start date has the coalition seeking a more immediate legal resolution, with the groups estimating that more than 17,000 regulations would be scheduled to expire in 2026 alone. | | | | A message from PhRMA: Despite our divisions, there are many things on which Americans agree. The biopharmaceutical industry is committed to working with Congress and the new administration to:
• End the pandemic. The industry remains committed to getting COVID-19 treatments and vaccines to patients, and we are working closely with governments, insurers and others to make sure they are accessible and affordable.
• Make health care better and more affordable. People want quality, affordable health coverage that works when they need it. We support solutions that will help patients better afford their medicines and protect access to innovation today and in the future.
• Build a more just, equitable society. We must address systemic racism, as has been made clear by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others and the outsized impact of the pandemic on Black and Brown communities. We remain committed to this important issue on behalf of our communities, the patients we serve and our employees. | | | | | | Baker Donelson adds KATHERINE FUNK to hits health law group. An antitrust and business attorney, she’ll also work with the firm’s government enforcement and investigations and business litigation groups. | | | The political network backed by Charles Koch is promoting a new health agenda designed to counter Biden’s effort to build out Obamacare, CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reports. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed legislation banning nearly all abortions in the state, a measure its supporters hope will spur the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade, the Associated Press reports. For the New Yorker, Emily Witt examines Los Angeles’ chaotic vaccine rollout. | | | | FIND OUT THE LATEST WHISPERS FROM THE WEST WING: Add Transition Playbook to your daily reads to find out what's really happening inside the West Wing, who really has the president's ear, and get the latest scoop from inside cabinet departments and agencies. Track the people, policies and emerging power centers of the Biden administration. Don’t miss out. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
