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Presented by PhRMA: Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy. | | | | | |  | | By Alice Miranda Ollstein | Presented by |  | | | With help from Sarah Owermohle, Rachel Roubein and Susannah Luthi 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. | | | — President Joe Biden told Americans life could return to something closer to normal by July 4, if states open up coronavirus vaccination to everyone by May. — Anthony Fauci has become Biden’s Covid whisperer, and POLITICO’s health care team has a behind-the-scenes look at just what that means. — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is preparing new workplace coronavirus safety rules that could throw state reopening plans for a loop. Welcome to Friday Pulse, where your guest author still can’t wrap her head around the fact that we’ve been living with Covid for an entire year. How are you marking the anniversary? Send tips, stories, traditions and rituals to aollstein@politico.com. | | | | A message from PhRMA: As we usher in a new Congress and new administration, we can all agree that people need quality, affordable health coverage that works when they need it. We are focused on solutions that help patients better afford their medicines and protect access to innovation today and in the future. | | | | | | IT’S GONNA BE MAY — In a primetime speech Thursday night , Biden outlined what the administration is doing to get shots into arms more quickly, with the goal of making every adult in the country eligible for a vaccine by May 1. Among the White House’s priorities: — Increasing the number of community health centers distributing shots in low-income neighborhoods and doubling the number of pharmacies giving out shots; — Doubling the number of FEMA-run mass-vaccination sites, which will also serve as home bases for mobile units that will go into neighborhoods hit hard by the virus; — Authorizing dentists, EMTs, midwives, paramedics, veterinarians, medical students and other professionals to administer the shots; — Setting up a federal website and call center by May 1 that will help anyone in the country book a vaccination appointment; — And releasing CDC guidance for vaccinated individuals on travel, participate in small gatherings, and go to work and houses of worship. In his speech, Biden also aimed to give the country a concrete motivation for continuing to mask up and take precautions for now: a return to near-normal by July 4. “If we do this together, there’s a good chance you, your families and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or your neighborhood and have a cookout or barbecue,” he said. “We’ll not only mark our independence as a nation, but we’ll begin to mark our independence from this virus.” GRAIN(S) OF SALT: Just because all adults will be eligible in May doesn’t guarantee everyone will get vaccinated by then. The administration doesn’t expect to have enough vaccine doses for the adult population until the end of May. And even then, it will take time to deliver and administer doses, not to mention persuade reluctant Americans to get vaccinated. The timeline announced Thursday also caught states by surprise. The White House gave governors just a two-hour heads up in advance of the speech and did not take questions on the call. NOT GOODBYE FOR GOOD? Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, also noted in an MSNBC interview after the speech that it’s “entirely conceivable” that Covid will never be fully eradicated and will instead become a seasonal virus that requires regular booster vaccines. | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN IS NOW LAW — The 1.9 trillion Covid aid package Biden signed into law earlier on Thursday will not only fund much of the administration’s vaccination plans, it will dramatically expand the Affordable Care Act and send many new forms of financial aid to families across the country. The bill’s $1,400 stimulus payments will start landing as soon as this weekend, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. Biden is set to hold a Rose Garden event celebrating the bill’s passage this afternoon with top House and Senate Democrats. It’ll be the start of a multi-state blitz to explain the plan to the American people and shore up support for vulnerable Democrats who helped it across the finish line. BIDEN’S COVID WHISPERER — When Biden wanted to know the main takeaways of upcoming guidance relaxing rules for vaccinated Americans, there was one man to ask. It’s become a familiar routine since the president first turned to Fauci during the transition in November. But the relationship goes back much earlier: Biden first met the longtime National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director as a senator, and worked with him during the Obama administration on outbreaks of swine flu, Zika and Ebola. Few other health officials cast as long a shadow as Fauci, especially with other top health posts still vacant. While CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and other senior health experts are included in conversations with the president about the state of the pandemic, Fauci often takes the lead, though he defers to the CDC director for specifics on topics such as testing or the genetic sequencing of virus variants. Fauci said the dynamic with Biden is “totally different” from months of open conflict with former President Donald Trump, describing daily meetings with the Covid-19 task force led by Jeff Zients and weekly formal briefings for Biden. BIDEN’S OSHA TO ROLL OUT WORKPLACE SAFETY RULES –– The Biden administration is expected to soon release new temporary emergency rules to curb Covid-19 spread in the workplace, setting up a collision course with states that are swiftly moving to reopen businesses, POLITICO’s Rebecca Rainey and Susannah Luthi report. What’s coming: A six-month temporary emergency standard that will make CDC and OSHA recommendations mandatory for businesses across the nation. OSHA can’t tell states to shut their businesses, but it is in charge of monitoring and auditing workplaces for safety. Meanwhile, governors in several states are lifting limits in restaurants and bars, increasing capacity restrictions in offices and opening arts and sports venues, and 16 states don’t even have mask mandates in place. That’s why worker advocates and public health experts say the regulations are needed to prevent more deaths. STATES LEAVE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES BEHIND IN VACCINE CAMPAIGN — Millions of disabled Americans have not gotten their Covid shots yet, even as the U.S. ramps up vaccinations, because some states are rejecting federal guidelines that prioritize those with high-risk medical conditions, POLITICO’s Brianna Ehley reports. Speed vs. equity: Some states argue they can get shots out more quickly if they prioritize residents by age alone, and note that older people are far more likely to die if they contract the virus. But this system threatens to leave younger people with disabilities behind — people who are also at risk of serious complications from Covid-19 and who already face wide disparities in access to health care. WHAT’S NEXT FOR OLDER ADULTS? Long-term care facilities are urging states and the Biden administration to ensure residents and staff have continued access to the coronavirus vaccine, after the CDC announced a federal program to immunize the vulnerable seniors will likely end this month. The major nursing home trade group, the American Health Care Association, is requesting governors ensure staff are prioritized in state-run vaccination clinics, allocate vaccines specifically to long-term care pharmacies and to direct hospitals to administer the single-shot J&J vaccine before discharging a patient to a long-term care facility. And four other trade groups are asking the administration to allocate between 50,000 and 75,000 doses per week to certain long-term care pharmacies. | | | |   | | | | | | NOVAVAX SAYS ITS COVID VACCINE IS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE — The Maryland biotech’s coronavirus vaccine is more than 96 percent effective against the original virus and prevents severe Covid-19 illness entirely, the pharmaceutical company announced Thursday. The results stem from a phase 3 trial in the United Kingdom; a similar U.S. trial is underway. Another mid-stage trial in South Africa, where the more virulent strain known as B.1.351 dominates, found the shot is 55.4 percent effective against that variant. In both trials, the shot proved 100 percent effective against hospitalization and death from the virus. Novavax has never brought a vaccine to market before, but received $1.6 billion from the Trump administration to develop and secure 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine. The results of its U.S. trial could be used to file for emergency use authorization from the FDA as soon as next month. | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | Robert Popovian, the former vice president of U.S. government relations at Pfizer, is headed to the Progressive Policy Institute, where he’ll serve as a senior fellow for health policy. | | | | 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. | | | | | | A full tenth of Congress has been infected with Covid-19 over the past year, Lindsey McPherson and Chris Cioffi report for Roll Call, but cases plummeted after lawmakers got early access to vaccines. Vaccine misinformation targeting Black and Latino communities is rampant online, fueling hesitancy, reports Sheera Frenkel for the New York Times. Citing new research, Christina Jewett reports for Kaiser Health News that U.S. and international guidance about which health care workers deserved the best masks and other protection was backwards and put many frontline doctors and nurses at high risk of catching Covid. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
