ASTRAZENECA’s VACCINE RESULTS, TAKE 2 — The drugmaker is now saying its vaccine is 76 percent effective against symptomatic Covid-19 infection, slightly lower than the figure it first released earlier this week, POLITICO’s Sarah Owermohle reports. The new estimate comes two days after the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, an independent group overseeing vaccine trials, accused AstraZeneca of using stale data to promote the vaccine. AstraZeneca’s initial release had relied on information from a mid-February interim analysis, the board said. — The new data still represents good news for the company’s vaccine. Its effectiveness is well above the bar set for FDA authorization, and the shots’ estimated efficacy for people older than 65 actually rose slightly from Monday’s figures, from 80 percent to 85 percent. — But AstraZeneca may still struggle to restore the public’s trust in its shot. The confusion comes less than a week after unsubstantiated fears about the vaccine’s safety swept across Europe. AstraZeneca said it’s planning to seek authorization from the FDA by mid-April. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine manufacturing capability is getting a much-needed boost. Catalent, a contract manufacturer helping produce Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, has started delivering millions of doses after receiving FDA clearance late Tuesday. J&J’s other partner, Emergent BioSolutions, is still awaiting its own FDA authorization. BIDEN TOUTS NEW TRANCHE OF FUNDING FOR VACCINATION CAMPAIGN — A surge of funding from Democrats’ Covid aid package will soon land at HHS, much of it to be spent on efforts to ramp up vaccinations in hard-hit and underserved communities, POLITICO’s Rachel Roubein reports. Where the money will go: — Community health centers will receive $6 billion to fund services like Covid-19 vaccinations, testing and preventative care; — States, territories and large cities will get $3 billion to aid vaccine confidence campaigns and help increase access in the hardest-hit communities; — And $330 million will go to jurisdictions to assist community health workers and improve coronavirus prevention and control efforts. The White House is also urging health centers that provide vaccinations to expand eligibility for the shots to all essential workers and people with high-risk medical conditions, and it plans to create a new program that will send vaccines directly to dialysis centers. — The backdrop: Biden has long promised equitable distribution of Covid shots, but CDC data still shows stark disparities in who’s getting vaccinated – with Black and Hispanic communities lagging far behind white Americans. HOW BIDEN PLANS TO OVERHAUL COVID TESTING — The White House is shifting the nation’s testing strategy from diagnosing people who suspect they’re infected to regularly screening millions of Americans at school and work, POLITICO’s David Lim reports. Widespread and consistent testing will be vital to reopening classrooms and nonessential businesses, and as demand for Covid tests across the country has finally begun to dip, routinely testing schoolchildren is now possible without getting in the way of testing elsewhere. Last week the administration announced a $10 billion effort to amp up screening programs for K-12 students, and it’s also trying to speed up the manufacturing of rapid Covid tests for in-home use. — Regular screenings will become even more important as the vaccination rate increases, by helping to catch new pockets of the virus. As the overall caseload drops, contact tracing will become easier, health experts said. | 
