Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CMS Will Cover Vaccines On Updated Schedule: 'Go Get Your Measles Shot'
Mehmet Oz, head of the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, pledged continued insurance coverage for all recommended vaccinations in the country and urged people to get the measles shot as infections skyrocket. His comments come as the Trump administration remakes the nation’s approach to immunizations by promoting personal choice and backing away from once-universal endorsements of shots that have controlled deadly disease outbreaks. Changes to the vaccine schedule have added to mounting confusion over which vaccines will be covered by government programs that often pay for childhood shots. (Nix and Muller, 2/17)
Two of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s top lieutenants struck decidedly different tones at a forum held Tuesday by the pharmaceutical industry group PhRMA. (Lawrence and Payne, 2/17)
On the spread of measles —
Today in an update the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) announced 12 more measles cases in an ongoing outbreak, bringing the state total to 962 cases since last October. The outbreak’s epicenter remains Spartanburg County. (Soucheray, 2/17)
Health officials in South Carolina are reporting a possible measles exposure at a Walmart store. The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) said the possible exposure was at Walmart at 11410 Anderson Road in Powdersville on Sunday, Feb. 8 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Moore, 2/17)
Missouri health officials are warning of potential measles exposure after an out-of-state resident with a confirmed measles case reportedly traveled through St. Louis Lambert International Airport on Feb. 7. (Suntrup, 2/17)
Some critics and physicians said Elizabeth Bruenig’s account of a mother confronting a child’s death from measles felt misleading once they learned the story was reported fiction. (Nover, 2/18)
In related news about infant health —
The 2-month-old baby arrived at the hospital with the type of bleeding in and around his brain that was so unusual Miami neurosurgeon Heather McCrea had only read about it in textbooks. The pooling blood indicated that the baby had a severe vitamin K deficiency — something usually prevented by a shot at birth. But his parents, like a growing number of Americans skeptical of injections, had declined to get the shot for their baby. (Nix, 2/17)
