Masked patrons wait to order at a food stand inside Grand Central Market on July 13, 2022, in Los Angeles. (MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ / AP)
NEW YORK / SOFIA / WASHINGTON – The Joe Biden administration is in the early stages of preparing to shift the burden of paying for COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments to Americans after nearly three years of the federal government picking up the bill, reported The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
The Department of Health and Human Services will hold a meeting later this month to pave the way for insurers and patients to pay for COVID-19 vaccines, antiviral treatments and tests, said the report.
Stakeholders from across the healthcare industry will take part in the planning meeting, during which representatives from pharmacy chains, state health departments and drug producers are expected to begin laying out how insurance coverage and reimbursement would work with the shift, along with industry regulations, according to the report.
The commercialization process is expected to take months to finalize, and the biggest challenge to tackle will be how to make sure the 30 million Americans with no healthcare coverage will access vaccines and treatments, it said.
Shifting from the current model could also mean billions of dollars in additional profit for companies that produce vaccines and antiviral treatments, as commercial prices will likely be higher than what the federal government paid, it added.
Separately, US First Lady Jill Biden ended isolation on Sunday after testing negative for COVID-19.
A spokesperson said in a statement that she had received "negative results from two consecutive COVID-19 tests" after a five-day isolation.
The US first lady departed South Carolina for Delaware later in the day.
She tested positive for COVID-19 last week and had mild symptoms.
Bulgaria
Bulgarian caretaker Prime Minister Galab Donev has been in self-isolation after being in contact with a coronavirus infected person, the Press Office of the Government said in a statement on Sunday.
"The Prime Minister feels in good health," the statement said.
"He continues to work remotely and is in constant contact with members of the government," it said.
A total of 1,233,470 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Bulgaria so far, including 420 in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.
In this file photo taken on January 10, 2022, a health worker shows a vial of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus disease COVID-19 at a vaccination center in Santiago. (JAVIER TORRES / AFP)
Canada
Canada's health ministry on Friday said it had authorized the use of Pfizer Inc's and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine as a booster for children five to 11 years old at least six months after receiving their initial two doses.
The authorization for a booster shot was granted after a thorough, independent review of the vaccine, which "provides good protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death," the health ministry wrote on Twitter.
Canada is witnessing a decrease in COVID-19 cases but citizens must prepare for the potential emergence of new variants of the virus in the months ahead, Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, told a news conference.
"Many of the good personal protective habits we have honed over more than two years of managing COVID-19 can also reduce your risk of getting infected and spreading other diseases, including monkeypox and influenza," Tam said.
An elderly couple wearing protective face masks against COVID-19 walks past the Pfizer Inc headquarters on Dec 9, 2020 in New York City. (ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
Pfizer
The US Food and Drug Administration has asked Pfizer Inc to test the effects of an additional course of its antiviral Paxlovid among people who experience a rebound in COVID-19 after treatment, the regulator said on Friday.
The drugmaker must produce the initial results of a randomized controlled trial of a second course of the antiviral by Sep. 30 next year, the FDA told Pfizer in a letter dated Aug 5.
The directive follows reports of recurrent viral infection or symptoms, or both, after the first course, including in President Joe Biden and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci.
The incidents, which Pfizer says are rare, prompted the FDA to start talks with the company about the trial in May.
The regulator said a protocol for the study is expected to be finalized this month.
Pfizer is "working with the FDA to finalize a protocol to study patients who may be in need of retreatment" and will provide details when available, a company spokesperson said.
