Events that have taken place in America over the last few years have put a spotlight on race, and now the push for equity has extended to vaccines. I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this is Top Stories.
This week, the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association and the American Pharmacists Association released an open letter urging fellow medical professionals to ramp up efforts to collect race and ethnicity information when administering COVID-19 vaccinations. According to HealthcareITNews (https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/medical-groups-urge-racial-data-collection-efforts-covid-19-vaccinations), Black and Latino Americans appear least likely to have been vaccinated to date, which is especially concerning given the disproportionate impact the virus has had on those communities. The medical groups note that race and ethnicity data can play important roles in pinpointing this inequity and creating solutions to address it.
In honor of World Hearing Day on Wednesday, Apple and the University of Michigan have released preliminary data from the Apple Hearing Study, finding that one out of four people have daily noise exposure over the World Health Organization’s daily limit. In MobiHealthNews (https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/apple-university-michigan-share-first-results-apple-hearing-study), we see that one in 10 have weekly headphone exposure over the recommended limits, meaning many people are potentially at risk for noise-induced hearing loss. The study also showed that even when remedies are available, three out of four participants with diagnosed hearing loss don't use corrective support, and four in 10 participants haven't had a professional hearing test in more than a decade.
Finally this week, Merck and Johnson & Johnson, whose vaccine just received emergency use authorization, are partnering with the federal government to ramp up manufacturing of the COVID-19 vaccine. President Joe Biden reportedly said that there will be enough of the vaccine for all American adults by the end of May, a change from the previous estimate of July. Healthcare Finance News reports (https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/merck-open-facilities-johnson-johnson-speedier-covid-19-vaccine-production) that Merck is repurposing some of its existing facilities for Johnson & Johnson to scale up rapid, large-scale manufacturing, and is using an initial Defense Production Act investment of $105 million to convert, upgrade and equip its facilities to the standards necessary to safely manufacture the vaccine.
I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this has been Top Stories.