Trump's vaccine czar gives us a timeline for going back to normal
Welcome to Dispensed Daily, your daily dose of healthcare news from Business Insider's healthcare editor Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer and the healthcare team. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday.
Good morning!
I'm Kimberly Leonard, and I'm guest hosting today's edition of Dispensed Daily from Washington, DC.
My reporting focuses on the intersection between business, healthcare policy and politics, and I welcome story ideas about the Biden and Trump campaigns, Congress, and the White House. You can reach me at kleonard@businessinsider.com.
In today's news: Trump's vaccine czar exclusively shares his prediction for when he thinks we'll get back to normal, Google's health chief tells us how its the coronavirus products are part of a larger business shift, and a look at the people in the Biden-Harris orbit who'd have a strong shot at shaping the future of healthcare.
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EXCLUSIVE: Trump's coronavirus vaccine czar shares his best timeline on the race for a COVID-19 vaccine and a return to normal in the second half of 2021
- Speaking in a rare interview, Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser of the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed, told Business Insider he expects a vaccine will become widely available to most Americans in the second quarter of 2021.
- By then, he said, as many as 80 million people will already have gotten the shot.
- The US will return to normal by the second half of 2021, Slaoui predicted.
Read Andrew Dunn's exclusive interview>>
One of Google's top doctors explains how its coronavirus response is feeding into its long-term plans to reinvent how people get health information
- Google Health has been doing a lot of coronavirus-related projects. In response to people asking questions about COVID-19, Google Health designed a self-assessment for coronavirus with health agencies around the world.
- And, prompted by soaring demand for telehealth, it sped up development for a "virtual care feature" that launched in April.
- Karen DeSalvo, Google's chief health officer, told us in an interview that these projects are part of broader strategy around users' "discover to action pathway."
Read Blake Dodge's full story here>>
These are the most powerful people advising Joe Biden and Kamala Harris who could shape the future of healthcare if their campaign succeeds
- To advise on healthcare, Biden has surrounded himself with longtime aides and alumni from the Obama White House, as well as people who were in Hillary Clinton's inner circle.
- The people in the campaign's orbit are well-positioned to land healthcare agency top jobs if the Biden-Harris ticket succeeds.
- Drs. Rebekah Gee and Vivek Murthy are two co-chairs leading the campaign's healthcare policy committee that could implement Biden's promises.
ICYMI: Meet the doctor helping Biden prepare for victory and shape the future of healthcare
More stories we're reading:
- The investment chief at a $7 billion healthcare fund breaks down why the COVID-19 vaccine race will have many winners — and explains how his firm is taking advantage of the massive Chinese market (Business Insider)
- Johns Hopkins scientists examining weird side effects of COVID-19 suggest one way coronavirus 'gains a foothold in the body' (MarketWatch)
- Coronavirus vaccine should be mandatory in Australia: PM (AFP)
- A Yale administrator told students to prepare for 'possibly deaths' — and it shows what a predictable disaster reopening is (Business Insider)
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Twitter at @LeonardKL or email the whole team your ideas at healthcare@businessinsider.com.
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- Kimberly