MedPage Today: Vaccine Access, Hesitancy Amid COVID-19
“Overcoming vaccine hesitancy and access issues has become even more critical because of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts argued at a recent webinar hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine…” (Firth, 6/3).

NPR: The Latest Developments In Global Coronavirus Vaccine Competition
“NPR’s Sarah McCammon talks with Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health and a White House coronavirus task force member, about the latest in the coronavirus research…” (McCammon, 6/3).

POLITICO: FDA struggles to remain independent amid race for virus cure
“…The unprecedented effort by the White House to intercede at an agency that’s supposed to make independent judgments based on medical science is raising alarms among health experts inside and outside the administration. POLITICO spoke with six current or former senior HHS officials and three other people familiar with the White House coronavirus response…” (Owermohle, 6/3).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Who owns the virus? Pandemic sparks debate on data sharing
“The coronavirus pandemic has rekindled a long-standing debate on whether viruses are a nation’s property, and if countries are obliged to share biological samples and scientific data that are key to developing life-saving treatments and vaccines…” (Chandran, 6/4).

Washington Post: The global race for a coronavirus vaccine could lead to this generation’s Sputnik moment
“…[T]he race to produce a vaccine for covid-19 has taken on political dimensions that echo jockeying for technological dominance during the Cold War, including the space race after the launch of Sputnik in 1957. … The nation that produces the first safe and effective vaccine will gain not only bragging rights but also a fast track to put its people back to work, a powerful public health tool to protect its citizens, and a precious resource to reward allies. In an election year in the United States, the prospect of a successful vaccine by year’s end could also be a potent campaign tool…” (Johnson et al., 6/3).