Experts are raising questions about Biden’s COVID-19 booster shot strategy

Hello and good morning,

Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Allison DeAngelis. Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer is out today, so I'll be taking you through the latest in healthcare news today.

• Some COVID-19 experts are questioning the Biden Administration's decision to roll out booster shots.
• The economic divide in Silicon Valley is playing out in access to telehealth services.
• Health insurance startups are growing quickly, but struggling to turn a profit.

If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Do you have comments, tips on the biotech industry or want to discuss "The White Lotus" (Which I've just started, so please save your spoilers for a few days)? Email me at [email protected] or tweet @ADeAngelis_bio.

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3 leading COVID experts say there isn't clear evidence that healthy, vaccinated people will need booster shots 8 months out

• US health officials said Wednesday that a booster shot is recommended eight months after a person's second shot.
• Three leading COVID-19 experts say they aren't sure this is the right strategy to curb the pandemic.
• Ultimately, they said, we need to vaccinate the unvaccinated.

Read more >>

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A clinic's struggles with telehealth in Silicon Valley's shadow shows how the poor are at risk of being left out of healthcare's future

• Health systems are buying telehealth software to ensure patients get virtual care after the pandemic.
• But not all systems can afford robust tech while permanent insurance coverage remains uncertain.
• Uninsured and low-income patients could be left out of the transition to virtual care.

Read Mohana Ravindranath's piece here >>

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Membership is surging at upstart health insurers like Devoted, but they're still struggling to turn a profit

• Health insurer Devoted Health is on track to exceed certain growth projections it laid out in 2019.
• The upstart's revenue and membership more than doubled in the first half of 2021.
• But like its publicly traded rivals, Devoted's losses deepened in the first six months of the year.

Shelby Livingston has more analysis here >>

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More stories we're reading:

• 100x multiples and cold calls: Hedge fund Tiger Global is blowing up the unwritten rules of startup investing right now (Insider)
• Covid's forgotten hero: The untold story of the scientist whose breakthrough make the vaccines possible (Forbes)
• The Biden administration plans to use civil rights laws to go after states that ban masks in schools (The New York Times)

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- Allison