Perspectives: Vaccine Lessons On Making Racial Equity A Priority, Fixing An Extremely Incompetent Rollout

Boston Globe: The Racial Vaccination Gap Is A Scandal
In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, just as racial data on COVID-19 started to become available, the United States had to confront an ugly truth: Black and brown Americans were becoming infected at alarmingly higher rates than their white neighbors, a reality that underscored the racial inequality that has long plagued the country’s health care system. As the crisis wore on, structural racism became all the more visible: Black and brown people are more likely to die of COVID-19, more likely to lose their jobs, and more likely to fall into poverty. Yet despite all the warning signs that the pandemic would take its harshest toll on the most marginalized communities, states and the federal government are continuing to exacerbate these inequalities in the distribution of vaccines. (Abdallah Fayyad, 2/8)

The New York Times: 60 Black Health Experts Urge Black Americans To Get The Covid Vaccine
We are among 60 Black members of the National Academy of Medicine, the premier health science organization in the United States. Together we are scientists, doctors, nurses, other health care professionals and public health experts. We feel compelled to make the case that all Black Americans should get vaccinated to protect themselves from a pandemic that has disproportionately killed them at a rate 1.5 times as high as white Americans in cases in which race is known — a rate that is most likely very conservative. (Thomas A. LaVeist and Georges C. Benjamin, 2/7)

Stat: The U.S. Needs A National Vaccine Day 
Vaccines don’t save lives. Vaccinations do. That is an essential lesson we have learned from working at the forefront of vaccine development and health communication. One of us (S.P.) helped develop vaccines for rubella, rabies, and rotavirus, that have played an essential role in reducing preventable childhood deaths in the United States and around the world — but only because of public health campaigns that built trust in vaccination and made vaccines easily accessible to people from every walk of life. (Stanley Plotkin, Norman Baylor and Keona Jeane Wynne, 2/7)

CNN: Americans Are Wondering: Will  I Get The Vaccine Or Virus First?
"It's a black hole." That's how one reader described the process of trying to sign her elderly parents up to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. In the past year, this virus has changed everyone's life. Death, in an instant, became a constant worry for many. Schools closed and parents looked for ways to explain this new normal to their children. Industries shuttered, savings dried up and many families suddenly found themselves having to decide between paying rent or buying food. Quarantining and social distancing made holidays and celebrations look different. (Jhodie-Ann Williams and Jane Greenway Carr, 2/6)

The New York Times: We Know Very Little About America’s Vaccine Debacle
A few weeks into her part-time job vaccinating nursing home staff members and residents against the coronavirus, Katherine, a pharmacist, noticed a problem: Roughly 15 to 20 vaccines were being thrown away at the end of each vaccination session. That’s because the number of doses that she and her co-workers had prepared — per the protocol established by Katherine’s manager at CVS, the pharmacy she works for — exceeded the number of people who showed up to be inoculated, often significantly. (2/7)

The Wall Street Journal: What To Do When There’s A Covid-19 Vaccine Glut 
The Food and Drug Administration announced new steps last week to help ensure that Covid-19 tests, treatments and vaccines stay ahead of new, potentially more transmissible and virulent, variants, whose emergence makes widespread vaccination even more urgent. The longer it takes to get the virus under control, the harder it may become. And soon, the problem may be a vaccine glut if demand is weaker than expected. After early challenges, vaccine delivery is keeping up with supply. But by the end of March, the monthly vaccine supply may reach 100 million doses. To keep pace, the vaccination rate would have to double and then some. This will require an all-of-the-above approach to administering vaccines, tapping substantial capacity in pharmacies, primary-care practices and other trusted health-care providers. Especially with improved delivery, at some point, perhaps in April, supply will start exceeding demand. (Scott Gottlieb and Mark McClellan, 2/7)

The Washington Post: The Crucial Result In Vaccine Trials: Very Few Hospitalizations
Here’s my best-case scenario for the coronavirus pandemic: With existing vaccines, we turn covid-19 into an illness akin to the seasonal flu. The virus might still be around and infect people. Some who get it might still end up sick. But covid-19 no longer leads to overwhelmed hospitals and terrifying death tolls, and by the end of 2021, we can resume much of our pre-pandemic lives. I’m optimistic that this can happen because of a specific result in the vaccine trials that, so far, has received little attention. Much has been made of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines being 95 percent efficacious in preventing symptomatic illness. That’s a terrific result, but it’s not the most important one. I’m not so impressed if a vaccine can prevent someone from developing a sore throat or runny nose. I care about whether vaccination means that people won’t become severely ill — to the point that they require hospitalization. (Leana S. Wen, 2/4)