Viewpoints: Cave Syndrome Caused By Pandemic Isolation; Deaf Communities Experience Vaccine Hurdles

Los Angeles Times: Anxious About Post-COVID Life? You May Have 'Cave Syndrome' 
A few weeks ago I wrote a column in which I briefly referred to the concept of “cave syndrome.” The term was coined by a psychiatrist in Florida to describe people who are feeling scared or unwilling to reenter post-pandemic society — even after being vaccinated — because they have grown too accustomed to isolation. I mentioned it only in passing, having heard something about it on a local news broadcast. But when the column appeared, I was surprised by how many people wrote or spoke to me about it, saying it was something they were experiencing themselves. “Thanks for giving me a name for how I’m feeling,” wrote one woman. “I love it when something has a name.” (Nicholas Goldberg, 4/11)

CNN: I Was Fortunate To Get My Vaccination, But The Hurdles Are Too Great For Many Other Deaf People 
When I received an email saying I was eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine -- containing a link to register for an appointment -- I was elated. Eager to protect my family, myself and my community, I signed up and drove to my designated location, a megasite run by the National Guard. As I approached the building entrance and saw a cluster of masked Guardsmen separating people into different lines, shouting instructions that I could not hear or see. I began to feel panicky. (Sara Novic, 4/13)

Stat: Beware The 'Last Mile, First Smile' Near The End Of The Pandemic
In a prime-time address to the nation in March, President Biden said he is eyeing the Fourth of July 2021 as the beginning of our independence from Covid-19. As restrictions lift and businesses and schools reopen with increased capacity, many will start to sense regular, back-to-normal kinds of feelings. If vaccination keeps Covid-19 and its variants at bay, as we hope it will, and most Americans get vaccinated, as we hope they will, reports about the pandemic will gradually retreat from the front pages. Hospitals and health care systems will start closing Covid-19 departments and resume elective medical care, hoping to work themselves out of the Covid-induced financial hole they find themselves in. They will also work hard to fill vacancies in medical personnel, having lost some to the pandemic and others to burnout. (Yotam Dagan, 4/14)

Bloomberg: FDA Pause Of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Is A Costly Mistake 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision to recommend a pause in distribution of the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine has been roundly — and rightly — condemned across the political spectrum. It’s clear that the hypersensitive “abundance of caution” standard the FDA applied is inappropriate for a global pandemic. Less well recognized is that the same standard, applied during normal times, also has enormous costs for lives and health of Americans. The FDA acted after blood clots were observed in less than one in a million people who have received the J&J vaccine in the U.S. By contrast, Covid has already killed 1,712 out of every million Americans. What’s more, from the information the FDA released initially, it was not clear that any of the blood clots were fatal, though officials later said one woman had died. By its own admission, the agency does not know if there is a causal link between the vaccine and the clotting. (Karl W. Smith, 4/13)

The New York Times: The F.D.A.’s Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Call Is No Catastrophe 
When data linked a potentially fatal blood clotting disorder to Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did what they have promised to do, and what they nearly always do, in such situations: They advised doctors and pharmacists to temporarily halt use of the vaccine while they investigate the matter. The pause is expected to last just a few days. The risk of developing this potential side effect is expected to be very small relative to the risks associated with the coronavirus for unvaccinated people. Only six clotting cases have been reported in the United States so far, out of the 6.5 million Johnson & Johnson vaccinations that have been administered. It’s not even clear yet if the condition resulted from the shot. The F.D.A. is expected to clear the company’s vaccine for continued use, possibly with some exceptions for people who have a high risk of clotting and nearly certainly with some guidance on how to watch for and treat the condition in question. (4/13)

The Washington Post: Why The Johnson & Johnson Pause Should Bolster Confidence In Vaccines 
The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a joint recommendation on Tuesday to pause administration of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine on the basis that it could be associated with a rare blood clotting disorder. I am a doctor and a participant in the Johnson & Johnson clinical trial who received the vaccine myself less than two weeks ago; here is how I’m processing the news. First, federal health officials made exactly the right decision. Any concerning safety signals should be investigated immediately. Even with an incidence of one in a million (there have been six cases of this clotting disorder out of nearly 7 million doses administered), the FDA and CDC made the right call to recommend this vaccine be put on hold. With so much scrutiny on vaccine safety, an abundance of caution bolsters public confidence. (Leana S. Wen, 4/13)