Different Takes: Vaccine Media Coverage Needs Overhaul; How Likely Is Covid Infection After Vaccination?
Opinion writers examine these covid and vaccine topics.
The Washington Post:
The Covid-19 Vaccines Are An Extraordinary Success Story. The Media Should Tell It That Way.
Recent news coverage is fueling a pernicious narrative: What’s the point of getting a covid-19 vaccine if the vaccinated might still get infected, if protection doesn’t last that long and if the vaccine itself could lead to dangerous outcomes such as blood clots? Clinicians need to address each concern head-on, and we need the media’s help to do it. The science is squarely on our side. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data on breakthrough coronavirus infections — meaning instances of fully vaccinated people testing positive. The data highlighted how effective vaccination is, but you might not have drawn that conclusion from news reports. (Leana S. Wen, 4/20)
Stat:
It's No Myth: I Caught Covid-19 After Being Fully Vaccinated
When I was vaccinated against Covid-19, I felt a deep sense of relief: no more worries about personally catching the disease. So when I noticed mild, Covid-19-like symptoms two months later — stuffy nose, chest congestion, and an upset stomach — I thought they were due to seasonal allergies. I was shocked a few days later when a test for Covid-19 done in preparation for an unrelated medical procedure came back positive. (Stephen M. Tourjee, 4/20)
NPR:
Pandemic Points Up Hypocrisy Of Global Health 'Experience'
"You're a hero. "I can't count the number of times I've heard this from well-intentioned friends and family. They send messages of praise for the work I've done over the past decade, addressing rural health and infectious diseases in India (where I was born), Mozambique, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Thailand, Nicaragua, Rwanda and Uganda. In many ways, this recognition felt and still feels misplaced. (Abraar Karan, 4/18)
The Baltimore Sun:
Colleges Should Require Students And Faculty Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19
This month, Johns Hopkins University made a decision on a question that many colleges and universities are thinking hard about: whether to mandate that students get COVID-19 vaccines, and provide proof of it, before returning to campus for classes in the fall. “Given the importance of mass vaccination in protecting our community, we will require all students coming or returning to our campuses this fall, and who do not require religious or health exemptions, to be vaccinated,” the leadership team, including President Ronald J. Daniels, wrote in a letter to the Johns Hopkins community April 9. “We strongly urge, and may soon require, all faculty and staff to be vaccinated as well.” (4/20)
Bloomberg:
Gen Z And Millennials Are The Next Vaccine Challenge
As the days grow longer, there’s a palpable feeling of hope in the air — at least in the more fortunate western countries. Thanks in part to vaccines, Covid-19 deaths are dropping in the U.K. and the U.S., enabling parts of normal life to resume. But, as we’re well aware, it’s not over yet. If we want to have a shot at halting transmission, everybody needs their jabs. Governments around the world desperately need to close the yawning vaccine gap between rich and poor nations. But as wealthy nations begin offering vaccinations to younger cohorts, they may hit a challenge closer to home. (Lara Williams, 4/21)
Chicago Tribune:
The Polls Are In: Vaccine Hesitancy Higher Among White Republicans Than Any Other Group
As a form of identity politics, the coronavirus pandemic works in unusual, yet painfully familiar ways. For example, the widely reported divide between Blacks and whites in willingness to be vaccinated appears to pale next to differences between political partisans. While differences in access to vaccines continue to be a major challenge, the gap appears to be closing between Black and white Americans in their eagerness to get the shot, according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey. (Clarence Page, 4/20)
The New York Times:
Is It Time To End Outdoor Masking?
Happy maskers are all alike; every unhappy masker is unhappy in his own way. For some, the culprit is maskne. For others, it’s the fog of their breath on their glasses. For me, the irritant isn’t fabric per se but summer, which transforms the thick black cotton of my preferred mask from a convenient winter face warmer into a makeshift lip oven. Still, as temperatures climb, I know my discomfort is a small price to pay for keeping the people I encounter on my silly little walks safe. But what if keeping people safe isn’t actually what I’m doing? In recent days, a slew of essays — published in the center-leftish magazines Slate and The Atlantic, the more leftish magazine The New Republic and the libertarian magazine Reason — have sought to spark a reappraisal of our legal and cultural norms around outdoor masking. (Spencer Bokat-Lindell, 4/ 20)
Modern Healthcare:
Patient ID Would Help Interoperability, COVID Vaccine Effort
Congress made the commitment to bring the U.S. health system into the modern computing age with the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009. It then double downed on that commitment seven years later with the 21st Century Cures Act, putting the patient in the driver’s seat of where and when this new digital information travels from location to location. The next step Congress can take to realize a fully interoperable health system that captures and exchanges patient data across health systems with 100% confidence and minimal errors would be to remove the long-standing federal funding ban on a unique patient identifier (UPI) standard. (Cassie Leonard, 4/20)
