Different Takes: Gentle Shaming Persuades Vaccine Skeptics; Africa’s Low Vaccination Rate Is Alarming

Bloomberg: The Vaccine-Hesitant Could Use Some Friendly Shame 
The experience of the global Covid-19 pandemic raises a troubling question about the state of human society: Why would so many otherwise intelligent people refuse vaccines that can save their lives and help protect their friends and loved ones? The answer lies to a large extent in shame, and in the ways government officials, scientists and community leaders should and shouldn’t deploy it. (Cathy O'Neil, 3/27)

The New York Times: Africa C.D.C. Director On How Africa Can Fight Covid Now 
Last month, in my role as leader of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I asked that donations of Covid-19 vaccines to Africa be momentarily delayed until the third and fourth quarter of the year. At the moment, Africa’s most pressing need is administering the vaccines we have to willing people. Every country is unique in what it needs to fight Covid-19, but logistical challenges and issues of vaccine hesitancy — similar to those seen in other places around the world — have momentarily outstripped shortages for the continent. We do not want vaccines to go to waste. Now that supply is not the primary challenge, we need to focus on better delivery. (Dr. John Nkengasong, 3/27)

The New York Times: We Study Virus Evolution. Here’s Where We Think The Coronavirus Is Going. 
As scientists who study how viruses evolve, we are often asked about the future of the coronavirus. Will it go away? Get worse? Fade into the background of our lives? Become seasonal like the flu? Here’s what we know: The virus’s Omicron variant was significantly more infectious and more resistant to vaccines than the original strain that first emerged in Wuhan, China. There’s no reason, at least biologically, that the virus won’t continue to evolve. The coronavirus variants that have emerged thus far sample only a fraction of the genetic space that is most likely available for evolutionary exploration. (Sarah Cobey, Jesse Bloom, Tyler Starr and Nathaniel Lash, 3/28)

CNN: Putting Your Covid Diagnosis On Blast Is No Longer A Thing 
More than two years into the pandemic, getting a Covid diagnosis has become fairly commonplace: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some 80 million Americans have contracted the virus at least once, out of a total US population of about 329 million. And if you consider all the people who contracted the virus but may never have received a formal diagnosis, health experts tell us about 43 percent of the country has been infected with Covid. Most of us know someone who's had it, and may even have gotten it once or twice ourselves. Still, there are plenty of people who haven't had the virus, and that might be one reason a positive test result still makes headlines for public figures. But maybe being famous isn't reason enough anymore to tell us all about your Covid diagnosis. (Peggy Drexler, 3/27)

The Colorado Sun: How Colorado Can Prepare For The Next COVID-19 Variant
The Omicron surge has peaked and is falling rapidly as the number of people living in Colorado who remain susceptible to the virus shrinks. Our communities are returning to normal. However, a new Omicron subvariant that appears to partially overcome preexisting immunity to Omicron is likely to increase the number of Colorado infections in the coming weeks. Fortunately, most of these infections will be mild and not result in hospitalizations and deaths, especially when people are fully immunized or have had prior recent Covid-19 infections. The Omicron wave is likely to infect 50% of the world’s population by the end of March, according to Dr. Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle. Murray suggests that SARS CoV-2 will then become endemic and have an impact similar to influenza during a bad season. (Dr. Stephen Berman, 3/27)

Stat: The Parallel Plights Of Two Disparate Communities Hard Hit By Covid 
I constantly straddle two disparate worlds. One is in Boston, where I work for one of the country’s best health care systems and serve as a professor at Harvard Medical School. The other is in northern New Mexico, where I am a member of the Taos Pueblo tribe. While these two communities could not be more different in population, culture, or geography, the Covid-19 pandemic has linked them in an unfortunate but all-too-common way: both are beset by racism and racial disparities in health care. (Tom Sequist, 3/28)

The Star Tribune: Get A Booster If You Haven't Already 
This deep into the COVID-19 pandemic, it's clear that what happens in Europe tends not to stay in Europe. Rising infections there often serve as an advance warning of another COVID surge in the United States. Unfortunately, the still-evolving virus is once again spreading on the other side of the Atlantic, with sharp case increases reported in Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain. Pandemic fatigue is no excuse not to prepare for rising cases here. One of the most important steps to take is getting a COVID booster if you haven't already. The number of people in Minnesota and elsewhere who haven't yet done so is alarming. (3/27)