Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: No Organ Transplants For The Unvaccinated; How Much Longer Will Covid Be A Pandemic?
NBC News: Covid Vaccine Refusal Removes Boston Patient From Heart Transplant Waitlist. As It Should
D.J. Ferguson, a 31-year-old father of two children with a third on the way, was lying near death at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston last week. He was waiting for a heart transplant, and his failing heart put him high on the transplant eligibility list. But then the hospital removed him from the list because he is not vaccinated against Covid-19. As tragic as this is likely to be for Ferguson and his family, we think the hospital made the right decision. (J. Russell Teagarden and Arthur L. Caplan, 1/31)
The Washington Post: What If We’re In The Middle — Not The End — Of The Pandemic?
We would like to think we are at the end of a two-year pandemic. But what if we’re only halfway through? With the omicron variant starting to recede in parts of Europe and the United States, people have become tired and impatient. But if we have learned anything, it is that covid-19 is still evolving. Our experts cannot predict how, where or when it will strike again. It is imperative, therefore, to prepare for the possibility of further waves, even while we celebrate the ebbing of this one. (Richard Danzig, Jeremy Farrar and Richard Hatchett, 1/31)
Los Angeles Times: California's Blocked Vaccine Mandate For Prison Guards Is Public Health Idiocy
California’s correctional facilities in January saw an alarming third wave of infection that brings an urgent threat. The first wave, during the spring and summer of 2020, saw disastrous infections starting at the California Institution for Men and leading to cases in most residents at Avenal and San Quentin. The second wave, during the winter of 2020, saw outbreaks across all prisons with thousands of active cases. More than 66,000 infections have occurred to date, and at least 246 incarcerated people have died of the virus. (Hadar Aviram, 2/1)
