Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Steps Required To End The Pandemic; Clarity Needed On Booster Shots
USA Today: Doctors: How To Finally End The COVID Pandemic In America
To combat the delta variant’s aggressive spread, President Joe Biden announced a new and determined national strategy last week. Among other actions, the administration will require employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested weekly. These steps send us in the right direction, and we welcome them. At the same time, we should see them for what they are: disaster relief in the face of a perfect storm. (Drs. Atul Grover and David J. Skorton, 9/17)
The Washington Post: Booster Shot Or No Booster Shot? We Need The Experts To Be Clear With Us
To boost or not to boost? That is the question. The Biden administration needs to quit its Hamlet routine and give us an answer. A definitive yes or no on the need for vaccine boosters to reinforce our protection against covid-19 is an absolute necessity if we are to continue inching our way into the new normal. I know that the science is complicated, the volume of data overwhelming and that even highly credentialed, well-meaning experts do not agree. But at this point, we need a decision that lets us get on with our lives. (Eugene Robinson, 9/16)
The New York Times: The U.S. Needs To Stop The Confusion Over Boosters
Last year, many Americans (including me) despaired when the Trump administration’s policy around Covid vaccines veered away from science and the advice of public health experts. Now, the Biden administration risks undermining America’s already fragile trust in the institutions of public health. The administration recently announced that it was recommending that most Americans who got the Pfizer or Moderna Covid-19 vaccine receive a booster eight months after receiving their second shot. It released a statement from public health and medical experts in the Department of Health and Human Services who agreed that beginning the week of Sept. 20, many Americans should start receiving third vaccinations. (Aaron E. Carroll, 9/17)
Scientific American: A New Nurse Struggles To Save Patients In A New COVID Surge
I saw my name followed by “RN” for the first time on July 27, 2020. The next day, my instructor, or preceptor, and I were assigned to the COVID intensive care unit at our hospital in Nashville, Tenn. I read the assignment sheet with a strange knot in my chest. It wasn’t fear or dread rising into my throat but something much harder to name. (Kathryn Ivey, 9/16)
The Atlantic: Stop Calling It A ‘Pandemic Of The Unvaccinated’
“Your refusal has cost all of us,” President Joe Biden said to unvaccinated people last week, as he announced a new COVID-vaccine mandate for all workers at private companies with more than 100 employees. The vaccinated, he said, are angry and frustrated with the nearly 80 million people who still haven’t received a vaccine, and their patience “is wearing thin.” (Yasmin Tayang, 9/16)
Georgia Health News: A Covid Crisis That Was Not Inevitable
Our current crisis was not inevitable. Eighteen months ago we faced the collective challenge of a global pandemic the likes of which we had never seen. This required a tremendous learning curve in the understanding and response by a public health workforce that had been chronically underfunded and understaffed. Against this formidable challenge, we witnessed leadership successes and failures at every level of government and public health. Adaptive leadership in the face of an evolving pandemic is hard, even for those who are most prepared. We also witnessed the unfortunate politicization of critical public health strategies and the blatant spread of misinformation. As the current coronavirus Delta variant surges in Georgia and across the South, however, each day brings a new dystopian reality. (Dr. Harry J. Heiman, 9/16)
USA Today: Long COVID Symptoms Last For Months Or Longer. What You Should Know
There are more than 200 symptoms of long COVID-19, including fatigue, brain fog, breathlessness, headaches, all-over body pain, and gastrointestinal and heart problems. As many as 12 million people have experienced "long-haul" symptoms, a group often overlooked when attention focuses on deaths (1 out of every 500 people in the U.S. has died of COVID-19) and vaccine hesitancy (only 63% of Americans 12 and older are fully vaccinated). (Nicole Carroll, 9/17)
