Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Why Is Evusheld So Hard To Access?; The Societal Trauma Of Covid Is Becoming Apparent
CNN: There's A Drug To Protect The Most Vulnerable From Covid-19. Why Is It So Hard To Get?
My wife's lymphoma diagnosis and 50th birthday came on the same day in March 2021. Rebecca had been aggressively chasing the cause of the small lump she found in her abdomen. With access to a world-class cancer center and support of family and friends, her chemoimmunotherapy regime was deemed a success after a six-month fight. Remission! This was right around the time that Covid-19 vaccines became widely available. Rebecca's oncologist encouraged her to get her shot ASAP. She participated in a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society study which found that many blood cancer patients' immune systems had a markedly worse antibody response to the vaccine, compared to healthy individuals. (Rob Relyea, 4/13)
The New York Times: America’s Pandemic P.T.S.D.
Covid cracked us. The mass trauma of the pandemic may have actually produced a form of mass psychosis. The disruption has caused a societal distress. I think that we ignore or underestimate the extreme trauma that society has endured, and is living with, at our own peril. (Charles M. Blow, 4/13)
New England Journal of Medicine: Do The Tobacco Wars Offer Any Lessons For The Vaccine Wars?
The continuing spread of SARS-CoV-2 remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. What physicians need to know about transmission, diagnosis, and treatment of Covid-19 is the subject of ongoing updates from infectious disease experts at the Journal. (Eric J. Rubin, M.D., Ph.D., Lindsey R. Baden, M.D., Barry R. Bloom, Ph.D., and Stephen Morrissey, Ph.D., 4/14)
