Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Anti-Vax Health Care Workers Should Leave Profession; Can Covid Cause Erectile Dysfunction?
Chicago Tribune: Have Unvaccinated Health Care Workers Forgotten The First Rule Of Medicine?
Everything we do in medicine carries risks. We continuously weigh the benefits of tests, procedures and medications against those risks. If the benefit outweighs the risk, we proceed. If the risk outweighs the benefit, we pause and consider other options. I was disturbed to read a headline last weekend that a hospital in upstate New York is pausing their maternity services — they said they will not be able to deliver babies. Why not? Because a critical number of their staff quit. Why? Because they would rather leave their positions than receive COVID-19 vaccines, which were recently mandated for health care providers in New York. Gerald Cayer, the Lewis County Health System CEO, said, “We are unable to safely staff the service after Sept. 24.” Sadly, there will be many more health care systems that issue similar statements. (Robert J. Citronberg, 9/17)
USA Today: COVID And ED: Why Getting Vaccinated Could Improve Your Sex Life
We need more studies to confirm it, but it looks like there is another important reason to get the COVID-19 vaccine — it could help prevent erectile dysfunction. As soon as doctors realized that the virus threatened the endovascular system, we started wondering if COVID-19 infection could cause ED. And anecdotally, since the pandemic began in March 2020, urologists like myself had noticed an uptick in patients who were experiencing erectile dysfunction. But while we suspected that COVID and ED might be related, it hadn't been proven yet. (Marcos Del Rosario Santiago, 9/18)
Newsweek: Psychedelics May Treat The Post-COVID Mental Health Crisis
The COVID pandemic has left another pandemic in its wake: mental health. With unprecedented demands on our mental health services by a generation left traumatized, we need to look at new effective treatments for those affected. One of these new effective treatments is the use of psychedelics. There is a growing body of research that shows that psychedelics can be a safe and effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and various forms of addiction. What's more, this new way of treating those affected could create thousands of jobs and an entirely new sector within the health care industry. All we need to do is fund further research that can pave the way for wider mainstream adoption by medical professionals. (Ron Bauer, 9/18)
Scientific American: Vaccinate The World Before Starting COVID Booster Shots
Earlier the World Health Organization set a goal of having at least 10 percent of every country‘s population vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of this month. It aimed to then raise that figure to 40 percent by the end of the year and to 70 percent by the middle of 2022. Sadly, these targets have little chance of being met. Of the more than 5.8 billion doses of COVID vaccines that have been administered across the world by mid-September, the vast majority (about 80 percent) have gone to people living in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Fewer than 0.5 percent of doses have gone to people in low-income countries. (Soumya Swaminathan, Ana Maria Henao-Restrep and Mike Ryan, 9/17)
NBC News: The FDA Covid Vaccine Booster Ruling Is The Right Call. The World Needs The Shots More
A Food and Drug Administration advisory group on Friday voted against calling for all adults to get a Covid-19 booster shot, after President Joe Biden announced last month that booster shots would be made widely available starting Sept. 20. At the time, he also said federal health authorities were considering approving a shortened timeline for boosters to allow Americans to receive a third dose of the Moderna or the Pfizer vaccines as soon as five or six months after full vaccination. (Leslie Bull and Gunisha Kaur, 9/17)
The New York Times: Booster Shots For Covid Leave Africa With Few Options
As the rich world rolls out Covid-19 booster shots, hundreds of millions of Africans remain dangerously exposed, still awaiting their first vaccine dose. This not only adds to the litany of harsh disparities we’ve seen around this virus, but it is also a scandalous injury to global solidarity and vaccine equity. While early data on waning immunity is emerging around some vaccines, there’s no conclusive evidence to justify giving boosters to fit, healthy people. Third doses should be given only to the small number of people facing a high risk of severe illness and death, despite being fully vaccinated, including those with compromised immune systems. Boosters for the healthy are, effectively, a hopeful “why not.” Political decisions are getting ahead of science, diverting doses and leaving Africans with few options. (Matshidiso Moeti, 9/19)
