Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Climate Change Is Making People Sick; What Went Wrong With The Covid Vaccine?
Newsweek: My Health Is A Victim Of A Warming Planet
Climate change—and the pollution that causes it—makes people sicker. Adding record-breaking heat waves makes it even worse. I know firsthand that it's true. (Rita Robles, 8/11)
Chicago Tribune: The US Bungled Its COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution. Why No Accountability?
Although the lion’s share of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the United States is over, Americans should embrace their inner Yogi Berra, who once observed that “it ain’t over till it’s over.” (Cory Franklin and Robert Weinstein, 8/14)
The Boston Globe: Organ Transplant System Needs Fixing
There are 103,000 Americans waiting for a transplanted organ, including 4,500 people in Massachusetts, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. A 2020 US Senate Finance Committee investigation stated that 6,000 Americans die annually waiting for transplants. Yet the system for coordinating organ transplants is broken, marred by safety failures, logistical failures, and yearslong waits. (8/13)
USA Today: Boomers Are Aging, But Our Healthcare System Falls Short On Caregiving
As a doctor, I know patients often dread getting an after-hours call from me, afraid that I have troubling information to impart. But I didn’t expect to be on the receiving end the night my sister, a physician herself, rang me up. (Dr. Bobbie Storment, 8/14)
Stat: Aspartame And Sugar-Free Gum Are Critical For Oral Health
I am a dentist and a mother of three. I know that even the most responsible parents will not be able to stop children from eating sweets altogether, but we can point them to healthier choices. My professional concern for oral health makes opting for non-nutritive sweeteners over sugar obvious. The aspartame reports have not changed my mind as the link to cancer looks tenuous at best, even by the World Health Organization’s own risk assessment standard. (Melissa Weintraub, 8/14)
Los Angeles Times: Closing Racial Health Disparities Shouldn't Just Rely On Genetics
Many biomedical researchers and physicians hail personalized medicine as a radical, new approach to healthcare. In contrast to the traditional, one-size-fits-all model that treats all patients as if they’re identical, advocates describe personalized medicine as using genetic differences between people to deliver “the right treatment, to the right patient, at the right time.” (James Tabery, 8/13)
