Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Delaying Vaccine For Under 5s Is Right Decision; Insurance Surcharge Needed For Unvaccinated
The Washington Post: Parents Of Little Kids Might Be Disappointed, But The FDA Was Right To Delay Vaccine Authorization
The Food and Drug Administration’s announcement that it will delay authorization of a coronavirus vaccine for children under 5 felt like a gut punch. The new timeline means my two kids and about 18 million others won’t be inoculated until mid-April at the earliest, and they probably won’t be fully vaccinated until June. (Leana S. Wen, 2/15)
The Baltimore Sun: Vaccinating The Unvaccinated: An Economic Incentive May Be The Solution
These past two years have taken a terrible toll on the world at large and the United States. In the first year of the COVID pandemic, this was overwhelmingly due to COVID-related illness and death, accompanied by health care provider burnout and very serious disparities in this country in terms of risk of infection. With the closure of innumerable workplaces and schools, there was also tremendous social and economic dislocation. At that time it was absolutely appropriate to impose a variety of restrictions on our populace, to protect as many as possible from contracting the virus, as there was very little that could be done to diminish the severity of COVID infections. (Peter Beilenson, 2/15)
New England Journal of Medicine: Covid-19 As An Endemic Disease
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., and Stephen Morrissey, Ph.D., 2/10)
Stat: 4 Evolutionary Scenarios For The Coronavirus That Causes Covid-19
In the ongoing struggle of SARS-CoV-2’s genes versus our wits, the virus that causes Covid-19 relentlessly probes human defenses with new genetic gambits. New variants of this coronavirus with increasing transmissibility have sprung up every few months, a scenario that is likely to continue. Some experts believe that the pandemic appears to be on an evolutionary slide toward becoming endemic, a “new normal” in which humans and the virus co-exist, as we currently do with influenza. But coronaviruses are clever. While an endemic resolution may be in sight, SARS-CoV-2 could still shock the human species with a devastating evolutionary leap. Here are four possible scenarios, each taken directly from the known evolutionary playbook of coronaviruses. (Donald S. Burke, 2/16)
Stat: Covid-19 Is Not A Marathon
Do an online search for “Covid is a marathon” and the hits pile up. Even at the two-year mark, the analogies keep coming. As a marathon runner, I am here to tell you: Covid-19 is not a marathon. Marathons have discreet starts and finishes and, beginning with Phidippides, are about victories. In their current form, they celebrate athletic art authored by elite athletes. For citizen runners, they celebrate personal achievement and intentional risk taking. The extended lightning strike of Covid-19, in contrast, is something we are all subjected to. (Michael J. Joyner, 2/16)
The Atlantic: The Seven Habits Of COVID-Resilient Nations
The tweet has stuck with me for months now: a chart of cumulative COVID-19 deaths per capita in the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. The U.S. and U.K. lines rise up like mountains relative to the valley of South Korea below. Even as Omicron-related deaths have increased in South Korea more recently, the picture hasn’t changed much. South Korea “kept deaths 40 times lower all the way till 75% of population fully vaccinated,” the physician Vincent Rajkumar marveled on Twitter in response to the chart. “This is success.” (Uri Friedman, 2/15)
NBC News: Covid Began To Consume My Kids' Lives. I Had To Rethink How I Spoke To Them About It
With California’s indoor mask mandate for the vaccinated set to expire Tuesday and Gov. Gavin Newsom expected to re-evaluate guidelines for schools in two weeks, parents (and kids) are again forced to contend with a shifting Covid landscape. While the easing of some restrictions, like wearing masks outside, makes sense, I question whether the rollback of precautions is premature when case counts remain high and vaccinations are but one tool in our Covid toolkit. Then again, by now, I’m used to having to zig and zag. (Connie Chang, 2/15)
Chicago Tribune: COVID-19 Isn’t The Only Reason More People Are Dying At This Time
In addition to sickness, suffering and death, pandemics wreak havoc in the societies they afflict. Smallpox helped destroy the Aztec Empire, and the Black Death completely changed the social fabric of Europe in the Middle Ages. Sometime early this spring, the U.S. death total for the COVID-19 pandemic will pass the 1 million milestone, but this grim number is not an accurate tally of the devastation wrought by the virus. Any comprehensive account must include other deaths, specifically those that have occurred as a result of the social disruption caused by our reaction to COVID-19. (Cory Franklin And Robert A. Weinstein:, 2/15)
