Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Has Covid Finally Hit A Plateau?; Low Vaccine Rates Not Always Due To Hesitancy
The New York Times: The New Covid Subvariants Don’t Really Change Anything
The Covid pandemic still isn’t over, but it has gone remarkably flat. (David Wallace Wells, 11/2)
The New York Times: Stop Vaccine Shaming The Poor
When the first round of Covid shots became available, income disparities in vaccination rates quickly reared their heads. (Bryce Covert, 11/2)
The Washington Post: How To Prepare For Covid, RSV And The Flu This Winter
Three respiratory viruses — covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — are all expected to surge this fall and winter, once again straining hospitals. (Leana S. Wen, 11/2)
The Baltimore Sun: The Discomfiting Reality Of Life Expectancy: It’s About Economics And Opportunity
Life expectancy is down across the United States for the second year in a row — from an average of 77 years in 2020 to 76.1 years in 2021 — with much of the drop attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. (11/3)
JAMA: Paying For Cancer Drugs—Getting What We Are (Prohibited From) Bargaining For
The Inflation Reduction Act, recently signed into law by President Biden, will allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time. (Isabel R. Ostrer, MD and Cary P. Gross, M, 10/31)
Harvard Public Health: Five Public Health Reasons To Vote In The Midterms
Voting is essential to engaging with democracy and our health. Tuesday’s midterms will determine the future of our health policy. (Zoe Siegel, 11/1)
The New York Times: The Sandwich Generation Is Getting Squished
In early 2020, I wrote about the struggles of the “sandwich generation,” demographers’ label for those who are caring for children and aging relatives at the same time. (Jessica Grose, 11/2)
The New York Times: Uganda’s Ebola Outbreak Is A Test Of What We’ve Learned From Covid
The first major Ebola outbreak in Uganda happened when I was a medical student at Makerere University in Kampala. A professor of virology explained to us the dangers of filoviruses, the virus family Ebola belongs to, and why they should be avoided at all costs. (Henry Kyobe Bosa, 11/3)
