Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Lessons For Holding Back The Next Pandemic; Black Physicians Take Aim At Vaccine Hesitancy
The Washington Post: Six Takeaways From Covid-19 That Could Shape Our Future
In the story of our times, the political damage inflicted by President Donald Trump will figure prominently. But the raw physical, emotional and economic trauma of the pandemic will predominate. The lessons we draw from Trump may determine the fate of the republic. The lessons we draw from covid-19 may shape the future of the species. What follows is a partial list of the latter. (Michael Gerson, 2/18)
Los Angeles Times: Vaccine Hesitancy In Black Healthcare Workers
Across the nation, Black healthcare workers are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine at rates far lower than their white counterparts. We have seen this disparity in our own health system, Penn Medicine, where during the first two weeks of vaccine rollout, just 22% of eligible Black employees, compared with 62% of eligible white employees, got vaccinated or signed up to receive the shot. As Black physicians, we were alarmed but not surprised. While we have been vaccinated, we each made the decision with varying levels of uncertainty. (Florencia Greer Polite and Eugenia C. South, 2/19)
The Wall Street Journal: We’ll Have Herd Immunity By April
Amid the dire Covid warnings, one crucial fact has been largely ignored: Cases are down 77% over the past six weeks. If a medication slashed cases by 77%, we’d call it a miracle pill. Why is the number of cases plummeting much faster than experts predicted? In large part because natural immunity from prior infection is far more common than can be measured by testing. Testing has been capturing only from 10% to 25% of infections, depending on when during the pandemic someone got the virus. Applying a time-weighted case capture average of 1 in 6.5 to the cumulative 28 million confirmed cases would mean about 55% of Americans have natural immunity. (Marty Makary, 2/18)
MarketWatch: COVID-19 Is On The Run — Expect The Pandemic To Be Under Control By Memorial Day
The news cycle on COVID-19 can get stuck on negatives. Variant strains! Distribution snafus! Not enough vaccines! But barring unforeseen developments, we can expect to have the pandemic under control by Memorial Day. That doesn’t mean the virus will be out of our lives. But rising immunity from vaccines and prior exposure should have it cornered, with its impact reduced to something approaching a normal flu season in terms of deaths and hospitalizations. We already have the virus on the run. We are vaccinating over 15 times more people each day than report having a new infection. Some 40 million or more will have received at least one vaccine shot by the end of February, providing more protection each day. Meanwhile, about 110 million Americans have likely had the virus, which gives most of them immunity that studies show can last 6 months or longer. (Geoffrey Joyce, 2/18)
The Wall Street Journal: Follow The Science, Not The Teachers Unions
Follow the science. That was Joe Biden’s promise to the American people—until Randi Weingarten and the American Federation of Teachers disagreed.I spent much of my time as governor saying that we needed to put children and parents first in public education. The teachers union in New Jersey spent tens of millions of dollars to oppose my reform efforts and protect the status quo. As a result our per pupil costs were among the country’s highest, and families in many urban districts were held hostage by failure. (Former Governor Chris Christie, 2/18)
The New York Times: A Year Of Unraveling
On a recent morning, Bill Williams, 87, awoke to learn of a terrible virus that had spread everywhere and was killing people. “Well, we’ve got this virus,” an aide at his nursing home in Broken Bow, Neb., told him. A few minutes later, he had forgotten about the virus, and so the nursing aide told him again. And then again. She would have to tell him the next day, too. “It’s pretty quiet in here,” Mr. Williams said, biting the inside of his lip a little. “Well, we’ve got this virus.” (Katie Englehart, 2/19)
Stat: I Got Vaccinated While Pregnant. Why Not Study People Like Me?
The arrival of Covid-19 vaccines at the hospital where I work felt like a glimmer of hope, a small reprieve from the daily anxiety of feeling exposed and vulnerable while taking care of patients. When the time came for my appointment, though, I wavered. As a physician, I understand and respect the privilege of being among the first group in the United States to be offered the vaccine. But as a pregnant woman, I was left trying to interpret vague guidelines developed without data from clinical trials about people like me. (Catherine Mezzacappa, 2/19)
New York Post: Gov. Cuomo's Nursing Home Scandal Is More Than Just A Coverup
You’ve heard the expression that the coverup is worse than the crime? Well, in the case of Gov. Cuomo, the opposite might be true. Cuomo is under bipartisan fire after an aide admitted that his administration deliberately delayed releasing information showing the true extent of COVID-19 deaths in New York nursing homes, out of fears, according to the aide, that the information “was going to be used against us.” Stonewalling the Justice Department is bad enough, but Cuomo did something even worse: His administration provided inaccurate data to public health officials in real time, at the beginning of the crisis, when government scientists were desperately trying to figure out how the virus was spreading, who was most vulnerable and how to stop it. (Marc Thiessen, 2/18)
Stat: Dental Therapists: A Solution For Better Access To Dental Care
Difficulty getting dental care is the norm in much of the United States, especially in rural areas. One problem is that there aren’t enough providers. Mid-level dental providers, or dental therapists, can help fill that gap, but they face resistance from dentists. (Elsa Pearson, 2/18)
