Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Will Fourth Wave of Covid Be The Worst Yet?; Pandemic Fight Has Been Too Cautious
Bloomberg: Global Covid Cases Rapidly Rise As The World Fears A Fourth Wave
With vaccines spreading through rich countries at gathering speed and lockdown restrictions weakening with the spring sunshine, it’s tempting to believe that the long nightmare of Covid-19 is finally ending. In the U.K., 58% of the adult population has received at least one dose of vaccine. In the U.S., President Joe Biden has doubled an original goal of administering 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office, which would bring the total to 200 million by the end of April. On Google, the search term “after Covid” has been getting more interest than “Covid symptoms” for the past month, suggesting the world is thinking more about what life will be like when things return to normal. (David Fickling, 3/31)
The New York Times: Are We Way Too Timid In The Way We Fight Covid-19?
Here’s a question I’ve been mulling in recent months: Is Alex Tabarrok right? Are people dying because our coronavirus response is far too conservative? I don’t mean conservative in the politicized, left-right sense. Tabarrok, an economist at George Mason University and a blogger at Marginal Revolution, is a libertarian, and I am very much not. But over the past year, he has emerged as a relentless critic of America’s coronavirus response, in ways that left me feeling like a Burkean in our conversations. (Ezra Klein, 4/1)
Los Angeles Times: Ending COVID For Good Will Be A War. U.S. Should Lead Fight
The steadily increasing pace of COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S. — more than 2.5 million shots a day at the moment — has given hope to many Americans that the pandemic will be over in a few months and life can return to normal. Sorry to burst that bubble, but even if enough Americans are vaccinated to reach herd immunity, the pandemic won’t be over until every nation on Earth has equal protection. And under current projections, that won’t happen for three years from now, maybe longer. (4/1)
CNN: America's Next Covid-19 Culture War Is Here
It's America's next Covid-19 culture war. Growing numbers of businesses, hospitality industries, and even sports teams are considering requiring proof of vaccination for customers, once the world begins to open up. For both patrons and staff, such a system might offer peace of mind -- and could stop a cruise voyage around the Caribbean, for example, from turning into a floating super spreader. (Stephen Collinson and Richard Greene, 3/31)
Bay Area News Group: COVID-19 Recovery Requires Restoring Public Health Investment
One year after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an unprecedented statewide stay-at-home order in response to COVID-19, optimism for California’s recovery is growing. It’s been a rough year, which was many years in the making. Our state’s COVID-19 experience confirmed the worst fears of public health officials who have long warned California was ill-prepared for such a crisis. We did not have to endure such incredible suffering and loss, and it did not have to be inflicted so unequally onto communities of color. (Colleen Chawla and Dr. Karen Relucio, 3/30)
Also —
The Washington Post: Dysfunctional Websites Are Making It Harder For Americans To Get Vaccinated. Here’s How To Fix That.
The covid-19 vaccine supply is improving and vaccine confidence is growing, but there is a weak link in the U.S. distribution chain: the websites. To make appointments to get vaccinated, millions of Americans are using sites that are often dysfunctional. This is not only slowing vaccination rates but also deterring some eligible Americans from getting the shot altogether. (Drew Altman, 3/31)
Chicago Tribune: 7 Concerns About The COVID-19 Vaccines, Explained
Why do people refuse to get vaccinated for COVID-19? Those who do fall into two basic categories: “anti-vaxxers” who are opposed to vaccines on general principles, and the “vaccine hesitant” who believe they have valid reasons to avoid vaccination. Among the two groups there is a mutual bond of shared skepticism about authority as well as a strong inclination toward personal liberty. This desire for personal liberty makes their vaccine reluctance all the more ironic, since the perceived curtailments of personal freedoms — in the form of lockdowns and mask mandates — will end much sooner once most or all of the population is vaccinated. (Cory Franklin and Robert Weinstein, 3/31)
Dallas Morning News: A Voluntary COVID Vaccine Passport Is Not A Slippery Slope To Tyranny
As COVID-19 vaccinations spread across the land, vaccine hesitancy seems to be waning. Curiously, many who have resisted the shots are conservatives, constituting pushback against the availability made possible by the president they very likely voted for. But there’s no Trump-flavored Operation Warp Speed singing the praises of the next phase of vaccine policy, the COVID vaccine “passports,” and pockets of resistance are getting loud. But why? If the vaccines are earning trust after months of rollout, what could be the objections to technology enabling vaccinated people to gather with greater security in environments offering the certainty of others similarly protected? (Mark Davis, 4/1)
