December 20, 2021

I started working as a nurse in 1987. I’m coming up for my 35th year: I knew it was an anniversary, but I had to count which one. Sometimes I feel I’ve been doing this for too long. But the Covid vaccination programme has been amazing. We have seen how, when we want to do something, we can pull it off. I work as a vaccinator at a centre in Coventry where we get through 440 a people a day, usually between five vaccinators; about 80 people each.

The mobilisation of this workforce and the rollout has been outstanding. The camaraderie is the best bit of the job for me – that we’re working together and it’s positive when so much is doom and gloom. We’re doing something to fix the pandemic, and fixing things is what nursing is about. I find myself smiling under my mask; I’ve realised people can see it in my eyes, even if they can’t see my mouth.

Read more at The Guardian.

December 23, 2021

The rapid spread of the omicron variant could be a major setback for efforts to reverse sharp inequality in the accessibility of effective coronavirus vaccines around the world, public health experts warn.

That could mean longer delays for vaccination programs in poor countries, leaving large populations unprotected and prolonging the circumstances under which experts say dangerous variants are most likely to emerge.

A subsequent increase in demand for mRNA vaccines and booster doses, which appear to offer the best protection against omicron, would drive a widening of the divide, as rich countries accrue more doses and poor ones continue to go without or face long delays and uncertainty.

After a global run on doses, logistics have supplanted availability as the chief obstacle to vaccinating the world’s neediest, World Health Organization vaccine director Kate O’Brien told The Washington Post earlier this month. But omicron could bring availability problems soaring back, experts fear.

Read more at The Washington Post.

December 21, 2021

At this point in the pandemic, many Americans remain unvaccinated because they believe the coronavirus vaccine is unlikely to do them any good. They’re aware of the virus and the damage it can cause, but for any number of reasons, they simply don’t believe they should get a vaccine. We’ve spoken to patients like this in our practice, and we have observed in those conversations that providing more, frightening information intended to change their beliefs is ineffective for many or may even cause further entrenchment against vaccination.

Public health experts have tried many different methods to motivate behavior like vaccination. Our recent research shows even more clearly that providing additional information may not be one of the strongest tools.

In a study published on Dec. 13, we examined data from about 750,000 children who were eligible to receive the human papilloma virus vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Since the HPV vaccine was approved in 2006, it has experienced resistance from parents and religious and conservative groups who see it as promoting sexual behavior. Its politicization was a preview for what has happened with the coronavirus vaccines in the United States.

Read more at The New York Times.

December 20, 2021

In the hospital parking lot, I pulled a stiff painter’s mask over my nose and mouth. I took a selfie on Snapchat, sent it to my brother and sister. My brother responded: “Whoa. That’s apocalyptic.”

This was mid-March 2020, when we feared COVID-19 the way you fear an animal’s yellow eyes in the dark, not the way you do when you’ve felt its teeth. I was 15 weeks pregnant with our second child and had recently been referred to a high-risk obstetrician. After our first visit, guests were no longer allowed. My husband, Adrian, had dug the painter’s mask out of a garage drawer before I left for a solo appointment, an improvised solution before our first mask order arrived. “Be safe,” he’d said.

In the small, dim room, my hands opened and closed like fish gulping on shore. I wanted Adrian’s hand. I wanted us to share a teary smile as the shape on the ultrasound screen cohered into something familiar, something ours. I wanted his calming presence when the doctor came in, brusque and aloof, and I tried to remember all the questions that kept me up at night.

Read more at TIME.

December 23, 2021

For generations of parents, Heidi Murkoff’s 1984 pregnancy guide “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” has been a trusty companion, offering calm, scientifically informed advice for a nerve-wracking nine months.

These days, of course, there’s an app for that: What to Expect’s “Pregnancy & Baby Tracker,”which offers personalized articles, videos, graphics of your baby’s development, and other features based on your due date.

But parents who’ve used What To Expect’s app say they also offered something they weren’t expecting: a “community” section rife with scare stories, conspiracy theories, and outright falsehoods about the safety of vaccines, posted by other users and surfaced by the app’s search functions and email notifications.

Mashaya Engel, 26, who gave birth to a daughter in August, said she encountered multiple posts expressing skepticism about the safety of getting vaccinated against the coronavirus during pregnancy. “I searched in the group discussions for vaccines, and it popped up — some moms having discussions about not vaccinating your children, or getting delayed vaccines,” Engel said. Other users noted a similar phenomenon: “Most antivax and microchip conspiracy comments I’ve ever seen,” one tweeted in May.

Read more at The Washington Post.

Whiplash on U.S. Vaccine Mandate Leaves Employers ‘Totally Confused’

December 20, 2021

The marching orders from the Biden administration in November had seemed clear — large employers were to get their workers fully vaccinated by early next year, or make sure the workers were tested weekly. But a little over a month later, the Labor Department’s vaccine rule has been swept into confusion and uncertainty by legal battles, shifting deadlines and rising Covid case counts that throw the very definition of fully vaccinated into question.

The spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has seemingly bolstered the government’s argument, at the heart of its legal battle over the rule, that the virus remains a grave threat to workers. But the recent surge in cases has raised the issue of whether the government will take its requirements further — even as the original rule remains contentious — and ask employers to mandate booster shots, too. The country’s testing capacity has also been strained, adding to concerns that companies will be unable to meet the rule’s testing requirements.

Read more at The New York Times.

December 22, 2021

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says it will hold a special session in just over two weeks to hear arguments on the Biden administration’s vaccine or testing requirement for large employers and a separate vaccine requirement for health care workers, an announcement that comes amid rising coronavirus cases.

The high court announced late Wednesday that it would hear arguments in the cases on Jan. 7. The court had not been scheduled to hear cases again until Jan. 10.

An appellate panel ruled on Friday that the vaccine or testing regime for workers at larger companies could take effect. The plan requires workers at larger companies to be vaccinated or wear face masks and get tested weekly. The requirement could affect some 84 million U.S workers. The court will have to grapple with whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has the authority to impose such a requirement. The requirement had been scheduled to take effect Jan. 4.

Read more at NPR.

December 22, 2021

After nearly two years of the pandemic, the first wave of vaccines have performed magnificently but also showed their limitations. In the United States, 240 million people are fully vaccinated, and an enormous amount of suffering and death has been averted. But vaccine efficacy began to wane, the need for boosters arose, and a new coronavirus variant is upending everything all over again. Is this the new normal?Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up.

Not necessarily. On top of the extraordinary biomedical achievements of the mRNA vaccines, efforts are underway to discover and develop new vaccines and other therapies for a second and third wave of pandemic response. The covid emergency has unleashed an unprecedented surge of innovation and teamwork in research. Just as the virus has spread around the world, so have scientists become more adept at rapid response, sharing genetic sequences and clinical data at the speed of light, enabling still more discovery.

Read more at The Washington Post.

December 21, 2021

t’s been only three weeks since omicron hit the news, but the variant is already the country’s dominant Covid strain, responsible for 73% of U.S. cases — including more than 250,000 cases just over the last day, according to Johns Hopkins University.

But there’s a way to help protect yourself against symptomatic and severe illness: booster shots.

Most recently, Moderna announced on Monday that its Covid vaccine boosters showed a significant increase in antibody levels against omicron in preliminary lab trials. Pfizer announced similar results earlier this month, offering additional hope ahead of the winter holidays that the mRNA boosters provide protection against the omicron variant.

Emerging real world data has also shown that boosters can protect against symptomatic and severe disease. But while 204 million Americans are fully vaccinated — 62% of the U.S. population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — only 30% of those fully vaccinated people have gotten a booster shot, as of Tuesday.

Read more at CNBC.

December 22, 2021

Residents of Chicago and Boston will soon be required to show proof of full vaccination in order to enter indoor spaces like gyms, restaurants and entertainment venues, in the latest example of cities tightening public health rules to combat the spread of the omicron variant.

The Chicago Department of Public Health announced Tuesday that beginning Jan. 3, the city will require everyone ages 5 and up to be fully vaccinated in order to access indoor dining, fitness and recreation venues. They must present either their vaccination card, a photocopy of it, a digital record or a printed record from their vaccine provider.

“To put it simply, if you have been living vaccine-free, your time is up,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote on Twitter. “If you wish to live life as w/the ease to do the things you love, you must be vax’d. This health order may pose an inconvenience to the unvaccinated, and in fact it is inconvenient by design.”

The order will remain in effect until city officials have determined the threat of COVID-19 to public health has “diminished significantly,” she added.

Read more at NPR.