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When it was first announced that a COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for emergency use by the Federal Drug Administration in the United States, the scientific community was finally able to exhale. As a Black physician and member of the scientific community, I was particularly encouraged because of the disproportionately higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 among the Hispanic, Black and Indigenous American populations. My relief, however, was short-lived. We continue to see troubling inequities with new reports showing that many people from the minority community are among the lowest currently receiving the new vaccines, and the highest to be hesitant about its safety and effectiveness. According to Pew Research Center, just 42 percent of Black adults are inclined to get vaccinated, compared to 63 percent of white adults and 83 percent of adult Asian Americans. (Roderic I. Pettigrew, 3/3)

I won’t mince words: The state is failing its most vulnerable residents when it comes to protecting them from COVID-19 and foundering in its duty to ensure equitable treatment during a public health crisis. I have read all the challenges and even written about them myself. Distrust of the vaccine and the medical system in general. Obstacles to signing up for vaccine appointments and getting to them, as well. Jobs that make certain people more vulnerable to contracting the virus. Underlying health conditions that make virus exposure more dangerous. A health system that has historically practiced in inequitable treatment. (Andrea K. McDaniels, 3/2)

Janet Mills, the governor of Maine, is an unflappable hand at the helm, one who worries more about getting the policy than the politics right. So when Mills announced a new approach to delivering COVID-19 vaccines last week, it caught my eye. Henceforth, Mills said, the state will vaccinate according to age. On Wednesday, those 60 and older become eligible. In April, vaccine eligibility will extend down to 50, in May to 40, and so forth. By July, everyone will be eligible. Maine, like many other states, had factored occupation and individual medical conditions into its vaccination plan. So why the change? For Mills, it came down to the question of “who is most likely to die” if they come down with COVID-19. Age is the strongest predictor both of dying if one contracts COVID as well as of suffering serious effects. Further, age is closely associated with the health problems — comorbidities — that make contracting the coronavirus especially dangerous. (Scott Lehigh, 3/2)

Millions of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccines are being shipped across the country this week, just days after the Food and Drug Administration confirmed that it was 85 percent protective against severe Covid-19 and 100 percent protective against hospitalization and death. That may sound like another bit of routine pandemic news, but it shouldn’t: If Johnson & Johnson’s had been the first authorized vaccine in the United States instead of the third, “everybody would be doing handstands and back flips and high fives,” Dr. James T. McDeavitt, dean of clinical affairs at the Baylor College of Medicine, told The Times. The addition of a third stream of vaccine supply also means that there will be enough doses for the entire adult population by the end of May, according to President Biden. Which raises a tantalizing question: Could life in the United States soon return to something approaching normal? Here are a few reasons to think so, along with a few reasons to keep your expectations in check. (Spencer Bokat-Lindell, 3/2)

Why are my allergies lasting longer than they used to?” The first time a patient asked this, I researched potential reasons. The second time, I was prepared with the answer.  And now, knowing what is coming, I preempt the question. The growing season, the period when trees, grass and weeds grow and produce pollen, has lengthened by about 17 days in Washington, D.C., as compared to 1970. In Detroit and Portland, Oregon, the season has lengthened by almost a month. A recent study published in PNAS, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reinforces what my patients are experiencing. Looking back approximately three decades, pollen seasons now last on average 20 extra days in North America, and pollen concentrations have increased about 21% over the years. The data shows that these changes in pollen allergy season are in part driven by anthropogenic global warming. (Neelu Tummala, 3/2)

South Carolina last month became the latest state to pass a so-called heartbeat ban, criminalizing abortion after fetal cardiac activity or a heartbeat is detected, typically between six and eight weeks into a pregnancy. A federal court promptly blocked the law from taking effect, underscoring the concerns of some abortion opponents that the approach was too extreme and would be counterproductive. Until several years ago, these early abortion bans struck many, even some red state lawmakers, the same way. But in 2019, state legislatures passed a wave of fetal heartbeat bills. About a dozen states, including South Carolina, have sought to put such a law on their books but have been blocked by the courts. At the moment, the Supreme Court’s case law rules out any ban before viability, the point at which survival is possible outside the womb. (Mary Ziegler, 3/3)