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‌Exactly one year after the first laboratory-confirmed case of Covid-19 was identified in the United States, I began my tenure as the 19th director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the time, vaccines were available, but new variants continued to emerge. I viewed my primary charge as bringing this country from the dark and tragic pandemic days into a more restored place. In‌‌ the two and a half year‌s since that day, the world ha‌‌s faced an unrivaled density of public health challenges. ‌(CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, 6/27)

When coronavirus vaccines were first made available, public health recommendations were straightforward: Everyone eligible for the shots should get them. Now, the guidance must be more nuanced. The fall booster campaign is the next opportunity to focus protection where it’s most needed: people most susceptible to severe illness. (Leana S. Wen, 6/27)

For those attacking the public health response to the pandemic, evidence that any single decision was wrong supports the notion that every decision was wrong. A laboratory origin of COVID could be taken to support the notion that there was some vast conspiracy on the part of scientists to deceive the public on everything from masks, to school closures, to vaccines. Anyone who thinks scientists are remotely capable of sheepishly following a conspiracy to hide the truth knows nothing about science or scientists. (Dr. Robert D. Morris, MD, 6/27)

We represent different states from New Jersey to Arkansas to Maine and New York, but one challenge we have in common is a growing shortage of physicians to care for our people. We must tackle this issue head-on by increasing the number of doctors in order to avoid further straining our health care system and putting the lives of patients at risk. (U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez, John Boozman, Chuck Schumer and Susan Collins, 6/28)

Research shows that affordability is the leading barrier to healthy eating among low-income Americans. Without targeted assistance to purchase healthy foods, Medicaid members struggling to afford the nutritious food they need, buy the less nutritious food they can afford. Studies indicate that, faced with the impossible tradeoffs that characterize poverty, people will maximize satiating calories rather than nutritional value. It’s doubtful that Medicaid members will continue purchasing a comparable amount of fresh produce once their Fresh Connect enrollment ends. (Adam Shyevitch, 6/27)