�������ýҕ�l

With the anticipation of increasing distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, Americans are looking forward to a “return to normal.” We’ve all heard these words, intended to inspire hope. And they do, for some. But the reality is that “normal” is a privilege, one that is out of reach for millions of Americans who had been pushed up against immovable barriers and into systems of oppression long before the arrival of Covid-19. (Daniel E. Dawes and Brian C. Castrucci, 2/10)

America’s vaccine rollout is a mess. This isn’t because of a shortage of doses, which is a problem globally. Investigations have exposed a special brand of vaccine injustices that are distinctly American: Rich people gaming the system to jump the queue. A SoulCycle instructor cutting in line by labeling herself as an “educator.” And poorer people without Internet connections being unable to book appointments. There are indefensible geographic disparities, too. ... Perhaps the United States could learn a thing or two from Britain’s vaccine rollout — and recognize the virtues of a centralized health-care system when it comes to efficiently delivering lifesaving doses during a crisis. (Brian Klaas, 2/9)

The COVID-19 pandemic currently ravaging our society demonstrates starkly that our system is not working as it should. Our society needs trusted institutions and individuals in efforts to achieve the levels of vaccination needed to successfully end the pandemic. In 2020, we saw the remarkable development of vaccines for the COVID-19 virus with strong scientific rigor and high ethical standards in record time. But the resulting vaccines have been met with a high degree of skepticism, suspicion, and mistrust by our citizens, especially people of color (Black, Latino and Native Americans). Thus, these scientific and technological developments are in danger of not achieving their purpose because of mistrust, misinformation and misunderstanding among Americans. A clear need in 2021 and beyond is better health literacy and improved health behavior of our citizens. Public health professionals have emphasized the substantial gains to be made in extending our years of healthy life, along with significant reductions in illness and injury. (Louis W. Sullivan, 2/9)

Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial will attract most of the attention this week, but perhaps the more important event for the country is the saga of Covid-19 vaccinations. The federal distribution of doses to the states hasn’t been an outright disaster, and neither have state efforts to put these doses into arms. After a slow start, there have been signs of progress in recent weeks. Still, governments could be doing better, and fixing what’s wrong can save many lives. At the federal level, the main problems have been shifting information and poor advice to the states. On Jan. 12, for example, governors were told by then-Vice President Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that the Trump administration would be releasing its stockpile of reserved doses. Relying on this assurance, many governors announced that their states would begin inoculating residents 65 and older. But it turned out that there was no stockpile to release, and governors had to change course. (William A. Galston, 2/9)

Knowing someone who has been vaccinated and seeing that the vaccine does not produce any significant adverse effects is emerging as the leading reason people are willing to get vaccinated themselves. It means that vaccine hesitancy will diminish naturally as more and more people are vaccinated, leaving smaller groups of the remaining vaccine hesitant to focus more resources on. Less than ten percent of us have been vaccinated so far. But the share of us who know someone who has been vaccinated is much higher, at 41 percent in mid-January. That really matters because half (52%) of those who know someone else who has been vaccinated say they will get the vaccine “as soon as they can” compared to 37% of those who do not know someone who’s been vaccinated. (Drew Altman, 2/10)

Kim Barlow of Fullerton, California, is one of the millions of Americans at her wit’s end in trying to get a COVID-19 vaccine for an elderly parent and other loved ones, and she finally vented in the time-honored fashion of a letter-to-the-editor to her hometown paper, the Los Angeles Times. After days of frustration trying to get the coronavirus shot for her 66-year-old boyfriend, a Native American, and her 81-year-old mom, middle-class and white like her, she said she was infuriated to read that more upscale white people had overrun a low-income health center in South L.A. hoping to jump the line. (Will Bunch, 2/9)

CLEVELAND -- In the fall of 1932, fliers began appearing around Macon County, Alabama promising Black residents free blood tests and, if it was determined they had “bad blood,” they would receive free treatment from “County Health Department and Government Doctors.” Macon County was a poor and rural county. The promise of free medical care was too good an offer to pass up. Hundreds of men signed up for physical examination. The men were primarily sharecroppers, and many had never before seen a doctor. A total of 600 men were diagnosed with “bad blood” and were advised they would receive treatment. In reality, the men were never going to receive proper treatment. The promises of free treatment were a lie orchestrated by researchers at the U.S. Public Health Service. PHS researchers wanted to study the progression of untreated syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection that can cause death, in Black men. (Eric Foster, 2/10)