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North Korea’s nuclear-tipped missiles are not the only threat from the rogue nation that demands the world’s attention. It is also at high risk of a runaway coronavirus outbreak, which could create a breeding ground for new, dangerous variants. For two years, North Korea has imposed a “zero covid” policy. Pyongyang claims that this has been successful in keeping the country covid-free, but it has also cut off critical food and medical supplies, resulting in severe shortages. It has also left its population of approximately 25 million people both unvaccinated (despite multiple offers from Covax, the United Nations-backed global vaccine initiative) and probably with minuscule immunity from prior infections. (Victor Cha, Katrin Fraser Katz and Stephen Morrison, 3/23)

Parents of young children have some good news about COVID vaccines. Moderna announced its two-dose pediatric vaccine is safe for children under five and produces an immune response. The data, however, don’t yet give us a clear picture of how effective it is at preventing illness — a problem pediatricians and researchers foresaw in 2020. (Mark W. Klinne and Sophie Rosenblum, 3/23)

The legislature is to be applauded for their attention to the state’s mental health workforce. Senate bills SB1 and SB2, plus House Bill 5001 all offer positive incentives, programs, and funding meant to attract the next generation of mental health providers. Ideas such as loan forgiveness, grants to pay for licensing fees, grants for hiring of social workers, and assistance paying for license preparation courses are all wonderful ideas. The only problem is that we are not offering anything to the current mental health workforce to keep them in place. (Stephen Wanczyk-Karp, 3/24)

In his State of the Union address on March 1, President Biden proposed a four-pronged “unity agenda,” including a shared commitment to delivering mental health services and to caring for our veterans. “Veterans,” the president said, “are the best of us.” While Biden spoke, one of our best — retired Army Spec. Scott Ryan Merryman — lay languishing in a jail cell, less than 20 miles from the Capitol, because of a mental health crisis. (Liz Oyer, 3/22)