Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Working Long Covid Sufferers Too Hard Is A Bad Idea; Vaccine Experts Question Second Booster
Most of us were brought up with the folk wisdom that exercise is the best medicine, and often it鈥檚 true. But not for people who are suffering from long Covid and other post-viral syndromes. For them, overexertion can severely aggravate their conditions, whose symptoms may include fatigue and brain fog. There鈥檚 even a term for it: 鈥減ush and crash. 鈥漈he problem is that push and crash 鈥 which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns about in a bulletin to health care providers 鈥 is precisely what the American employment system is geared to cause. (Peter Coy, 4/18)
Vaccine resisters have accused the federal government of pushing COVID-19 shots without ensuring that the benefits outweigh the risks. But what about when one of the people raising questions about the latest round of jabs is Paul A. Offit, arguably the most prominent supporter of vaccines in the nation, a vocal force against people who spread silly myths about vaccination and himself the developer of a vaccine against rotavirus. (Karin Klein, 4/19)
Once again, the shifting winds of the Covid-19 pandemic have placed the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a pickle. Last month, in the (very brief) good old days after the original Omicron variant had settled, the agency had indicated that, on April 18, it would reevaluate the mask-wearing mandate on airplanes, trains and other "transportation conveyances." (Kent Sepkowitz, 4/18)