Coronavirus

In the U.S., women are getting vaccinated at far higher rates than men. Alison Buttenheim, an associate professor of nursing and expert on vaccine hesitancy, says there is a lack vaccine education targeted towards men. Pilar Gonalons-Pons, an assistant professor of sociology in the School of Arts & Sciences who specializes in gender issues, adds that women are disproportionately represented as unpaid caregivers for older adults in their families and communities, “and this can also be an additional motivation for getting the vaccine.”

Once two weeks have passed following a second COVID-19 vaccine dose (or one Johnson & Johnson dose), individuals are considered fully vaccinated. At that point , what activities are considered “safe” to resume? Meenakshi Bewtra of the Perelman School of Medicine says that for vaccinated people, activities that were once considered risky are safer, but advises people to proceed with caution in light of new variants, and to keep public health and safety at the forefront of daily activities by wearing a mask and maintaining social distance in public.

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel talks about why a vaccine mandate for some types of workers may be a necessary last resort in establishing herd immunity. “I don’t think the risks of the vaccine compare to the risks for the country of the coronavirus is really at issue,” he said.

Carolyn Cannuscio of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about how people justify engaging in unsafe behaviors during the pandemic. “People are looking for the magical loopholes that they can step through so that they can return to their free and rich and rewarding social world,” she said. “And we’re not there.”

Eric Feldman of the Law School spoke about the legality of businesses requiring proof of vaccination. “In general, private businesses can decide who they're willing to admit into their businesses and serve so long as they don't violate either the federal Civil Rights act or a state law,” he said.

Meena Bewtra of the Perelman School of Medicine said, regarding still unknown facets of how the coronavirus interacts with the immune system, “We still don’t understand why only certain people get so sick and die” from COVID-19.

Tarik Khan, a Ph.D. student in the School of Nursing, has been spending his evenings delivering leftover COVID-19 vaccine doses to homebound people in Philadelphia.

Melanie Kornides of the School of Nursing spoke about the FDA’s recommendation to pause use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. “I think that they did the right thing,” she said. “The worst possible thing that they could do would be—if they had a legitimate concern, which it seems like they did—to investigate it without announcing, which would make it seem like they were covering something up.”