Coronavirus

James Alwine of the Perelman School of Medicine co-authored an op-ed about how mass vaccination and continued vigilance can help bring an end to the pandemic.

Melanie Kornides of the School of Nursing said cautious messaging around the COVID-19 vaccine isn’t a major factor in vaccine hesitancy. “We’ve been seeing all along, even before the vaccine came out, that they’re worried about long term safety, that they’re worried that the process was rushed, and that there are political motivations for not wanting to be vaccinated,” she said. “Those continue to be the large majority of the concerns.”

Scott Halpern of the Perelman School of Medicine weighed in on two new studies, neither of which have been peer reviewed yet, that claim the COVID-19 vaccine can suppress transmission rates. “Once you’ve been bombarded with bad news long enough, any glimmer of good news is something we just emotionally latch onto,” said Halpern. “That’s just human nature.”

E. John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine said people should disregard detractors and take whichever approved COVID-19 vaccine they can get. “We have a really important job to do on how we message this,” he said. “The day that an individual has a choice on which vaccine to get—that’s a great day, but probably won’t be until summer.”

Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about adapting COVID-19 vaccines for new variants, which would not require new clinical trials. “We’ve been doing this with flu for many years,” he said. “The variants aren’t that different.”

Harald Schmidt of the Perelman School of Medicine said that the U.S. has an opportunity to prove that it’s invested in repairing longstanding health disparities through the COVID-19 vaccine rollout process. “The longer-term implication of how we dealt with social justice will be very powerful—so we do have to get this right,” he said.

David Barnes of the School of Arts & Sciences said stigma and shaming have following pandemics throughout history. “We make ourselves feel safer and superior by associating disease with people who are not like us, do things we don’t do, or come from places unlike our place,” he said.

Jason Karlawish of the Perelman School of Medicine said caregivers act as an “extension of the mind” for patients with dementia, and as such, banning these caregivers from care facilities to limit COVID-19 exposure risks can be uniquely damaging.