Category: NPR

Even when forced online by the pandemic, music therapy sessions continue to help patients in some ways talk therapy can’t. “Music is this portal,” says one therapist and COVID-19 long-hauler.

Without federal tracking, no one knows how many people in disability group housing have fallen ill or died from the virus. And few states are prioritizing them for vaccination.

The same electronic systems used to record when patients get a physical or go to the ER are also used to log data when coronavirus vaccines are given. But the systems don’t share information easily.

Guidance from the CDC on who should be prioritized to get the COVID-19 vaccine was meant to be flexible and inclusive. But “the attempt to have equity created more inequity,” says one researcher.

Slavitt tells NPR that getting more vaccines out quicker will involve lots of “small steps.” He says people will have to be “more patient than they want to be,” but supplies are increasing.

With vaccine still scarce, and eligibility differing from place to place, some people have easier access to “extra” doses than others. Careful, ethicists warn. Going out of turn is a slippery slope.

The investment will “rapidly surge domestic testing capability,” said Tim Manning, supply coordinator for the COVID-19 Response Team.

Low initial vaccine uptake among staffers in nursing homes has ignited debates about whether to penalize, persuade or simply pay them more to get the vaccine. But a little patience might work best.

It’s early days yet, but Dr. Anthony Fauci says he’s encouraged by the new president’s approach to the pandemic. Science, Fauci says, is “going to rule.” And the whole world needs vaccine.

Harvard professor Dr. Eugene Richardson explores colonialism’s impact on global health in Epidemic Illusions: On the Coloniality of Global Public Health.