Healthcare Spotlight

"What will it take to finally halt the coronavirus? We created a simulation of a mock disease, SIMVID-19, to show how herd immunity can stop an outbreak in its tracks."

What's safe once you get a COVID-19 vaccine? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released guidance for the more than 52 million people in the Uni...ted States who are "fully vaccinated" meaning at least two weeks out from receiving Johnson & Johnson's single dose or a second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. While full vaccination makes some activities much safer, people of any vaccination status are largely advised to follow the same public health measures that have been in place throughout the pandemic like staying away from crowded places and wearing a mask in public in order to protect themselves and others from infection, especially as more transmissible variants of the virus spread through much of the country. The CDC's guidelines will be updated over time as researchers learn how well the vaccines prevent infection from spreading from vaccinated to unvaccinated people, and how long the protection they offer from the virus lasts. In the meantime, experts say the safest way to get back to "normal" life is more like a dial than a switch, gradually incorporating the behaviors of our pre-pandemic social lives. See more

"A curious benefit is emerging from COVID-19 vaccines: People with "long COVID" are noticing their symptoms getting better and, in some cases, fully resolving after they get vaccinated."

"After the first peak in early spring, US death rates from COVID-19 and from all causes remained higher than even countries with high COVID-19 mortality. This may have been a result of several factors, including weak public health infrastructure and a decentralized, inconsistent US response to the pandemic."

"It's important to understand that some of the comorbidities listed are actually downstream effects of #COVID19meaning they are symptoms."

"Harassment of health officials for proposing or taking steps to protect communities from #COVID19 reflects misunderstanding of the pandemic, biases in human risk perception, and a general decline in public civility." https://ja.ma/3hsXUFj

PBS NewsHour explores how Canada's health care system works and why it’s admired (and sometimes disparaged) by some in the U.S.