Vaccine hesitancy has been an important topic for discussion regarding the #COVID19 vaccine. “How can medical and public health leaders work to overcome this hesitancy? To start with, acknowledge the historical reasons for black mistrust of medicine.”

A big component of vaccine distribution has been utilizing ethics to determine vaccine prioritization. Issac Chotiner of The New Yorker speaks with immunologist Barry Bloom to discuss what goes into making decisions on vaccine distribution.

“The first year of the Covid-19 pandemic revealed that a country’s wealth would not spare it from the virus. Overconfidence, poor planning and ignored warnings felled the world’s richest nations. But now, money is translating into undeniable advantages.”

With efficacious medications available, ethics considers who has access to these drugs and who is at risk of losing them. Under COVID-19, the pandemic has accelerated the growth of many health disparities in the United States. Recently, there has been an increase in “pharmacy deserts”, where people struggle to fill medications locally because the drugs are no longer covered by Medicare of Medicaid.

Why has vaccine distribution fallen into disarray across the United States? Lack of funding and coordination between state and local governments has left citizens confused about their vaccination opportunities. What will come in year 2 of COVID-19?

Testing is essential to our fight against #COVID-19. Have you thought about those that give tests to millions of Americans daily? Testing teams are grappling with burnout as these surges approach. How can we consider this population in ethics?

“As the Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the racial inequalities in the United States’ health care system, entrepreneurs in genetic research are speaking out about the importance of encouraging community outreach to combat those disparities and increasing diversity inside their own industry.”

“In the imminent future, patients will start to die because there simply aren’t enough people to care for them. Doctors and nurses will burn out. The most precious resource the U.S. health-care system has in the struggle against COVID-19 isn’t some miracle drug. It’s the expertise of its health-care workers—and they are exhausted.”

Among healthcare workers, nurses have been at significant risk for contracting #COVID19 compared to their counterparts. What types of precautions are being made by institutions to avoid this? Are they doing enough? What more needs to be done?

Incarcerated populations are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 due to factors like overcrowding, confined spaces, and much more. It is imperative we consider this for access. Check out this piece in the NEJM about inclusion of these populations.