Just going to say the quiet part out loud again...
Vaccine campaigns were already unrolling unequally, so Johnson & Johnson’s candidate and its lower efficacy raise some tricky ethical questions for the coming months of the rollout. gothamist.com/news/it-fair-g…
Ok now, before you smash that reply button...
Some people may see this story as a criticism of the J&J vaccine, but it's really about disparities in our health care system... gothamist.com/news/it-fair-g…
...On Wednesday, the FDA reported the one-dose candidate from Johnson & Johnson is 72 percent effective at preventing moderate to severe cases of COVID-19 in regions w/o the variants.
For the mRNA vaccines, this protection was upwards of 90 percent in clinical trials...
...the mRNA vaccines also generate more antibodies, a larger percentage of recipients with immunity defenses called T-cells, and higher efficacy among older adults and people with pre-existing conditions than Johnson & Johnson.
Happy to send receipts for anyone who needs 'em...
These differences raise ethical questions around the next stages of the vaccine rollout.
If certain demographics have fallen behind, then policymakers must now wrestle with who should get the more effective mRNA vaccines. gothamist.com/news/it-fair-g…
Mathematically, the best way to control the pandemic would be to inoculate people as fast as possible with any vax above 60% efficacy.
“Our models have shown that vaccinating more people faster is better than waiting for a vaccine with a higher efficacy." - @bruce_y_lee
But we know the J&J vaccine is more likely to be used in under-resourced settings because of its storage advantages.
A weaker regimen, whether it's with J&J or one-dose of mRNAs, will prevent less illness than a stronger one—something to consider given chronic COVID.
Deliver too many weaker vaccines in one area, and its recovery will be slower than those with access to the best vaccines.
If certain areas already mistrust the rollout, and then they learn that they're receiving doses that are less effective... gothamist.com/news/it-fair-g…
In other words, access to these up-and-comers and the mRNA vaccines needs to be equitable and messaging needs to be spot on.
Or another way to look at uneven vaccine access, courtesy of Jewel Mullen associate dean for health equity at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School. gothamist.com/news/it-fair-g…
And yet another way...
“If you give priority over a certain age, you’re actually prioritizing white lives, and ignoring the historical and current structural inequities that shorten Black lives." - @uche_blackstock
And this issue extends beyond New York. Twenty-two high-income nations, including the U.S., possess more than half of the confirmed supply of COVID-19 vaccines. Most are of the stronger mRNA variety. gothamist.com/news/it-fair-g…
Or to echo @krishna_u: "We wasted too much of the first year figuring out what needed to happen...We can’t get it wrong going forward.”
White privilege in news media is saying “the n-word, among other things” in front of *high school students*, and then keeping your job for more than a year
““Ham-handed” is a generous description of what followed: a series of managerial convulsions that left nearly everyone unsatisfied and publicly exposed deep divides within the Times newsroom over race and the treatment of Black employees.” washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021…
The single-day event was organized by the Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst, @UJAfedNY, and @MobileHealthInc.
They had just days to contact some 800 mostly Russian-speaking survivors to coordinate time slots and transportation for those in need gothamist.com/news/more-300-…
“This is a humongous victory for us." - Alex Budnitsky, the executive director of the Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst, which locals call the “J.”
His staff had spent weeks trying to find vaccine appointments through the normal channel. gothamist.com/news/more-300-…
During the opening ceremony, Mayor de Blasio said people who arrive without notice could be aided by “navigators” that could help book future appointments.
But on opening day yesterday, staff said they did not have access to the appointment system. 👀👀👀gothamist.com/news/citi-fiel…
South Africa halted use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccine on Sunday after evidence emerged that the vaccine did not protect trial participants from mild/moderate illness caused by the South African variant. nytimes.com/live/2021/02/0…