Read our latest report, "Carrying Equity in COVID-19 Vaccination Forward: Guidance Informed by Communities of Color." This report provides guidance on adapting COVID-19 vaccination efforts to achieve greater coverage in underserved populations and develop sustainable, locally appropriate mechanisms to advance equity. Una versión en español del resumen ejecutivo está disponible aquí.

Some media updates from our local teams:

How Vaccine Apathy – Not Hesitancy – May Be Driving Flattened Vaccination Rates. If the nation is to reach President Biden's goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the public, some researchers say we need to start appealing to those who are not just hesitant about vaccines, but apathetic. Disinterest, they argue, is the latest bump in the road to immunity. (Science Alert, 7/18/21)

The Life Cycle Of A COVID-19 Vaccine Lie. The events outlined here represent a major amplification event for this false information, but they're by no means the only source of lies about female fertility and the vaccine. Claims about fertility and the coronavirus vaccines go back to at least December, and fertility claims about other vaccines date back even further, in some cases decades. But the events of earlier this year illustrate how misinformation can spread in a nonlinear manner with many different players adding threads to a web of false content. (NPR, 7/20/21)

See also: Vaccine doubters’ strange fixation with Israel (7/19/21)

Meet the Young Adults Sneaking Behind Their Parents’ Backs to Get Vaccinated. More young adults have been living with their parents than at any other time in recent history, and some of them have reported having to outright lie about getting the vaccine. Others have delayed getting the shot, or have held off entirely because of the damage they fear it would do their parental relationships. (Slate, 7/21/21)

Vaccine Hesitancy By County. This map highlights areas of the US that would benefit most from increased vaccination acceptance. This view shows, by county, the % of survey respondents who answered "Yes, probably" or "No, probably not" when asked "If a vaccine to prevent COVID-19 were offered to you today, would you choose to get vaccinated?" (IHME, 7/21)

'My body, my choice' protesters say of COVID-19 vaccine mandate at Henry Ford Health System. "We are not anti-vax. We are not unvaccinated out here. There are people who got the COVID vaccine. We are all out here because we do not believe the vaccine should be mandated," said Castro, who is not a health care worker but said she is being a voice for these workers. Castro said she and others also are concerned about patient care if health care workers are terminated for not getting a COVID-19 vaccine, thus reducing staffing levels at the hospitals. (Detroit Free Press, 7/17/21)

See also: Nation’s largest hospital group supports mandatory coronavirus vaccines for health workers (Washington Post, 7/21/21)

Facebook and YouTube’s vaccine misinformation problem is simpler than it seems. Over the past few years, Facebook and YouTube have belatedly acknowledged that they play an important role in shaping people’s attitudes about everything from elections to vaccines. And they now admit that misinformation is a serious problem on their platforms. But even as they reluctantly accept some responsibility for addressing certain kinds of particularly dangerous misinformation — usually after the fact, by removing posts or suspending users — they tend to view the problem as not really their fault. (Washington Post, 7/21/21)

The Threat of an Unvaccinated South. According to Georgetown researcher Shweta Bansal, "Unvaccinated individuals are efficient fuel like dry wood for the fire of future outbreaks. Vaccinated individuals are like soaked wood—while it can’t easily catch fire, if it’s surrounded by dry wood, the chances are much higher." In other words, low vaccination rates in the South make this moment less safe for everyone there, and over time could jeopardize the country’s hope of ever getting the novel coronavirus more under control. (The Atlantic, 7/22/21)

American Academy of Pediatrics Updates Recommendations for Opening Schools in Fall 2021. In updated guidance for the 2021-22 school year, the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommends in-person learning and urges all who are eligible to be vaccinated to protect against COVID-19. In addition to vaccinations, the AAP recommends a layered approach to make school safe for all students, teachers and staff in the guidance. That includes a recommendation that everyone older than age 2 wear masks, regardless of vaccination status. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 7/19/21)

States are sitting on millions of surplus Covid-19 vaccine doses as expiration dates approach. Several state health departments told STAT they have repeatedly asked the federal government to redistribute their supply to other countries, many of which are facing a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Officials in Washington have rejected those requests, citing legal and logistical challenges. (7/20/21)

Big Leagues Balk at Endorsing Vaccination. Despite resources that other industries can only dream of, most pro leagues in the U.S. are struggling to get their teams’ covid-19 vaccination rates to 85%, a threshold considered high enough to protect the locker room or clubhouse from spread of the disease. Only the Women’s National Basketball Association, at 99%, can boast a highly successful campaign to educate and vaccinate its players. (KHN, 7/22/21)

Vaccination in America Might Have Only One Tragic Path Forward. If the distribution of vaccines keeps slowing down, it’s not because America is divided but because we’re running out of people who think vaccines will save their lives. (The Atlantic, 7/20/21)

The doctor who went door to door to give out COVID-19 vaccines before they expired says Biden's idea to try it now wouldn't work because young people are among most of the unvaccinated. Gokal, who went door-to-door to give out the remaining vaccine doses before they expire, said this wouldn't work with this group most in need of accurate information because those younger may not have that established relationship with physicians, and so local entities need to meet them in places like religious institutions where there's already established trust. (Business Insider, 7/20/21)

Vira. Vira is a chatbot developed by the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with experts from the Bloomberg School's Department of International Health and Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering. Vira’s knowledge base from Johns Hopkins vaccine scientists was developed with support from the COVID-19 Training Initiative, with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies. (Vira, 7/21)

Biden’s Spaghetti-at-the-Wall Vaccine Campaign. You might think that, in his quest to quell the coronavirus, President Joe Biden would be ready to try anything. But there are indeed some things he won’t try, and the reason is a familiar one. Biden’s vaccination drive has the feel of a political campaign that’s targeting the persuadable middle, when what’s really needed is a novel way to reach the proudly irrational. (The Atlantic, 7/16/21)

See also: Biden Says Pandemic Is Now Among Unvaccinated, Urges People to Get Shots (Bloomberg, 7/21/21)

Pro-Trump Group Files Motion Against FDA to Stop Covid-19 Vaccinations in U.S. A bizarre fringe group that calls itself “America’s Frontline Doctors” filed a motion in federal court on Monday against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency of the FDA, to seek an injunction that would halt all vaccinations for covid-19 in the country. (Gizmodo, 7/20/21)

Hollywood Can Mandate Vaccinations on Sets, Say Studios and Guilds in Short-Term Deal. In a joint statement, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the industry’s top guilds — including SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, the DGA and the Teamsters — say that they’ve agreed to ease current protocols for fully vaccinated cast and crew. (Hollywood Reporter, 7/19/21)

See also: Vaccine mandates more likely once FDA grants full approvals, health experts say (NBC, 7/20/21)

When will COVID-19 vaccines be fully approved—and does it matter whether they are? Some scientists and physicians worry vaccine hesitancy is fueled by the fact that shots available in the United States—made by Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson (J&J)—have been authorized on an emergency basis but have yet to be fully approved. Antivaccine activists, talk show hosts, and far-right politicians have made the vaccines’ “experimental” nature a talking point. (Science, 7/21/21)

Novavax’s Effort to Vaccinate the World, From Zero to Not Quite Warp Speed. Novavax’s quest to scale up operations underscores how difficult it can be to launch a vaccine ― even with the formula and technology in hand. So what happened? It has had the financial backing of the U.S. government and full faith of international agencies. Everything took longer than expected: hiring necessary researchers and scientists, getting supplies and transferring its vaccine technology. It didn’t move at warp speed. (KHN, 7/19/21)

COVID-19 Vaccines and Immunocompromised People: Fully Vaccinated and Not Protected. Dorry Segev, MD, PhD ’09, has been conducting research on the immune responses of people who are fully vaccinated against COVID but, because of their compromised immune systems, are not protected from the virus. Segev is a Johns Hopkins transplant surgeon with a joint appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at the Bloomberg School. (JHSPH, 7/14/21)

We’re Zeroing In On the ‘Holy Grail’ of COVID-19 Immunity. The term correlate of protection doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it’s one of the sexiest concepts in the field of vaccinology. Correlates are biological benchmarks—measurements of a single immune molecule or cell—that can show that a vaccine is achieving its desired effect. (The Atlantic, 7/21/21)

Vaccine Effectiveness Studies in the Field. Wherever possible, vaccine efficacy should be assessed by means of randomized trials. Valid comparison is then straightforward, with considerable advantages for addressing policy questions. Organizational, regulatory, and governance barriers to randomization should be reduced to a minimum in a pandemic. Nevertheless, nonrandomized studies continue to have a place, although their limitations must be recognized. (New England Journal of Medicine, 7/21/21)