Our team in Prince George's County, MD has started hosting weekly Facebook Live talks about the COVID-19 vaccines, including impacts in the Black community. Tune in every Thursday at 7 PM to watch these shows on the University of Maryland's Facebook page.

The most recent talk is available here.

Chakras, crystals and conspiracy theories: how the wellness industry turned its back on Covid science. For nearly 50 years, the world of wellness has viewed health as something that can be shrugged on or off at will, like a cashmere sweater. Doctors are to be distrusted and individuals should take responsibility for their own “wellness journey”. Then the Covid vaccine programme began – and this anti‑scientific attitude metastasised into something far more harmful. (The Guardian, 11/11/21)

Why these public health experts (and moms) are getting their kids the COVID vaccine. In interviews with The 19th, public health experts who are also mothers noted that medical decisions parents make for their children can be emotionally fraught. But still, they said, the Pfizer vaccine is safe and effective. Communicating that in a way that is understanding, empathetic and fact-based will be critical in helping kids get immunized. (19th News, 11/15/21)

See also: The Children’s COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Requires a Different Playbook (Behavioral Scientist, 11/16/21)

A Pastor’s Battle Over Vaccine Mandates—The Experiment Podcast. Last week, President Joe Biden rolled out a large-scale federal mandate requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for two-thirds of the American workforce, impacting more than 100 million people across the public and private sectors. Some lawmakers have already called the mandate unconstitutional, and Arizona is the first state to sue to block it. This week on The Experiment: As the struggle between individual liberty and public safety rages, we revisit the story of the first Supreme Court battle over vaccines, waged more than 100 years ago. (The Atlantic, 11/1/21)

I’m 87, Triple Vaxxed and Living My Life Again. While Covid-19’s toll has been felt by everyone, pandemic living for people in our 80s was different. Yes, our risk of getting sick or dying from Covid was far greater. But nonetheless, I was able to keep my equanimity. People my age are resilient; after all, we were children during World War II. (New York Times, 11/17/21)

A four-point plan to vaccinate America's elementary-school-age children. Getting as many kids ages 5-11 vaccinated as quickly as possible by providing convenient, equitable and trustworthy vaccination sites will be crucial for limiting spread in schools and in the communities, especially as we head into winter weather, flu season and winter break travel. (The Hill, 11/10/21)

See also: Will Kids Vaccines Get the Pandemic in Check? (Slate, 11/13/21)

Using Federal Funds To Address Drivers Of Health For COVID-19 Recovery And Beyond. Federal funds arriving to state agencies, including more than $92 billion included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, present a critical opportunity to both accelerate the recovery of groups most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and to redefine approaches in addressing physical and mental health, inclusive of substance use disorders and emotional well-being. Additionally, funds now available as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act have potential for innovative and significant public health impact. (Health Affairs, 11/17/21)

Covid vaccine holdouts are caving to mandates — then scrambling to 'undo' their shots. Detox remedies and regimens have been staples of the anti-vaccine movement for years. Long before Covid, anti-vaccine influencers and alternative health entrepreneurs promoted unproven and sometimes dangerous treatments they claimed would rid children of the alleged toxins that lingered after routine childhood immunizations. (NBC News, 11/12/21)

FDA authorizes Pfizer and Moderna boosters for all adults. The onus now shifts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose vaccine advisory committee is scheduled to meet Friday afternoon to hammer out the final recommendations for the shots. Typically, CDC signoff is the final step needed before shots can be administered. In an unusual move, however, a number of states and cities chose not to wait for the FDA or the CDC to act, instead opting to allow boosters for all adults in the past week. (NBC News, 11/19/21)

GOP opposition to vaccine mandates extends far beyond Covid-19. The bills represent the latest wave of resistance to the Biden administration’s push to impose Covid-19 vaccine mandates for nearly all Americans. But the new, across-the-board revolt against vaccine requirements of any kind, experts told STAT, could begin to reverse a century of progress against diseases that, thanks to vaccines, are afterthoughts to most Americans. (STAT, 11/17/21)

See also: As G.O.P. Fights Mask and Vaccine Mandates, Florida Takes the Lead (New York Times, 11/17/21)

The 5th Circuit sets its sights on the vaccine-and-testing mandate — and much more than that. The ultra-conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has extended its order blocking the Biden administration’s rule that companies employing more than 100 workers require coronavirus vaccines or weekly testing — this time with an explanation. (Washington Post, 11/13/21)

See also: Federal appeals court halts Biden's COVID-19 vaccine rule for large businesses (CNBC, 11/12/21)

Labor unions sue Biden administration to expand Covid vaccine mandates and cover smaller businesses. everal of the nation’s largest labor unions are suing over President Joe Biden’s vaccine and testing requirements, not to overturn them, but to expand them to cover more businesses. While the unions did not provide arguments in their petition, a spokesman for the food workers union told CNBC the group wants the mandates expanded to cover as many businesses as possible. The union also wants the new Labor Department rule to ensure employees don’t have to cover the costs of Covid testing and face masks. (CNBC, 11/15/21)

The U.S. aims to lift Covid vaccine manufacturing to create a billion doses a year. Activists, many of them veterans of the AIDS epidemic, have been demanding for months that Mr. Biden do more to scale up global vaccine manufacturing capacity. At the same time, the administration is offering booster shots to millions of vaccinated Americans, despite criticism from World Health Organization officials and other experts who say the doses should go to low- and lower-middle-income countries first. (New York Times, 11/17/21)

How Long Will Boosters Last? Some states, such as California and Colorado, have opened up booster shots to all adults who are at least six months past their second mRNA dose. It may turn out that the term “booster” is a bit of a misnomer, and that the correct number of shots for maximum efficacy isn’t yet known. Vaccination recommendations often change as more data becomes available over time. (Bloomberg, 11/14/21)

Pfizer Fights to Control Secret of $36 Billion Covid Vaccine Recipe. Vaccine inequality didn’t happen by itself. It was the result of decisions by corporate executives and government officials. Nearly a year after the first shots went into arms, Western vaccine producers and public health officials are still struggling to find common ground to close a yawning gap between some nations; only 6% of people in Africa were fully inoculated as of early November. A sticking point in that effort is who gets to control secret vaccine formulas worth billions of dollars. (Bloomberg, 11/14/21)

See also: AstraZeneca Scientist Defends Plan to Start Selling Covid-19 Vaccine For Profit (Gizmodo, 11/18/21)

Vaccine efficacy and immune interference: co-administering COVID-19 and influenza vaccines. The COVID-19 vaccine development programmes and successes have turbo-charged the whole of vaccinology, conferring the confidence to trial new protocols and protect against diverse pathogens—even if this means administering the different vaccines at the same time. (The Lancet, 11/17/21)