Other Views: Tackle deep, systemic health care inequity

“While the COVID- 19 vaccine is a godsend in many ways, it will not end much of the threat to Black Americans. In fact, racial disparities in deaths will likely increase when the vaccine is introduced to the public. Let me explain. As a Black cardiologist, I know that unless American health care undergoes a paradigm shift to end racial injustice in health care, this vaccine that many call a beacon of hope will not alone save my community. We must tackle deep, systemic issues related to bias, access to care and education before we can come close to joining the celebration. ... In the community I serve, I meet too many Black and Latino Americans who work multiple jobs yet have no health care, or work in jobs where they’re the first to get laid off and lose their employer- provided insurance in the process.”

Tom Frieden and Marine Buissonnière, Politico:

“The emergence of new variants that could evade vaccine protection risks a prolonged pandemic here as well as elsewhere, because uncontrolled spread anywhere in the world allows the virus more opportunity to mutate and more dangerous variants to emerge and spread. The only way to reduce the risk of vaccine- escape mutations here is to increase vaccination and control measures everywhere. Unfortunately, vaccination is going far too slowly in the rest of the world to accomplish that. There is simply not enough supply yet to meet global demand, and wealthy countries are currently monopolizing most of the vaccine supply. More than 100 countries, with more than 2 billion people, have yet to administer a single dose of vaccine, and at the current pace, much of the world may not be vaccinated until 2024. ... Transferring technological know- how and setting up production lines around the world is one of the most important steps the Biden administration can take to bring the COVID- 19 pandemic under control. Such an investment would save lives, revive economies, protect Americans from both the risk of variants and new threats, and restore the U. S. position as a reliable and trustworthy partner while advancing global health security and diplomacy.”

Kent Sepkowitz, CNN:

“Perhaps now is the moment, with the pandemic actually moving in a promising direction in the U. S., for us to accept that the best advice, the most well- considered guidelines from the smartest people, are only educated guesses. No matter what plays out going forward, it will be a surprise — meaning that once again, we are on our own, unwitting and unwilling volunteers in a giant real- life experiment with minute- to- minute coverage but no final episode yet. For that, we may have to wait a good while longer.”