COVID vaccines aren't perfect. But they're saving lives.
Today we're leading the newsletter with a column on COVID vaccines. These experts explain a lot of questions people may have about why COVID vaccines don't prevent infection like other vaccines. We also have a column on pornography and mental health and another column on maternal deaths in the U.S. Happy reading.
COVID vaccines aren't perfect. But they're saving lives.
By Ezekiel Emanuel, Rick Bright, Michael Osterholm and Luciana Borio
Americans’ opinions about the COVID-19 vaccines are largely wrong.
We persist in thinking they should prevent all SARS-CoV-2 infections, but given the biology of the virus and the way our immune systems respond to either infection or vaccination that does not happen.
As with other vaccines, the goal is to prevent serious and deadly outcomes, not to prevent all cases of transmission and infection.
By acknowledging this reality, we will be able to better target vaccines – and other COVID interventions – to help us transition from pandemic to endemic infections, and what we should think of as co-existing with the virus.
Today's Editorial Cartoon
Changing US maternal deaths: No woman should die giving life
By Dr. Mary-Ann Etiebet and Sema Sgaier
The recent Biden-Harris Maternal Health Day of Action focused the nation’s attention on shameful and inexcusable facts about the health and survival of our mothers. Not only is America’s overall maternal mortality rate the highest among wealthy nations, death occurs more than twice as often for Black, American Indian and Alaska Native women.
The day saw dozens of organizations, including ours, make significant commitments to act, but how do we increase the chances that these actions will help reverse decades-long trends of worsening health inequities?
Porn is distorting children's view of sex. Just ask Billie Eilish.
By Theresa Olohan
In December, French authorities promised to block five major porn sites if they didn't take immediate action to ensure that viewers are 18 and older. This news came shortly after Billie Eilish's denunciation of pornography, which shocked many of the 20-year-old singer's fans.
Aside from the novelty of a celebrity acknowledging the pitfalls of pornography consumption, people were horrified to hear that Eilish was exposed to sexually explicit acts online when she was only 11 years old.
Yet her experience is far more common than many Americans seem to realize. According to a study by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, 93% of boys and 62% of girls are exposed to pornography before age 18.
Other columns to read today
- Martin Luther King taught us how Jews and Muslims can live together
- Let gay, bisexual men donate blood. Now.
- COVID-19 vaccine mandate: Navy SEALs win religious exemption case
Columns on qualified immunity
We're doing a series examining the issue of qualified immunity. For more on the series read here.
- Roadside assistance caught the cop who killed my cousin. Justice shouldn't be so rare.
- I refused to lie under oath for the state of Arizona. It cost me my job.
- How the KKK Act could help protect and enforce constitutional rights for all of us.
- Ben & Jerry: We white people need to use our power to fight police abuse.
This newsletter was compiled by Jaden Amos.