Good morning, everyone. I’m working clinically today. (In fact, I’m sending this out at 7am ET, by which time I’ll be seeing patients in the ER).
Just wanted to share a couple of media appearances I made this recently.
The New York Times’s Apoorva Mandavilli covered the question of spring boosters for the immunocompromised. There are rumors that the FDA and the CDC may change directions and authorize boosters this spring for people with very high risks of serious Covid-19 illnesses. My quote draws on my collaboration with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina earlier this week. (If you didn’t see the newsletter we co-authored on this topic, it’s over on Dr. Jetelina’s Substack). My view is that the effect of boosters wanes fast and that for super-high risk groups, it makes sense to “re-up” more often than once per year. Meanwhile, I’m working with epidemiologists in Israel to get a better grip on how to best help the immunocompromised. More on that when I’m able to share it.
Scientific American’s Stephanie Pappas wrote about major lessons we’ve learned in the three years since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic. My quotes are about the differences in the ER between 2020 and now. In 2020, we were getting flooded in various parts of the country at various times. Today, there are no massive floods like we saw in 2020, but “sea level” is higher. There are just more sick patients all the time, and Covid is a contributor to that.
I hosted an Instagram Live on the MedPage Today account with Dr. Sarah Wakeman and Dr. Alister Martin (both of whom are colleagues of mine here at Harvard). Drs. Wakeman and Martin are experts on addressing the opioid epidemic. We talked about how far we’ve come and what it means that the “X Waiver” for prescribing the opioid replacement medication buprenorphine is now officially gone. We’ve made progress in the opioid epidemic, but there are new problems we’ll need to surmount.
Have a great day, everyone!
Your column is a great way to keep abreast of the many developments unfolding in the practice of medicine today. Good for the practitioner and for the lay person as well!
Keep up the good work!
Bravo!! 🙌🙌🙌