³Ô¹Ï²»´òìÈ

With the authorizations for several effective vaccines against Covid-19 and a strong vaccination program in place, concerns about burnout among health care workers who have been at the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic for more than 18 months began to recede. Then Delta became a household discussion as vaccination rates have fallen far short of expectation, keeping health care workers in the trenches. Burnout was a near-daily topic before Covid-19, but after multiple crushing rounds of the pandemic and with infections rising again, this systemic exhaustion has shifted from a concern to a crisis. (Anne Marie Benedicto, 10/7)

The end of the pandemic may be in sight. That’s right. As the delta surge appears to be receding and new covid-19 cases have declined by more than a third since Sept. 1, the chance of a return to normal, while not guaranteed, is within grasp. What will it take to finally put this public health crisis behind us? (Leana S. Wen, 10/6)

More than 60 years ago, the Nobel Prize-winning biologist Peter Medawar posed what has become known as the immunological paradox of pregnancy. The fetus, Dr. Medawar argued, is like a semiforeign transplant because half of its genes come from the father. Therefore, the mother’s immune system and the fetus must be locked in conflict. One of Dr. Medawar’s theories for why the mother’s body does not reject the pregnancy was that the maternal immune system is inhibited. As a result, the concept of pregnancy as an immune-suppressed condition was introduced to scientists, and it has influenced thinking about pregnancy among doctors and the public ever since. (Gil Mor, 10/7)