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The Covid-19 pandemic puts the world at great risk of this deadly infectious disease. But it also holds the threat of a fearful outbreak measles, an extremely contagious and sometimes fatal illness. For the first time in my 45 years as a pediatrician, I fear that we will see a serious national outbreak of a vaccine-preventable illness that we had, until recently, all but eliminated. (Sean Palfrey, 12/19)

The First Amendment offers wide protection for free speech in America. But that right to express an opinion is not unlimited. Everyone knows you can't run into a crowded theater and yell fire. There are also long-established limits on what you can lawfully say and write about individuals and organizations. During a deadly pandemic, spreading disinformation about the novel coronavirus is the equivalent of yelling fire in that crowded theater. The result is the same: it puts people's lives at risk. (Joe Lockhart, 12/18)

You were warned about this first in The New York Post last July. Now it’s happening. On Sunday, the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, recommended that seniors aged 65 to 74 be moved toward the back of the line for the COVID-19 vaccine. The reason, says ACIP, is that “racial and ethnic minority groups are underrepresented” in this age group. Put another way: Seniors are too white. (Betsy McCaughey, 12/20)

The Friday approval of a second Covid vaccine is welcome news, but much of the public won’t be able to get inoculated for many months. Meanwhile, the best way to reduce suffering and hardship is therapeutic technologies like antibody drugs. But right now, many of these drugs are languishing on shelves at hospitals and not reaching patients. Moncef Slaoui, who runs Operation Warp Speed, said recently that more than 80% of the available supply is sitting unused, even as hospitals are inundated with critically ill patients. Antibody drugs infuse patients with synthetic versions of the kinds of immune cells developed in response to an infection. Early trials show antibody cocktails can stop Covid symptoms from progressing. They can be used with or without vaccines for patients at highest risk of severe disease. (Scott Gottlieb and Mark McClellan, 12/20)

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen remarkable and rapid research in vaccines and therapeutics, but disappointingly little research to shed light on the interventions we currently use to reduce SARS-CoV2 transmission. That is a problem because even with vaccines on the way, we will be stuck with COVID-19 for a considerable time. We urgently need more research to identify and disseminate the most effective and least disruptive interventions and practices to reduce virus transmission, for this pandemic and the ones that will inevitably follow. (Steven Woloshin, Paul Glasziou and Susan Michie, 12/21)

In an all-too-rare display of pandemic-era leadership, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, received the new Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in front of cameras on Friday morning. “We gather here today at the end of a historic week to affirm to the American people that hope is on the way,” Pence said after his shot. “Karen and I were more than happy to step forward before this week was out to take this safe and effective coronavirus vaccine that we have secured and produced for the American people. It’s truly an inspiring day.” It’s the least he could do. (Robin Abcarian, 12/18)

In 2016, a few months before Donald Trump was elected president, I wrote a column about his long history as a mismanager that cited this chestnut from his book “Crippled America”: I realized that America doesn’t need more ‘all-talk, no-action’ politicians running things. It needs smart businesspeople who understand how to manage. We don’t need more political rhetoric — we need more common sense. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ — but if it is broke, let’s stop talking about it and fix it. I know how to fix it. Trump’s book, like all his nonfiction works of fiction, was a self-promotional exercise at odds with his true history as an inept bungler. (Timothy L. O'Brien, 12/20)

After the last vaccine is injected, and the last covid-19 patient is released from the hospital, we will need a public accounting of all the ways our government failed, starting with the man at the top. Recrimination is already largely pointless, but preparation isn’t, as this probably won’t be the last pandemic our country faces. It’s an oversimplification to say that President Trump is responsible for more than 300,000 excess deaths. But given all the natural advantages our country started with — as varied as weather to Americans’ penchant for personal space — we should have been one of the developed world’s best performers, instead of among the worst. (Megan McArdle, 12/18)

Infection and death rates caused by COVID-19 are raging, but the rollout of the vaccines brings new hope that the pandemic will end and we will soon be back to normal. Yet, according to a recent Pew Research study, 40% of Americans are wary of receiving a vaccine. What to do? Vaccine skepticism has a long history in the United States. While vaccines have proved to be overwhelmingly safe, dissenters have always worried about safety. Vaccine skeptics are often branded as anti-science, but most are not opposed to vaccination across the board. Some advocate vaccine choice and alternative childhood immunization schedules. Opposition comes from people with diverse political, racial, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. This is why the term “anti-vaxxer” doesn’t describe any single group and does more harm than good when it is used as a pejorative, driving a wedge between doctors and patients.  (Kira Ganga Kieffer, 12/20)

Doctors, nurses and other essential workers are getting vaccinated against Covid-19 in the U.S. and U.K. Yet in Asia, where several countries led the way in reining in the viral outbreak, there are few signs that detailed distribution plans are ready to be implemented. Supplies are limited and unknowns plentiful. Governments need to jump-start the process to get shots into arms. In most cases, however, their capacity to distribute the vaccine is a constraint or simply doesn’t exist. Some nations have signed on to procurement and advanced purchasing plans from vaccine manufacturers. Others are working on collaborations and homegrown options. But everywhere, the need to maintain optimal temperatures for certain vaccines raises hard issues, such as cold-storage warehouses and adequate last-mile delivery. (Anjani Trivedi, 12/20)