The commercialization of the new COVID vaccine deepens health care inequitiesAlthough the latest COVID-19 booster shot is now available, many individuals have encountered obstacles to accessing it this season. Public health departments and distribution sites such as pharmacies have reported delays in supplies and deliveries in the first weeks of the rollout, while patients have experienced long wait times and accidental charges for shots which are supposed to be free for patients with private and public insurance. "From a public health standpoint, it’s a disaster,” said one patient who tried to get the vaccine five times. While previous vaccine doses and boosters were purchased by the U.S. government, Prism points out that responsibility for the latest COVID-19 vaccine has shifted to private companies.
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Detroit’s sickle cell community remains skeptical of new treatmentsSickle cell disease, a painful genetic blood disorder, mostly affects Black people, and decades of medical mistreatment and disregard by the American healthcare system have left many skeptical of new treatments. Raymond Taylor, a 22-year-old Detroiter who underwent a double hip replacement two years ago due to sickle cell, tells Outlier Media that he isn't ready to take the risk of trying a new treatment that would genetically modify his blood cells. “I don’t like to just put stuff in my body” without being sure it will help, he said. The treatment in question has eliminated sickle cell symptoms entirely in some trial patients, while other drugs authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in recent years have shown that newer drugs can reduce pain and lower the risk of stroke in sickle cell patients.
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Center for Indigenous Health launches guide for spending tribal opioid settlement fundsNative News Online reports that the Center for Indigenous Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers guidance to federally recognized tribes on using the $1.5 billion from opioid litigation settlements over the next 15 years. A research associate at the center told the outlet that while guidelines exist for state and local governments, no guidance is available for tribal communities. With collaboration from an Indigenous Advisory Council, the Center developed five key principles for tribal spending of opioid settlement funds, including focusing on traditional healing, investing in partnerships across Indigenous communities, and providing healing for families.
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Dr. Wanda Whitten-Shurney is a pediatrician, advocate, CEO and medical director of the Sickle Cell Association of America Michigan Chapter. She has provided care for children living with sickle cell disease at Children’s Hospital of Michigan for the past 30 years