As US government officials prepare to brief the public about Covid-19 vaccine booster shots, there is an emerging consensus coming from influential corners of the national news media: people should anticipate that Covid-19 is here to stay. It’s time to adjust expectations accordingly.
This reality is becoming a part of corporate calculations, as well. I noticed that Jim Cummings, the chief HR officer for CNN’s parent WarnerMedia, brought it up in an internal memo last week. He said Warner is moving ahead with more office reopenings in September despite the surge. “Ultimately,” he wrote, “the bigger question for us and, indeed, the entire world is when and how we start to live with COVID as an endemic reality. Right now, we think the best way to address all of these considerations is to move forward as planned while doing everything we can to mitigate risk — and that, of course, first and foremost requires everyone in the office to be vaccinated. And it also includes the flexibility to work at home.”
So about those vaccines…
Biden will speak about Covid-19 vaccine booster shots Wednesday at 4:30pm ET. The White House’s Covid-19 team will also hold a briefing on the same subject. The booster boosting “will include details on the first data on waning immunity among the vaccinated inside the US,” Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports, citing a senior federal health official. “Top health officials have previously said they were closely monitoring such data from Israel and Europe, but had not yet seen evidence from the US supporting the need for a booster. That is expected to change” on Wednesday…
J&J recipients shouldn’t be cast aside
“Finding a new, tolerable way to live with this virus”
That’s what all of this — the fights about masks, the frustration about vaccinations, the focus on ventilation, etcetera — is ultimately all about.