Welcome to Springtime! The daffodils are poking their yellow heads above ground and the last of the February snow is dissolving on the edges of parking lots. The first pitch of baseball season is a week away and Disneyland is (re)opening April 30.
It is the spring thaw, as states expand COVID-19 vaccine eligibility at the same time they are (re)opening everything from gyms and restaurants to movie theaters and, yes, schools.
It is track season as well. We are said to be in a race against time, where the stakes are the highest imaginable. We are not running alone. It is vaccination in lane one versus the virus and its variants in lanes two, three, four and beyond.
The challenge with lane one is the number of hurdles along the way. Early hurdles were scientific and logistical: getting safe and effective vaccines in hand, manufacturing them in quantity and delivering them to thousands of sites across the country and the world. The next hurdles are likely the most challenging: converting vaccine hesitancy to vaccine confidence and understanding the virus and variants well enough to stay a step ahead of them.
We need to clear those hurdles without breaking stride, and without losing the momentum of public health measures (masking, distancing) to stop the spread of infection in its tracks. The finish line is in sight. It’s no time to stumble.
This week’s edition of the Vaccine Project Newsletter is 3,346 words long and will take you 10 minutes to read.
The communication effort
The White House public education push to overcome vaccine hesitancy will follow closely on the heels of the Ad Council/Covid Collaborative “It’s Up to You” campaign launched in late February. Think of these initiatives as partners on a bicycle built for two, pedaling furiously in tandem with a sense of increasing urgency.
The Takeaway: Vaccine hesitancy is not set in stone. It could be the wiggle room that saves us.
The rollout
One in six adults in the U.S. (45.5 million people) are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as are 43% of seniors (65+). Roll on.
The Takeaway: We love that the rollout is rolling along and gathering much-needed momentum. But please, fellow members of the news media: Can we come up with photo ops and news clips that show something other than needles going into deltoids? How about smiles on faces?
The challenges
Beware the folly of celebrating victory too early.
The Takeaway: Nothing is simple or easy, nor should we expect it to be. There’s a way out of this escape room for the patient and the resourceful.
The vaccine dashboard
Until the supply of J&J vaccine ramps up in coming weeks, we essentially have two and a half vaccines on hand in the U.S., with more on the way.
The Takeaway: The vaccine news will continue to be fast and sometimes furious. Expect some bumps along the way.
Parting shots
Billie Holiday’s classy rendition of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” circa 1944, was the final transmission from NASA to the Opportunity rover on Mars when that mission shut down in 2019, after 14 years of wandering the red planet. Last year, in the midst of the pandemic’s early surge, Norah Jones recorded her own version in support of the New York Restoration Project, an open space conservancy founded 25 years ago by Bette Midler. “I’ll be seeing you”… not a bad theme song for getting back to where we once belonged.
And then there’s the great Sister Jean. Once she was fully vaccinated, 101-year-old Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, BVM, was cleared to travel to Indianapolis to cheer on the Ramblers of Loyola University Chicago in March Madness. Sister Jean does much more than cheer: She delivers scouting reports and pep talks and, as team chaplain, offers a pregame prayer. “We hope to score early and make our opponents nervous,” she prayed minutes before the Ramblers scored early and made their opponents, the top-seeded University of Illinois, very very nervous. Loyola moves on to the Sweet 16. Never bet against a nun who has her own bobblehead doll.
…and some songs
The Four Seasons (Spring), Antonio Vivaldi/Alana Youseffian and Voices of Music
Appalachian Spring, Aaron Copland/Gimnazija Kranj Symphony, Slovenia
Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Gordon MacRae (from Oklahoma!)
Reflection, from Winter Into Spring, George Winston
Thank you for joining us here in this first week of spring. Come back for tomorrow’s Haymarket Media Coronavirus Briefing, featuring a bit of a spring break from the onslaught of facts, figures, polls and predictions.