Hits and MIsses
Peggy Peterson/Penn Medicine via AP
In this image provided by Penn Medicine, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman pose for a photo at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Karikó and Weissman won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and that could be used to develop other shots in the future.
Associated Press
Taylor Swift, second from left, and Brittany Mahomes, second from right, watch play between the New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs during the second quarter of Sunday’s NFL game in East Rutherford, N.J.
MISS: In the 1950s, Elvis Presley was denounced from many a pulpit, with one minister calling him “morally insane” and another describing Presley as a “pelvic contortionist” whose “stage antics are intended to arouse the lower instincts.” In the decade that followed, another minister was so incensed by the Fab Four that he put out a pamphlet titled “Communism, Hypnotism and the Beatles.” Of course, the United States and the rest of the world managed to survive both Elvis and the Beatles, and it’s likely an indication of Taylor Swift’s vast cultural reach that she is now the subject of similar invective. Last month, a headline on The Federalist website declared that “Taylor Swift’s popularity is a sign of societal decline,” USA Today has come under criticism for devoting a reporter specifically to Swift, and the singer’s burgeoning relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has launched at least as much frenzied speculation and chatter as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor’s affair 60 years ago. It’s time to calm down where Swift is concerned: There are some things that could lead to society’s downfall, but Swift’s popularity is certainly not one of them, and is it really any of our business who she dates?
HIT: Millions of lives were saved as a result of the COVID-19 vaccines, and a key to their development was due to long and painstaking experiments carried out by scientists Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman. Because of their intensive studies on the workings of mRNA, it enabled the vaccines to be put in arms quickly, and could also be used to create vaccines that combat cancer, HIV, malaria and influenza. As a result of Kariko and Weissman’s work, which was partially carried out at the University of Pennsylvania, they were awarded a Nobel Prize Monday in physiology and medicine. Anyone skeptical about vaccines in general and the COVID-19 vaccines in particular would be wise to read about the years of analysis and investigation undertaken by the scientists that made the shots possible. Brian Ferguson, an immunologist at the University of Cambridge in England, told The New York Times, “What is now recognized as a transformative technology required dedicated scientists to carry out fundamental research over many years to reach the position it was in 2020 when its rapid deployment as a vaccine technology was made possible by global collaboration.”
MISS: The vaccines that have helped tame COVID-19 have been one of the wonders of modern science, but the delivery of them has not been without some hiccups. That was underscored in a Washington Post story this week that noted that some pediatricians and pharmacies have been having a hard time getting ahold of the newest booster shots for children. Manufacturers say they have primarily focused on getting the adult vaccines out the door, and are now working on getting the children’s vaccines shipped. Critics have two complaints: first, they argue that the vaccines should have been made available before the start of the school year; and that the lack of availability could discourage some parents from getting them. With the rate of vaccination among children in the United States already too low – only 39% of children aged between 5 and 11 have received a shot – it’s imperative that the new shot be distributed quickly and families are encouraged to get them.