Opinion | ‘I Really Feel We Need the Human Data’: What We Heard This Week

“I really feel we need the human data.” — Pablo Sanchez, MD, of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, who cast the only vote against recommending the new bivalent boosters due to the lack of clinical trial data.

“It could cause a lot of anxiety in people.” — Sean McGann, MD, an emergency physician at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, on people’s Apple watches pinging wearers about arrhythmia alerts.

“Already six falls transported to Mercy trauma — one in bad shape.” — Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health CEO, on people injured while jumping or falling off the border wall from Mexico in attempts to climb into the U.S.

“You largely are hooked into that ancestral strain, so it’s hard to boost in a big way with BA.4/5 vaccines.” — Paul Offit, MD, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, on COVID booster shots.

“It just hasn’t existed before.” — Clese Erikson, MPAff, of George Washington University, on a new database that mapped the U.S. behavioral health workforce.

“These results suggest that black tea, even at higher levels of intake, can be part of a healthy diet.” — Maki Inoue-Choi, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute, on new research showing people who drank at least two cups of tea per day had a slightly lower risk of death.

“It’s truly unfortunate that pregnant people are not included in trials of new medications because it’s really hard to know whether they are safe to use in pregnancy.” — Kunjal Patel, DSc, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, on the agent dolutegravir (Tivicay) showing greater viral suppression for pregnant patients with HIV-1 than other therapies.

“Our study brings forth another impact of low testosterone: decreased ability to overcome an illness such as COVID-19.” — Sandeep Dhindsa, MD, of St. Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri, on higher COVID-related hospitalization rates seen among men with hypogonadism.