Departments

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COVID-19

  • SOURCE: CNN
    9/17/2021

    The Complex Politics of Vaccine Resistance

    by Nicole Hemmer

    Despite the fact that no major religion forbids vaccination, vaccine resisters often leverage religious exemptions to gain moral authority for what are often political or conspiracy-based views. Public health advocates need to recognize that exemption claims are a tool, not a belief.

  • SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
    9/17/2021

    Policing Religious Exemptions to Vaccines

    A lawsuit against Creighton University, a Jesuit institution, would expand the justification for religious exemptions to vaccination from explicit declarations of opposition by a religious body to any impulse of individual conscience. 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    9/15/2021

    Dosing Arkansas Prisoners with Ivermectin Just Latest Incident of Medical Abuse

    by Lydia Crafts

    "News that an Arkansas prison doctor deceived inmates to take Ivermectin as a COVID preventative shows that nonconsensual research and the experimental use of drugs on vulnerable people remain common — despite evidence of its danger and laws designed to prevent it."

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    9/16/2021

    Politicians, not Migrants, are Fueling the Pandemic's Resurgence

    by Randa Tawil

    At the height of colonialism, European governments rejected calls for quarantine to keep global commerce humming, and blamed supposedly unsanitary local populations for the inevitable spread of cholera. Governors in some US states are repeating this mistake today. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    9/10/2021

    The Limits of My Empathy for Covid Deniers

    by Tressie McMillan Cottom

    "This is a social problem with big structural issues. That does not absolve me of my responsibility for seeing the humanity in people I vehemently disagree with, but it does make me feel less guilty about being unable to save them."

  • SOURCE: The Bulwark
    9/9/2021

    The Conspiracy Theorists Are Coming for Your Schools

    by Thomas Lecaque

    "Over the past year, as the conspiracy theorists have come together under one big apocalyptic tent we have seen organized campaigns of harassment, threats of violence, attempts to harm members of school administrations, and physical altercations at school board meetings when masks are mandated."

  • 9/14/2021

    Pres. Biden Pushes Broad Vaccine Mandates

    As Republican governors and legislatures refuse to require vaccination, the Biden administration institutes significant federal mandates. Historians discuss vaccination, choice, and public health.

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    9/7/2021

    The Masked Professor vs. the Unmasked Student

    "Universities are caught between the demands of their faculty for greater safety precautions, and the fear of losing students, and the revenue they bring, if schools return to another year of online education."

  • SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
    8/27/2021

    We’re Begging Students to Save Our Lives

    by Amy Olberding

    "We beg teenagers to think of our babies, to feel for our dead, and please not to kill us. Some of them oblige. Some do not — an alarming number do not. The university’s response so far amounts to: Beg better."

  • SOURCE: The Conversation
    9/1/2021

    How "Snake Oil" Got a Bad Name

    by Caitjan Gainty

    19th century snake oil was not necessarily less effective than the wares of orthodox medical professionals, but was unable to withstand changes in the medical marketplace driven by professional organizations. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    9/1/2021

    What if the Coronavirus Crisis Is Just a Trial Run?

    by Adam Tooze

    The disjointed and haphazard global response to the COVID pandemic bodes poorly for the world's capacity for coordinated action to face inevitable crisies in the near future. The problem isn't a lack of means but a lack of commitment to collective action.

  • SOURCE: Nursing Clio
    9/2/2021

    The Agency of the Irresponsible

    by Sarah Swedberg

    When universities bend to political pressure and adopt "personal responsibility" policies for vaccination, masking, and social distancing they give agency to the irresponsible and take it away from those who are actively working to protect public health.