Dear John,

Happy Holidays!

We will be taking a break this Monday as part of our New Year's holiday.

We will return to your inbox next Tuesday with the first of several Health Affairs Today installments reflecting on 2023!

Vaccines and Tradeoffs During the Pandemic

In the December issue of Health Affairs, Bernard Black of Northwestern University and his team of coauthors estimate how many lives might have been saved if the United States’ COVID-19 booster campaign had been more similar to Israel’s: a fast rollout with strong public health messaging.

According to the researchers, in July 2021, Israel became the first country to launch COVID-19 boosters.

As a result of the rollout, the COVID-19 wave receded and hospitalizations and deaths reduced. 

Black and coauthors estimate that if the US moved at Israel’s speed and had similar take-up percentages, it would have saved 29,000 lives.

To learn more about the article, be sure to check out a video abstract featuring author Bernard Black.

Also in this month’s issue, Adolfo Rubinstein of the Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy and coauthors examine the epidemiological, social, and economic impacts of COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Rubinstein and coauthors specifically examine epidemiologic and economic trade-offs for Argentina, Brazil, Jamaica, and Mexico, calculating “how much GDP loss each country would have to face to reduce daily deaths by a certain amount.”

The researchers find that among the countries examined, Argentina and Mexico displayed a higher gross domestic product loss and lower deaths per million compared with Brazil.

They also find an increase in poverty rate related to the stringency of public health measures.

They conclude that policy makers should be informed about trade-offs when making strategic decisions.

To learn more about the article, be sure to check out a video abstract featuring author Adolfo Rubinstein.

With today's featured journal articles focusing on global health and pandemics, the full story is just a few clicks away by exploring our archive of podcasts on these topics.

Take a look below at a few highlighted episodes:

• Health Affairs This Week: Lawrence Gostin on The End of COVID As We Know It (May 2023)
• A Health Podyssey: Jennifer Kao on Drug Repurposing (March 2023)
• A Health Podyssey: Salin Sriudomporn on Vaccine Funding Gaps (January 2023)

In conjunction with our new issue on Global Lessons from COVID-19, we have been highlighting Forefront articles focusing on COVID-19 and Systems of Care.

Catch up on everything we've featured throughout the month of December!

Health System Resilience—The Foundation For Pandemic Preparedness

Joachim P. Sturmberg et al.

Advancing Equity In The Pandemic Treaty

Lawrence O. Gostin et al.

Calm Down, America: The WHO Pandemic Accord Won’t Steal US Sovereignty

Peter Yeo and Mark Dybul

The Future Of COVID-19 Vaccine Development

Florian Krammer

The UN’s Political Declaration On Pandemics: What Should Happen Next?

Lawrence O. Gostin et al.