HPH Weekly: Universal health care may drive the vote in Puerto Rico

This edition of Harvard Public Health Weekly was sent to our subscribers on October 24, 2024. If you don’t already receive the newsletter, subscribe here. To see more past newsletters, visit our archives.

Universal health care may drive the vote in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico once embraced socialized medicine. Then U.S. regulations and shifting leadership pushed the archipelago into private health care. Now, a two-party alliance is trying to win election in November with a new single-payer proposal.

Avoiding discussion of vaccine side effects isn’t pro-vaccine. It’s anti-science.

Clinical trials have proven COVID-19 vaccines safe and effective for most people. But they have the potential to cause serious side effects in some people. Anthony Flint, who contracted Guillain Barre syndrome from the Johnson & Johnson jab, is one of those people. It’s unacceptable that public health continues to avoid talking about vaccine side effects in an effort to combat the anti-vax crowd, he argues.

A boy’s bicycling death haunts a Black neighborhood. 35 years later, there’s still no sidewalk.

An evocative story from KFF Health News shows us the consequences of structural racism on the neighborhoods some U.S. residents call home. 6-year-old John Parker lost his life to a traffic collision on Cheek Road in Durham, North Carolina. Over three decades later, residents of the majority-Black area continue to struggle with bureaucracy in their attempts to make the roads safer. “Local government takes money from the neighborhood but does not invest in it,” says the leader of one community group.

Snapshot: What does herd immunity mean?

Throughout history, there have been many definitions of “herd immunity,” which has led to confusion about how the term should be applied.

What we’re reading this week

Unraveling election misinformation on gender-affirming care →
MinnPost

Survey of trans youth reports high satisfaction with gender-affirming care →
The Washington Post

• Related: Families in states with bans on trans care are finding hope across state lines →
  Harvard Public Health
• Related: To protect gender-affirming care, we must learn from trans history →
  Harvard Public Health

Choosing to be child-free in an “apocalyptic” South Asia →
Al Jazeera

Happiness class is helping clinically depressed teachers become emotionally healthy →
The Conversation

---

The story of 6-year-old John Parker—and how his death continues to weigh on his family—is haunting. What makes it especially tragic is that it’s far from an isolated incident. Last year, Maura Kelly passionately argued that traffic deaths are so frequent and numerous, they constitute a public health crisis in the U.S.

—Jo Zhou