Media Coverage

The short answer is yes, absolutely, you should continue to mask and keep following all other social distancing protocols for the time being. I discussed this question with Dr. Marc Sala, a critical care and pulmonary specialist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, to understand why. “There are two reasons that someone who receives a COVID-19 vaccine should still wear a mask and commit to social distancing,” Sala explained.

And scientists point out that this virus doesn’t mutate very fast. Although it’s possible that vaccines would need to be modified at some point to remain as effective as they have been so far, this virus is not supernaturally elusive. “It seems hard to see that this virus is going to be able to evolve its way away from vaccine efficacy,” said Egon Ozer, an infectious-diseases expert at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.

“The masks coming off prematurely is one of the big dangers we have to worry about in the workplace,” says Dr. Marc Sala, assistant professor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Dr. Robert Murphy, executive director of the Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said he expects the vaccines to become popular after an initial period of reluctance and even mistrust. “I think the rollout is going to be slower than they expect, for a couple of reasons,” Murphy said. “One, we’re talking about hundreds of millions of people. And then, you have a cold-chain issue in delivering these vaccines. It’s not going to be an easy operation. I’m not as optimistic as other people. I think it will take the whole year to vaccinate everyone, at least.”

“This is a really huge step forward in recognizing women’s autonomy to make decisions about their own health care,” said Dr. Emily Miller, an obstetrician at Northwestern University and a member of the Covid-19 task force of the Society for Maternal and Fetal Medicine.

“I think the reputational risk to a company like Pfizer, if it turns out they cut corners to be the first in the market in the United States – that would be the end of Pfizer. You could never get your reputation back,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kopin, with Northwestern Medicine.

Long-haulers “are in every country, in every language,” Igor J. Koralnik, who started a program for covid-19 neurocognitive problems at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, told The Post in October. “It’s going to be a big problem. It’s not going to go away.”

“Research shows that over a quarter of all patient visits involve a skin-related problem, which means all physicians must be able to identify dermatologic conditions, no matter their specialty,” said Dr. Steve Xu, a board-certified dermatologist, Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and the study’s primary investigator. “Our research demonstrates a clear need for diagnostic tools like VisualDx in the exam room to make specialist knowledge readily accessible for the benefit of both the patient and the provider.”

It’s critical to keep this bubble as small as possible, said Dr. Sadiya Khan, an epidemiologist and assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “The fewer, the better,” she said. “Your bubble consists of everybody that your entire bubble is in contact with.

This is undoubtedly an issue on lots of people’s minds, so thank you. It’s also a complicated one, so I consulted two experts: Dr. Kelly Michelson, director of the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and a physician at Lurie Children’s Hospital, and Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine.