Experts Weigh in on Latest COVID-19 Pandemic News

Members of the MJH Life Sciences COVID-19 Coalition weighed in on the latest coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic news in a recent survey.

The MJH Life Sciences COVID-19 Coalition is a partnership with 10 nationally recognized experts in infectious disease, public health, epidemiology, and virology, who work to generate the most accurate, up-to-the-minute information on the pandemic's ever-evolving impact on health care professionals and the patients they treat through live, biweekly webinar events, white papers, and surveys.

Initial members of the coalition advisory panel are:

• Margaret Liu, MD, CEO, PAX Therapeutics; foreign adjunct professor, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm; adjunct full professor, University of California, San Francisco.
• Jason M. Pogue, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP, clinical professor, department of clinical pharmacy, University of Michigan College of Pharmacy; infectious diseases clinical pharmacist, Michigan Medicine.
• Saskia Popescu, PhD, MPH, MA, CIC, infectious disease epidemiologist and infection preventionist, adjunct professor, department of epidemiology and biostatistics, Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona.
• Angela Rasmussen, PhD, associate research scientist, Center for Infection and Immunity, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
• Paul E. Sax, MD, clinical director, division of infectious diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School.
• Tina Q. Tan, MD, FAAP, FIDSA, FPIDS, professor of pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University; pediatric infectious diseases attending; medical director, International Patient Services Program; codirector, Pediatric Travel Medicine Clinic; director, International Adoptee Clinic at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

According to the survey responses, all of the members of the coalition said that they do not believe that a COVID-19 vaccine will be released by November 1. They also identified engagement and uptake as the biggest challenge to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ strategy for distributing a COVID-19 vaccine.

Coalition members also recommended that Americans receive their annual flu vaccination as soon as possible, according to the findings.

Additionally, according to the coalition, the biggest COVID-19 myth identified is that herd immunity is right around the corner. Seventy-five percent of members believe we’ll soon see a significant spike in COVID-19 cases in the United States.

The coalition will continue to offer bi-weekly webinars with discussions, viewpoints, and audience Q&A, and an array of insight pieces on key COVID-related topics.

The next COVID-19 Coalition event, “Navigating the COVID-19 Treatment Landscape,” will be held October 13, 2020, at 6PM ET. Register here.