Dec. 14: David Agus ’87 Says Boosters Protect Well Against Omicron

New Jersey Public Defender Joseph Krakora ’76 says municipalities are seeking to save money by closing their jails just as violence in the jails points “to a systemic failure and a blatant disregard of basic dignity.” — The Star-Ledger
 
Michelle A. Williams ’84, dean of the faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the argument that women no longer face hardships when forced to carry a pregnancy is “flat-out wrong,” as demonstrated by maternal mortality rates and other research. — The Hill
 
Nobel-winning economist James Heckman *71 said that despite the generous welfare policies touted by American progressives, Denmark still has “substantial inequality in child outcomes.” “Parenting still matters most,” he wrote. — Newsweek
 
President Joe Biden is nominating Meg Whitman ’77 — a former CEO and a Republican who endorsed him — to be the U.S. ambassador to Kenya. — The Hill
 
Backed by facts, investigative journalist Barton Gellman ’82 tried and failed to convince a right-leaning firefighter that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen from Donald Trump. — The Atlantic
 
At a webinar organized by NYU and the National Stock Exchange, economist and Nobel laureate Michael Spence ’66 said mobile internet is “enabling inclusive growth and opening up employment opportunities.” — The Economic Times

“Somewhere along the line, this big, lovely word had shriveled to describing the humanitarian impulses of less than 1% of the world’s population. When did the rich become the only people with a ‘desire to promote the welfare of others’?”

— MacKenzie Scott ’92 writing about philanthropy. — Medium

Brookings Institution senior fellow Andre Perry ’00 said that in predominantly Black neighborhoods, appraisers tend to compare the price of homes against one another, effectively recycling discrimination “over and over again.” — NPR
 
CBS medical contributor David Agus ’87 told Late Show host Stephen Colbert that the omicron variant is getting around the vaccines a bit, “and that’s what got us worried.” But a booster shot increases protection substantially, he said. — The Late Show
 
Family physician Jennifer Caudle ’99 said that with a severe cold and flu season under way, she recommends people take preventative measures over the holidays. — Longview News-Journal
 
With his defamation lawsuit, John Stossel ’69 appears to have prompted Facebook to admit that its “fact checks” are actually just opinions. — The New American
 
Purdue University President Mitch Daniels ’71 said that in a new book about how universities can counter the erosion of American self-governance, Johns Hopkins President Ronald Daniels “has given us a lot to contemplate.” — The Washington Post

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