Midday Healthwatch: Dr. Leana Wen On COVID Origins, Kids' Vax, Continued Vax Hesitancy

A little more than half of Marylanders have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far. Nationally, we may not reach President Biden’s goal of vaccinating 70% of all Americans by the fourth of July. Mass vax sites are out. Mobile units are in. Convincing the adult holdouts to get a vaccine, and vaccinating children are now the focus of public health officials. It's The Midday Healthwatch, our monthly check-in with Dr. Leana Wen. She's an emergency physician, a visiting professor in public health at George Washington University, a columnist for the Washington Post and a medical analyst at CNN, a former Health Commissioner of Baltimore, and author of the forthcoming memoir, Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health. Dr. Wen joins Tom today to discuss the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and the issues that continue to swirl around our national response to it.  Can the recently revived theory that COVID 19 began in a Chinese lab be explored without inflaming anti-Asian racism here and around the world? How should parents frame the choice about vaccinating their children, and what’s behind the vaccine hesitancy of some medical professionals? And, with mass vaccination sites on the way out and mobile units ramping up, will officials be able to address the persistent levels of racial disparity among those who are protected against coronavirus? Dr. Leana Wen joins us today on Skype, and she addresses your questions and comments about COVID-19 and public health.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.