What Should We Make Of The AstraZeneca Vaccine?
Massachusetts continued to move quickly ahead with vaccinations this week following the state’s slow initial rollout, with Governor Baker saying Thursday that more than 80 percent of residents over the age of 75 have now been vaccinated. Meanwhile, on the international front, questions swirled about the vaccine made by AstraZeneca, which has not yet been authorized for use in the United States and has been temporarily suspended in some countries due to concerns about potential rare side effects. In for Jim Braude, Adam Reilly discussed all this and more with Barry Bloom, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a former advisor to the World Health Organization, the NIH, the CDC and the White House under former President Jimmy Carter; and Dr. Sandra Bliss Nelson, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
What’s The Science On Psychedelics For Mental Health Treatment?
The cities of Cambridge and Somerville have taken steps this year toward decriminalizing pychedelics, as some medical experts point to evidence that such substances may provide relief from certain mental health conditions when used under medical direction. Where does the science stand on this? 'Greater Boston' discussed with Dr. Jerry Rosenbaum, the director of both the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital and the hospital’s new Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics; and Bertha Madras, professor of psychobiology at Harvard University, director of McLean Hospital’s Laboratory of Addiction Neurobiology, and a former deputy drug czar in the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.
