Clumsy communication, rampant political division in U.S. harm public health in COVID-19: media

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Three years of COVID-19 have shown how clumsy communication, poor coordination and rampant political division can harm public health. The need to repair these divisions is especially acute, a recent report by the American magazine Vanity Fair has said.

As COVID-19 enters its fourth year, the United States has seen more than 1 million deaths, and the highly infectious XBB.1.5 variant is contributing to rising cases. At the same time, "the goal of eliminating pandemic threats seems as distant as ever," said the report published Tuesday.

"Since the beginning of the pandemic, our public health institutions were unable to persuade a large portion of the population to get vaccinated or boosted or wear a face mask," James Lawler, co-director of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, was quoted as saying.

Politicized topics are the ones most likely to cause Americans to question the "recommendations of the federal health agencies," according to data analyzed by Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. "COVID polarized," she said.

"In the U.S., our political will is flagging. Our public health workforce is exhausted and demoralized. Our deep political divisions have impacted everything from funding streams to a basic belief in science," said the report.