Data

... in recent days, even as the highly contagious Delta variant ravages the South and has caused upticks in all 50 states, mayors, governors and public health officials have treaded lightly when considering whether to reimpose restrictions. With more than twice as many new virus cases being reported nationally compared with last August, baseball games, music festivals and state fairs have forged ahead, and restaurants, gyms and movie theaters have stayed open.

In many places, people have been largely left to decide for themselves whether to start wearing masks again or change the ways they work, socialize and vacation.

This much is clear: Some people in the United States with medical conditions that have compromised their immune systems are now eligible for a third dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

But the new policy from U.S. health officials, announced late last week, came together in a hurry. It addresses some questions but leaves a number unanswered, in some cases because there are no data on which to base a decision.

Some experts believe the new policy may also have created a loophole big enough to allow easier access to a third dose for non-immunocompromised people who are trying to find ways to get one.

“I worry very much that this is going to lead to vaccination chaos,” Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy, told STAT.