Covid 19 - A Report from the Trenches
Lisa Krieger, San Jose Mercury News science reporter, offers NCSWA an inside look at covering the Covid-19 pandemic
The federal government is telling states to start getting ready to distribute a vaccine as soon as Nov. 1, urging them to speed up approval for local distribution sites. Hopes are running high for the arrival of a vaccine, offering a neat Hollywood ending to the grim uncertainty of our current pandemic. But the reality is far more complicated.
San Jose Mercury News science writer Lisa Krieger has been covering Covid-19 since the pandemic began. She will offer a brief overview of the different vaccine technologies, the current status of clinical trials and the federal approval process. She'll address: Of the 330 million Americans, who will get it first and how will it be decided? Will there be more than one? How will it be produced and distributed? Who will monitor its safety? Is there risk of "vaccine nationalism," excluding poorer nations?
She’ll also tell us about the challenges of reporting on this moving target: Where she gets story ideas, how she keeps up with trends. How impossible it is to get meaningful information from the feds, state and counties. How academic and nonprofits (National Press Foundation, National Academy of Medicine, New York Academy of Sciences, etc) have been enormously helpful. She will share what has been under-reported and what roadblocks she’s faced.
And we’ll have plenty of time for Qs and As.
This is our first Zoom meeting - and its free! However, please RSVP so that we can send you the Zoom details.
