What We’re Reading: College Degrees Linked to Longer Lifespans; Black Women Face Low PrEP Access; New COVID-19 Vaccines, End of Cards

Americans Without College Degrees Die Sooner

Americans without a college education possess a considerably shorter average lifespan compared with those with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and the rift is widening after developing during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Forbes. A Brookings paper published in September discovered that the gap of 2.5 years of longevity between those with and without a college degree in 1992 increased by more than 3 times by 2021. Multiple factors are thought to account for this gap, like differential access to health care, a higher likelihood of unhealthy behaviors among people without college degrees, living environment safety differences, and more “deaths of despair” that involve suicide, drug overdoses, and alcoholism.

Limited PrEP Access for Black Women

Doctors, public health researchers, and professionals who provide HIV treatment and prevention services say that enduring, systemic factors, such as stigma and racism, are considerable barriers to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake among cisgender Black women, reported NPR. Transgender Black women face additional barriers to PrEP uptake, specifically discrimination related to gender identify. Many researchers put attention on cisgender Black women, who they say are usually overlooked by the health care system and encounter barriers such as noninclusive marketing contributing to a lack of awareness about who would benefit, fewer treatment options for women than for men, and some medical professionals being wary of prescribing PrEP. These changes are more obvious in the South, which possesses the highest rates of domestic new HIV diagnoses.

In With New Vaccinations, Out With COVID-19 Record Cards

Approximately 4 million Americans received the updated COVID-19 shots in September, according to HHS, even as some individuals have found it hard to book vaccination appointments or access free vaccines, according to Reuters. The updated vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna are single-target vaccines targeting the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant, which held dominance in the United States for much of 2023 but has since been surpassed by other variants as the virus changes. Additionally, the white COVID-19 vaccination cards are being phased out, reported AP News. Since the new COVID-19 vaccines are no longer being distributed by the federal government, the CDC has ceased printing new cards. Federal and local health officials don’t expect the discontinuation of the cards to be a large change because requirements for proof of vaccination for entry into places like festivals and bars are over, and vaccination records can be requested like any other vaccine.