Experts in the News

Americans should get vaccinated as soon as possible and brace for another round of shots, said health policy fellow Peter Hotez. The two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will become three-dose vaccines, and the one-dose Johnson & Johnson will become a two-dose. “No matter how many doses you’re getting of a particular vaccine, add one because there’s going to be a booster to follow for that South African variant,” Hotez said.

The idea of cleaner sources of energy sounds great, unless you are one of the workers who has lost your job in the industry transition. “It is critical that, to the extent policy is going to take steps to make sure the energy system is cleaner and greener as we move forward, it addresses the people who are potentially left behind,” said Ken Medlock, senior director of the Center for Energy Studies. “Nobody wants to lack an opportunity because they spent their time learning how to do something that is being displaced.”

On the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 diagnosis in the Houston-area, health policy fellow Peter Hotez discussed the status of the pandemic in Texas. Now is not the time for Texas to roll back COVID-19 restrictions, he said. "My preference would have been to wait until Texans are vaccinated, until June." Still, he said, the light at the end of the tunnel is near. "Don't despair. We are going to vaccinate our way out of this epidemic ... this summer we are going to be in a very good position."

“The U.S. views Morocco as a stable partner in the region, meaning that Biden risks upsetting an important ally if he rescinds the recognition,” said Middle East fellow Kelsey Norman of the Trump administration's controversial recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara region.

Some have said that President Biden's cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline early in his presidency would quickly result in higher gasoline prices — but that's not the case, said energy fellow Mark Finley. For starters, the pipeline wasn’t operating yet. "Revoking it does nothing to today’s balance" of supply and demand, he said. On the supply side, OPEC and Russia have made voluntary production cuts, which has the effect of raising prices, Finley said, and U.S. companies are investing less in finding new sources of oil.