Landes Piece on COVID’s Impact on Immunocompromised People Published by Hastings Center

November 22, 2022

The Hastings Center

Scott D. Landes

Sociology Department

Aging Studies Institute

Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Civil Rights

COVID-19

Health Policy

The Hastings Center

Scott D. Landes

In his article, "Moving On from Covid? Immunocompromised People Can’t," Scott Landes, associate professor of sociology and O'Hanley Faculty Scholar, provides his perspective on being immunocompromised and how it changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Prepandemic, I largely viewed my health vulnerability as my problem. ...I had convinced myself that responsibility for my health and survival belonged solely to me," writes Landes. But during the pandemic, Americans realized we needed to take collective action and prioritized immune system health, he says.

"But it was obvious that this degree of immune-prioritization would not last," Landes writes. "Not just because health precautions were politicized, but because the narratives we used to encourage and support these protective behaviors were primarily self-centered—what can I to do to protect myself and my loved ones—as opposed to other-centered–what can I to do to help ensure the safety and survival of all?"