Elizabeth Wrigley-Field – The Conversation

An accurate count of COVID-19 deaths is critical both scientifically and politically. Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images Plus

January 25, 2023

COVID‑19 deaths in the US continue to be undercounted, research shows, despite claims of ‘overcounts’

Andrew Stokes, Boston University; Dielle Lundberg, Boston University; Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, University of Minnesota, and Yea-Hung Chen, University of California, San Francisco

Taking into consideration the number of excess deaths caused by COVID-19 compared with pre-pandemic years is critical to getting an accurate accounting of the pandemic’s real toll.

In this November 1918 photo, a nurse tends to a patient in the influenza ward of the Walter Reed hospital in Bethesda, Md. AP Photo/Harris & Ewing via Library of Congress

December 16, 2022

1918 flu pandemic upended long‑standing social inequalities – at least for a time, new study finds

Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, University of Minnesota and Martin Eiermann, Duke University

During the 1918 flu pandemic, white people died at similar rates to Black Americans, according to a new study – a very different pattern than what occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of August 2022, COVID-19 vaccination rates in Black and Hispanic people exceeded those of white Americans nationally, but only for the initial shots. FatCamera/E+ via Getty Images

August 30, 2022

Low vaccine booster rates are now a key factor in COVID‑19 deaths – and racial disparities in booster rates persist

Andrew Stokes, Boston University; Dielle Lundberg, Boston University; Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, University of Minnesota, and Rafeya Raquib, Boston University

Early on, public health messaging focused on the need for vaccines to combat COVID-19. But far less attention has been given to the role of boosters in preventing deaths and reducing inequities.

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