8/28/25 - COVID vaccines, "Baywatch," and some disability basics

Good afternoon!

Another mixed bag today ...

F.D.A. Approves Covid Shots With New Restrictions

Christina Jewett and Jacey Fortin, New York Times - August 27, 2025

"The agency authorized the vaccines for people who are 65 and older, who are known to be more vulnerable to severe illness from Covid. Younger people would only be eligible if they had at least one underlying medical condition that would put them at risk for severe disease. Healthy children under 18 could still receive the shots if a medical provider is consulted."

It's worth the time to read the whole article, especially if you have any thoughts about whether the kind of further study of COVID vaccine effects that RFK Jr. wants are really necessary and whether restricting access to these vaccines is sensible. As usual, the New York Times seems very careful to be even handed. So the potential gravity of these developments might not be obvious. But it certainly looks like the F.D.A. is at the very least giving up on one of the most important functions of COVID vaccines – reducing transmission from younger, healthier people to elderly, disabled, and chronically ill people. And even getting our own shots, to protect ourselves will now require jumping through more hoops.

I have a doctor's appointment coming up. It now looks like I'll have to ask, in a very different sort of way than before, if she can "get me" a COVID shot this fall.

My Favorite Trash TV Is Ruined By Its Ableism

Susannah Nevison, Electric Lit - August 26, 2025

"Here is what I beheld, in all its bizarre glory: Pamela Anderson, tan and blond and busty in a crop top, slowly spinning the spokes of a wheel. A dude—inexplicably wearing an open, sleeveless shirt, also tan and blond and muscly—appeared beside her, his abs glistening as he lowered a visor, wielded a welding torch. Sparks, in every sense of the word, began to fly. More Pamela. More slow, seductive wheel spinning. More welding. Once I realized that the result of this collaborative project was a beach-ready wheelchair, I lost my shit screaming for my husband—Get in here! I’ve found softcore wheelchair porn!—at the top of my lungs. This time, my husband appeared in the living room. Oh my GOD, he said, squinting at the TV. Are you watching Baywatch?"

This may be the best analysis of a TV show through a disability lens I have ever read. It's both insightful and entertaining. And I don't want to say any more because you need to read it for yourself. This is some top-tier disability writing, as well as sharp, but still appreciative, cultural critique.

Reframing disability

Evan Young and Nas Campanella, Australian Broadcasting Corporation - August 7, 2025

"But what if we told you that was only one way of thinking about disability, and there’s another reason those people struggle in certain situations — one that has much less to do with the fact they can’t walk or see?"

This creatively presented piece goes into my collection of "basic" disability awareness material. There is almost nothing here that would strike anyone involved in disability life as new. But knowing the difference between the "medical model" and "social model" of disability is still new to most people, including maybe most people with disabilities. And the concepts are explained pretty well here, at least at the most simple level. It's only a starting point. It's not enough. But it's still valuable.

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