The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is far-reaching and the minority groups are disproportionately affected. The longstanding injustice and inequity fueled by systemic racial inequalities have been exacerbated by the pandemic in the United States especially among the minorities, including African Americans. It is clear that without high coverage of the COVID-19 vaccination among all groups, curbing the pandemic is a mirage. In this article, I commented on COVID-19 vaccine and hesitancy among African Americans and its implications for the pandemic response.

Palliative care is becoming increasingly pertinent to be strengthened across health systems around the world, and the United States is not an exception. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted provision and access to palliative care among patients with serious and complex illnesses, critically ill persons, and their families in the United States. Prior to the emergence of the pandemic, the United States faced a number of challenges ranging from racial discrimination, a stressed medical workforce, a lack of passable reimbursement for palliative care, and legal barriers, among others. Unfortunately, these issues have gotten worse amid the pandemic. This further revealed the need to invest more in innovative strategies that will ensure the provision of palliative care services during public health emergencies. In this article, we comment on the current state of palliative care in the United States.

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected healthcare services in many ways, such as interruption of regular patient visit to clinical facilities and burdening of the already limited healthcare resources. Prior to the emergence of COVID-19, cancer has been one of the leading causes of deaths in the United States. While the regular care and access disruptions associated with the COVID-19 outbreak have received increasing attention in many areas, the range of gaps in oncology practice and research is not fully understood or well documented. Nonetheless, the global outbreak continues to unevenly affect the wealthiest and best-resourced country in the world and complicates response to other health issues. The aim of this study is to comment on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on oncology practice and research in the United States.