More than 10% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but injection rates are lower in black and brown communities, and many people express doubts about the shots made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Vaccine hesitancy presents a barrier in the fight against coronavirus.

A recent poll by Pew Research Center found that "Black Americans continue to stand out as less inclined to get vaccinated than other racial and ethnic groups: 42% would do so, compared with 63% of Hispanic and 61% of White adults."

Our guest, Dr. Wrenetha Julion, professor and department chair at Rush University College of Nursing, discusses causes of vaccine hesitancy and how to encourage more people to take a high-effective vaccine against the virus.

Even before coronavirus led to social distancing, widespread working from home, and lockdown restrictions, loneliness was becoming a defining condition of the twenty-first century. Today, this pandemic of pain and isolation is far worse.

One of many recent polls found that more than three in five Americans say they are lonely, with more and more people reporting feeling like they are left out, poorly understood, and lacking companionship. Other surveys overseas have similar findings.

Our guest, the British economist, Noreena Hertz, is the author of "The Lonely Century: How to Restore Human Connection in a World Pulling Apart." Her new book, published February 2, is a personal and deeply-researched investigation into the roots of the loneliness epidemic, how the pandemic and the 2020 election exacerbated the problem, and what we can do to come together.