Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on SoundCloud. It’s been a busy 100 days for the Biden administration on health policy. The promise Joe Biden made as president-elect to get 100 million covid vaccinations in arms was doubled, healthcare.gov reopened to those without… Read More »KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: 100 Days of Health Policy
En respuesta a la pandemia de covid-19, el Congreso ha invertido decenas de miles de millones de dólares en los departamentos de salud pública estatales y locales, pagando por máscaras, rastreadores de contactos y campañas educativas para persuadir a las personas de que se vacunen.… Read More »Expertos en salud pública temen que los fondos desaparezcan cuando termine la pandemia
Congress has poured tens of billions of dollars into state and local public health departments in response to the covid-19 pandemic, paying for masks, contact tracers and education campaigns to persuade people to get vaccinated. This story also ran on The Associated Press. It can… Read More »Public Health Experts Worry About Boom-Bust Cycle of Support
Robin Hauser, a pediatrician in Tampa, Fla., got covid in February. What separates her from the vast majority of the tens of millions of other Americans who have come down with the virus is this: She got sick seven weeks after her second dose of… Read More »The Shock and Reality of Catching Covid After Being Vaccinated
More than 120 million Americans have joined arguably the most sought-after club on Earth: those immunized against the coronavirus. Fully vaccinated people were given the green light in March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to gather with other fully vaccinated people or… Read More »Ask KHN-PolitiFact: I’ve Recovered From Covid. Why Do I Still Have to Mask Up?
President Joe Biden has submitted his discretionary budget for 2022 to Congress. Among its healthcare provisions are funding requests for the CDC, mental health and social determinants of health programs. But there are some unusual requests as well, such as funding for an Office of… Read More »Public health, racial equity, climate action drive Biden’s budget requests for healthcare
Federal officials announced new measures to help get fresh, new N95 masks to health care workers and expand their use in other industries after scientists argued that the highly protective masks are essential to keep workers safe from covid-19. Use Our Content It can be… Read More »A Year Into Pandemic, Federal Officials Design New Mask Guidelines to Better Protect More Workers
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on SoundCloud. Health care makes some surprising appearances in President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan, even though more health proposals are expected in a second proposal later this month. The bill that would help rebuild roads,… Read More »KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Health Care as Infrastructure
This story also ran on Los Angeles Times. It can be republished for free. Here’s one big takeaway from our country’s disastrous 2020 covid response: For 20 years, we’ve lavished attention and money on fighting human terrorism and forgot that the terrorism of nature is… Read More »Analysis: How the US Invested in the War on Terrorism at the Cost of Public Health
ST. LOUIS — Missourians have driven hours to find vaccines in rural counties — at least those with cars and the time. Tens of thousands of doses are waiting to be distributed, slowly being rolled out in a federal long-term care program. Waitlists are hundreds… Read More »How One State’s Public Health Defunding Led to Vaccination Chaos
The former top White House coronavirus adviser under President Donald Trump, Dr. Deborah Birx, has joined an air-cleaning company that built its business, in part, on technology that is now banned in California due to health hazards. This story also ran on NBC News. It… Read More »Birx Joins Air-Cleaning Industry Amid Land Grab for Billions in Federal Covid Relief
El esfuerzo de vacunación contra covid en este país ha sido un parto doloroso: problemas de registro, mala comunicación, datos incorrectos y un escaso suministro de vacunas; todo ello exacerbado por una asignación desigual, un supuesto favoritismo político y una indecorosa competencia por las vacunas.… Read More »Ya te has vacunado contra covid. ¿Y ahora qué?
As you surely know, this country’s covid vaccination effort has been plagued by major birth pangs: registration snafus, poor communication, faulty data and a scant supply of vaccine — all exacerbated by inequitable allocation, alleged political favoritism and unseemly jockeying for shots. Use Our Content… Read More »So You’re Vaccinated Against Covid. Now What?
This story also ran on USA Today. It can be republished for free. This spring, high school senior Nathan Kassis will play baseball in the shadow of covid-19 — wearing a neck gaiter under his catcher’s mask, sitting 6 feet from teammates in the dugout… Read More »For Spring Season, Young Athletes Get Back in the Game Despite Covid Risk
In an address on Thursday, President Joe Biden directed states to make all adults eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine no later than May 1. To get there, the Administration is buying more doses, and ramping up more vaccination sites in partnership with local clinics and… Read More »Biden directs states to make all adults eligible for vaccine by May
Since the start of the pandemic, the most terrifying task in health care was thought to be when a doctor put a breathing tube down the trachea of a critically ill covid patient. This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for… Read More »CDC’s ‘Huge Mistake’: Did Misguided Mask Advice Drive Up Covid Death Toll for Health Workers?
This story is part of a partnership that includes WBUR, NPR and KHN. It can be republished for free. In early December, Dr. Katy Stephenson was watching TV with her family and scrolling through Twitter when she saw a tweet that made her shout. “I… Read More »Biden’s Straight-Talking CDC Director Has Long Used Data to Save Lives
This story also ran on NBC News. It can be republished for free. Covid-19 infections from variant strains are quickly spreading across the U.S., but there’s one big problem: Lab officials say they can’t tell patients or their doctors whether someone has been infected by… Read More »Have a Case of a Covid Variant? No One Is Going to Tell You
The science says “open the schools, stop wearing masks outside, and everyone at low risk should start living normal lives.” — Blog post by conservative talk show host Buck Sexton posted on Facebook, Feb. 8. This story was produced in partnership with PolitiFact. It can be… Read More »It’s Time to Get Back to Normal? Not According to Science.
A prominent group of academics is pressing the Biden administration to move faster and take stronger action to protect high-risk workers from airborne exposure to the coronavirus, urging enforceable standards to help safeguard risky workplaces including health care, food processing and prisons. The researchers say… Read More »Prominent Scientists Call on CDC to Better Protect Workers From Covid
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on SoundCloud. President Joe Biden has said he still wants a bipartisan bill to provide the next round of covid relief. But in case that doesn’t happen, House committees this week got down to work on a… Read More »KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: All About Budget Reconciliation
This story also ran on The New York Times. It can be republished for free. The Biden administration’s much-needed national strategy to end the covid-19 pandemic includes plans to remedy the chaotic vaccination effort with “more people, more places, more supply.” The Federal Emergency Management… Read More »With Demand Far Exceeding Supply, It Matters That People Are Jumping the Vaccine Line
Black Americans are still receiving covid vaccinations at dramatically lower rates than white Americans even as the chaotic rollout reaches more people, according to a new KHN analysis. Almost seven weeks into the vaccine rollout, states have expanded eligibility beyond front-line health care workers to… Read More »As Vaccine Rollout Expands, Black Americans Still Left Behind
As they rush to vaccinate millions of Americans, health officials are struggling to collect critically important information — such as race, ethnicity and occupation — of every person they jab. The data being collected is so scattered that there’s little insight into which health care… Read More »Huge Gaps in Vaccine Data Make It Next to Impossible to Know Who Got the Shots
This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free. On Sundays, Bishop Bruce Davis preached love. Through his Pentecostal ministry, he organized youth parades and gave computers, bicycles and food to families in need. During the week, Bruce practiced what he… Read More »When Covid Deaths Aren’t Counted, Families Pay the Price
Dr. Andrew Carroll — a family doctor in Chandler, Arizona — wants to help his patients get immunized against covid, so he paid more than $4,000 to buy an ultra-low-temperature freezer from eBay needed to store the Pfizer vaccine. But he’s not sure he’ll get… Read More »Feeling Left Out: Private Practice Doctors, Patients Wonder When It’s Their Turn for Vaccine
The CDC has engaged the California-based health system’s Vaccine Study Center to conduct an analysis of its Covid-19 vaccine data with the aim of pinpointing adverse events and reactions. The collaboration will continue for the next three years.
States will get some much needed support to roll out a coronavirus vaccine. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services shared it would roll out $22 billion in funding to support state testing and vaccination efforts.
This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free. Workers at Garfield Medical Center in suburban Los Angeles were on edge as the pandemic ramped up in March and April. Staffers in a 30-patient unit were rationing a single tub of… Read More »As the Terror of COVID Struck, Health Care Workers Struggled to Survive. Thousands Lost the Fight.
Use Our Content It can be republished for free. The recent rollout of two newly authorized COVID-19 vaccines is a bright ray of hope at the pandemic’s darkest hour. We now have a path that can lead us to happier times — even as we… Read More »COVID Vaccines Appear Safe and Effective, but Key Questions Remain
Use Our Content It can be republished for free. A year ago, while many Americans were finishing their holiday shopping and finalizing travel plans, doctors in Wuhan, China, were battling a mysterious outbreak of pneumonia with no known cause. Chinese doctors began to fear they… Read More »Many US Health Experts Underestimated the Coronavirus … Until It Was Too Late
Imagine this: Your elderly mother, who has dementia, is in a nursing home and COVID-19 vaccines are due to arrive in a week or two. You think she should be vaccinated, having heard the vaccine is effective in generating an immune response in older adults.… Read More »With Vaccine Delivery Imminent, Nursing Homes Must Make a Strong Pitch to Residents
This story was produced in partnership with PolitiFact. It can be republished for free. A Florida taxi driver and his wife had seen enough conspiracy theories online to believe the virus was overblown, maybe even a hoax. So no masks for them. Then they got… Read More »Lie of the Year: The Downplay and Denial of the Coronavirus
Si existe una cita con el destino, está escrita en el calendario del doctor Taison Bell. Al mediodía del martes 15 de diciembre, Bell, especialista en cuidados intensivos del Sistema de Salud de la Universidad de Virginia será uno de los primeros en arremangarse para… Read More »Desafío en hospitales: a qué trabajadores de salud vacunar primero contra COVID
This story also ran on NBC News. It can be republished for free. If there’s such a thing as a date with destiny, it’s marked on Dr. Taison Bell’s calendar. At noon Tuesday, Bell, a critical care physician, is scheduled to be one of the… Read More »Hospitals Scramble to Prioritize Which Workers Are First for COVID Shots
Vivek Kaliraman, que vive en Los Angeles, ha celebrado todas las navidades desde 2002 con su mejor amigo, que vive en Houston. Pero, este año, por el riesgo de COVID, en lugar de ir en avión, manejó y piensa quedarse varias semanas. El viaje, que… Read More »¿Viajas por las Fiestas? Para muchos es una decisión arriesgada
Vivek Kaliraman, who lives in Los Angeles, has celebrated every Christmas since 2002 with his best friend, who lives in Houston. But, this year, instead of boarding an airplane, which felt too risky during the COVID pandemic, he took a car and plans to stay… Read More »Going Home for the Holidays? For Many Americans, That’s a Risky Decision
Americans have made no secret of their skepticism of COVID-19 vaccines this year, with fears of political interference and a “warp speed” timeline blunting confidence in the shots. As recently as September, nearly half of U.S. adults said they didn’t intend to be inoculated. But… Read More »Demand for COVID Vaccines Expected to Get Heated — And Fast
A number of national home-based care advocacy organizations have come together to address the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). In a new letter penned to ACIP Chairman Dr. José Romero, the group called for the inclusion of in-home caregivers when it comes to… Read More »Hoping to Prevent Community Spread, Home-Based Care Advocates Vie for ‘Critical’ Vaccine Access
Dr. Jacqueline Chu considered the man with a negative coronavirus test on the other end of the phone, and knew, her heart dropping, that the test result was not enough to clear him for work. The man was a grocery store clerk — an essential… Read More »How COVID-19 Highlights the Uncertainty of Medical Testing
Don’t expect any turkey recipes from the CDC, but the do advise a fair amount of caution during this Thanksgiving holiday. More than 1 million COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States over the last 7 days.As cases continue to increase rapidly across the… Read More »CDC advice on how to celebrate Thanksgiving during COVID-19
Pfizer, Moderna and the University of Oxford are among the organizations to tout highly effective COVID-19 vaccines this month. With “the cavalry coming,” the focus is now shifting to how, when and where vaccines should be distributed. In September, the American Health Care Association (AHCA)… Read More »States Starting to Prioritize Home Health, Hospice Workers in Vaccination Plans
The holidays are approaching just as COVID-19 case rates nationwide are increasing at a record-breaking pace, leading to dire warnings from public health experts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued cautions and updated guidelines related to family gatherings. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a… Read More »Fear of Flying Is a COVID-Era Conundrum
The company is the second this month to report promising results for a Covid-19 vaccine even as the virus rages across the U.S.
President-elect Joe Biden made COVID-19 a linchpin of his campaign, criticizing President Donald Trump’s leadership on everything from masks and packed campaign rallies to vaccines. That was the easy part. Biden now has the urgent job of filling top health care positions in his administration… Read More »As Faith in Vaccines Falters, Biden Is Under Pressure to Name New FDA Chief Stat
In the waning days of the campaign, President Donald Trump complained repeatedly about how the United States tracks the number of people who have died from COVID-19, claiming, “This country and its reporting systems are just not doing it right.” He went on to blame… Read More »How COVID Death Counts Become the Stuff of Conspiracy Theories
In August, Robert Pettigrew was working a series of odd jobs. While washing the windows of a cellphone store he saw a sign, one that he believes the “good Lord” placed there for him. “Facing eviction?” the sign read. “You could be eligible for up… Read More »Evictions Damage Public Health. The CDC Aims to Curb Them ― For Now.
Thousands of minks at Utah fur farms have died because of the coronavirus in the past 10 days, forcing nine sites in three counties to quarantine, but the state veterinarian said people don’t appear to be at risk from the outbreak. The COVID-19 infections likely… Read More »Thousands of Minks Dead as COVID Outbreak Escalates on Utah Farms
“Children in approximately 4 million households in the United States are being exposed to high levels of lead.” As I discuss in my video The Effects of Low-Level Lead Exposure in Adults, “Despite the dramatic decline in children’s blood-lead concentrations over the decades, lead toxicity… Read More »Adult Exposure to Lead
La temporada de influenza se verá diferente este año, ya que los Estados Unidos se enfrentan a una pandemia de coronavirus que ya ha matado a más de 176.000 personas. Muchos estadounidenses son reacios a ir al médico y los funcionarios de salud pública temen… Read More »COVID + Influenza: éste es un buen año para vacunarse, aconsejan expertos
Flu season will look different this year, as the country grapples with a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 172,000 people. Many Americans are reluctant to visit a doctor’s office and public health officials worry people will shy away from being immunized. Although sometimes… Read More »COVID + Influenza: This Is a Good Year to Get a Flu Shot, Experts Advise
New rules by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services would penalize hospitals and laboratories that report Covid-19 data. Hospitals would be required to report the number of confirmed or suspected Covid-19 patient, occupied beds, and availability of ventilators and other critical supplies.
Detective Ryan Holets, whose personal story includes the adoption of an infant born to a drug-addicted mother, addressed the Republican National Convention on its second night. He praised President Donald Trump’s efforts in addressing drug and opioid abuse and noted “drug overdose deaths… Read More »Drug Overdose Deaths Showed a One-Year Decline in 2018. But There’s More to the Story.
Even as his state is a hotbed for COVID-19, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been pushing schools to reopen so parents have the choice of sending children back to the classroom or keeping them home to learn virtually. The Republican governor has said children without… Read More »DeSantis Says COVID Is a Lower Risk for School-Aged Kids Than Flu
The third night of the Democratic National Convention was all about one thing: Sen. Kamala Harris of California becoming the first Black and Indian American woman to accept a major political party’s vice presidential nomination. But key Democratic criticisms — many rooted in health care… Read More »Democratic Convention, Night 3: Making the Party Lines Clear
We have known for thousands of years that lead can be toxic and for more than a century that children could be poisoned by lead paint. Since those first cases, the “lead industry has mobilized against the advances of science,” as I discuss in my… Read More »How the Lead Paint and Gas Industries Got Away with It
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee.- Es una época de mucho trabajo para las granjas productoras de tomate en esta parte del estado. Estas plantaciones cuentan con cientos de trabajadores, la mayoría latinos. Algunos viven allí. Otros son migrantes que viajan de granja en granja, para recoger las cosechas… Read More »Trabajadores agrícolas en alto riesgo de contraer coronavirus y sin protección federal
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It’s a busy time for the tomato-producing farms in this part of the state. Farms have staffed up with hundreds of workers, most of whom are Latino. Some live locally. Others are migrant workers who travel from farm to farm, chasing the… Read More »As Crisis Grows, Farms Try to Balance Health of Field Workers and Food Supply
Millions of people, including the president of the United States, have seen or shared a video in which a doctor falsely claims there is a cure for the coronavirus, and it’s a medley starring hydroxychloroquine. The video shows several doctors in white coats giving a press conference… Read More »Don’t Fall for This Video: Hydroxychloroquine Is Not a COVID-19 Cure
Physical fitness authorities seem to have fallen into the same trap as the nutrition authorities, recommending what they think may be achievable, rather than simply informing us of what the science says and letting us make up our own minds. Researchers who accept grants from… Read More »What Exercise Authorities Don’t Tell You About Optimal Duration
The Friday Breeze Want to read the best and most provocative stories from the week? Welcome to the Friday Breeze, where we compile them all — so you’re set with your weekend reading. While you, loyal reader, wait for a wonderful new permanent Friday Breeze… Read More »Must-Reads of the Week
What The Health? · The Trump Administration’s War on Fauci Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on SoundCloud. Julie Rovner Kaiser Health News @jrovner Read Julie’s Stories Erin Mershon STAT @eemershon Read Erin’s Stories Alice Miranda Ollstein Politico @AliceOllstein Read Alice’s Stories Paige… Read More »KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Trump Administration’s War on Fauci
Julie Rovner, KHN’s chief Washington correspondent, on Wednesday joined Rob Ferrett, host of “Central Time” on Wisconsin Public Radio, to discuss the Trump administration’s announcement that hospital data on coronavirus cases will no longer be routed to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention… Read More »Listen: A Bureaucratic Shuffle for Hospital COVID Data
The Friday Breeze Want to read the best and most provocative stories from the week? Welcome to the Friday Breeze, where we compile them all — so you’re set with your weekend reading. Another week has gone by, and the biggest news remains that COVID… Read More »Must-Reads Of The Week
When famed surgeon Michael DeBakey was asked why his studies published back in the 1930s linking smoking and lung cancer were ignored, he had to remind people about what it was like back then. We were a smoking society. Smoking was in the movies, on… Read More »Medical Meat Bias
On December 30, 2019, Dr. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital in the Hubei province of China, messaged his fellow physicians, alerting them to the appearance of what he thought as SARS. Thirty-nine days later, after becoming infected with the very virus he… Read More »Takeaways from My Webinar on COVID-19