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Some argue that vaccines capable of preventing any COVID-19 symptoms should qualify for widespread use, but others want much larger trials to prove the vaccines can reduce hospitalizations or deaths.
California and at least five other states have said they may independently vet any vaccines. Experts warn that could needlessly confuse the public.
President Trump relied heavily on testing as protection against COVID exposure, eschewing masks and social distancing.
President Donald Trump has the legal power to authorize a COVID vaccine over the objections of the Food and Drug Administration and vaccine manufacturers. Such a move could further erode public trust in a vaccine and foist an unsafe shot on Americans.
The AstraZeneca trial is on hold in the U.S. as scientists try to unravel whether a rare neurological condition is linked to the vaccine. But regulators are frustrated by a lack of information from the drugmaker.
As the nation awaits a vaccine to end the pandemic, local health departments say they lack the staff, money, tools ― and a unified plan ― to distribute, administer and track millions of vaccines, most of which will require two doses. Dozens of doctors, nurses and health officials interviewed by KHN and The Associated Press expressed their concern and frustration over federal shortcomings.
The nation’s top infectious disease official is confident that an independent panel will base vaccine approval on science, not politics.
Teams are starting to test vaccines using messenger RNA or chimpanzee cold viruses to inoculate humans. Will their benefits last?
Around the country, police responded to protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death by shooting “less lethal” projectiles, which can seriously hurt and kill. In a joint investigation, KHN and USA TODAY found some officers appear to have violated their department’s own rules when they fired.
The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 targets more than just the lungs. New research shows it also penetrates the brain, complicating treatment and risking lifelong damage. And the pandemic limits hospitals from running MRIs or other tests on coronavirus patients.
Police in multiple cities are using supposedly “nonlethal” crowd-control methods from rubber bullets to tear gas bombs to pepper-spray projectiles.
Thousands of researchers worldwide are looking for a treatment that will go beyond what remdesivir can do for COVID patients.
Activists failed to convince state legislators that diseases like measles aren’t serious enough to require vaccination. Now they’re joining with conservatives and other anti-lockdown demonstrators who contend the coronavirus isn’t dangerous enough to justify staying home.
Federal officials have known for nearly a decade which counties are most likely to suffer devastation ― both in loss of lives and jobs ― in a pandemic.
Infection-report forms rarely indicate who is a health worker or whether they survived. States and hospitals tend to keep quiet, citing patient privacy.
Molecular diagnostics are at the frontier of science, but insurance and billing questions create a minefield for patients.
Under pressure, the federal government announced it will let surgery centers, hotels and even college dorms serve as hospitals to treat an overflow of patients.
A coalition of anesthesiologists wants to repurpose the country's more than 5,000 surgery centers to serve as emergency overflow amid the coronavirus pandemic. The centers have trained medical staff largely sitting idle, anesthesia machines that could be turned into ventilators, and empty medical space. But obstacles such as federal payment rules, logistics and some skepticism are getting in the way.
Families worry that overwhelmed hospitals won’t be able to provide palliative care for loved ones stricken with COVID-19.
A Kaiser Health News analysis shows that counties with ICUs average one ICU bed for every 1,300 older residents, those most at risk for needing hospitalization.
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