Perspectives: Tackling Health Workers’ Vaccine Hesitancy; Reasons Employers Should Mandate Vaccination
Opinion writers weigh in on these vaccine and covid issues.
The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
14,981 - 15,000 of 112,529 Results
Opinion writers weigh in on these vaccine and covid issues.
Around the anniversary of George Floyd's death, news outlets dive into the intersection of health, justice and racism. Covid's impact on women's health is also examined, as are breakthrough infections, the individual mandate, inconvenient science and the lonely pandemic pups.
Among other news, New York City plans to tackle rising homelessness, Connecticut moves to boost schools' mental health care, Planned Parenthood expands mental health care in Florida, and fraud charges related to covid scams are reported across the country.
Despite the eagerness of many people to hit the road again -- and the need in many places for those tourist dollars -- covid restrictions, vaccination requirements and other pandemic details are causing confusion and some hesitancy. News reports also examine China's vaccination efforts, the situation in India and controversy in Thailand about vaccines.
Nearly three quarters of the people who recover from covid have persistent problems. The most common symptoms are shortness of breath and fatigue, according to a literature review published by JAMA. Another study says heart inflammation from covid is rare among athletes tested.
The Oregon State Hospital is seeking help from the National Guard. In other industry news, medical schools say they are working harder to add anti-racism training.
Connecticut moves forward with legislation that forces nursing homes to be ready for another pandemic. Yet under California regulations, nursing home operators can continue running facilities even after they’ve been denied a state license.
And Oklahoma's governor lets a bill that puts restrictions on his plan to privatize Medicaid become law without his signature.
The federal government launched a criminal investigation of Eli Lilly for manufacturing irregularities, according to Reuters. In other pharma news, the Biden administration won't end the Unapproved Drug Initiative and Elizabeth Holmes' lawyers claim publicity will deny her a fair trial. (They cited 3,755 examples of negative personal news and 2,862 examples of negative business news of defunct Theranos.)
Many health systems expect that the wave of positive publicity from their work during the pandemic may help them as they renegotiate contracts with insurers and seek to make back some of the money they lost from canceled elective procedures. But experts point out that many of these hospitals did not lose as much money as anticipated.
In a series of ads, Democrats complain that Republican lawmakers are refuse to support legislation to cap prescription drug prices. But the bills are also controversial among Democrats. The majority party is also having trouble coming up with ways to end long-standing GOP measures that limit federal funding on abortions and gun research.
Despite the good news, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that up to 606,000 people may have died from covid by June 19. President Joe Biden is set to praise progress against the disease in a pre-Memorial Day appearance.
Several news reports say U.S. intelligence officials have informed the White House that they have more evidence concerning the Wuhan lab that could be the origin of the covid virus. But it has yet to be examined. And WHO wants to see it, too.
Free state passes, fishing licenses for Minnesotans, college scholarships and an F-150 pickup truck for West Virginians, and million-dollar prizes in California are just some of the incentives being tried to reach the covid vaccine-hesitant.
NBC News reports on how President Joe Biden's plan to send millions of covid shots overseas is mired in diplomatic and logistical problems. Meanwhile, the FDA and J&J near a deal for renewed production in Baltimore, and a discussion of vaccine-related blood clots.
Ten states are now at 70% vaccinated. But a poll shows that it may be difficult to get shots in the arms of the remaining unwilling and hesitant.
Vaccine providers are beginning to get ready for covid boosters, amid debate over which booster strategies will work best. Separately, vaccines of all sorts in the future may use painless "microneedles" for delivery.
President Joe Biden will release his massive budget proposal today that will consolidate initiatives previously announced by the White House, including its infrastructure plan. On that subject, Republicans yesterday offered a more modest counter which would reclaim covid relief funds. Biden criticized the proposal and Democrat state treasurers warned against it.
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
(Editor's note: We will not publish newsletters on Monday, Memorial Day).
Opinion writers tackle vaccines, masks and covid-19 origins.
© 2026 KFF