Podcast

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Pause and Effect on Covid Vaccines


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The effort to vaccinate Americans against covid-19 took a hit this week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration jointly called for a pause in use of the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson while experts try to figure out whether it is responsible for a small number of serious blood clots, mostly in women of childbearing age. While the J&J vaccine has so far made up only a small percentage of vaccines delivered in the U.S., experts are worried that concerns about it could spread to the other vaccines currently in use and exacerbate vaccine hesitancy.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden unveiled a budget that calls for major increases in health programs, and his administration moved to keep promises to abortion-rights backers regarding the abortion pill and the federal family planning program, Title X.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Tami Luhby of CNN, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call and Shefali Luthra of The 19th.

Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:

Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too:

Julie Rovner: KHN’s “Redfield Joins Big Ass Fans, Which Promotes Controversial Covid-Killing Technology,” by Christina Jewett and Lauren Weber.

Shefali Luthra: The 19th’s “Survey: 69 percent of women under age 30 say COVID-19 has harmed their mental health,” by Luthra.

Rebecca Adams: CQ Roll Call’s “Broader vaccine eligibility may exacerbate racial inequities,” by Ariel Cohen.

Tami Luhby: ProPublica’s “A Tiny Number of People Will Be Hospitalized Despite Being Vaccinated. We Have to Learn Why,” by Caroline Chen.


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