Latest KFF Health News Stories
A Year Into Pandemic, Federal Officials Move to Better Protect Front-Line Workers
Changes would allow N95 sales for industries other than health care and signal an end to the hospital practice of reusing the masks considered essential for worker safety.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Health Care as Infrastructure
President Joe Biden’s infrastructure proposal includes items not traditionally considered “infrastructure,” including a $400 billion expansion of home and community-based services for seniors and people with disabilities, and a $50 billion effort to replace water pipes lined with lead. Meanwhile, the politics of covid-19 are turning to how or whether Americans will need to prove they’ve been vaccinated. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, Rovner interviews KFF’s Mollyann Brodie about the KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor.
‘I Can Breathe Again’: Older Adults Begin to Test Freedom After Covid Vaccinations
Whether it’s making plans to hug their grandchildren, scheduling long-overdue medical appointments or just petting the neighbor’s dog, seniors are inching back to a lifestyle they’ve missed during the pandemic.
Analysis: How the US Invested in the War on Terrorism at the Cost of Public Health
After 9/11, as our defenses against international and bioterrorism hardened, our defenses against infectious diseases shrank. By the time a deadly virus arrived on our shores last year, nearly two-thirds of Americans were living in counties that spend more than twice as much on policing as they spend on public health.
How One State’s Public Health Defunding Led to Vaccination Chaos
The underfunding of public health and political backlash destabilized Missouri’s vaccine rollout, creating racial inequity and forcing some residents to drive hours to get shots.
Birx Joins Air-Cleaning Industry Amid Land Grab for Billions in Federal Covid Relief
Air-cleaning companies with limited oversight are targeting a growing market of schools desperate for covid-19 protection. Donald Trump’s former covid adviser lands with one that built its business, in part, on ozone-emitting technology.
Ya te has vacunado contra covid. ¿Y ahora qué?
Más y más personas se vacunan cada día, justo cuando comienza la primavera. Pero, ¿están totalmente protegidos? Todavía hay preguntas por contestar y reglas que cumplir.
So You’re Vaccinated Against Covid. Now What?
The vaccination rollout has been unsteady, but the vaccines seem very effective, raising hopes that the pandemic will subside by later this year if enough Americans get their shots. Meanwhile, remain cautious.
For Spring Season, Young Athletes Get Back in the Game Despite Covid Risk
With schools opening up classrooms, millions of young athletes are also getting out on fields and courts. But pandemic precautions and delays are spurring conflicts among parents, coaches and doctors.
Did CDC Delays in Up-To-Date Masking Advice Cost Health Workers’ Lives?
Researchers say “very low”-quality research from the 2003 SARS outbreak drove guidelines on who got the best PPE, leaving those most at risk exposed.
Biden’s Straight-Talking CDC Director Has Long Used Data to Save Lives
Dr. Rochelle Walensky said scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were “muzzled” and “diminished” by the Trump team, especially during the pandemic. She aims to fix that.
Have a Case of a Covid Variant? No One Is Going to Tell You
As experts race to get an approved test for covid variants, officials are severely restricted from sharing information about the cases. That makes it harder to protect others.
It’s Time to Get Back to Normal? Not According to Science.
With covid, and its newly emerging variants, still circulating throughout the nation and the world, experts say it is definitely not the time to abandon efforts to control the virus’s spread.
Prominent Scientists Call on CDC to Better Protect Workers From Covid
The academics insist that more workers should get top-rated N95 masks, the best defense against airborne coronavirus particles.
Lack of Covid Data on People With Intellectual Disabilities ‘Comes With a Body Count’
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are more likely to have medical conditions that make covid especially dangerous. But a lack of federal tracking means no one knows how many people in disability group housing have fallen ill or died from the virus.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: All About Budget Reconciliation
Even while the Senate is busy with Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, the House has gotten down to work on a covid relief bill using the budget reconciliation process. Meanwhile, the watchword for covid this week among the public is confusion — over masks, vaccines and just about everything else science-related. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, the panelists recommend their favorite “health policy valentines” along with their favorite health policy stories they think you should read, too.
With Demand Far Exceeding Supply, It Matters That People Are Jumping the Vaccine Line
When hospital administrators and politicians’ spouses get immunized before people more at risk, it undermines confidence in the system.
As Vaccine Rollout Expands, Black Americans Still Left Behind
Covid vaccines are reaching more Americans, but Black residents are being vaccinated at dramatically lower rates in the 23 states where data is publicly available. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to release national data next week.
Huge Gaps in Vaccine Data Make It Next to Impossible to Know Who Got the Shots
Details about race, ethnicity and occupation are often missing as data collected nationally is scattered across scores of digital systems that don’t connect. And the CDC doesn’t require vaccinators to report occupations of recipients, even though the order in which people get shots largely depends on their job.
When Covid Deaths Aren’t Counted, Families Pay the Price
Inaccurate and incomplete death certificates hurt those seeking relief, recourse and closure after a loved one dies.
