Vaccines

As the Vulnerable Wait, Some Political Leaders’ Spouses Get Covid Vaccines

KFF Health News Original

Spouses of governors and federal leaders are getting early access to scarce doses of covid-19 vaccines. Some officials have argued their inoculation sets an example for the public and shows the vaccines to be safe and effective. But critics say those doses should go to more vulnerable people first.

COVID Vaccines Appear Safe and Effective, but Key Questions Remain

KFF Health News Original

The federal government expects vaccinations to be available to everyone who wants them by summer — though glitches are inevitable. If enough of us get vaccinated, we could wave goodbye to the pandemic in 2021.

At Risk of Extinction, Black-Footed Ferrets Get Experimental COVID Vaccine

KFF Health News Original

Months before federal officials authorized experimental vaccines to ward off the coronavirus in humans, scientists tried a veterinary vaccine in endangered ferrets. Drugmakers are researching similar efforts for other animals proving vulnerable to the virus, such as farmed minks, in part to guard against virus mutations that could pose new risks to people.

Inside the First Chaotic Days of the Effort to Vaccinate America

KFF Health News Original

After missteps in Washington, each state and county is left to juggle where to send vaccines first and how to get them to each nursing home, hospital local health department and even school.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: All I Want for Christmas Is a COVID Relief Bill

KFF Health News Original

Congress seems on the verge of finishing a long-delayed COVID-19 relief bill, which will reportedly include neither of the things each party wanted most — for Republicans, liability protections; for Democrats, funding for states and localities. That bill is likely to be tied to a package to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year and, possibly, include a fix for “surprise” medical bills that patients receive when they inadvertently receive care outside their insurance network. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner talks to Elizabeth Mitchell, president and CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health, about the future of employer-provided health insurance.

Trusted Messengers May Help Disenfranchised Communities Overcome Vaccine Hesitancy

KFF Health News Original

Persuading vulnerable low-income and ethnic communities hit hard by the coronavirus to take a new vaccine may be challenging. But established local health leaders, like a group in Rochester, Minnesota, may be one answer.

With Vaccine Delivery Imminent, Nursing Homes Must Make a Strong Pitch to Residents

KFF Health News Original

More than half of long-term care residents have cognitive impairment or dementia, raising questions about whether they will understand the details about the fastest and most extensive vaccination effort in U.S. history.

Pediatricians Want Kids to Be Part of COVID Vaccine Trials

KFF Health News Original

Some years from now, infants and school-aged children will probably be the mainstay of a universal vaccination program against COVID-19 in the United States. But first, doctors want to be sure that newfangled vaccines won’t harm them.

Desafío en hospitales: a qué trabajadores de salud vacunar primero contra COVID

KFF Health News Original

Se aconseja a los hospitales que cubran a los miembros de su fuerza laboral con mayor riesgo, pero deben decidir exactamente quiénes serán mientras no haya dosis suficientes.

Agrícolas, bomberos y azafatas buscan estar entre los primeros en recibir la vacuna

KFF Health News Original

Trabajadores de salud de primera línea, y residentes y personal de hogares de adultos mayores, recibirán las dosis de la vacuna contra COVID primero, pero… ¿quiénes le seguirán?

Hospitals Scramble to Prioritize Which Workers Are First for COVID Shots

KFF Health News Original

Even as the federal Food and Drug Administration engaged in intense deliberations ahead of Friday’s authorization of the nation’s first COVID vaccine, and days before the initial doses were to be released, hospitals have been grappling with how to distribute the first scarce shots. Their plans vary broadly.