Weekly Edition: March 12, 2021

Lost on the Frontline: Explore the Database
By The Staffs of KFF Health News and The Guardian As of Wednesday, the KHN-Guardian project counted 3,607 U.S. health worker deaths in the first year of the pandemic. Today we add 39 profiles, including a hospice chaplain, a nurse who spoke to intubated patients "like they were listening," and a home health aide who couldn't afford to stop working. This is the most comprehensive count in the nation as of April 2021, and our interactive database investigates the question: Did they have to die?

University of Missouri Settles Lawsuits Over Knee Surgeries Involving Veterinarian
By Lauren Weber The University of Missouri settled a collection of 22 medical malpractice and false advertising lawsuits over knee surgeries for $16.2 million. One doctor involved in the cases is among Missouri’s highest-paid state employees; the other is a veterinarian.

Did CDC Delays in Up-To-Date Masking Advice Cost Health Workers’ Lives?
By Christina Jewett 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.

‘Explained by KHN’: Consumer Concerns About the Covid Vaccines
By Arthur Allen and Julie Appleby and Tarena Lofton Our newsroom has some of the best and smartest health care and health policy reporters in the business. We’ve created a new video series — “Explained by KHN” — in which our correspondents and editors answer common health care and policy questions. In this edition we cover consumer concerns over the covid-19 vaccines.

To Extract More Doses per Vial, Vaccinators Put Squeeze on FDA to Relax Vaccine Handling Advice
By Arthur Allen Although vaccine supply is ramping up, the supply gap puts pressure on vaccinating teams to extract every drop they can. Some are asking the FDA to waive guidance against extracting vaccine from two vials with the same needle. It’s worth a shot.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Expanding the ACA in an Unpredicted Way
Beyond the billions of dollars aimed squarely at the pandemic, the covid relief bill cleared by Congress this week includes significant changes to health policy. Among them are the first major expansions to the Affordable Care Act since its enactment 11 years ago and changes that could expand coverage for the Medicaid program. Tami Luhby of CNN, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.

Meet the Retired Nurse Who Could Give Covid Shots But Couldn’t Get One
By Victoria Knight She followed up on every possible avenue that would allow her to register for a vaccination appointment. Ultimately, it took a 40-minute drive and someone else’s cancellation to make it happen.

High Obesity Rates in Southern States Magnify Covid Threat
By Sarah Varney In the American South — home to nine of the nation’s 12 heaviest states — obesity is playing a role not only in covid outcomes, but in the calculus of the vaccination rollout.

In a Year of Zoom Memorials, Art Exhibit Makes Space for Grief
By Anna Almendrala After his father died, artist Taiji Terasaki created a ritual to memorialize him. Now, Terasaki honors front-line health care workers who succumbed to covid with an exhibit inspired by “Lost on the Frontline,” the investigation by KHN and The Guardian.

One Year In: How Covid’s Toll Compares With Other Causes of Death
By Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact Covid-19 has become the country’s third-leading cause of death, and isn’t far behind cancer.

Vaccine Altruists Find Appointments for Those Who Can’t
By Anna Almendrala An army of volunteers help people who otherwise would have had difficulty securing a covid vaccination because of cumbersome computer or telephone registration systems.

Pfizer’s Newest Vaccine Plant Has Persistent Mold Issues, History of Recalls
By Sarah Jane Tribble After nearly a decade’s worth of federal inspections, reprimands and corrective action plans, has Pfizer fixed the facility that will be filling vials of its covid vaccine?

Texas Winter Storm Exposes Gaps in Senior Living Oversight
By Sandy West As the recent winter storm disaster in Texas showed, many long-term care sites aren’t required to have backup power supplies or other redundancies to keep residents safe when disaster strikes.

What Childhood Vaccine Rates Can, and Can’t, Teach Us About Covid Vaccines
By Rae Ellen Bichell Hesitancy toward routine childhood vaccines doesn’t necessarily predict hesitancy toward a covid shot.

For Covid ‘Long Haulers,’ Battling for Disability Benefits Adds Aggravation to Exhaustion
By David Tuller Early in the pandemic, many patients couldn’t be tested. The lack of a covid diagnosis complicates disability insurance for those whose illness continues.

Ouch! Needle-Phobic People Scarred by So Many Images of Covid Shots
By Julie Appleby The pictures are on the nightly news, on billboards, bus stop posters and all over social media. How can people who fear needles manage to get their covid shots?

Pandemic Aid Package Includes Relief From High Premiums
By Emmarie Huetteman Experts say the two-year expansion of subsidies for most people who buy insurance through the government exchanges would be among the most significant changes to the affordability of private insurance since the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Without a Pandemic Safety Net, Immigrants Living Illegally in US Fall Through the Cracks
By LJ Dawson Many undocumented immigrants are essential workers at high risk of exposure to the virus — and the pandemic’s economic crash — with no direct access to federal financial lifelines available to U.S. citizens.

In Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana, CVS Vaccine Appointments Go Unfilled
By Phil Galewitz Dozens of open appointment slots in the three Southern states last week stood in sharp contrast to states such as Delaware, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, where spots generally were claimed by midmorning or earlier.

Behind The Byline: Reporting Road Trip
By Aneri Pattani Check out KHN’s video series — Behind The Byline: How the Story Got Made. Come along as journalists and producers offer an insider’s view of health care coverage that does not quit.

On Vacci-Dating: Singles Seem Enamored of Sharing Vaccination Status Online. Is That Wise?
By Victoria Knight When considering whether to meet up with someone who is vaccinated versus unvaccinated, vaccinated sounds somewhat safer. But before you give pandemic dating a shot, heed these warnings from experts.

Biden’s Criticism of Trump Team’s Vaccine Contracts Is a Stretch
By Victoria Knight Under the Trump administration, the U.S. had agreed to buy at least 1 billion doses of covid vaccine, enough to vaccinate 550 million people. Those agreements, though, applied to vaccines that were authorized as well as those still in development. And the Biden team had the advantage of 20/20, experts say.

Push Is On for States to Ban Organ Transplant Discrimination
By Sara Reardon States are passing laws that would prevent people with Down syndrome, autism and other disabilities from being denied transplants solely because of their conditions.

Journalists Dissect Covid Vaccines and Variants
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.