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It’s becoming increasingly clear that decision-making about the covid vaccine is complicated and multifaceted, which means persuading people to say yes will be, too.
Multiple-gene panel tests are frequently offered to patients at risk for diseases such as cancer that can assess more than 80 genes. But in screening a wide variety of genes, doctors might see a variant that hasn’t yet been deciphered and be unable to explain its significance, leaving patients with concerns and no answers.
As the pandemic brings long-standing health disparities into sharper view, community health workers are being asked to help the public health response. This fast-growing workforce helps fill the gaps between health care providers and low-income communities by offering education, advocacy and outreach.
Across the country, politics have muddied the question of when and how to reopen schools. Even though teachers continue to fear for their safety, lawmakers and parents are demanding that schools take advantage of declining infection rates to open safely and quickly.
Hundreds of Americans suspect they contracted covid early in the pandemic and recovered, only to get infected again months later. But because the U.S. does so little genetic sequencing of covid samples, we don’t know much about reinfection rates.
In rural Alpine County, where snowbound mountain passes isolate small towns, distributing the covid vaccine is a community effort. Unlike in many urban areas where residents jockey for limited appointments, the pace of vaccinations here is strong and steady.
Arthur and Maggie Kelley of St. Louis died 30 days apart. Maggie died of complications of dementia in November. Arthur, who had moved into her nursing home to be with her, died a month later of covid. Their family held a double funeral.
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.
Americans’ frustrations surrounding the amount of available covid vaccine hinges on several factors — not the least of which is that demand far exceeds supply.
Covid-19 has now killed more Americans than World War II did. That fact helps some people put the viral death toll in perspective, while others find it offensive.
In the past two months, covid-related infection and death rates have jumped exponentially in California’s least populated counties. The winter surge has scarred corners of the state that went largely unscathed for much of 2020.
Legislators in statehouses across the U.S. face the dual challenge of budgeting in a covid-crippled economy while planning for the pandemic’s long-term effects on mental health and substance abuse services.
Can schools safely reopen before all teachers and staffers are vaccinated against covid? And what’s the best way to communicate that science — and scientific recommendations — change and evolve? Also, get ready for a redo of open enrollment for Affordable Care Act coverage, this time with help and outreach to find those eligible. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Agreement between the president and Republican senators on funding for basic public health matters such as vaccine distribution and covid testing was an easy target. That money can’t move out, though, until accord is reached on some of the president’s big-ticket economic plans.
Glitchy websites, jammed phone lines and long lines outside clinics are commonplace as states expand who’s eligible to be vaccinated. The oldest Americans and those without caregivers and computer skills are at a distinct disadvantage.
Public health officials in Colorado have joined forces with local businesses in a new program meant to encourage people to shop and dine in a covid-crippled economy.
Who knows whether banning outdoor dining was a good idea in the first place. But even the experts aren’t sure it was smart to bring it back.
Even though farmworkers are vulnerable to covid, many hesitate to get the vaccine, worried the shot could have severe side effects or signal their whereabouts to immigration officials. Immigrant advocates in the Coachella Valley and other farming regions are visiting workers to try to allay their fears.
The east side of Austin has few of the chain stores key to the Texas vaccination plan. But local officials have done pop-up vaccination events in the community to get more shots to Blacks and Latinos.
President Joe Biden’s promise to reach this milestone is an important step forward in vaccine rollout. But it is only the beginning of the sweeping vaccination effort required.
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