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Federal officials asked a court to dismiss a suit by drugmakers over the policy enacted by the Trump administration that would allow states to bring in cheaper prescription medications from Canada. The filing said the lawsuit was moot because it’s unclear when or if the FDA would approve any state’s importation plan.
Covid cases have disproportionately affected the state’s Black residents, so officials are moving them to the front of the line for vaccinations before the state expands eligibility to all adults.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that people who are at high risk of contracting HIV take PrEP, a preventive treatment. The decision means most health plans will be required to cover the drugs without charging patients. But the recommendation doesn’t apply to the other clinical and lab services people need.
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.
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.
Of the three covid vaccines the U.S. government has authorized, only one is available to 16- and 17-year-olds: the Pfizer shot. It’s also the most complicated to manage in rural settings, with their small, dispersed populations. That forces some teens and their families to travel long distances for a dose — or go without.
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.
President-elect Joe Biden inherits a global health landscape changed by the Trump administration more than under any Republican president since Ronald Reagan.
A state ban preventing local governments from enacting nondiscrimination ordinances expired Dec. 1, opening the door for a new wave of local nondiscrimination laws.
The organ transplant from a living donor opens up the universe of available organs.
With U.S. cases skyrocketing, demand for Gilead’s dark horse antiviral is only growing. Biden appointees propose potential legal tactics to tamp down the price for patients.
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 the thick of a global pandemic, and with a vaccine rollout that has been less than optimal, it's no surprise that selfies featuring the coveted covid shot surface on social media timelines. But is posting a vaccine selfie on your social media account a faux pas or a needed encouragement for others to get the shot?
Churches are the keystone of a major campaign to bring good information about covid vaccines to Black communities. But pastors are finding that scarce supplies and a clumsy rollout are complicating efforts to urge vaccination.
When hospital administrators and politicians’ spouses get immunized before people more at risk, it undermines confidence in the system.
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.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine that the FDA cleared Saturday was 66% effective overall in preventing moderate to severe covid, while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were more than 90% effective. But the numbers aren’t exactly comparable. And all three shots prevent hospitalization and death.
Covid-19 cases are spreading so fast that they're outpacing the contact-tracing capacities of some local health departments. Faced with mounting caseloads, those departments are asking people who test positive for the coronavirus to do their own contact tracing.
But keeping campaign promises regarding the nation’s covid response will go beyond stepping up the rollout of the vaccines.
Hospitals dealing with staff shortages during the current covid surge are unable to tap into one valuable resource: foreign-trained doctors, nurses and other health workers, many with experience treating infectious diseases. Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Nevada are the only states to have eased credentialing requirements during the pandemic.
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