Why Even Presidential Pressure Might Not Get More Vaccine to Market Faster
Even invoking the widely heralded Defense Production Act to pressure drugmakers wouldn’t overcome vast obstacles.
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Even invoking the widely heralded Defense Production Act to pressure drugmakers wouldn’t overcome vast obstacles.
The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 targets more than just the lungs. New research shows it also penetrates the brain, complicating treatment and risking lifelong damage. And the pandemic limits hospitals from running MRIs or other tests on coronavirus patients.
Police in multiple cities are using supposedly “nonlethal” crowd-control methods from rubber bullets to tear gas bombs to pepper-spray projectiles.
Thousands of researchers worldwide are looking for a treatment that will go beyond what remdesivir can do for COVID patients.
President Trump relied heavily on testing as protection against COVID exposure, eschewing masks and social distancing.
Activists failed to convince state legislators that diseases like measles aren’t serious enough to require vaccination. Now they’re joining with conservatives and other anti-lockdown demonstrators who contend the coronavirus isn’t dangerous enough to justify staying home.
Molecular diagnostics are at the frontier of science, but insurance and billing questions create a minefield for patients.
Families worry that overwhelmed hospitals won’t be able to provide palliative care for loved ones stricken with COVID-19.
Concerns over Comic Con in Seattle mount as HIMSS and other huge conferences halt their plans.
Health care experts thought the battle was won against heart disease, measles, smoking, STDs and other life-threatening conditions and behaviors. Better think again.
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
While federal and state officials continue to wrangle over coronavirus testing, the population testing positive is skewing younger. Meanwhile, the Trump administration wins a round in court over its requirements for hospitals to publicly reveal their prices, and the fight over the fate of the Affordable Care Act heats up once again. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews former Obama administration health aide Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, who has written a new book comparing international health systems.
As the numbers of coronavirus fatalities and infections rise, the threat posed by the outbreak in China can seem frightening. But public health officials say the risk in the United States is low. Experts discuss some important issues that can help U.S. residents understand how the epidemic is unfolding.
The outrage over the death of an African American man, George Floyd, after he was restrained and knelt on by Minneapolis police officers has sparked national protests, including in places where the coronavirus is still spreading. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s attempt to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization could have ramifications for Americans. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Mary Agnes Carey of KHN and Joanne Kenen of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews Jonathan Oberlander, a University of North Carolina health policy professor and the editor of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, about articles examining the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of health inequity and structural racism.
Federal officials have known for nearly a decade which counties are most likely to suffer devastation ― both in loss of lives and jobs ― in a pandemic.
Infection-report forms rarely indicate who is a health worker or whether they survived. States and hospitals tend to keep quiet, citing patient privacy.
There is a virus that has already sickened at least 13 million Americans this winter, hospitalizing 120,000 and killing 6,600 people. You may even know of it.
Under pressure, the federal government announced it will let surgery centers, hotels and even college dorms serve as hospitals to treat an overflow of patients.
A coalition of anesthesiologists wants to repurpose the country's more than 5,000 surgery centers to serve as emergency overflow amid the coronavirus pandemic. The centers have trained medical staff largely sitting idle, anesthesia machines that could be turned into ventilators, and empty medical space. But obstacles such as federal payment rules, logistics and some skepticism are getting in the way.
As happens when the tech industry gets involved, hype surrounds the claims that artificial intelligence will help patients and even replace some doctors.
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