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Across California, public health departments are losing experienced staffers to exhaustion, partisan politics and jobs that pay more for less work. The public health nurses, epidemiologists and microbiologists who work to keep our communities healthy are abandoning the field.
Reports of waning effectiveness and mixed messages about booster shots fuel the politicization of vaccination.
California offers a lens on the challenges officials face in persuading parents to embrace covid shots for young children. While the state has a strong showing in overall vaccination rates, just 59% of kids 12 to 17 — eligible for a shot since May — are fully vaccinated.
A federal allocation plan meant to ensure equitable distribution of powerful monoclonal antibody treatments for high-risk patients fails to prioritize nursing home residents, a population that remains particularly vulnerable even after vaccination.
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.
Certain patients who couldn't get in to see a doctor earlier in the pandemic, or were avoiding the covid risks inside hospitals, have become too sick to stay away. Many ERs now struggle to cope with an onslaught of demand.
A huge thank you to our readers who participated in our third annual KHN Halloween Haiku Contest. Based on a review by our expert panel of judges, we unmask the winner and serve a sampling of finalists.
President Joe Biden unveiled a compromise “Build Back Better” framework shortly before taking off for key meetings in Europe, but it’s unclear whether the framework can win the votes of all Democrats in the House and Senate, and it leaves out some of the party’s health priorities, notably significant provisions to lower prescription drug prices. Meanwhile, younger children may soon be eligible for covid vaccines. Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachana Pradhan of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
The ads for supplemental Medicare Advantage plans describe vision and dental benefits, even grocery discounts and food deliveries. But look at the fine print.
The pandemic has so seriously strained already tight state psychiatric hospitals in Georgia, Virginia, Texas and elsewhere that these facilities for the poorest and most vulnerable people with mental illness struggle to admit new patients.
Local health officials who quit or were forced out during the pandemic have been replaced by people who must face an increasingly polarized public with fewer powers than their predecessors.
The covid vaccination rate for first responders in the state is more than 95%. But it's lower in more rural areas, where ambulance crews can't function if even just a few people quit.
The Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes are working with academics and policy experts on possible solutions. Their challenge is how to attract the needed mental health personnel to the remote reservation.
Diapers are a baby essential, but no federal program helps families cover their considerable cost. Jennifer Randles, a professor of sociology at Fresno State in California, spoke with KHN about her novel research exploring the outsize role “diaper math” plays in the lives of low-income moms.
Negotiations on the health parts of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda are getting serious but have yet to produce a deal every Democrat can support. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration remains without a nominated leader but manages to take the first steps toward approving over-the-counter hearing aids. Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins, Tami Luhby of CNN 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.
Expectations are high for the city’s first-ever gun violence prevention director to curb the surging murder rate with interventions outside of traditional law enforcement.
Using a local approach, everyday people in cities without strict mask mandates take covid-19 safety into their own hands to protect themselves and their neighbors.
Managers are trapped in a pricey hiring cycle, competing for critical care nurses who can monitor covid patients on life support. Some hospitals are looking abroad to replace staffers who quit to become travel nurses or leave the profession.
Scientists treating kids for MIS-C point to rare genes, leaky guts and a “superantigen.”
In a battle reflecting turf wars around the country, Illinois dentists defeated legislation that would have allowed hygienists to practice in nursing homes and prisons where dental care can be scarce.
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