Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Can Melatonin Gummies Solve Family Bedtime Struggles? Experts Advise Caution
Throughout history, parents have searched for the secret to getting fretful children to sleep through the night. The latest strategy involves giving children melatonin-infused gummies and tablets, a trend that concerns some doctors.
To Families’ Dismay, Biden Nursing Home Reform Doesn’t View Them as Essential Caregivers
Relatives who often provide vital caregiving for nursing home residents say the lockdowns during the covid pandemic showed the need for family members to visit in person with their loved ones. About a dozen states have passed laws guaranteeing that right, and California is considering one.
Patients With Vulnerable Immune Systems Worry Vaccine Exemptions May Put Them in Peril
Montana’s governor pushed the state’s health workers to seek religious exemptions to a federal mandate to be vaccinated against covid, but the number who have done so is unknown.
Pfizer CEO Pushes Yearly Shots for Covid. Not So Fast, Experts Say.
A corporate CEO’s call for a fourth mRNA shot struck those closely watching the pandemic as self-serving. It creates public pressure for a fourth dose of vaccine before government experts have time to assess the evidence and settle on the best course forward.
Sharing Covid Vax Facts Inside ICE Detention, One Detainee at a Time
Thousands of ICE detainees nationwide have tested positive for covid; 11 have died. Medical providers in California are volunteering to educate immigrants awaiting trial or deportation about covid treatment and vaccination.
Médicos voluntarios comparten información sobre las vacunas de covid con detenidos de ICE
Los detenidos dicen que confían en ellos. Doctores hablan por teléfono con personas en centros del ICE y ofrecen información confiable sobre las vacunas.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: We May Be Done With Covid, But Covid’s Not Done With Us
The White House makes a move as a new wave of covid threatens. President Joe Biden brings in Dr. Ashish Jha to take over the executive branch effort. Meanwhile, it remains unclear if and when Congress can come up with the funds to continue much of the federal anti-covid effort. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
It Was Already Hard to Find Evusheld, a Covid Prevention Therapy. Now It’s Even Harder.
At least 7 million immunocompromised people could benefit from the monoclonal antibody injections designed to prevent covid-19. The government says it has enough doses for a fraction of those in need ― and it doesn’t have the money to buy more.
Covid’s ‘Silver Lining’: Research Breakthroughs for Chronic Disease, Cancer, and the Common Flu
Billions of dollars invested in mRNA vaccines and covid research could yield health care dividends for decades to come.
‘American Diagnosis’: A Fuller Moon Rising — Revised ‘Violence Against Women Act’ Offers Hope
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was reauthorized on March 10, 2022, reaffirming tribes’ authority to prosecute non-Native perpetrators of sexual violence and certain other crimes. This episode looks at the history of VAWA, and how protections for Native women have been tangled in the fine print of the law.
Want Vulnerable Californians to Have Healthier Pregnancies? Doulas Say the State Must Pay Up.
California was supposed to start paying doulas this year to help Medicaid enrollees have healthy pregnancies. But the benefit has been delayed because doulas feel lowballed by the state’s proposed reimbursement rate, which is below what most other states pay.
Listen: What We’ve Learned After Two Years of the Pandemic
KHN Editor-in-Chief Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal joins the CNN podcast “Reliable Sources” and reflects on the societal trauma that covid-19 has wrought.
Pandemic Medical Innovations Leave Behind People With Disabilities
As the country enters Year 3 of the pandemic emergency, people with disabilities across the U.S. are still finding it difficult to use innovations in telemedicine, teleworking, and testing.
More Black Americans Are Buying Guns. Is It Driving Up Black Suicide Rates?
Gun buying among African Americans has soared in recent years. So have suicide rates among young Black men. Suicide prevention and gun safety efforts need to address race and cultural differences, Black gun owners say.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Congress Shelves Covid Funding for Now
The Biden administration’s request for billions more in funding to fight covid-19 hit a snag on Capitol Hill this week, as Democrats objected to Republican demands that money allocated to states but not yet spent be reclaimed. Meanwhile, the big annual spending bill about to cross the finish line addresses other health policy changes, such as giving the FDA authority to regulate “synthetic” nicotine. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Jessie Hellmann of Modern Healthcare 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.
Two Years In, Covid Leaves Montana Public Health Officials Feeling ‘Watched’
Montanans engage in plenty of spirited political disagreements. But debates about covid-19, public health, and personal liberties have reached a fever pitch, tugging at tightknit towns and making some residents wonder how their communities will survive.
One California University Has Unified Town and Gown to Fight Covid. Why Haven’t Others?
The University of California-Davis has spent close to $50 million preventing the spread of covid on campus — and among residents and workers in the adjacent city of Davis. By most accounts, this town-gown experiment has paid off nicely.
The CDC’s New Guidelines on Covid Risk and Masking Send Confounding Signals
The agency’s updated recommendations lower the level of covid risk for most of the country and therefore the need to mask. But some experts question the strategy.
The NFL Has Been Using an Unproven Measure to Get Players With Covid Back on the Field Fast
Doctors and scientists are debating whether a little-known measure in covid testing should be used to distinguish who is infectious from who isn’t. The NFL adopted the practice, but laboratory professionals caution against its use.
Charts Paint a Grim Picture 2 Years Into the Coronavirus Pandemic
The on-off nature of the pandemic “has led to a lot of the confusion and grumpiness,” says one expert. Another compares it to the exhaustion of the American public when hearing body counts during the Vietnam War.
