Category: COVID-19

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Senate Acts

The U.S. Senate worked well into its scheduled August recess to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a budget blueprint that outlines a much larger bill — covering key health priorities — to be written this fall. Meanwhile, the latest surge of covid is making both employers and schools rethink their opening plans. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call and Yasmeen Abutaleb of The Washington Post join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.

Getting a Covid Vaccine During Pregnancy Even More Urgent as ICU Beds Fill Up

The CDC recommends that pregnant people be vaccinated against covid-19, based on new safety and effectiveness evidence on the covid vaccines.

Reading, ’Rithmetic and Resisting Covid: The New 3 R’s as Kids Head Back to School

Children under 12 can’t get a vaccine, so parents are concerned about how to keep them safe as classes resume — especially as the delta variant spreads.

Reading, ’Rithmetic and Resisting Covid: The New 3 R’s as Kids Head Back to School

Children under 12 can’t get a vaccine, so parents are concerned about how to keep them safe as classes resume — especially as the delta variant spreads.

Public Favors Masks in Classrooms but Balks at Mandating Vaccinations for Students

With schools reopening, poll finds two-thirds of parents support mandating masks for unvaccinated students, but resistance to vaccinating students remains high. “My child is not a test dummy,” one Black parent told pollsters. Some parents deferred the decision to their teens.

DeSantis’ Executive Order Is Misleading About Lack of Scientific Support for Masking in Schools

The Florida governor’s order said schools couldn’t mandate that students wear masks and that the state could deny funding to school districts that didn’t comply.

A Quarter of US Hospitals, and Counting, Demand Workers Get Vaccinated. But Not Here.

Amid a surge in covid-19 cases driven by the highly contagious delta variant, nearly 1,500 health systems across the nation are requiring their employees to get vaccinated. In Montana and Oregon, that’s not an option.

A California Bill Would Limit Protests at Vaccination Sites. Does It Violate the First Amendment?

A proposal breezing through the state legislature would make it illegal to obstruct someone from getting a covid-19 shot, or any other vaccine, but some free speech experts say it goes too far.

‘The Vaccination Queen’: Nurse Practitioner Takes Covid Shots House to House in Puerto Rico

Abigail Matos-Pagán, a critical care expert who has galvanized relief efforts after hurricanes and earthquakes, is on a mission to inoculate as many Puerto Rican residents as possible.

Clarity on Covid Count: Pandemic’s Toll on Seniors Extended Well Beyond Nursing Homes

The latest research shows that although deaths in nursing homes received enormous attention, far more older adults who perished from covid lived outside of institutions. People with dementia and other severe neurological conditions, chronic kidney disease and immune deficiencies were hit especially hard.