Vaccines engineered to protect the public from influenza, hepatitis B, tetanus and rabies are less effective for obese people, leaving them more vulnerable to serious illness. As scientists race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, experts say obesity could prove an impediment — a sobering prospect for a nation in which nearly half of all adults are obese.
Will Lightbourne, the new director of the California Department of Health Care Services, says government must address the racial disparities laid bare by COVID-19 and improve care for the state’s most vulnerable residents.
In dealing with her son’s violent murder, fear over the coronavirus pandemic and the stress of coping with systemic racism, Beverly Grant has found strength and peace through yoga. The Denver native is part of a yoga co-op seeking to bring the ancient practice to more diverse communities as a health care tool.
In dealing with her son’s violent murder, fear over the coronavirus pandemic and the stress of coping with systemic racism, Beverly Grant has found strength and peace through yoga. The Denver native is part of a yoga co-op seeking to bring the ancient practice to more diverse communities as a health care tool.
Mutual aid groups, in which volunteers give their time and resources to help others in the community, are seeing a resurgence in New York with the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic has given the National Institutes of Health an opportunity to show the value of its $1.5 billion “All of Us” research program. A major effort to make the platform’s database representative of America resulted in minorities making up more than half of its more than 270,000 volunteers.
The coronavirus has forced drug rehabilitation centers to scale back operations or temporarily close, leaving people who have another potentially deadly disease — addiction — with fewer opportunities for help.
Authorities continue to dismantle homeless encampments despite recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to hold off during the pandemic to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Local governments around the country are declaring racism a public health crisis. That could be lip service, or it might lead to shifting resources from policing to health care, housing and other services, experts say.
State legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom have hammered out an agreement on a budget that rejects Newsom’s proposed cuts to health care services for older and low-income people.
