Category: Vaccines

Unvaccinated, Homebound and Now Hospitalized With Covid in New York City

Across the country, doctors report that those hospitalized with covid now are largely unvaccinated. New York City lags the rest of the nation in vaccinating people 65 and older, and its efforts to reach the homebound and disabled have been late in coming and disorganized.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Our 200th Episode!

The federal approval of a controversial drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease has reignited the debate over drug prices and the way the Food and Drug Administration makes decisions. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden seeks to gain goodwill overseas as he announces the U.S. will provide 500 million doses of covid vaccine to international health efforts. Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Joanne Kenen of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, Rovner interviews Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the new administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. And to mark the podcast’s 200th episode, the panelists discuss what has surprised them most and least over the past four years.

An Anti-Vaccine Film Targeted to Black Americans Spreads False Information

A new movie produced by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine group tries to capitalize on the covid-19 pandemic, the racial justice movement and renewed interest in the history of medical racism.

Unused Johnson & Johnson Covid Doses Are Piling Up as FDA Waits to See if Shelf Life Can Be Extended

As vaccine expiration dates loom, states with hundreds of thousands of doses on hand say demand is tanking and there’s no easy way to donate to other states or countries that might want them

With Roots in Civil Rights, Community Health Centers Push for Equity in the Pandemic

Community health centers were born in the 1960s to reach low-income communities. But some rural health experts say federally qualified health centers were a missing piece in achieving early equity in the vaccine rollout.

In Missouri and Other States, Flawed Data Makes It Hard to Track Vaccine Equity

Racial and ethnic categories for vaccination data vary widely from one state to another, complicating efforts to distribute shots where they are needed most. In Missouri, some red flags in the data surfaced, making health officials question its usefulness.

KFF Health Tracking Poll – May 2021: Prescription Drug Prices Top Public’s Health Care Priorities

The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll explores the public’s views on the U.S. role in distributing COVID vaccines to other countries, health care priorities for Congress, prescription drug regulations and price negotiations, and affordability changes in …

From Racial Justice to Dirty Air, California’s New AG Plots a Progressive Health Care Agenda

In a candid interview, California’s newly appointed attorney general, Rob Bonta, reflects on his progressive roots and says he will pursue a health care agenda centered on the principle that quality medical care is a right, not a privilege.

Mississippi’s Black Communities Turned Around Their Covid Rates. Next Up: Make Strides on Vaccines.

Covid-19 tore through Mississippi’s Black population in the pandemic’s early days, but community efforts slowed the rate. Now health officials and community leaders aim to replicate the success as they dole out vaccines.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Return of the Public Option

Lawmakers are working on fleshing out the concept of a “public option,” a government-run or heavily regulated insurance plan that would compete with private insurance. But the details are complicated, both substantively and politically. Meanwhile, bioethicists are debating whether the U.S. should be vaccinating low-risk adolescents against covid-19 while high-risk adults in other countries are still waiting. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Rachana Pradhan of KHN 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.