Posts by Guest Author
Why the CDC Has Recommended New Covid Boosters for All
By Arthur Allen Everyone over the age of 6 months should get the latest covid-19 booster, a federal expert panel recommended Tuesday after hearing an estimate that universal vaccination could prevent 100,000 more hospitalizations each year than if only the elderly were vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices…
Read MoreNIH RECOVER’s Long COVID trials unlikely to lead to successful treatments, experts say
By Betsy Ladyzhets The NIH has primarily spent its funds for Long COVID research on observational studies rather than clinical trials, according to new data shared with my article this week. Last week, the National Institutes of Health and Duke University announced five Long COVID clinical trials as part of the NIH’s RECOVER initiative. This…
Read MoreDoctor Lands in the Doghouse After Giving COVID Vaccine Waivers Too Freely
By Brett Kelman A Tennessee doctor has lost his medical license for issuing COVID-19 vaccine waivers to patients he never met in at least three states. One, it turned out, was a dog named Charlie Kraus. Robert Coble, 76, of Goodspring, Tennessee, agreed to surrender his license in a May settlement with the Tennessee Department…
Read More12 Months of Trauma: More Than 3,600 US Health Workers Died in Covid’s First Year
By Jane Spencer, The Guardian and Christina Jewett More than 3,600 U.S. health care workers perished in the first year of the pandemic, according to “Lost on the Frontline,” a 12-month investigation by The Guardian and KHN to track such deaths. Lost on the Frontline is the most complete accounting of U.S. health care worker deaths. The federal…
Read MoreDebt ceiling deal will mean even less COVID-19 funding
By Betsy Ladyzhets You’ve probably seen the news that last weekend, President Joe Biden and Congressional leaders reached a deal to raise the U.S. government’s debt ceiling. The deal passed both houses and Biden signed it yesterday. In order to reach this bipartisan deal, Biden had to make a lot of compromises—including limiting funding for…
Read MoreEra of ‘Free’ Covid Vaccines, Test Kits, and Treatments Is Ending. Who Will Pay the Tab Now?
Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News February 10, 2023 Time is running out for free-to-consumer covid vaccines, at-home test kits, and even some treatments. The White House announced this month that the national public health emergency, first declared in early 2020 in response to the pandemic, is set to expire May 11. When it ends, so…
Read MoreCombatting Pandemic Fatigue With Solidarity
This article, written by Betsy Ladyzhets, originally appeared on the COVID-19 Data Dispatch. In the last few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to remain hopeful. COVID-19 continues to spread—in fact, the U.S. is likely in the second-largest surge of the entire pandemic right now—but we aren’t counting the majority of cases, much…
Read MoreWatch: UVA Doctor Talks About the State of the Pandemic and Health Equity
Just as COVID-19 vaccines were rolling out, Dr. Taison Bell spoke with KHN about why Black Americans were getting vaccinated at lower rates than white Americans were. More than a year later, we checked in with Bell, an assistant professor of medicine and an intensive…
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