Public Health

The quick detection of an ultra-rare blood clotting reaction in some covid-19 vaccine recipients showed the power of a federal warning system for vaccine safety issues, but experts worry that blind spots in the program could hamper detection of other unexpected side effects. Before the pandemic began, the Food and Drug Administration had scaled back […]

Two national pharmacy chains that the federal government entrusted to inoculate people against covid-19 account for the lion’s share of wasted vaccine doses, according to government data obtained by KHN. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 182,874 wasted doses as of late March, three months into the country’s effort to vaccinate the masses […]

Chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed Biden’s first 100 days on WAMU/NPR’s “1A” on Wednesday. She also joined Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Central Time” to talk about why hospitals aren’t cooperating with price transparency requirements. Click here to hear Rovner on WAMU/NPR Read Rovner’s “The Great Undoing: Which of Trump’s Policies Will Biden Reverse?” Click here […]

Therapists and other behavioral health care providers cut hours, reduced staffs and turned away patients during the pandemic as more Americans experienced depression symptoms and drug overdoses, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The report on patient access to behavioral health care during the covid-19 crisis also casts doubt on whether […]

En las redes sociales está apareciendo información que vincula las vacunas contra covid-19 con la culebrilla y otros trastornos dolorosos de la piel. La fuente de una de esas informaciones es Alex Berenson, un autor y crítico de vacunas cuyas publicaciones a veces se citan por desinformación. Berenson publicó, primero en Twitter, que luego llegó […]

This investigation is a joint project of KHN, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues, and Spotlight PA, an independent, collaborative newsroom dedicated to producing investigative journalism for all of Pennsylvania. When Ian Kalinowski was at work, his mom usually texted him. So when he saw her number show up as an incoming call […]

It was April, more than three months into the vaccination campaign against covid-19, and Jim Freeman, 83, still had not gotten his first dose. Freeman had been eligible for months as part of the 75-and-older target group deemed most vulnerable to death and serious illness in the pandemic. But he could not leave his home […]

“For #Covid vaccines, shingles and even more dangerous and painful skin conditions may be the new thrombocytopenia” Alex Berenson in a Facebook post, April 19 Posts are showing up all over social media tying covid-19 vaccinations to shingles and other painful skin disorders. The source of one such post was Alex Berenson, an author and […]

In his first speech before Congress, President Joe Biden argued it was time to turn the coronavirus pandemic into a historic opportunity to expand government for the benefit of a wider range of Americans, urging investments in jobs, climate change, child care, infrastructure and more.  Biden said that taxes should be increased on corporations and […]

Tensions were running high at PDX Commons, a cohousing community for adults 55 and older in Portland, Oregon. Several people wanted to keep visitors off-site until all 35 residents were vaccinated. Others wanted to open to family and friends for the first time in a year. How do communities with dozens of members decide what […]