Public Health
Food Guidelines Change but Fail to Take Cultures Into Account
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services have once again developed new food guidelines for Americans that urge people to customize a diet of nutrient-dense food. For the first time, they make recommendations for infant nutrition and for different stages of life. But, as in past iterations, they lack […]
How a Bounty of Vaccines Flooded a Small Hospital and Its Nearby College
When administrators at Hillsdale College, a conservative liberal-arts school in Michigan, heard its local hospital didn’t have a way to store the Pfizer-BioNTech covid vaccine, they offered the use of its science department’s ultra-low temperature freezer. The vaccine must be stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. With that help, the small hospital — employing about […]
Head-Scratching Over Newsom’s Choice of Blue Shield to Lead Vaccination Push
[UPDATED at 7:45 p.m. ET] California Gov. Gavin Newsom, struggling to salvage a once-bright political future dimmed by his mishandling of the covid crisis, tapped nonprofit health insurer Blue Shield of California last week to allocate the state’s covid vaccine. The company has thus far said little about how it plans to reorganize a gargantuan […]
Kids Already Coping With Mental Disorders Spiral as Pandemic Topples Vital Support Systems
A bag of Doritos, that’s all Princess wanted. Her mom calls her Princess, but her real name is Lindsey. She’s 17 and lives with her mom, Sandra, a nurse, outside Atlanta. On May 17, 2020, a Sunday, Lindsey decided she didn’t want breakfast; she wanted Doritos. So she left home and walked to Family Dollar, […]
As Vaccine Rollout Expands, Black Americans Still Left Behind
Black Americans are still receiving covid vaccinations at dramatically lower rates than white Americans even as the chaotic rollout reaches more people, according to a new KHN analysis. Almost seven weeks into the vaccine rollout, states have expanded eligibility beyond front-line health care workers to more of the public — in some states to more […]
Vaccination Chaos in California Fuels Push to Recall Gov. Newsom
Joyce Hanson was thrilled when she heard Gov. Gavin Newsom announce Jan. 13 that Californians age 65 and older would be eligible to get vaccinated against covid-19. Infections and hospitalizations had been surging in California, and Hanson knew a simple trip to the grocery store put her at greater risk of getting sick and dying. […]
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Long Road to Unwinding Trump Health Policies
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on PRX. Thursday was “health day” in President Joe Biden’s sprint to launch his presidency, and he signed two executive orders addressing health coverage and women’s reproductive rights. The orders will reopen enrollment under the Affordable Care Act from February to May and reverse the so-called Mexico […]
Huge Gaps in Vaccine Data Make It Next to Impossible to Know Who Got the Shots
As they rush to vaccinate millions of Americans, health officials are struggling to collect critically important information — such as race, ethnicity and occupation — of every person they jab. The data being collected is so scattered that there’s little insight into which health care workers, or first responders, have been among the people getting […]
At Colorado’s Rural Edges, Vaccines Help Assisted Living Homes Crack Open the Doors
Bingo is back in the dining room. In-person visits have returned, too, though with masks and plexiglass. The Haven Assisted Living Facility’s residents are even planning a field trip for a private movie screening once they’ve all gotten their second round of covid-19 vaccines. Such changes are small but meaningful to residents in the Hayden, […]
Can the US Keep Covid Variants in Check? Here’s What It Takes
The covid-19 variants that have emerged in the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Africa and now Southern California are eliciting two notably distinct responses from U.S. public health officials. First, broad concern. A variant that wreaked havoc in the U.K., leading to a spike in cases and hospitalizations, is surfacing in a growing number of places […]