Eureka! Two Vaccines Work 鈥 But What About the Also-Rans in the Pharma Arms Race?
How two effective vaccines on the market make it so much harder to quickly test any competing vaccines.
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How two effective vaccines on the market make it so much harder to quickly test any competing vaccines.
There are already signs that the distribution of the COVID vaccines will be messy, confusing and chaotic.
At least 2,900 health workers have died since the pandemic began. Many were minorities with the highest levels of patient contact.
Months before federal officials authorized experimental vaccines to ward off the coronavirus in humans, scientists tried a veterinary vaccine in endangered ferrets. Drugmakers are researching similar efforts for other animals proving vulnerable to the virus, such as farmed minks, in part to guard against virus mutations that could pose new risks to people.
The federal government expects vaccinations to be available to everyone who wants them by summer 鈥 though glitches are inevitable. If enough of us get vaccinated, we could wave goodbye to the pandemic in 2021.
After missteps in Washington, each state and county is left to juggle where to send vaccines first and how to get them to each nursing home, hospital local health department and even school.
Howard University Hospital officials are eager to get their 1,900 employees vaccinated, but so far few are showing up.
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
Congress seems on the verge of finishing a long-delayed COVID-19 relief bill, which will reportedly include neither of the things each party wanted most 鈥 for Republicans, liability protections; for Democrats, funding for states and localities. That bill is likely to be tied to a package to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year and, possibly, include a fix for 鈥渟urprise鈥 medical bills that patients receive when they inadvertently receive care outside their insurance network. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner talks to Elizabeth Mitchell, president and CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health, about the future of employer-provided health insurance.
Persuading vulnerable low-income and ethnic communities hit hard by the coronavirus to take a new vaccine may be challenging. But established local health leaders, like a group in Rochester, Minnesota, may be one answer.
More than half of long-term care residents have cognitive impairment or dementia, raising questions about whether they will understand the details about the fastest and most extensive vaccination effort in U.S. history.
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
It's no worse than the flu, and other deadly disinformation about the coronavirus
Some years from now, infants and school-aged children will probably be the mainstay of a universal vaccination program against COVID-19 in the United States. But first, doctors want to be sure that newfangled vaccines won鈥檛 harm them.
Even as the federal Food and Drug Administration engaged in intense deliberations ahead of Friday's authorization of the nation鈥檚 first COVID vaccine, and days before the initial doses were to be released, hospitals have been grappling with how to distribute the first scarce shots. Their plans vary broadly.
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
Hospitals and nursing homes must decide who gets the initial doses as the U.S. heads into the biggest vaccination effort in history. There鈥檚 a lot left to figure out.
Everyone 鈥 from toilet paper manufacturers to patient advocates 鈥 is lobbying state advisory boards, arguing their members are essential, vulnerable or both 鈥 and, thus, most deserving of an early vaccine.
Even as the Food and Drug Administration nears emergency authorization for the first vaccine to protect against COVID-19, Congress remains at loggerheads over a COVID relief bill that could also provide the funding to fully distribute the vaccines. Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden announced the first members of his health team. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHN鈥檚 Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Michael Mackert of the University of Texas-Austin, an expert on communicating public health information.
At least two vaccines could get federal emergency use authorizations this month. Nursing home and assisted living residents will be among the first to receive inoculations. Here鈥檚 a guide on how that rollout may proceed.
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