Parents and caregivers of people with disabilities in California are supposed to be near the front of the line for the covid-19 vaccine. But some are hitting roadblocks at vaccination sites.
Covid has pressed the Food and Drug Administration into its fastest vaccine reviews ever — which are still painfully slow, critics say.
The Trump and Biden administrations both imposed wartime production requirements. But industry experts say the vast quantities of raw materials and specialty equipment needed for billions of newfangled vaccines have required herculean logistical efforts.
Keeping a campaign promise, President Joe Biden has reopened enrollment for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act on healthcare.gov — and states that run their own health insurance marketplaces followed suit. At the same time, the Biden administration is moving to revoke the Trump administration’s permission for states to impose work requirements for some adults on the Medicaid health insurance program. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, Rovner interviews medical student Inam Sakinah, president of the new group Future Doctors in Politics.
Industry experts say it’s highly unlikely that dozens of pharmaceutical companies that aren’t already producing covid vaccines stand ready to do so.
The measures would impose taxes on increases in the price of drugs that don’t reflect improved clinical value and set the rates paid by state-run and commercial health plans to a benchmark based on prices in Canada.
Concerns arising in western North Carolina provide a window into the challenges facing health workers across the country as they seek to persuade vulnerable populations to be inoculated against covid.
Can schools safely reopen before all teachers and staffers are vaccinated against covid? And what’s the best way to communicate that science — and scientific recommendations — change and evolve? Also, get ready for a redo of open enrollment for Affordable Care Act coverage, this time with help and outreach to find those eligible. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
President Joe Biden’s promise to reach this milestone is an important step forward in vaccine rollout. But it is only the beginning of the sweeping vaccination effort required.
Late-stage trial results for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed it was 66% effective overall in preventing moderate to severe covid illness, while the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were more than 90% effective. But the numbers aren’t exactly comparable. And all three shots prevent hospitalization and death.