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Asian American health workers fight virus and racist attacks

May 11, 2021

NEW YORK (AP) — Medical student Natty Jumreornvong has a vaccine and protective gear to shield her from the coronavirus. But she couldn’t avoid exposure to the anti-Asian bigotry that pulsed to the surface after the pathogen was first identified in China. Psychiatry patients have called her by a racist slur for the disease, she said. A bystander spat at the Thai-born student to “go back to China” as she...

US shifts strategy as vaccinations slow

May 06, 2021

A version of this story appeared in the May 5 edition of CNN's Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction newsletter. Sign up here to receive the need-to-know headlines every weekday . (CNN) America's vaccination pace is slowing, putting President Joe Biden's pledge for normality from July 4 in jeopardy. To tackle the threat, Biden on Tuesday announced a strategic shift from mass vaccination drives to utilizing more...

Democrats must find narrow path to curb high medicine prices

May 03, 2021

President Joe Biden’s call for authorizing Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices has energized Democrats on a politically popular idea they’ve been pushing for nearly 20 years only to encounter frustration WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden ’s call for authorizing Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices has energized Democrats on a politically popular idea they've been...

Health Experts Urge U.S. Government On Social Media To Donate Unused AstraZeneca Vaccines To India

Apr 27, 2021

Update: On April 26th, the White House announced that it will share 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with other nations around the world after quality control inspections by the FDA. This week, global health experts took to social media to ask the U.S. government why it hasn’t offered its stockpile of AstraZeneca vaccines to India. There are currently tens of millions of unused...

America reaches milestone with COVID-19 vaccine widely available to those who want it, but hesitancy still casts a shadow

Apr 22, 2021

USA TODAY's panel of experts celebrate the success of the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine program but worry that although most Americans can get a shot, too many won't. s of Monday, COVID-19 vaccines are available to every American over 16 who wants a shot, but a panel of experts convened by USA TODAY remains deeply concerned about the people who say vaccines aren't needed. Anxiety about getting a shot is normal,...

What the COVID-19 Relief Package Means for Health and Health Care

Mar 12, 2021

The $1.9 trillion measure cleared by Congress includes funding for testing and vaccine initiatives and aims to expand the reach of the Affordable Care Act. THE $1.9 TRILLION COVID-19 relief package cleared by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden will provide Americans with $1,400 stimulus payments but also includes a raft of health- and health care-related provisions. The package, dubbed...

California paves the way for certification of mental health peer support providers

Jan 05, 2021

In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that paves the way to expand the use of mental health peer providers by setting up a state certification process. That’s expected to cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars to run every year, but could also reduce costly inpatient hospitalizations. The idea behind mental health peer support is this: People who live with a mental illness help...

What COVID-19 has taught medicine in 2020

Dec 25, 2020

Just a year ago, medical science knew very little about the devastation COVID-19 can wreak. How it can destroy organs throughout the body , and even kill people who seemed to be on the way to recovery. Initially, doctors put desperately ill patients on ventilators and scrambled for drugs that offered any hint of promise (remember hydroxychloroquine?). They called and tweeted with colleagues around the world...

Pandemic Or Not, America Has The Best Health Care In The World

Dec 01, 2020

When President Donald Trump fell ill with COVID-19, there was absolutely no contemplation of moving America’s head of state to another country to receive healthcare services. This might be surprising, considering the oft-quoted World Health Organization ranking of our healthcare system at 37th globally. Wouldn’t we want our president to be treated in the country with the very best healthcare? The problem, of course, is that...

Medical Rationing: Putting the Greatest Good to the Test?

Nov 11, 2020

Medical rationing is not something Americans are accustomed to, but COVID-19 may soon change that. As local hospitals become overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, they may reach the point where they have to make grim decisions over which patients receive limited medical supplies such as a ventilator or an intensive-care bed, and who does not. The Salt Lake Tribune reported on October 25, 2020 that, due to the number of new COVID-19...

USDA invests $871 million in rural community facilities in 43 states, Guam

Nov 10, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WIBW) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investing $871 million in rural community facilities in 43 states and Guam. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it is investing $871 million to improve critical community facilities that will benefit 3.5 million rural residents in 43 states and Guam. “Rural America needs safe, modern community infrastructure to help residents and businesses achieve greater...

‘I was looking for someone like me’ – Is peer counseling the answer?

Sep 11, 2020

Keris Jän Myrick keeps a photo on her desk of the woman who helped transform her life. As a Black woman living with schizophrenia, Myrick had spent years searching for a mentor. Someone who wouldn’t judge, wouldn’t pathologize, wouldn’t ask her to translate her reality into terms they could understand. “I was looking for someone like me,” she said. But when Myrick...

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