Latest News On Vaccines

Latest California Healthline Stories

These Secret Safety Panels Will Pick the COVID Vaccine Winners

Data and safety monitoring boards work under a cloak of secrecy meant to prevent undue influence by stakeholders, such as companies or the government. In the Trump era, some worry the anonymity could actually invite it.

Signs of an ‘October Vaccine Surprise’ Alarm Career Scientists

President Donald Trump has the legal power to authorize a COVID vaccine over the objections of the Food and Drug Administration and vaccine manufacturers. Such a move could further erode public trust in a vaccine and foist an unsafe shot on Americans.

COVID Vaccine Trials Move at Warp Speed, But Recruiting Black Volunteers Takes Time

The National Institutes of Health has suggested minorities should be overrepresented in COVID-19 vaccine trials — perhaps at rates that are double their percentage of the U.S. population. But efforts to recruit patients from racial minority groups are just beginning, while some trials have already advanced to phase 3.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Politics of Science

Republicans have all but abandoned the Affordable Care Act as a campaign cudgel, judging from their national convention, at least. Meanwhile, career scientists at the federal government’s preeminent health agencies — the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health — are all coming under increasing political pressure as the pandemic drags on. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Plus, Rovner interviews KHN’s Elizabeth Lawrence about the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment.