Latest California Healthline Stories
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Delta Blues
Covid is back with a vengeance, with some people clamoring for booster shots while others harden their resistance to getting vaccinated at all. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration is pushing hard on drugmaker Pfizer’s request to upgrade the emergency authorization for its vaccine and give it final approval. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Unraveling the Mysterious Mutations That Make Delta the Most Transmissible Covid Virus Yet
Scientists are trying to piece together why the delta variant so readily infects unvaccinated Americans, spewing 1,000 times more virus particles.
Delta ha mantenido algunas de las mutaciones más exitosas encontradas en variantes anteriores, pero también contiene nuevos cambios genéticos que le permiten propagarse dos veces más rápido.
Analysis: Necessary or Not, Covid Booster Shots Are Probably on the Horizon
In today’s pharmaceutical universe, a simple “safe and effective” determination by the Food and Drug Administration to approve a drug can be manipulated to sell products of questionable value. And drugmakers can profit handsomely.
Novavax’s Effort to Vaccinate the World, From Zero to Not Quite Warp Speed
Novavax is a vaccine company that has never licensed a vaccine. It hopes it can still help to fight the global covid scourge, but can it get doses made worldwide?
New Research Finds J&J Vaccine Has Muscle Against Covid’s Delta Variant
The data is reassuring to people who got this shot.
Analysis: Why We’ll Likely Never Know Whether a Covid Lab Leak Happened in China
If international scientific sleuths are hoping to see a lab log or find a whistleblower, that sort of information won’t be revealed. In China today, it is dangerous to say what you know if it challenges the official government narrative.
The WHO Didn’t Reverse Its Position on Kids and Covid Vaccines
The World Health Organization this week updated its guidance on children and covid vaccinations — but in a different way than alleged in a viral social media post.
Hemmed In at Home, Nonprofit Hospitals Look for Profits Abroad
About three dozen elite health systems are involved in for-profit hospital projects overseas. Though the systems are exempt from U.S. taxes for providing “community benefit,” there’s limited evidence that such business ventures benefit American patients.
Analysis: Mounting Pressure on China About Covid ‘Lab Leak’ Could Backfire
Where the coronavirus originated remains a mystery and the Chinese are bucking demands to let investigators see more.