Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Epidemic: What Good Is a Vaccine When There Is No Rice?
What good is a vaccine when there is no rice? Episode 7 of “Eradicating Smallpox” explores the barriers public health workers face in communities where people’s basic needs aren’t being met.
Using Opioid Settlement Cash for Police Gear Like Squad Cars and Scanners Sparks Debate
State and local governments will receive a windfall of more than $50 billion over 18 years from settlements with companies that made, sold, or distributed opioid painkillers. Using the funds for law enforcement has triggered important questions about what the money was meant for.
¿Por qué sigue siendo tan difícil encontrar vacunas contra covid para niños pequeños?
Por primera vez desde el inicio de la pandemia, el gobierno federal no paga directamente a los fabricantes por las dosis de covid, un proceso que permitió a médicos y farmacéuticos recibir envíos de forma gratuita.
Why Is Finding Covid Shots for Young Children Still So Hard?
In Los Angeles and elsewhere, some parents are having trouble finding the new pediatric covid shot, especially for young children. Not all pediatricians or pharmacies have it and can administer it, even if vaccines.gov says they can.
A Third of Schools Don’t Have a Nurse. Here’s Why That’s a Problem.
School nurses treat children daily for a wide range of illnesses and injuries, and sometimes serve as a young patient’s only health provider. They also function as a point person for critical public health interventions. Yet many states don’t require them, and school districts struggle to hire them.
The New Vaccines and You: Americans Better Armed Than Ever Against the Winter Blechs
Flu, covid, and respiratory viruses kill thousands of Americans each year, but the latest batch of vaccines could save lives.
PrEP, a Key HIV Prevention Tool, Isn’t Reaching Black Women
New HIV infections occur disproportionately among Black women, but exclusionary marketing, fewer treatment options, and provider wariness have limited uptake of preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, drugs, which reduce the risk of contracting the virus.
An Arm and a Leg: John Green vs. Johnson & Johnson (Part 1)
Pharmaceutical patents can drive up the costs of lifesaving medications. Hear what author and YouTube star John Green is doing to make tuberculosis drugs more accessible to the people who need them most.
‘I’m So Burned Out’: Fighting to See a Specialist Amplified Pain for Riverside County Woman
Teresa Johnson has been in extreme pain for more than a year after what she believes was a severe allergic reaction to iodine. Her Medi-Cal plan approved her referral to a specialist, but it took her numerous phone calls, multiple complaints, and several months to book an appointment.
Epidemic: Bodies Remember What Was Done to Them
Trust is hard to build and easy to break. In Episode 6 of the “Eradicating Smallpox” podcast, meet Chandrakant Pandav, a health worker who used laughter and song to try to rebuild trust with communities harmed by India’s sometimes violent and coercive family planning campaign.