The Latest: After Billions of Dollars and Dozens of Wartime Declarations, Why Are Vaccines Still in Short Supply?

 

February 24, 2021

After Billions of Dollars and Dozens of Wartime Declarations, Why Are Vaccines Still in Short Supply?   The U.S. government has invested billions of dollars in manufacturing, used a wartime act dozens of times to boost supplies and yet there’s still not enough covid vaccine on the way to meet demand — or even the government’s own goals for national immunization. Now critics want to know whether the government did enough, fast enough, to guarantee that companies would meet the urgent challenges of the pandemic, and why manufacturers did they not share technology and know-how sooner, or move more quickly into strategic production partnerships. (KHN, Fortune)

 

Is the End of the Long-Term Care Crisis Within Sight? New COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in Long-Term Care Facilities Are Dropping   The number of residents contracting and dying of COVID-19 in nursing homes has declined markedly following the introduction of vaccination efforts in long-term care facilities, a KFF analysis finds. Resident deaths from COVID-19 in nursing homes have decreased by two-thirds (66%) since vaccination efforts began in late December. New cases of the novel coronavirus among residents have fallen even more sharply, by 83 percent. (News Release, Policy Watch Post)

 

‘It’s a Minefield’: Biden Health Pick Must Tread Carefully on Abortion and Family Planning   As President Joe Biden works to overhaul U.S. health care policy, few challenges loom larger for his health secretary than restoring access to family planning while parrying legal challenges to abortion proliferating across the country. But Xavier Becerra, Biden’s nominee to run HHS, faces increasingly conservative federal courts that have backed efforts to restrict reproductive health services, including a Supreme Court dominated by Republican appointees. (KHN)

 

Growing Gaps in COVID-19 Vaccinations among Hispanic People   A new KFF analysis highlights the potential challenges surrounding COVID-19 vaccinations among Hispanic people, whose health and finances have been extremely hard hit by the pandemic. Low rates of vaccination among Hispanic people would leave them at increased risk for the virus, could further widen existing health disparities, and would leave gaps that hinder our ability to achieve overall population immunity. (Policy Watch Post)

Chart of the Week: 37 States Explicitly Outline What Conditions are Considered “High-Risk” for Vaccine Prioritization

 

Special Coverage: COVID-19 Coronavirus

 

The latest news and analysis on the coronavirus outbreak. You can find a complete list of recent releases on KFF.org and KHN.org.

After Billions of Dollars and Dozens of Wartime Declarations, Why Are Vaccines Still in Short Supply? (KHN, Fortune) Calling All Vaccinators: Closing the Next Gap in Covid Supply and Demand (KHN, NBC News) Feds OK’d Export of Millions of N95 Masks as U.S. Workers Cried for More (KHN, CNN) The Do’s and Don’ts on Social Media for Vaccine Haves and Have-Nots (KHN, Daily Beast) Countless Homebound Patients Still Wait for Covid Vaccine Despite Seniors’ Priority (KHN, CNN) Lessons From California Prison Where Covid ‘Spread Like Wildfire (KHN) Covid Strikes Clergy as They Comfort Pandemic’s Sick and Dying (KHN, Washington Post) ’‘It Doesn’t Feel Worth It’: Covid Is Pushing New York’s EMTs to the Brink (KHN, The Guardian) Organ Transplant Patient Dies After Receiving Covid-Infected Lungs (KHN, NBC News) It’s Time to Get Back to Normal? Not According to Science. (KHN, PolitiFact) DeSantis Advances Questionable Link Between Lockdowns and Despair (KHN) Updated: In Search of the Shot (KHN) Updated: Lost on the Frontline: New this week (KHN, The Guardian) Is the End of the Long-Term Care Crisis Within Sight? New COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in Long-Term Care Facilities Are Dropping (News Release, Policy Watch Post) Growing Gaps in COVID-19 Vaccinations among Hispanic People (Policy Watch Post) Key Issues to Watch for Justice-Involved Populations: COVID-19, Vaccines, & Medicaid (Issue Brief) Updated: COVID-19 is the Number One Cause of Death in the U.S. in Early 2021 (Issue Brief) Updated: At-Home SARS-CoV-2 Testing: What Are the Options? (Interactive) Updated: COVID-19 Coronavirus Tracker – Updated as of February 24 (Interactive) Updated: State Data and Policy Actions to Address Coronavirus (Interactive) Updated: Medicaid Emergency Authority Tracker: Approved State Actions to Address COVID-19 (Issue Brief) Tracking COVID-19 New Global Confirmed Cases (on 2/23): 387,864 National Positivity Rate (as of 2/23) 4.8% Total U.S. Deaths (as of 2/23) 501,947

 

News and Headlines News and headlines from Kaiser Health News (KHN) and California Healthline (CHL). Follow KHN on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and CHL on Facebook  and Twitter, for the latest updates.

‘It’s a Minefield’: Biden Health Pick Must Tread Carefully on Abortion and Family Planning (KHN) New Single-Payer Bill Intensifies Newsom’s Political Peril (KHN, US News) Latest news summaries from the KHN Morning Briefing

 

Data and Analysis The latest in health policy data and analysis from KFF.

Updated: Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions: Interactive Map (Interactive)

 

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