Kurt Papenfus, a doctor in Cheyenne Wells, Colorado, started to feel sick around Halloween. He developed a scary cough, intestinal symptoms and a headache. In the midst of a pandemic, the news that he had COVID-19 wasn’t surprising, but Papenfus’ illness would have repercussions far beyond his own health.
Read More »Demand for COVID Vaccines Expected to Get Heated
With two promising vaccines primed for release, likely within weeks, experts in ethics and immunization behavior say they expect attitudes to shift quickly from widespread hesitancy to urgent, even heated demand.
Read More »AAP: Wear Masks During Youth Sports Practices and Most Games
In updated recommendations on youth sports during the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) encourages players of most sports to wear cloth face coverings at all times for group training, competition, and on the sidelines.
Read More »Thousands of Doctors’ Offices Shut Down Under Financial Stress of COVID
An estimated 8% of all physician practices nationally — around 16,000 — have closed under the stress of the pandemic. And another 7% of primary care practices were unsure they could stay open past December without financial assistance.
Read More »More Than 1 Million Children in U.S. Diagnosed with COVID-19
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1 million infants, children and adolescents have been diagnosed with the illness, according to data released Monday by the American ...
Read More »Case Against Obamacare Hinges on Whether GOP States Were Actually Harmed by the Law
Attorneys for GOP-controlled states seeking to kill the Affordable Care Act told the Supreme Court last week that at least some of the 12 million people who newly enrolled in Medicaid signed up only because of the law’s requirement that people have insurance coverage — although a tax penalty no longer exists.
Read More »‘Breakthrough Finding’ Reveals Why COVID Kills Certain Patients But Not Others
“Why does one 40-year-old get really sick and another one not even need to be admitted?” In some cases, provocative new research shows, some people — men in particular — succumb because their immune systems are hit by friendly fire.
Read More »Time to Discuss Possible Unpleasant Side Effects of COVID Vaccine Injections
This vaccine will require two doses to work, injections that must be given weeks apart. Scientists anticipate the shots will cause enervating flu-like side effects — including sore arms, muscle aches and fever — that could last days and temporarily sideline some people from work or school.
Read More »Five Important Questions About Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine
Historically, important scientific announcements about vaccines are made through peer-reviewed medical research papers that have undergone extensive scrutiny about study design, results and assumptions, not through company press releases. So did Pfizer’s stock deserve its double-digit percentage bump? The answers to the following five questions will help us know.
Read More »Biden Wants to Lower Medicare Eligibility Age to 60; Hospitals Not Happy
Lowering the Medicare eligibility age is popular. About 85% of Democrats and 69% of Republicans favor allowing those as young as 50 to buy into Medicare. Although opposition from the hospital industry is expected to be fierce, that is not the only obstacle to Biden’s plan.
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