This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareStop talking about the possibility of coronavirus booster shots. Don’t bully people who are vaccine holdouts. And if you’re trying to win over skeptics, show us anyone besides Dr. Fauci.That’s what a focus group of vaccine-hesitant Trump voters urged politicians and pollsters during the weekend, as public health officials work to understand potential roadblocks in the campaign to inoculate Americans against the coronavirus. Among the most pressing questions are why so many GOP voters remain opposed to the shots and whether...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareStop talking about the possibility of coronavirus booster shots. Don’t bully people who are vaccine holdouts. And if you’re trying to win over skeptics, show us anyone besides Dr. Fauci.That’s what a focus group of vaccine-hesitant Trump voters urged politicians and pollsters during the weekend, as public health officials work to understand potential roadblocks in the campaign to inoculate Americans against the coronavirus. Among the most pressing questions are why so many GOP voters remain opposed to the shots and whether...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareOne listing offered eBay customers an “Authentic CDC Vaccination Record Card” for $10.99. Another promised the same but for $9.49. A third was more oblique, offering a “Clear Pouch For CDC Vaccination Record Card” for $8.99, but customers instead received a blank vaccination card (and no pouch).All three listings were posted by the same eBay user, who goes by “asianjackson” — using an account registered to a man who works as a pharmacist in the Chicago area — and all were illegal, federal regulators say. The account sold...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareOne listing offered eBay customers an “Authentic CDC Vaccination Record Card” for $10.99. Another promised the same but for $9.49. A third was more oblique, offering a “Clear Pouch For CDC Vaccination Record Card” for $8.99, but customers instead received a blank vaccination card (and no pouch).All three listings were posted by the same eBay user, who goes by “asianjackson” — using an account registered to a man who works as a pharmacist in the Chicago area — and all were illegal, federal regulators say. The account sold...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareA chaotic effort to return hundreds of Americans to the United States in the earliest days of the coronavirus outbreak — including bureaucratic infighting over whether flights out of Wuhan, China, were an “evacuation” or “repatriation” — put the evacuees, federal officials and even U.S. communities at risk, a government watchdog concluded.The U.S. government-led missions, which included an operation to evacuate Americans from a virus-stricken cruise ship off the coast of Japan in February 2020, were plagued by “serious...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareA chaotic effort to return hundreds of Americans to the United States in the earliest days of the coronavirus outbreak — including bureaucratic infighting over whether flights out of Wuhan, China, were an “evacuation” or “repatriation” — put the evacuees, federal officials and even U.S. communities at risk, a government watchdog concluded.The U.S. government-led missions, which included an operation to evacuate Americans from a virus-stricken cruise ship off the coast of Japan in February 2020, were plagued by “serious...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareThe Biden administration on Friday rescinded approval for changes to Texas’s Medicaid program granted by the Trump administration, saying that federal Medicaid officials “materially erred” by speeding approval for the state’s $100 billion-plus request in January.The decision was characterized as an effort to push state officials toward accepting the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which would cover more low-income residents, said two federal health officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareThe Biden administration on Friday rescinded approval for changes to Texas’s Medicaid program granted by the Trump administration, saying that federal Medicaid officials “materially erred” by speeding approval for the state’s $100 billion-plus request in January.The decision was characterized as an effort to push state officials toward accepting the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which would cover more low-income residents, said two federal health officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift SharePresident Biden has selected Anne Milgram, a former state attorney general, prosecutor and longtime advocate for reform of the criminal justice system, to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, the White House announced on Monday.Milgram, who once declared, “there’s no system that is more old-school and broken and problematic than the criminal justice system,” currently works as a lawyer in private practice, and as a law professor and podcaster.Milgram did not respond to a request for comment. The Washington Post first...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift SharePresident Biden has selected Anne Milgram, a former state attorney general, prosecutor and longtime advocate for reform of the criminal justice system, to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, the White House announced on Monday.Milgram, who once declared, “there’s no system that is more old-school and broken and problematic than the criminal justice system,” currently works as a lawyer in private practice, and as a law professor and podcaster.Milgram did not respond to a request for comment. The Washington Post first...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareTrump appointees in the Department of Health and Human Services last year privately touted their efforts to block or alter scientists’ reports on the coronavirus to more closely align with President Donald Trump’s more optimistic messages about the outbreak, according to newly released documents from congressional investigators.The documents provide further insight into how senior Trump officials approached last year’s explosion of coronavirus cases in the United States. Even as career government scientists worked to...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareTrump appointees in the Department of Health and Human Services last year privately touted their efforts to block or alter scientists’ reports on the coronavirus to more closely align with President Donald Trump’s more optimistic messages about the outbreak, according to newly released documents from congressional investigators.The documents provide further insight into how senior Trump officials approached last year’s explosion of coronavirus cases in the United States. Even as career government scientists worked to...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareFor the first two months, all the coronavirus numbers broke in the Biden administration’s favor.More than 100 million Americans have gotten at least one shot of vaccine and more than 200 million doses have been sent to states, a dramatic acceleration of the it inherited. Virus-related cases and deaths, which peaked in January, have fallen by about two-thirds since President Biden’s inauguration.But the Biden White House is seeing new infections climb on its own watch — a potential crisis that could erase many of the...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareFor the first two months, all the coronavirus numbers broke in the Biden administration’s favor.More than 100 million Americans have gotten at least one shot of vaccine and more than 200 million doses have been sent to states, a dramatic acceleration of the it inherited. Virus-related cases and deaths, which peaked in January, have fallen by about two-thirds since President Biden’s inauguration.But the Biden White House is seeing new infections climb on its own watch — a potential crisis that could erase many of the...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareWhen President Biden announced in January that he would make Wisconsin’s top health official his No. 2 at the Department of Health and Human Services, the state seemed like a poor model for the nation’s most crucial public health priority: fighting the pandemic.Wisconsin had just come through a than New York City’s, and it ranked near the bottom of states in bringing a first dose of vaccine to its residents. Only about a third of doses sent to the state had been administered. The grim numbers galvanized Republicans in...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareWhen President Biden announced in January that he would make Wisconsin’s top health official his No. 2 at the Department of Health and Human Services, the state seemed like a poor model for the nation’s most crucial public health priority: fighting the pandemic.Wisconsin had just come through a than New York City’s, and it ranked near the bottom of states in bringing a first dose of vaccine to its residents. Only about a third of doses sent to the state had been administered. The grim numbers galvanized Republicans in...WW…

ADThe Biden administration on Thursday unveiled its first television advertisements to encourage Americans to get vaccinated against the , part of a series of pro-vaccine messages as the White House pushes to achieve the president’s goal of returning the country to some normalcy by July Fourth.The “We Can Do This” campaign will air across cable and broadcast stations nationwide and include targeted multimillion-dollar ad buys for Black and Spanish-language media. In a virtual kickoff event Thursday morning, Vice President Harris and Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy introduced a grass-roots...…ADThe Biden administration on Thursday unveiled its first television advertisements to encourage Americans to get vaccinated against the , part of a series of pro-vaccine messages as the White House pushes to achieve the president’s goal of returning the country to some normalcy by July Fourth.The “We Can Do This” campaign will air across cable and broadcast stations nationwide and include targeted multimillion-dollar ad buys for Black and Spanish-language media. In a virtual kickoff event Thursday morning, Vice President Harris and Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy introduced a grass-roots...WW…

For two decades, the United States has pursued a far-reaching global agenda to fight HIV and AIDS, an initiative credited with saving more than 25 million lives. But the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, better known as PEPFAR, has been abruptly bogged down in a domestic political fight, with Republicans citing allegations that the program’s funding is being used to indirectly support abortions — claims that health advocates, Democrats and PEPFAR officials say are baseless. As a result, lawmakers have spent months wrangling over whether Congress will reauthorize the program for...…For two decades, the United States has pursued a far-reaching global agenda to fight HIV and AIDS, an initiative credited with saving more than 25 million lives. But the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, better known as PEPFAR, has been abruptly bogged down in a domestic political fight, with Republicans citing allegations that the program’s funding is being used to indirectly support abortions — claims that health advocates, Democrats and PEPFAR officials say are baseless. As a result, lawmakers have spent months wrangling over whether Congress will reauthorize the program for...WW…