The Commonwealth Fund this week issued a report exploring the impact of U.S. COVID-19 vaccination efforts, including an update on averted deaths, hospitalizations, and health care costs through March 2022. The Commonwealth Fund notes that COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have trended dramatically downward from their peaks earlier this year, but uncertainty still exists as…
Read More »The Biden-Harris Administration this week announced whole-of-government actions in response to millions of Americans’ experiences with prolonged illness from COVID-19, known as “Long COVID.” President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. issued a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to coordinate a new effort across the federal government to develop and issue…
Read More »The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late last week announced it is issuing a Public Health Determination and terminating an order issued under Title 42, suspending the right to introduce migrants into the U.S. The termination is set to be implemented on May 23, 2022, enabling the Department of Homeland Security to…
Read More »This week, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced it is launching a statewide effort to help Medi-Cal beneficiaries maintain their Medi-Cal coverage or be enrolled in other coverage. During the national public health emergency (PHE) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, annual reevaluation of ongoing eligibility was temporarily halted to ensure vulnerable…
Read More »On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a second booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccines for older adults and certain immunocompromised individuals. The FDA previously authorized a single booster dose for certain immunocompromised individuals following completion of a three-dose primary vaccination series. According to the FDA,…
Read More »The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week released new analyses exploring the mental health statuses of U.S. high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to new data, in 2021, more than one-third (37 percent) of high school students reported they experienced poor mental health during the pandemic, and 44 percent…
Read More »This week, the Biden-Harris Administration this week launched www.COVID.gov, a new one-stop website for vaccines, tests, treatments, masks, and the latest COVID-19 guidance and information. As part of COVID.gov, a new Test-to-Treat locator is available to assist individuals access pharmacies and community health centers nationwide for COVID-19 testing and treatment. The Administration has launched over…
Read More »The Public Health Communications Collaborative, a partnership between the CDC Foundation, de Beaumont Foundation, and Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), will host a webinar on “Communicating Through COVID-19 and Beyond” on Wednesday, April 13 from 10:00 am to 11:00 am. The webinar will feature a discussion of insights for protecting the public health through the…
Read More »This week, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced it has stopped accepting claims for COVID-19 testing and treatment for uninsured individuals due to a lack of sufficient funds. No claims submitted to HRSA for testing or treatment after March 22, 2022, will be processed for adjudication or treatment, according to the agency….
Read More »The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it will convene a virtual meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) on Wednesday, April 6 to discuss considerations for future COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and the process for selecting specific strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus for COVID-19 vaccines to address current and…
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