Column

With news that the country has now vaccinated half of its population with at least one dose, This Drew Altman Axios column highlights the persistent COVID-19 vaccine myths that are believed by a substantial portion of the unvaccinated population and discusses the options to address vaccine misinformation.

In this Axios column, Drew Altman explores whether the long struggle with rising health costs has caused the tide to turn in corporate leaders’ attitudes towards government involvement in controlling health spending and whether it is part of a larger shift in comfort with government action to solve problems.

In this Axios column, Drew Altman examines why doctors and nurses are such critical messengers in the effort to build vaccine confidence.

In this Axios column Drew Altman writes about the recent attention to Republican vaccine resisters. “Republicans and rural Americans are among the most resistant vaccine holdouts and some strategies are emerging to reach them.” But “far from all Republicans are resisters” and “the bigger and quicker payoff will come from prioritizing the more moveable group of ‘wait and see’ Americans.”

In this Axios column, Drew Altman paints a more optimistic picture of the prospects for getting to herd immunity as vaccine confidence grows, but underscores the urgency of building vaccine confidence in Black and Latino communities where barriers to access and good information are obstacles to getting vaccinated.

In his latest Axios column, Drew Altman shows why vaccine hesitancy will naturally decrease as more and more people see their family members and friends vaccinated without adverse consequences. It’s a hopeful sign about vaccine hesitancy, and should help free up resources to focus on the remaining vaccine hesitant.

In this Viewpoint for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), KFF’s Tricia Neuman and co-author Richard G. Frank of Harvard Medical School explain that the looming 2024 insolvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund cannot be ignored for long.

Debate about how many vaccinations are needed by when has been in the news. Drew Altman lays it out in his latest column.

Published in the Jan. 19 edition of JAMA, this article from KFF Executive Vice President for Health Policy Larry Levitt lays out the major health policy challenges that will confront President-elect Biden and potential approaches to major reform. While a big reform debate may not be likely this year, one…

In his latest Axios column, Drew Altman looks at the challenge of vaccine hesitancy in rural America and its implications. One of them: a highly tailored outreach campaign is needed. “Addressing this hesitancy will require convincing rural Americans about the seriousness of the pandemic, and then that the vaccine is a way to protect them, their families and their way of life,” he said.