Latest Contributions

• With the federal vaccine mandate for health care workers halted, Texas nursing homes dodge furloughs and fines

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Carla Astudillo 4 hours ago

  Texas’ nursing home staff vaccination rates are lower than half the country’s — but a judge’s decision last week to delay a vaccine mandate helped them avoid laying off a third of their employees. Full Story 

• Texas reports its first case of the omicron COVID-19 variant

  by Karen Brooks Harper Dec. 6, 2021

  Early indicators suggest the variant is very contagious, but little is known about the severity of disease it causes. Full Story 

• Texas scientists search for potentially virulent new omicron COVID-19 variant as state health officials push vaccination

  by Karen Brooks Harper Dec. 1, 2021

  So much is unknown about the new COVID-19 variant: the severity of the illness it causes, whether it can resist vaccines and natural antibodies and whether it’s more contagious than the delta variant that has burned through Texas and the U.S. for months. Full Story 

• COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas are lower than they have been in months, but experts say there’s still reason to be wary

  by Karen Brooks Harper Nov. 24, 2021

  A surge in COVID-19 cases from the West is impacting El Paso. Full Story 

• Fewer patients, smaller staff, an uncertain future: abortion providers await court decision on Texas law

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Eleanor Klibanoff Nov. 23, 2021

  For two months, providers have had to work in a sort of limbo as they wait to see if the new law passes the Supreme Court's review. Full Story 

• Dallas health care program for transgender kids formally dissolved after becoming target of conservative criticism

  by Karen Brooks Harper Nov. 19, 2021

  Hospital officials cited privacy for children as a reason behind the decision and said patients will still receive care through other departments. Full Story 

• How one grandmother fell into the health insurance gap — and why the Build Back Better plan could help cover Texans like her

  by Karen Brooks Harper Nov. 16, 2021

  At least 770,000 Texans are ineligible for both Medicaid and health insurance subsidies through the state-run marketplaces. Full Story 

• Unvaccinated Texans make up vast majority of COVID-19 cases and deaths this year, new state data shows

  by Karen Brooks Harper Nov. 8, 2021

  The new state survey is the first time Texas health officials have been able to statistically measure the vaccine's true impact on the pandemic. Full Story 

• Young Texans can soon get vaccinated against COVID-19 after CDC signs off on Pfizer shots for kids 5-11

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Nov. 2, 2021

  The approval marks a long-awaited milestone in the nearly two-year fight against the deadly virus that experts say has likely already infected nearly half the population in that age group. Full Story 

• COVID-19 vaccines for kids 5-11 are heading to Texas after FDA gives Pfizer shot emergency use authorization

  by Karen Brooks Harper Oct. 29, 2021

  The federal government will now send a first shipment of more than a million doses destined for children in that age group to providers in nearly half of the state's counties. Full Story 

• FDA panel recommends approval of the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages 5-11. Here's what that means for Texans.

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Brian Lopez Updated: Oct. 26, 2021

  The move opens the door to emergency use approval by the FDA. In Texas, about 2.9 million children would be newly eligible if that happens. Full Story 

• It’s cheap, easy to make and in demand overseas. So why can’t this Texas-born COVID-19 vaccine break into the U.S. market?

  by Karen Brooks Harper Oct. 19, 2021

  A Houston vaccine team would like a U.S. distributor but for now focuses its efforts abroad to inoculate those in countries where COVID-19 variants surface more quickly. Full Story 

• At least one major Texas abortion provider resumes procedure lawmakers tried to prohibit, after judge blocks near-total ban

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Oct. 7, 2021

  The ruling late Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman doesn’t protect providers who perform abortions while the Texas law makes its way through the courts. Full Story 

• Texas nursing homes turn to state for help with staffing woes as vaccine mandate looms

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Oct. 1, 2021

  About 40% of Texas nursing home workers are unvaccinated and could face dismissal or quit their jobs under a federal vaccination requirement for the industry. Full Story 

• Amid a sharp rise in COVID-19 deaths this summer, more Texans under 60 are dying

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Mandi Cai Sept. 24, 2021

  Health officials say that the state’s high rate of unvaccinated people contributed to a summer surge in hospitalizations, which preceded the spike in deaths. Full Story 

• The delta variant is wreaking havoc on most of Texas — but not El Paso. Here’s why.

  by Karen Brooks Harper Sept. 13, 2021

  High vaccination rates, geography and a sense of community in the wake of 2019’s Walmart shootings help keep El Paso’s delta numbers low, experts and locals say. Full Story 

• “Do I or don't I?” Some Texas hospitals grapple with new mandatory vaccine rule

  by Karen Brooks Harper Sept. 10, 2021

  Stuck between Biden's and Abbott’s competing vaccine rules for employees, public hospitals consider their next move even as most private systems already require vaccination for employees. Full Story 

• COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas level off just below the pandemic’s winter peak

  by Karen Brooks Harper Sept. 3, 2021

  The numbers have stayed within a few hundred of a grim milestone as the state battles the pandemic’s latest surge. Full Story 

• President Joe Biden says Texas’ new abortion law “unleashes unconstitutional chaos”

  by Abby Livingston and Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Sept. 2, 2021

  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Supreme Court's decision not to halt the law "an injustice" and Vice President Kamala Harris promised the administration would defend abortion rights. Full Story 

• Verbal and physical attacks on health workers surge as emotions boil during latest COVID-19 wave

  by Karen Brooks Harper Sept. 1, 2021

  Stressed health workers are now confronting volatile visitors and patients. “The verbal abuse, the name-calling, racial slurs … we’ve had broken bones, broken noses,” said one hospital official in Dallas. Full Story