Latest Contributions

• How a small Texas town doubled its COVID-19 vaccination rate in a month as the state’s rate declined

  by Karen Brooks Harper May 12, 2021

  Mount Pleasant in northeast Texas lags behind the state in its vaccination rate, but the town is boosting its numbers by mobilizing churches, nonprofits and other trusted community leaders to help overcome residents’ fears and doubts. Full Story 

• Medicaid expansion for uninsured Texans had bipartisan support, but lawmakers won't pass it this session

  by Karen Brooks Harper May 7, 2021

  Nothing is truly dead until the session ends. But committee chairs in both chambers have blocked bills from getting hearings, and supporters have dim hopes that Republican leaders will revive it in time. Full Story 

• Texas House advances bill that would ban homeless encampments in public

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Duncan Agnew May 5, 2021

  The bill still needs final approval by the House — usually a formality after it's passed in the chamber's first vote — and then will head to the Senate. Full Story 

• With half of eligible Texans still unvaccinated and supply exceeding demand, Texas shifts COVID-19 vaccination strategies

  by Karen Brooks Harper May 3, 2021

  Locals are also brainstorming incentives, sending out emergency cellphone alerts, running clinics in workplace break rooms and hanging sign-up sheets in churches. Full Story 

• U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Ken Paxton’s challenge to California law banning state-funded travel to Texas

  by Karen Brooks Harper April 26, 2021

  California banned state-funded travel to Texas because of a 2017 religious-refusal law for adoptions in the state, which critics called discriminatory against LGBTQ families. Full Story 

• Texas recommends resuming Johnson & Johnson vaccine shots after CDC, FDA give green light

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: April 23, 2021

  The news comes a day after state health officials said that a Texas woman who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been hospitalized with blood clots and whose condition was being investigated by the CDC as potentially connected to the vaccine. No other details were released. Full Story 

• Texas House votes down budget amendment aimed at giving health coverage to more uninsured Texans

  by Karen Brooks Harper April 22, 2021

  The Texas Legislature has declined to pass any broad expansion of state and federal health care coverage for uninsured Texans since the Affordable Care Act of 2010 required states to expand Medicaid — a provision later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Full Story 

• Medicaid expansion picks up bipartisan support in the Texas House, but hurdles remain

  by Karen Brooks Harper April 21, 2021

  Expanding the Medicaid rolls to include more than a million Texans could get a floor vote during House budget hearings on Thursday. Full Story 

• COVID-19 ravaged Texas nursing homes. Here are the stories behind the numbers.

  by Carla Astudillo and Karen Brooks Harper April 15, 2021

  Nearly 9,000 Texas nursing home residents have died of COVID-19. This is what the last year of chaos and isolation was like for nursing homes residents and the employees who care for them. Full Story 

• Texans hit hardest by coronavirus are facing another challenge: the pause on the J&J vaccine

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Mandi Cai Updated: April 14, 2021

  Efforts to vaccinate young people, rural Texans, communities of color and people experiencing homelessness have been impacted by the pause. Full Story 

• Texas pauses J&J vaccinations as feds plan to review six reports of blood clotting among 6.8 million doses nationwide

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: April 13, 2021

  At the state's three FEMA vaccination sites in Dallas, Arlington and Houston, officials said that vaccine efforts would continue but that officials would not be administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Full Story 

• Trying to make sense of how Texas ranks on coronavirus vaccinations? Here’s a look behind the numbers.

  by Karen Brooks Harper April 9, 2021

  Texas is beating the national rate in terms of seniors fully vaccinated, but unique challenges make it harder to move up in the rankings in other areas, officials and experts say. Full Story 

• As vaccine eligibility widens, some vulnerable Texans are still fighting for access

  by Karen Brooks Harper March 31, 2021

  The state is still directing providers to prioritize older and vulnerable Texans, and cities are continuing their efforts to reach Texans who have trouble accessing vaccine doses. Full Story 

• Vaccinated Texas nursing home residents can now hug their families and receive more visitors after a year of isolation

  by Karen Brooks Harper March 23, 2021

  For many residents, birthday parties and holiday celebrations took place largely through windows and over video calls. Full Story 

• Texas opens COVID-19 vaccine to everyone 16 and older on March 29

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: March 23, 2021

  The Texas Department of State Health Services is asking providers to prioritize appointments for people 80 and older, and to prioritize walk-ins from anyone in that age group who shows up without an appointment. Full Story 

• Unmasked: Across Texas, elation and caution as COVID-19 restrictions end after a year

  by Karen Brooks Harper, Duncan Agnew and Marissa Martinez Updated: March 10, 2021

  A newly "open" state will likely look very different in rural towns and suburban neighborhoods compared to more populous areas and coronavirus hot spots, residents and business owners say. Full Story 

• Texans don’t have to prove they’re eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, and some are jumping the line. Here’s why.

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: March 9, 2021

  Providers are not allowed, under state health guidelines, to require vaccine recipients to prove a medical condition that would qualify them because it could create barriers at a time when Texas is trying to vaccinate most of its 29 million residents. Full Story 

• Keep wearing your mask, health officials say after Gov. Greg Abbott lifts mask mandate

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: March 2, 2021

  Some variants of COVID-19 are more contagious and researchers believe they can reinfect people who already have gotten the virus. Doctors and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommend wearing masks. Full Story 

• Texas National Guard deployed to get COVID-19 vaccines to older Texans who are homebound

  by Karen Brooks Harper Feb. 25, 2021

  Gov. Greg Abbott said he wants the majority of Texans who are 65 and older to be inoculated against COVID-19 by the end of March. He said the state could announce more eligibility for the vaccines next month. Full Story 

• Texas’ COVID-19 vaccinations begin to rebound after plunging during last week’s winter storm

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Feb. 23, 2021

  Texas expects to see about 1.5 million doses arrive this week, including last week’s undelivered doses, and the opening of three new federally supported vaccination hubs. Full Story