Vaccine & COVID News

We all like our facts simple. One of the data points that many want to know is the mortality rate for the COVID-19 illness so they can make informed risk decisions.  Unfortunately, like so many other things in life, it’s complicated. Even though it seems like the novel coronavirus that causes the disease health officials…

In 1950, the great Hollywood director Elia Kazan produced a movie, “Panic in the Streets,” about a desperate attempt to stop a pandemic (pneumonic plague, the pulmonary version of the bubonic plague, or “Black Death”) from spreading out of New Orleans and across the United States.  What’s most interesting about that film is contrasting how…

If you’re like me, your kids’ school has closed for the unforeseeable future because of the coronavirus—anywhere from two to eight weeks—and your employer has requested that you work from home, or maybe you already do. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for about 13 years and have done a mix of homeschooling, part-time work, and…

America is facing a major crisis. COVID-19 is rolling across the nation, as it has China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, and Italy. No one was ready for this new coronavirus, and measures that seemed wildly over the top even two weeks ago are being implemented nearly every day. It is time to think about another set of…

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the People’s Republic of China has taken the opportunity to further close off the rest of the world’s view of its internal behavior. Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a declaration Tuesday that expels journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal….

With Congress, the Supreme Court, sports leagues, schools, and many businesses and companies across America shutting down, only time will tell if we are being appropriately cautious or engaging in a hysterical overreaction to coronavirus.  But for those imaginative reporters who see a Russian lurking behind every tree and keep asking me if President Donald Trump can…

Today we’re interviewing Kevin Pham, a doctor and a contributor to The Daily Signal, about COVID-19. How real is this threat? How is it like and unlike seasonal flu and the swine flu? When do you need to call a doctor if you have symptoms? How soon can we expect a vaccine, and how likely…

“Hunger doesn’t take a break at times like this.” And neither does Second Harvest Heartland. For food bank workers like Allison O’Toole, coronavirus is only part of the country’s crisis. The other? Feeding struggling families and older people who don’t want to leave their homes. But as the need intensifies, so are a lot of churches’…

How are you and your family responding to the “new normal” in this, the time of coronavirus? How about your workplace or place of worship? Things have changed dramatically in America almost overnight because of the new coronavirus disease, which health officials call COVID-19. Here at The Daily Signal, we’d like to hear your stories…

Hardly anything that happens in this world is truly unprecedented. As Americans respond to the coronavirus pandemic, which began in China, with canceled events, business closures, and aggressive social distancing, many are taking an interest in another great pandemic that took place a hundred years ago. “We have an invisible enemy. We have a problem that a…

Some commentators have ominously suggested that the United States is just a few days—maybe a week to 10 days—behind the crippling coronavirus crisis that is hammering Europe, especially Italy. If true, that’s troubling. That said, however, taking personal responsibility for doing the right thing with public hygiene and the new (to most of us) concept…

The coronavirus pandemic has renewed interest in telehealth—the practice of letting patients consult with doctors directly, via phone or video conferencing. This method of health care delivery offers obvious advantages, allowing patients to get personal medical advice quickly, without having to come to the doctor’s office first. President Donald Trump reiterated his commitment to clearing…

With schools, businesses, and many government offices closing in an effort to halt the spread of coronavirus, state and federal courts are starting to follow suit. Courts across the country are grappling with how to respond to the outbreak while balancing the health and safety of court personnel and litigants against the need to handle…

The coronavirus pandemic demonstrates with crystal clarity how the federal government’s vast regulatory apparatus governing health care can be an obstacle to rapid response in a national emergency. We’ve seen this movie before. The law of unintended consequences is an ironclad rule of public policy, and in health policy, that law can go berserk. The…