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WASHINGTON, DC – December 2, 2022 – With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical science has been politicized and attacked by conservative Republicans and the far right. Critics have spread misinformation that the COVID-19 vaccine is dangerous and ineffective in spite of strong evidence to the contrary. COVID-19 public health mandates like masking, vaccination and lockdowns have met with strong resistance and backlash about the loss of individual freedoms. On December 13^th, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis requested that a Grand Jury be appointed by Florida’s Supreme Court to investigate possible harms caused by the coronavirus vaccine including the incidence of sudden deaths. President’s Biden’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on December 14^th, “We have a vaccine that, unequivocally, is highly effective and safe and has saved literally millions of lives.”

VAERS is a publicly-available vaccine database, short for the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, that the anti-vaccine movement uses to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine. This database was begun in 1990 to detect possible safety problems with vaccines. It is managed by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration. Anyone who receives a vaccine can submit a report to the database, however, these submissions have not been verified and the adverse effects may not be due to the vaccine. Healthcare workers and vaccine manufacturers are required to report all adverse events that are brought to their attention by patients which may not be related to the vaccine. This information will be used by the agencies to develop scientific studies to assess the safety of the vaccine.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Dr. Fauci, who is about to retire from a 54-year career as a physician and scientist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and its director for the past 38 years, feels that misinformation and outright lies highlight a “profoundly dangerous” time for public health and science. He is a trusted voice for millions of Americans. However, Fauci has been personally attacked by former President Trump and his allies for recommending a COVID strategy based upon the best-available scientific information and which has led to death threats against him.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Fauci laments, “We’re living in a progressively anti-science era and that’s a very dangerous thing when you’re dealing with a very deadly pandemic that has already killed more than a million people in this country.”

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

RALEIGH, NC – December 14, 2022 – The Affordable Care Act of 2010 expanded Medicaid eligibility in the U.S. by raising the qualifying threshold until the Supreme Court overruled the law in 2012. The Court ruled that each state has the right to decide to expand Medicaid not the federal government. At present, 11 states, including North Carolina, have not expanded Medicaid. The U.S. Congress has recently voted to defray each of the remaining state’s cost to expand Medicaid from 90% to 95% for the first 2 years of expansion. North Carolina state hospitals and health care systems have agreed to provide funds to cover most of the remaining cost.

One million people in North Carolina (almost 13% of the population) do not have health insurance. Expanding Medicaid will allow almost 600 thousand more North Carolinians to qualify. In a 2020 poll, 75% of North Carolinians want to expand Medicaid. However, the North Carolina state legislature had passed a law that disallows voter initiatives so that the only remaining pathway is through the state legislature. The Republican-dominated legislature has resisted any attempt to pass Medicaid expansion over the past decade until recently.

At the close of the 2022 state legislative session on December 13^th, there were 2 Republican-sponsored bills to expand Medicaid. The Senate version includes eliminating the state’s certificate of need (CON) law and allows advanced practice registered nurses to provide patient care without physician supervision. The House version does not contain any other provisions.

The benefits of expanding Medicaid in North Carolina include:

• Keeping 600 hundred thousand newly insured healthier and living longer. Some examples are earlier cancer diagnosis, fewer cancer deaths, and better access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment
• Fewer personal financial hardship cases and bankruptcies
• A stronger economy by creating jobs, growing business activity and bringing in more revenue to the state
• An additional 1-2 billion dollars for the state over the first 2 years of the federal incentive funding

The health care of hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians is being delayed due to Republican-led political gamesmanship. In 2023, look for the Republicans to offer Medicaid Expansion to obtain a favorable budget, eliminate the CON and/or allow advanced practice registered nurses to provide patient care without physician supervision.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour