Welcome to Shots — NPR’s Health newsletter! Each week we’ll send you a quick dose of the latest medical science to help you make healthy choices for yourself and your community. We’ll do our best to tuck a bit of wonder, humor and fun into each note, too!
This week: A new COVID shot may attract vaccine skeptics, but some experts are skeptical it will make a difference. Some colonoscopy recipients get surprise bills, and we figure out why.
Development of the Pfizer and Moderna shots, which use new mRNA-based technology, was fast-tracked because of the pandemic. That left some Americans hesitant about getting vaxxed.
To be clear, the mRNA vaccines have proven safe and effective, but vaccine hesitancy remains widespread. Now, a company called Novavax is seeking approval for a vaccine that works through an older, tried-and-true process. It’s been shown to be 90% effective against severe illness and health officials are optimistic that the new, old-school shot might encourage some of the hesitators to finally get their shots.
If you’ve ever had a colonoscopy you’ll know what we’re talking about: It’s an, ahem, extremely awkward experience. But it can save your life. The reason you subject yourself to lying on that exam table sideways with a gown that opens in the back is so your doctor can search you for precancerous polyps and early-stage colon cancer.
The procedure is recommended for adults over age 45, and usually is fully covered under the ACA as preventive care. So it came as a shock for 59-year-old New Hampshire resident Elizabeth Melville when she got a bill for over $2,000. And Melville is not alone. KHN reporter Michelle Andrews has Melville’s story – and tips for how to avoid getting stuck with the bill –because having a colonoscopy is unpleasant enough!
Following the leaked Supreme Court decision that suggests Roe v. Wade will be overturned, many Americans of childbearing age are wondering what life will be like where they live if this happens.
Of course, reproductive health care providers on the front lines of this debate have been thinking about this for quite some time.
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