A year ago, Chris Battelli faced a dilemma with no easy answer. He was a nursing student at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, studying for a career serving others in the health care system. He’d worked throughout the pandemic on the front lines, first as a COVID tester and then as someone administering […]
vaccine hesitancy
Posted inEducation, Health, News
Littleton Public Schools superintendent says he got death threats over vaccine controversy
Littleton Public Schools Superintendent Brian Ewert said he received death threats and other harassing emails after two videos surfaced on a right-wing Twitter account showing minors unaccompanied by their parents cleared to receive a COVID-19 vaccine during a clinic at Heritage High School on Jan. 21. The two videos, posted on Jan. 25, have since […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News, Politics and Government
Weld County’s health department is no longer allowed to post about COVID on social media
Updated Dec. 16, 2021: Following publication, Weld County reversed its decision and will allow the health department to post about COVID on social media. Weld County’s commissioners will no longer publish information about COVID-19 on social media following pushback on posts made to encourage residents to get vaccinated against the disease. Three members of the […]
Posted inEducation, News
Denver reports nearly all school staff vaccinated, but 108 could lose jobs
Nearly all Denver Public Schools employees are now vaccinated following a mandate from the city. Superintendent Alex Marrero said Thursday that 99.1% of the district’s more than 13,700 employees had complied with the city health order to get the COVID-19 shots or an exemption. But 108 employees are set to lose their jobs on Jan. 2 if […]
Posted inCOVID, Equity, Health, News
Schools, pediatricians look to make up lost ground on non-COVID vaccinations
By Kate Ruder, KHN WESTMINSTER — Melissa Blatzer was determined to get her three children caught up on their routine immunizations on a recent Saturday morning at a walk-in clinic in this Denver suburb. It had been about a year since the kids’ last shots, a delay Blatzer chalked up to the pandemic. Two-year-old Lincoln Blatzer, […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: Take it from a former vaccine skeptic, COVID is the “real deal”
In the dark vortex of the urban-rural, blue-red, vaxxeed-unvaxxed chaos that is America right now, Dusty Jensen stands as a tall, burly, good-natured unicorn. He’s a man who isn’t afraid to admit he’s changed his mind. Imagine that. I met him in a remote place at the end of a gnarly dirt road. It was […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Littwin: The debate about vaccines and stem cells is the latest twist. By the way, the pope says it’s “suicidal” not to be vaccinated.
The news could have been worse, but it was bad enough. We got the message from my 6-year-old’s elementary school on Thursday night that he might have to be quarantined because of a possible COVID infection in his first-grade class. The next day, we hear that the quarantine would, in fact, be put in place, […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Nicolais: UCHealth’s transplant policy should make the unvaccinated re-evaluate
The decision by UCHealth to inactivate a kidney transplant candidate over her choice to go unvaccinated against COVID-19 prompted a furor last week. UCHealth should be applauded for its science-driven decision, and it may end up trailblazing the path for health care providers across the country. It should also be yet another data point for […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Want to persuade people to get vaccinated? Stop trying
In 2019, even before the pandemic, the World Health Organization called “the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate” one of the top 10 threats to global health. Little did the WHO know that attempts to resolve vaccine hesitancy would soon become even more ubiquitous, almost entirely through the use of persuasive tactics. Since the advent of […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Nicolais: Rationing health care should be a scary side effect for the unvaccinated
A few weeks ago, I met several friends from my MBA in Health Administration program for brunch. We have stayed close since graduating and talk regularly. It took only a few minutes before we were engaged in a conversation about unvaccinated patients, rationing of care and ethical issues. Should unvaccinated COVID-19 patients be placed at […]