Introducing Long COVID Connection, a new outlet for talented writers that’s part of Medium’s Boost program I’m in the process of soft-launching a new site on Medium called Long COVID Connection, a publication that will focus exclusively on reporting and storytelling about long COVID. It will report on the research…

Bringing together research, personal narratives, and other stories about Long COVID and related post-viral syndromes. There are countless ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic changed — and continues changing — the landscape of healthcare, and even more ways in which it continues intimately impacting individual lives. While past pandemics undoubtedly…

With so much going on, it’s easy to miss important health news that gets buried under the big headlines. Here are three things to know. — As I noted in my article about the new gun safety legislation, it’s been a rough few weeks when it comes to the news, particularly in terms of health-related news. …

Despite the NRA’s opposition, the new bipartisan law does many of the things gun safety advocates have wanted for decades—without stepping on the Second Amendment. — It’s been a heavy couple of weeks in the news — the Uvalde mass shooting and the fallout from the atrocious response to it, rising COVID cases, monkeypox continuing to spread, several dozen immigrants dying in an overheated truck in San Antonio, and a string of Supreme Court cases that…

COVID vaccines haven’t transitioned to annual shots like the flu vaccine, but regular boosters will likely continue. — It’s official: We’re going to get COVID-19 vaccines formulated against Omicron and its subvariants, which have continued to wreak havoc this summer. The FDA’s independent advisory committee met Tuesday to discuss a single question: whether to recommend that vaccine manufacturers produce a COVID booster that includes a component against Omicron…

Though the landscape is rapidly changing, here’s where each state stands (as of June 28) in terms of abortion rights — By the time many Americans were still learning that Roe v. Wade had been overturned, abortion clinics had already halted services in a half dozen states where providers feared prosecution because of those states’ trigger laws. Thirteen states have trigger laws — legally passed abortion bans designed to go into…

Bottom line: It doesn’t matter if you get Pfizer, Moderna or a combo of them—any three doses of these vaccines are the anti-COVID gold standard. — One of the most common questions I still regularly hear from people about COVID-19 vaccines is whether they should get all Pfizer, all Moderna vaccine, or a combination of the two with their booster shots. …

No other country in the world experiences mass shootings and children’s gun deaths at the rate the U.S. does—but we have to get over our denial to stop it. — Today, at least 19 children have died or or received emergency treatment for a gunshot wound in the U.S. And tomorrow, another 19 will. And then another 19 the next day. The only difference between the 19 killed or injured today (and tomorrow and the next day) and the 19…

First, don’t panic. Second, wear a mask (for COVID, not monkeypox). Third, don’t panic. — With the ever-evolving coronavirus variants, common respiratory diseases like RSV popping up in the wrong season, the mysterious spate of hepatitis cases, and now an unusual outbreak of monkeypox cases… you could be forgiven for being exhausted by an onslaught of plagues that feels almost biblical. But all viruses are…