Author

Rachana Pradhan

Rachana Pradhan has been involved in several high-impact projects as a health care reporter, including an investigation into former HHS Secretary Tom Price’s extensive use of private jets at taxpayers’ expense. The investigation, which resulted in Price’s resignation, was a 2018 finalist for the American Society of News Editors’ O’Brien Fellowship Award and earned an honorable mention in the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Edgar A. Poe award.

Health

Stark Racial Disparities Persist in Vaccinations, State-Level CDC Data Shows

Rachana Pradhan May 23, 2021

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia on March 6, 2020.File photo: Bear Productions, Shutterstock.com, licensed. WASHINGTON, D.C. - Black Americans’ covid-19 vaccination rates are still lagging…

Business

CVS and Walgreens Have Wasted More Vaccine Doses Than Most States Combined

Rachana Pradhan May 3, 2021

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 182,874 wasted doses as of late March, three months into the country’s effort to vaccinate the masses against the coronavirus. Of those, CVS was responsible for nearly half, and…

Health

‘Press 1 for English’: Vaccination Sign-Ups Prove Daunting for Speakers of Other Languages

Rachana Pradhan Mar 23, 2021

Only two languages were offered when callers dialed in. But Virginia is home to speakers of many other languages — Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Arabic, Mongolian, Amharic and dozens more — who would need the help of translators to get…

Health

After Billions of Dollars and Dozens of Wartime Declarations, Why Are Vaccines Still in Short…

Rachana Pradhan Feb 23, 2021

Pfizer vaccine against Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection shown on the production line. Editorial credit: Mike Mareen / Shutterstock.com, licensed. WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. government has invested billions of dollars in manufacturing,…

Health

Huge Gaps in Vaccine Data Make It Next to Impossible to Know Who Got the Shots

Rachana Pradhan Jan 29, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As they rush to vaccinate millions of Americans, health officials are struggling to collect critically important information — such as race, ethnicity and occupation — of every person they jab. The data being…

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Health

Delicate Covid Vaccines Slow Rollout — Leading to Shots Given Out of Turn or, Worse, Wasted

Rachana Pradhan Jan 14, 2021

Of the first two covid vaccines on the market, Moderna’s is considered more user-friendly. Pfizer-BioNTech’s shot must be stored in specialized freezers at 94 degrees below zero. Once out of deep freeze, it lasts just five days, compared…

Health

As Nation Awaits Vaccine, Biden Is Under Pressure to Name New FDA Chief ASAP

Rachana Pradhan Nov 8, 2020

The FDA will face critical decisions about vaccines needed to help put the nation on its path out of the pandemic. Biden will have to rely on a temporary head of the FDA to steer the 17,000-employee agency during one of the most…

Health

White House Testing Regimen Did Not Protect the President

Rachana Pradhan Oct 2, 2020

The president and first lady have both had symptoms, according to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and the first lady’s Twitter account. The president was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday evening…

Health

It’s Not Just Insulin: Lawmakers Focus on Price of One Drug, While Others Rise Too

Rachana Pradhan Sep 22, 2020

As drug prices spiral upward, politicians in Washington, D.C., and in state governments across the country have sought to address the problem in limited ways, focusing mostly on one drug: insulin, a drug more than 7 million Americans rely…

Health

Trump Is Sending Fast, Cheap COVID Tests to Nursing Homes — But There’s a Hitch

Rachana Pradhan Aug 24, 2020

Two manufacturers that have received Food and Drug Administration authorization and whose instruments are being delivered — Becton, Dickinson and Co., known as BD, and Quidel — say their antigen tests are intended for patients with…

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Health

White House Left States On Their Own To Buy Ventilators; Inside Their Mad Scramble

Rachana Pradhan Jun 16, 2020

One state health official said they didn’t think there was “egregious price gouging” from manufacturers, but officials nonetheless had little choice but to pay what was asked. Louisiana also overshot orders out of fear that ventilators…

Health

Abbott’s Fast COVID Test Poses Safety Issues, Lab Workers Say

Rachana Pradhan Apr 23, 2020

Trump and federal health officials have promoted the ease with which the Abbott test can be given to patients, whether at a drive-thru site or a doctor’s office. File photo: Shutterstock, licensed. Lab personnel say worries are mounting…

Finance

The COVID-19 Bailout That’s Left Every Hospital Unhappy In Its Own Way

Rachana Pradhan Apr 16, 2020

Roughly two-thirds of the HHS coronavirus money has yet to go out the door, ensuring that a fierce lobbying effort from all parts of the health sector will continue to target the White House, HHS and Congress, which continues to negotiate…

Health

Trump Touted Abbott Lab’s Quick COVID-19 Test But HHS Department Document Shows Only 5,500 Are On…

Rachana Pradhan Apr 2, 2020

Labs in all 50 states were set to receive roughly the same number of Abbott’s test cartridges and the devices on which they run ― 100 tests and 10 or 15 devices — the document shows, regardless of how many confirmed COVID-19 cases…