All posts by Alec Whipple

Preparing for the Next Pandemic

Introduction During the last two years, everyday life has been defined by numerous challenges created by COVID-19, including societal restrictions, overflowing hospitals, and consistent illness and death. While COVID-19 itself ...

The Hidden Costs of COVID-19

As we enter 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic is surging through the United States yet again, this time fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Although the symptoms of this variant ...

Reflections on 2021 and Predictions for 2022

In our last edition of the 2021 calendar year, the Health Policy News team looks back at major health policy-related topics from the last year, as well as discusses the ...

COVID-19 Autumn Policy Roundup

As 2021 ends, the COVID-19 virus is still infecting thousands of people in the country each day. Although the summer provided a brief respite from the virus—with case counts dropping ...

Summer 2021 COVID-19 Updates

The summer months have seen a downturn in the spread of COVID-19 throughout the United States, with 56.1% of the total population having received at least one dose of a ...

Analyzing the Effects of Public Health Messaging on Vaccine Hesitancy

Introduction To date, the COVID-19 vaccination effort has been largely successful for the United States; however, vaccine hesitancy is a major factor preventing the nation from reaching herd immunity. The ...

Digital Health Literacy Inequities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the digitization of healthcare services, as safety precautions prompted a transition of care delivery from in-person to virtual. The health risks posed by the COVID-19 virus ...

How States Can Improve COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the greatest public health crisis of our lifetime—but fortunately, it has been met with a scientific response equally as strong. Multiple vaccines were created, tested, ...