Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar declined to say early Tuesday if he has discussed using the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office after violent rioting at the U.S. Capitol by the president's supporters.
Some much-needed help: HHS doles out $22B for testing, vaccines
States will get some much needed support to roll out a coronavirus vaccine. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services shared it would roll out $22 billion in funding to support state testing and vaccination efforts.
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For months, states warned that additional funding would be needed to distribute a coronavirus vaccine. Last week, they finally got their wish.
The Department of Health and Human Services said it would push out $3 billion to states for vaccine distribution, and another $19 billion for testing before January 19. Both were sorely needed.
While the current administration has kept half of all vaccine doses in reserve to be used for people’s second doses, President-elect Joe Biden said he plans to send most of them out to be used immediately. The bet is that pharmaceutical companies will be able to manufacture enough doses in time for people to receive their booster shot.
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Report: Vast majority of data breaches reported to HHS occur among providers
A new report, from cybersecurity firm Fortified Health Security, shows that nearly 200 more data breaches occurred in the first 10 months of 2020 compared with the year prior around 80% of which targeted providers.
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Providers are the most common targets for cyber criminals leveling attacks against the healthcare industry, with data breaches at provider organizations accounting for 79% of all those reported to the Department of Health and Human Services in the first 10 months of 2020, according to a new report from cybersecurity firm Fortified Health Security.
Though the Covid-19 pandemic grabbed most headlines in 2020, patient data breaches, hacking incidents and IT shutdowns continued, providing several cautionary tales for the healthcare industry. From the malware attack that shut down 26-hospital Universal Health Services’ IT systems in September and October to an email hack
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SHOW TRANSCRIPT
In the early weeks of Covid-19 vaccine rollout, vaccines are getting to the states but not into the arms of people. The federal government has promised 20 million people would be vaccinated by the end of December, but just over 5 million people have received their first-dose vaccinations. In some states, hospitals are opening up times for vaccinations. Getting an appointment is another challenge.
“It is the hunger games. You have all these elderly people and you say here’s a website, here’s a phone number, good luck, may you ever be lucky, have at it,” Cory Morrocco said in Florida. She s waiting to get a vaccine.