KFF

What are the recent trends in children’s routine vaccination rates? As families and children prepare to go back to school, our new report reviews data from the 2022-2023 school year. A few key takeaways include: • 36 states and D.C. had measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rates below 95% –– the Healthy People 2030 “target” rate. • 10 states had vaccination exemption rates over 5%, making it impossible for those states to reach coverage rates at or above 95%. • Flu vaccination rates were over three times higher than COVID-19 vaccination rates for children (54% vs 15%, respectively). Explore the trends and more in the full report:

How do firearm deaths differ by demographic? In our latest analysis, we review a decade’s worth of data, finding that firearm death rates were consistently higher among young adults, Black people, and males compared to their respective peers from 2012 to 2022. Explore the analysis: https://bit.ly/4cJOG46

Our new analysis shows that immigrants account for lower health care spending than their U.S.-born counterparts. On average, annual per capita health care expenditures for immigrants are about two-thirds of those for U.S.-born citizens ($4,875 vs. $7,277), reflecting lower spending for most types of health care and from most payment sources. The pattern suggests that immigrants use less health care than U.S.-born people, reflecting the fact that they are generally younger, healthier, and face barriers to coverage and care.

“It’s when misinformation gets mixed into politics and news media coverage and amplified that it can take off, reach significant numbers of people, and have a larger national effect,” writes KFF President and CEO Drew Altman. Read the full column: https://bit.ly/3y1QZR3

Our updated report shows the share of kindergarten children up to date on their state-required vaccinations has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, the share of kindergarten children with a vaccine exemption has increased since the pandemic began. Explore the data, factors contributing to recent vaccination trends and some policy approaches to increasing vaccination rates as children head into a new school year:

A new KFF analysis finds that firearms are involved in the majority of all homicides and suicides in the U.S., accounting for 79% of homicides and 55% of suicide deaths in 2022, the most recent data available. Our analysis also shows that firearms deaths have increased sharply over the last decade, rising from 92 deaths per day in 2012 to 132 deaths per day in 2022. Learn more in our report: https://bit.ly/4cJOG46

In his latest column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman discusses the difficulties of navigating the misinformation minefield, including the ways in which the news media can amplify misinformation or confront it by addressing deficits in public knowledge. Read the full column: https://bit.ly/3y1QZR3

Our Survey on Women Voters captured what Republican women voters think about abortion access. We found that many Republican women voters (50%) — particularly women of reproductive age (56%) — say abortion should be legal. Get the details in our new analysis: https://bit.ly/3XZcnkG

Our latest Health Misinformation Monitor focuses on intentionally false or misleading information online and its potential impact on public trust in health care. Read on to learn about the U.S. Military’s covert anti-vaccine disinformation campaign in the Philippines, false claims about sunscreen on TikTok that discourage people from using it, the rise of counterfeit diabetes and weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, and more.

As immigration remains a hot-button political issue and with recent visa restrictions for international nurses, new KFF analysis finds that the share of hospitals hiring foreign-educated RNs has doubled since 2010. As of 2022, foreign-educated RNs have been hired by hospitals accounting for almost half (45%) of all hospital beds in the U.S. As nursing shortages continue through the next decade and as the U.S. 65 population grows, immigrant nurses may fill important workforce shortages and improve the health and wellbeing of the nation. https://lnkd.in/e_WCD6vN