Sarah Fentem
Sarah Fentem reports on sickness and health as part of St. Louis Public Radio’s news team. She previously spent five years reporting for different NPR stations in Indiana, immersing herself deep, deep into an insurance policy beat from which she may never fully recover. A longitme NPR listener, she grew up hearing WQUB in Quincy, Illinois, which is now owned by STLPR. She lives in the Kingshighway Hills neighborhood, and in her spare time likes to watch old sitcoms, meticulously clean and organize her home and go on outdoor adventures with her fiancé Elliot. She has a cat, Lil Rock, and a dog, Ginger.
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New COVID-19 vaccinations in Missouri have slowed as many residents refuse the shot, asserting their personal freedom. Republican lawmakers claiming vaccine mandates amount to government overreach have fought back against local officials and public health departments. In more than two dozen counties, fewer than one-third of people are fully vaccinated.
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Children between 5 and 11 have been eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine for nearly three months, but only about 13% of children in that age group in Missouri are fully vaccinated.
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Five months after a judge ruled Missouri must begin enrolling people in its newly expanded Medicaid program, the state is off to a slow start, with only 20% of newly eligible people signed up.
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State Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, has filed a bill that would ban abortions when doctors have determined that a fetus has cardiac activity, which can occur as early as six weeks. The bill, modeled on a Texas law, also would allow private citizens to sue doctors or others who aid abortion seekers if they disobey the law.
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The case was detected in a St. Louis resident who had recently traveled within the United States, according to the St. Louis Department of Health.
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A federal judge in St. Louis on Monday temporarily barred the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from requiring health care workers in Missouri and nine other states to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could give final approval for kids as young as 5 to get the COVID-19 vaccine this week.
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Abortion-rights advocates say the rules are an attempt by state lawmakers to curb access to Planned Parenthood, the state’s only abortion provider.
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Only 45,000 of Missouri adults who received the vaccine since the state announced its vaccine lottery have entered the statewide drawing. That's fewer than 15% of the more than 600,000 people in total who have entered the drawing for $10,000 prizes, which ends next month. Still, the state health director calls the vaccination lottery a success.
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Donald Kauerauf said Thursday that as head of the Department of Health and Senior Services, he aims to boost the state’s COVID-19 vaccination rates. He supports masking and other public health measures to decrease coronavirus infections but opposes vaccine mandates. Instead, he said the state should focus on giving residents more information.