Author Archive

Caroline Chen

Caroline Chen covers health care for ProPublica. Previously, she worked at Bloomberg News, where she wrote about Valeant Pharmaceutical’s use of a mail order pharmacy to boost reimbursements for its drugs, the tactics used by a rare disease drugmaker to scare patients into staying on therapy, and the plight of medically complex babies who get stranded in hospitals because of a lack of home-care nurses. She received her Master’s degree from the Stabile Program in Investigative Journalism at Columbia University, where she was awarded a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship.
Management

Why Opening Restaurants Is Exactly What the Coronavirus Wants Us to Do

Governors continue to open indoor dining and other activities before vaccinations become widespread. Experts warn this could create superspreading playgrounds for dangerous variants and squander our best shot at getting the pandemic under control.

Digital Government

Only Seven of Stanford’s First 5,000 Vaccines Were Designated for Medical Residents

Stanford Medicine officials relied on a faulty algorithm to determine who should get vaccinated first, and it prioritized some high-ranking doctors over patient-facing medical residents.

Management

The Enraging Deja Vu of a Third Coronavirus Wave

Health care workers don’t need patronizing praise. They need resources, federal support, and for us to stay healthy and out of their hospitals. In many cases, none of that is happening.

Management

Most States Aren’t Ready to Distribute the Leading COVID-19 Vaccine

A review of state distribution plans reveals that officials don’t know how they’ll deal with the difficult storage and transport requirements of Pfizer’s vaccine, especially in the rural areas currently seeing a spike in infections.

Management

America Doesn’t Have a Coherent Strategy for Asymptomatic Testing. It Needs One.

While it battles a virus that can spread quickly via silent carriers, the United States has yet to execute a strategy for testing asymptomatic people. This is a problem — and ProPublica health reporter Caroline Chen explains why.

Management

How—and When—Can the Coronavirus Vaccine Become a Reality?

It is likely we’ll eventually have a coronavirus vaccine—but perhaps not as quickly as some expect.

Management

What Antibody Studies Can Tell You—and More Importantly, What They Can’t

Coronavirus antibody studies and what they allegedly show have triggered fierce debates, further confusing public understanding.