COVID-19 Pandemic

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Los Angeles, CA - March 25: Dr. Neville Anderson, left, helps to hold Iris Behnam, 4, while nurse Breanna Kirby, right, gives her DTap Polio and MMR Chickenpox (Varicilla) vaccinations while her mom, Haley Behnam, holds and comforts her at Larchmont Pediatrics in Los Angeles Tuesday, March 25, 2025. At the popular Larchmont Pediatrics, Dr. Neville Anderson requires all infants to begin their routine vaccinations by the three month visit. Parents who refuse receive a letter in the mail stating that they have 30 days to find a new doctor. "If a parent is truly anti-vax and does not want to vaccinate their child, our values and our goals and our beliefs are so antithetical to each other that we're not a good team," said Anderson. "I'm not the right doctor for them, and they're not the right patient for me." Larchmont only dismisses 1-4 patients each year, she said, since most anti-vaccine families know their reputation and tend to go elsewhere. For some patients, the dismissal policy is a real draw. As yet another measles outbreak continues to spread in Texas and New Mexico, with the first two measles deaths in the U.S. in a decade, physicians are again facing a moral quandary: Should they refuse to see families who don't want to vaccinate their children, or keep them in their practices in the hopes of changing their minds? (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 3pm Dr. Anderson sees a 4 year old patient who is getting vaccines 4:15pm A baby is getting a vaccine, but Dr. Anderson will not be there. The parent said it's fine to shoot her face and get artful phots of the vaccination, baby -- but she doesn't want her baby's face photographed. 8:52 4:30pm Dr. Anderson will be seeing another 4 year old patient who is getting vaccines

A pediatrician’s dilemma: Should a practice kick out unvaccinated kids?

Keeping an unvaccinated child as a patient could give pediatricians the chance to educate families on vaccines but may also expose more kids to preventable diseases.

Marianne de Reynier Nevsky, the cultural mediation manager in Neuchatel, left, and town council member Julie Courcier Delafontaine chat about a new "museum prescription" program outside the Ethnographic Museum of Neuchatel in Neuchatel, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jamey Keaton)

Stressed? Sick? Swiss town lets doctors prescribe museum visits as art therapy for patients

The Swiss town of Neuchatel is offering residents a novel form of preventative or preparatory medicine: museum visits as art therapy.

Trump’s FDA pick made his name by bashing the medical establishment. Soon he may be leading it

In this image from video provided by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Dr. Martin Makary speaks during a select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic roundtable in Washington on Feb. 28, 2023. (Committee on Oversight and Government Reform via AP)

Dr. Marty Makary’s views align with those of the man who would be his boss: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who built a following by sowing doubts about vaccines.

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Long COVID is solvable, but we need more clinical trials

3D print of a spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19 in front of a 3D print of a SARS-CoV-2 virus particle. The spike protein (foreground) enables the virus to enter and infect human cells. On the virus model, the virus surface (blue) is covered with spike proteins (red) that enable the virus to enter and infect human cells. For more information, visit the NIH 3D Print Exchange at 3dprint.nih.gov. Credit: NIH. . (Photo by: IMAGE POINT FR/NIH/NIAID/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Some people may remain ill after COVID infection because the virus still lurks in their bodies. The looming question now is: Who will pay for drug development and trials?

Recent California COVID-19 Deaths

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Coronavirus Science

Illustration of medical and virus related images.

All your COVID-19 questions answered: An archive of newsletter reader Q&As

Are vaccines safe? When can I get a booster dose? Do I have to wear a mask? We’ve answered hundreds of newsletter readers’ questions. Here’s an archive.

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