Month: July 2021

Cases are surging in countries around the world as the more transmissible delta variant spreads rapidly. Also growing: pressure on vaccine-rich countries to help people in countries where vaccines are still scarce.

NPR’s Will Stone reports on the waiting game. And Harvard’s Junaid Habi argues vaccine hesitancy in America is a peculiar privilege.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

The former Secretary of Defense was a chief architect of the conflict that came to be known as America’s ‘forever war.’ After his death this week at age 88, that conflict has now officially outlived him.

NPR’s Steve Inskeep reports on one group of people still living with the consequences: thousands of Afghans who worked with the U.S. military over the past 20 years. More from that story, which aired on Morning Edition, is here.

Additional reporting in this episode from NPR’s Greg Myre.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Los Angeles County — America’s most populous county — recently recommended mask wearing even for vaccinated people, just two weeks after the state relaxed most COVID restrictions. County officials say masks will help protect unvaccinated people from the more transmissible delta variant, which is spreading rapidly across the country.

CDC director Rochelle Walensky tells NPR the federal government may “encourage” states to return to more mitigation measures in places where vaccination is low and the delta variant is driving cases up.

That describes the situation in Missouri. Rebecca Smith with member station KBIA reports from Columbia.

Shalina Chatlani of the Gulf States Newsroom looks at the challenge of getting more people vaccinated in southern states.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.