The health care workforce is understaffed for life after Covid-19 - STAT Too few medical assistants, pharmacy technicians, and others in the health care workforce will complicate post-Covid medical care. Patrick Skerrett STAT

As the U.S. gradually unburies itself from the Covid-19 pandemic, some people have been sounding the alarm about looming shortages of physicians and nurses. They should be equally worried about shortages of others in the health care workforce, like medical assistants, pharmacy technicians, dental assistants, and more.

They didn’t want to get Covid-19 shots. This is what convinced them. From encouragement from family to fears over new variants, this is what swayed vaccine holdouts. NBC News

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In interviews with NBC News, individuals who were initially reluctant to get their vaccinations said nudging from family members, fears about emerging variants and having the ability to shrug off rumors about the shot were among the reasons they finally decided to roll up their sleeves, months after the shot became available.

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‘Wasting my breath’: Southern faith leaders wary of promoting vaccines Exhausted by backlash over pandemic restrictions, some faith leaders see little upside in urging skeptical congregants to get vaccinated. Dan Goldberg POLITICO

Biden administration and state officials hoped that pastors would play an outsized role in promoting Covid-19 vaccines, but many are wary of alienating their congregants and are declining requests to be more outspoken.

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in most parts of the country, Americans have reason to cheer, with more than half of those over 12 fully vaccinated, state after state lifting all emergency restrictions and caseloads decreasing by double-digits week over week. Families are traveling again, diners are flocking to restaurants and baseball is back as America’s seasonal pastime.

But the summer is turning out to be fairly joyless in places like CoxHealth Medical Center in Springfield, Mo., where nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists have been grappling with a resurgence in coronavirus cases that forced the hospital to reopen the 80-bed Covid unit it had shuttered in May.