Jon Ebelt

State health department director Adam Meier is stepping down. He will leave the state Department of Public Health and Human Services on August 12, citing a family health issue.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration greenlighted both Moderna and Pfizer’s shots for young children today and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to follow suit this weekend.

Montana state health department spokesperson Jon Ebelt says the state is ordering vaccines in anticipation of the approval, but didn’t say how many. He says providers could receive the vaccines by June 21, which is the earliest they could be administered following approval.

Lead contamination and exposure in Montana go back several decades. But the data do not. Without more information, state and local health departments have no way of knowing how many people have been affected and the extent of the impact.

The baby formula shortage is leaving some Montanans wondering how they’ll continue to feed their newborns. Families are struggling to find food for their children, and women are rallying together to help mothers in need.

The state health department has enacted an emergency rule to restrict transgender Montanans from amending the gender marker on their birth certificates. The move clashes with a court order that blocks a new law aimed at regulating the process.

State health officials say they have signed a contract with a Helena-based consulting firm to address patient safety issues at the Montana State Hospital. The federal government pulled funding for the hospital this week citing safety problems that resulted in patient deaths.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in February warned the state it could lose funding after they found that the Montana State Hospital didn’t have measures in place to prevent COVID-19 infections and serious falls among patients, which led to four deaths.

In a few short months, states have gone from donating surplus rapid covid-19 tests to states with shortages to hoarding them as demand driven by the spike in cases strains supplies.

The COVID-19 Omicron variant is forcing changes to contract tracing in the state. It's also amplifying staff shortages at hospitals.