Listen: Healthbeat staff talk vaccinations, bird flu and other public health stories on ‘What the Health’

The network aims to rapidly detect and respond to public health threats and emergencies. The different entities receive direct access to early-warning alerts and outbreak intelligence, along with training and exercises.

The proposal would make it easier for internationally trained physicians to practice in Georgia as hospitals and clinics face growing workforce gaps.

The Trump administration has told the global vaccine group Gavi to phase out shots containing thimerosal as a condition of funding. The preservative is at the center of conspiracy theories, but any link to autism has been debunked.

Prisma Health’s announcement came two days after Healthbeat revealed measles exposures in the labor and delivery unit at Prisma Health Greer Memorial Hospital and in the emergency department of Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital. 

In addition to the hundreds of people in quarantine or isolation for measles, there are likely many more who are unaware they’ve been exposed during the normal course of their lives: Going to work, school, and church, shopping for groceries, dining out.

Dr. Alister Martin is an untraditional pick to lead the 7,000-employee health department, with a background more in medicine and advocacy than public health.