Blake Farmer
Blake Farmer is Nashville Public Radio's senior health care reporter. In a partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, Blake covers health in Tennessee and the health care industry in the Nashville area for local and national audiences.
Blake has worked at WPLN throughout his career, most recently serving as news director and primary editor for the newsroom. Previously, his reporting focused on education and the military. He's also enjoyed producing stories about midnight frog gigging and churches holding gun raffles.
Growing up in East Nashville, Blake attended Lipscomb Academy. He went to college in Texas at Abilene Christian University where he cut his teeth in radio at KACU-FM. Before joining WPLN full time in 2007, Blake also wrote for the Nashville City Paper and filed international stories for World Christian Broadcasting.
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A majority of white, rural conservatives in Tennessee are open to getting the vaccine at some point, but at least 45% won't consider it. Rates in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi are also lagging.
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An NPR/Marist poll found that rural, white Republicans — especially supporters of former President Trump — are among the least likely to get a vaccine. In rural Tennessee, we hear from some of them.
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Hospitalizations are down 62% for childhood respiratory illnesses, a study shows. Masking and physical distancing are keeping a variety of viruses in check, but will these behaviors last?
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As the pace of vaccination picks up, so do reports of spoiled doses. In Tennessee, close to 5,000 doses have been lost, prompting more oversight from state and federal officials.
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Black Americans are getting vaccinated at lower rates than whites. A new push to send vaccines to community health centers is intended to help quickly bridge that gap.
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Technically, the only Tennesseans currently eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine are health care workers, long-term care residents, and people 75 and older. But don't expect strict enforcement.
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Health officials are changing how they assess the regional nonprofits that find organs to transplant. The goal is to understand, and eventually fix, the geographic disparities in organ availability.
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Many U.S. hospitals are struggling to find enough space and staff to treat COVID-19 patients. The surge in new cases has forced them to rethink how they use space, manage staff, and handle treatment.
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A snafu with Operation Warp Speed leaves at least 14 states short of the vaccine doses they were promised. Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with WPLN's Blake Farmer about what that means in Tennessee.
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Last spring, nurses and doctors traveled to New York and other COVID-19 hot spots to help overwhelmed hospitals. But with the virus spreading everywhere, hospitals now have nowhere to turn for help.