Federal health officials are recommending a “pause” in the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after six women who received it reported developing a rare blood clotting disorder.

The U.S. hasn’t contained COVID-19, but all of these public health precautions have certainly done a number on the flu.

Last month, Deb Haaland made history as the first Indigenous person ever confirmed by the Senate to serve in a president's cabinet. In her first official trip as secretary of the Interior, she visited the Mountain West with a focus on tribal issues.

The White House recently announced that it would not create a federal “vaccine passport” requirement, or proof that you’ve gotten the COVID-19 vaccine. Even so, leaders in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah have rejected such requirements, using everything from denunciations to executive orders to planned legislation.

New research published in the journal Nature Climate Change finds that snow is melting earlier – often in the winter. That’s a bad sign for the Mountain West. 

This is the second in a two-part series about the vaccine rollout in Indian Country. Part one looks at the success of the rollout on rural reservations.