Vaccines

Interim Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for Use of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines in Children Aged 6 Months–5 Years — United States, June 2022

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Recommendations for the Use of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine in Children Aged 6 Months–5 Years and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in Children Aged 6 Months–4 Years Data reviewed with the EtR Framework supported the use of COVID-19 vaccine in children aged 6 months–5 years. COVID-19 is a major public health problem among young children. As … Read more

“Limited Monkeypox Vaccination Appointments Will Become Available to Eligible Residents Today at 1 PM”

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From the Mayor’s Office: “Today, Mayor Bowser and DC Health announced that beginning today at 1:00 pm, a limited amount of monkeypox vaccination appointments will become available to eligible District residents at PreventMonkeypox.dc.gov. To be considered eligible for the monkeypox vaccination, persons must be a District resident, 18 years of age or older and: Gay, … Read more

The Monkeypox Crisis Is Secretly Spiraling in Virus Epicenter of Nigeria

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AKAMKPA, Nigeria—The two sons of Destiny, a 48-year-old Nigerian businessman whose nephew had recently contracted the monkeypox virus, are already showing similar symptoms. They have swollen lymph nodes, which started a couple of days after they developed a fever. Despite the rash on their bodies morphing into pus-filled pimples that have scabbed over, Destiny believes … Read more

Pfizer says updated booster can provide more protection against omicron

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Pfizer says changing its COVID-19 vaccine to better target the omicron variant is safe and effective. The update, in a statement issued Saturday, comes just days before regulators determine if Americans should receive another round of booster shots beginning this fall. The most widely used vaccines currently in circulation mostly target the original, more dangerous … Read more

COVID vaccine saved 20 million lives in first year: report

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The coronavirus pandemic could have been much worse without vaccines, according to a new study that claims the number of deaths recorded worldwide from the coronavirus would be more than triple than it is today. In the year after the vaccine was first introduced in December 2020, more than 4.3 billion people received an inoculation, … Read more

Covid Shots for Little Kids Are Finally Here. Now for the Hardest Part

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In some pediatric practices, shots are already going into arms. Children’s Medical Group, a private practice in Atlanta, ordered doses as soon as it was allowed and received a first shipment on Monday, the Juneteenth holiday. They began vaccinating at lunchtime. “We’ve had huge demand,” says Jennifer Shu, a pediatrician in practice and editor for … Read more

An Ancient Killer Is Rapidly Becoming Resistant to Antibiotics, Scientists Warn

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Typhoid fever might be rare in developed countries, but this ancient threat, thought to have been around for millennia, is still very much a danger in our modern world. According to new research, the bacterium that causes typhoid fever is evolving extensive drug resistance, and it’s rapidly replacing strains that aren’t resistant. Currently, antibiotics are … Read more

Breakthrough vaccine could help cure pancreatic cancer

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A new vaccine using the same mRNA technology as the Pfizer jab against COVID-19 could be a breakthrough in the fight against pancreatic cancer. In a promising early study conducted by German company BioNTech — which partnered with Pfizer to develop the lifesaving COVID shot — half of the patients remained cancer-free 18 months after … Read more

COVID mRNA vaccines can be quickly updated for new variants. So, where’s my Omicron booster?

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Since Omicron was declared a variant of concern at the end of November, it quickly swept the globe, becoming the dominant COVID variant in many countries including Australia. It’s the latest in a growing line of variants, and probably not going to be the last. Yet every one of the hundreds of millions of approved … Read more

We Can’t Keep Getting The Same Formula in COVID-19 Booster Shots, Says Immunologist

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Being up to date on COVID-19 vaccines means having had three or four doses of the same shot at this point. Current boosters are the same formulations as the first authorized shots, based on the original strain of the coronavirus that emerged in late 2019. They do still protect against severe COVID-19, hospitalizations and deaths. … Read more