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☆ Moderna moves three vaccines into final stage trials as it works to rebound from Covid slump
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Moderna has more to offer beyond its Covid vaccine. The update brings Moderna a step closer to having multiple products on the market, which it badly needs amid plunging demand for Covid shots worldwide. Moderna will chart its post-Covid future Wednesday during its fifth annual "Vaccines Day," an investor event in Boston focused on the company's vaccine portfolio. That includes its combination vaccine against Covid and the flu and a shot against another common herpes virus called cytomegalovirus, or CMV. It also includes a new and improved version of Moderna's Covid shot.

Persons: norovirus, Barr, Moderna, Blackstone, Stéphane Bancel Organizations: Moderna, Epstein, Covid, Blackstone Life Sciences, Blackstone Group Locations: Boston, U.S

☆ As a travel writer, I've taken many solo trips. I was surprised at how much I loved traveling with my baby.
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-26 | by ( Kate Wills | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A chance to travel again felt exciting and overwhelmingAnd then in April 2021, we had some news. And traveling with a baby is very similar to traveling solo in that people are much kinder to you. Having a baby actually made exploring a new country easierWith Guy at work most days, Blake and I went exploring. Traveling with a baby is weirdly similar to solo travel in that every small victory feels huge. Excerpted from "A Trip of One's Own: Hope, Heartbreak, and Why Traveling Solo Could Change Your Life" (Sourcebooks, May 3, 2022).

Persons: Blake, I'd, Guy, whisking, Thelma, Louise, soiling, Jeanne Baret, Blake greedily, I'm Locations: Spain, Cadiz, Southern Spain, London, Mauritius, East Africa, Sourcebooks

☆ In Gaza, disease could be even deadlier than airstrikes, WHO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —As the Israel-Hamas conflict continues, there’s growing concern about how the situation may raise the risk of disease and illness in Gaza. There could be more deaths in Gaza from disease and a broken health infrastructure than from bombs and missiles, the World Health Organization has warned. “If the conflict impacts access to safe water, then there may be challenges with waterborne diseases,” she said. In this situation, the risk of death due to disease is much greater than the risk of death due to bombardment,” said Haque, who is not involved in WHO but has studied infectious disease, conflict and war. During the Israel-Hamas conflict, maternity care facilities have been affected by Israeli airstrikes due to evacuations, power outages, and a shortage of medical supplies.

Persons: “, Margaret Harris, Barry Levy, ”, Levy, Rebecca Katz, ” Katz, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, ” Tedros, Abed Rahim Khatib, Ubydul Haque, Haque, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, Shifa, CNN’s Martin Goillandeau, Eleni Giokos Organizations: CNN, World Health Organization, WHO, Tufts University School of Medicine, Center for Global Health Science, Security, Georgetown University, United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, United Nations Office, Humanitarian Affairs, Getty, Rutgers Global Health Institute, CNN Health, Shifa Locations: Israel, Gaza, Covid, Al

☆ ‘Medical Freedom’ Activists Take Aim at New Target: Childhood Vaccine Mandates
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Sheryl Gay Stolberg | More About Sheryl Gay Stolberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Similar legal challenges have been filed in the five remaining states: California, Connecticut, Maine, New York and West Virginia. A few childhood vaccines, including those that protect against chickenpox and rubella, were developed with cells obtained from aborted fetuses in the early 1960s. The legal push comes as childhood vaccine exemptions have reached a new high in the United States, according to a report released last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Idaho had the highest rate of exemptions, at 12.1 percent, while West Virginia had the lowest, at less than one-tenth of 1 percent. A broad majority of Americans continue to believe in the value of childhood vaccines.

Organizations: Centers for Disease Control, Pew Research Center Locations: Mississippi, California , Connecticut, Maine , New York, West Virginia, United States, Idaho

British experts have previously estimated there are more than 650,000 cases of chickenpox in England and Wales. Chickenpox is a highly infectious disease that mostly affects children and can cause an itchy rash, blisters and fever. The chickenpox vaccine recommendation will next be considered by the government. Experts noted, however, that Britain's government offers the shingles vaccine to adults at risk of the disease. Dr. Gayatri Amirthalingam, deputy director of public health programs at Britain's Health Security Agency, said the new chickenpox vaccine recommendations would “help make chickenpox a problem of the past.”

Persons: Immunisation, ”, Andrew Pollard, Pollard, Gayatri Amirthalingam Organizations: chickenpox, . Centers for Disease Control, Health Service, Britain's Health Security Agency Locations: U.S, Canada, Australia, Britain, chickenpox, England, Wales, Chickenpox

NEW YORK (AP) — The proportion of U.S. kindergartners exempted from school vaccination requirements has hit its highest level ever, 3%, U.S. health officials said Thursday. Political Cartoons View All 1237 ImagesAll states allow exemptions for children with medical conditions that prevents them from receiving certain vaccines. But the percentage with nonmedical exemptions has inched up, lifting the overall exemption rate from 1.6% in the 2011-2012 school year to 3% last year. Hawaii saw the largest jump, with the exemption rate rising to 6.4%, nearly double the year before. One apparent paradox in the report: The national vaccination rate held steady even as exemptions increased.

Persons: kindergarteners, it’s, hasn’t, ”, Sean O’Leary, —, O’Leary, “, Shannon Stokley Organizations: Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, University of Colorado, CDC, West, American Academy of Pediatrics, Health, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: COVID, Idaho, New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, Maine, U.S

Doctors across the country say it’s rare that migrants receive medical screenings or anything beyond care for medical emergencies when they arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border, and there’s no overarching national system to track the care, either. You have these little islands of shelter,” said Deliana Garcia, of the nonprofit Migrant Clinicians Network, which supported more than 1,000 migrants in need of medical care in the first 10 months of this year. The challenges of careMigrants face a lack of access to steady medical care in the U.S., as well as healthy food and stable housing. Some avoid asking for help entirely out of fear of a large bill or longstanding distrust of the medical system. The shelter system in Massachusetts is so full that the governor brought in the National Guard in August to assist.

Persons: Julio Figuera, he’d, Figuera, ”, Deliana Garcia, “, anyone’s, Craig Williams, Cook, we’ve, Steve Federico, they’re, Federico, ” Federico, Jon Ewing, Ewing, Doctors, they’ve, Garcia, Ted Long, Stephanie Lee, who'd, Lee, ” Lee, Fiona Danaher, Danaher, Brigham, Sophia Tareen, Jesse Bedayn, Shastri, Robert Wood Johnson Organizations: International, Network, Border Patrol, Associated Press, Denver, New York City Health, Denver Health, New York, Penn State, National Institutes of Health, National Guard, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AP Locations: Cook County, Chicago, Venezuela, United States, U.S, Mexico, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, Denver, Massachusetts, Milwaukee

☆ Opinion | Pro-Vaccine Views Are Winning. Don’t Fear the Skeptics.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

With Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, vaccine skepticism has been back in the headlines. (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine outweigh the risk — the same percentage that Pew found in 2016 and 2019. When you look at rates of vaccination among young children for potentially dangerous infectious diseases, the data is encouraging. According to a study published in January in the C.D.C.’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report:Vaccination coverage among young children has remained high and stable for most vaccines, although disparities persist. Per the C.D.C., for children born in 2018 and 2019, coverage was over 90 percent for the polio, M.M.R., hepatitis B and varicella (chickenpox) vaccines.

Persons: Robert F, Kennedy Jr, ’, Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich, Kennedy “, ” Kennedy, He’s, I’d, Pew, Per, there’s, ” Organizations: Democratic, Pew Research, Centers for Disease Control

☆ Fact Check-SKYCovion vaccine is not sprayed from aircraft
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A South Korean COVID-19 vaccine recently authorised in Britain is administered by injection, not sprayed into the sky from aircraft, as social media posts falsely claim. Some social media users have since been saying that SKYCovion will be sprayed on people from aircraft in a possible misinterpretation of the vaccine’s name (here). However, the vaccine is not based on mRNA and is administered through intramuscular injection, according to the MHRA and SK bioscience. SKYCovion is not an mRNA vaccine but has a traditional protein-antigen design. The SKYCovion vaccine authorised in Britain is injected intramuscularly, not sprayed from the sky.

Persons: chemtrails, Read Organizations: South, SK bioscience, GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, SK Chemicals, Britain’s Medicines, Healthcare, Agency, Twitter, ” SK bioscience, Reuters Locations: Britain, South Korean

☆ Ramsay Hunt Syndrome: The condition public figures Sen. Dianne Feinstein and pop star Justin Bieber have brought to light
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the 89-year-old California Democrat who was diagnosed with shingles in February, confirmed Thursday she “continues to have complications” from a viral infection called Ramsay Hunt syndrome. “This makes its true frequency more difficult to determine,” the Cleveland Clinic noted. Ramsay Hunt syndrome can also cause hearing loss on the side of the face affected. About 70% of people with Ramsay Hunt will regain complete or “almost complete” function of facial muscles, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment with antiviral therapy seem to improve long-term outcomes,” the Cleveland Clinic notes on its website.

☆ What to Know About Post-Shingles Encephalitis
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Benjamin Mueller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic senator from California, returned to the Capitol last week after spending more than two months recovering from shingles. For Ms. Feinstein, 89, the virus also brought on a previously unreported case of encephalitis, a rare but potentially debilitating complication in which the brain swells. Post-shingles encephalitis can cause headache, fever, sensitivity to light, vomiting, confusion, a stiff neck or even seizures. Those include memory or language trouble, sleep disorders, mood disorders, walking difficulty and other cognitive problems. Older patients tend to have the most trouble recovering.

☆ Here's why Covid vaccines will still be free for uninsured Americans as public health emergency ends
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Vanessa Leroy | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesBut the vast majority of Americans will not have to pay out of pocket for Covid vaccines even after the federal government's stockpile runs out. Insured Americans will be able to access Covid shots as part of their coverage, without having to pay out of pocket. Under the arrangement, the CDC will continue to purchase Covid vaccines at a discount and distribute them through 64 state and local health departments. That HHS effort will leverage the "public commitments" by drug manufacturers to provide free Covid vaccines and treatments to uninsured people. Pfizer and Moderna have not said whether they would supply free shots to pharmacies.

Childhood vaccinations across the U.S fallen for a second year in a row, leaving hundreds of thousands of kids vulnerable to otherwise preventable illnesses. But fears stoked by vaccine misinformation have also been a growing problem, O'Leary said. "We're still trying to understand the extent to which misinformation around Covid vaccines has spread to misinformation about other childhood vaccines," he said. In a December interview, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC's director, told NBC News that vaccine misinformation is one of the biggest threats to public health. About a third of kids ages 5 through 11 have had two doses of a Covid vaccine.

☆ U.S. childhood vaccinations dip again in 2021-'22 school year -study
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Overall, those receiving state-required vaccinations declined to about 93% last year, down from 94% in the previous school year and 95% in the 2019-2020 school year, according to the CDC report. All U.S. states require the vaccine against measles and rubella and all but Iowa require a shots against mumps. All states also require the combined diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis shot and the vaccine against poliovirus, while 49 states require inoculations against varicella, or chickenpox. Exemptions for vaccinations, which may be granted by states in cases where parents request them for their children remained low at 2.6%. O'Leary said the data points to U.S. needs for a focus on addressing access and poverty in order to increase vaccination rates.

☆ Nearly 250,000 kindergarteners in U.S. are vulnerable to measles due to slide in vaccination rates, CDC says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"And we know that measles, mumps and rubella vaccination coverage for kindergarteners is the lowest it has been in over a decade," Peacock said. Nearly a quarter of a million kindergartners are potentially vulnerable to measles due to a dip in vaccination coverage during the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kindergarteners are required to be vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella, chickenpox, polio, and diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. The vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella was 93.5% during the 2021-2022 school year, below the target coverage of 95% to prevent outbreaks. The CDC report looked at whether the kindergarteners had received the second dose of their measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

The vast majority are either unvaccinated or have received just one of the two recommended doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, according to City of Columbus Public Health. The outbreak, the largest in the U.S. since 2019, is happening as resistance to school vaccination requirements is spreading across the country. The percentage of parents who said they were against vaccination requirements for school was even higher. "As I think about the challenges that we have to public health vaccine, misinformation is among the biggest threats," she said. "Here in Ohio, we have some pretty active anti-vaccine groups," said Tara Smith, a professor of epidemiology at the Kent State University College of Public Health.

☆ Strep A is surging in the UK and has already killed at least 19 children. Here's why it's taken so long to make a vaccine against this deadly pathogen.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Sarah Braner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Strep A is surging in the UK and has killed at least 19 kids, the UK Health Security Agency said. A vaccine would be better, but research groups have hit roadblocks during its development. Researchers have been trying to make a strep-A vaccine for decadesIf it's caught in time, strep A can be treated with antibiotics. There is no vaccine commercially available, but several research groups are working on developing one. A GSK spokesperson confirmed to Insider that it's also in the early stages of developing a strep-A vaccine but that it had not started human testing.

☆ Monkeypox may spread before symptoms appear, study suggests
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

From the start of the global monkeypox outbreak, researchers have hoped that people could only spread the virus once they developed symptoms. In addition to painful lesions, monkeypox symptoms can include fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, muscle aches, back pain and fatigue. The study is the first to demonstrate that poxviruses, which include both monkeypox and smallpox, can spread in this manner. Past research suggested that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission of monkeypox was possible, but only symptomatic transmission had been documented. With this new observation about pre-symptomatic spread, Freeman said, it may be impossible to reach a point of zero cases.

Chickenpox vaccines have virtually wiped out severe complications and deaths in American children from the highly contagious virus, a new report finds. Chickenpox —which is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, a type of herpes virus — was considered just a normal part of growing up until the vaccine became available in 1995. The chickenpox vaccine implementation is “a tremendous achievement,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Mona Marin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease. An estimated 90.3% of children have been vaccinated against chickenpox by age 2, according to the CDC. The CDC recommends two doses of chickenpox vaccine for children, teens and adults who have never had the disease.

☆ Fact Check-Guillain-Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy, acute flaccid myelitis and transverse myelitis are not polio ‘renamed’
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Guillain-Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy, acute flaccid myelitis and transverse myelitis are not polio “renamed”, despite claims posted online. It was NEVER eradicated, it's been renamed several times, Guillian Barre, Bells Palsy, Acute Flaccid Myelitis, Transverse Myelitis... Any neurological disorder has been renamed polio.”A similar post can be found here. Though primarily seen following an acute infection, GBS can also be a rare side effect of vaccination (here). Four medical syndromes with symptoms that can include muscle weakness and paralysis are not “polio renamed”, as claimed on social media. Poliovirus infection, while extremely rare, can lead to some of these syndromes, but the syndromes themselves also have other, more common causes and distinct symptoms.

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