Plans are underway to require nearly all foreign travelers to the United States to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a Biden administration official confirmed Wednesday. The policy will be put in place once the current restrictions on travel into this country are lifted, but officials haven’t decided exactly when that will happen, The New York Times… read on > read on >
Moderna Inc. announced on Thursday that the potency of its vaccine does not dim in the first six months after the second dose. The news came in a statement that contained little actual data, but the findings may comfort the 63 million Americans who have received two doses of the Moderna vaccine as the highly… read on > read on >
The United States’ largest operator of nursing homes said Wednesday that its workers must get vaccinated against COVID-19 if they want to keep their jobs. The announcement from Pennsylvania-based Genesis Healthcare — which has 70,000 employees at nearly 400 nursing homes and senior communities — suggests the nursing home industry’s reluctance to force employees to… read on > read on >
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida reached a new high this week, the Florida Hospital Association (FHA) says. Hospitalizations are 13% higher than the previous peak on July 23, 2020, and 60% of the state’s hospitals are expected to face a “critical staffing shortage” in the next seven days, the association said Tuesday, CNN reported. Currently, there… read on > read on >
Scientists suspect that a century-old tuberculosis vaccine might be able to protect older adults against the worst ravages of COVID-19. The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine was first used in 1921, and is on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines. More than 130 million babies worldwide receive this vaccine every year. But it is… read on > read on >
The two HIV prevention drugs available in the United States are equally safe and effective, and the biggest difference between them is price, a new study contends. However, a sizable minority of patients have switched from the older and cheaper “preexposure prophylaxis” (PrEP) formulation to the newer and much pricier one. In many cases that… read on > read on >
Taking vitamin D supplements won’t improve painful symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), British researchers report. IBS is a chronic digestive disorder that can cause stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhea and constipation. Symptoms come and go for some people, but the condition can severely affect quality of life for many. Previous research has suggested a link… read on > read on >
As doctors see more kids with COVID-19, some positive news has emerged: Only about 4% of children and teens have long-lasting COVID symptoms, a British study finds. The study confirms that COVID-19 tends to be a mild illness in children and that they usually recover quickly, the researchers reported Aug. 3 in The Lancet Child… read on > read on >
Go ahead, put your credit card away: Handling cash and coins isn’t likely to give you COVID-19. European researchers treated various coins and paper money with different concentrations of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. A stainless steel surface was used as a control. “Under realistic conditions, infection with SARS-CoV-2 from cash is very unlikely,”… read on > read on >
U.S. gun sales increased early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of those firearms ended up in homes with teens, researchers say. “This finding is concerning because we know that the single biggest risk factor for adolescent firearm injuries is access to an unsecured firearm,” said study co-author Dr. Patrick Carter. He is co-director of… read on > read on >
