Top U.S. health officials have reportedly warned the White House to curtail its plans to offer COVID-19 booster shots to Americans later this month. Leaders of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both told White House pandemic coordinator Jeffrey Zients in a meeting Tuesday that their… read on > read on >
A new coronavirus variant called Mu that may be able to evade existing antibodies, including those from vaccines, is under close watch by U.S. health officials. The variant hasn’t taken extensive hold in the United States at this point, but the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is taking it “very seriously,” according… read on > read on >
An ongoing study of more than 6 million Americans found no serious side effects linked to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. “These results from our safety surveillance are reassuring,” said Dr. Nicola Klein, director of the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center in Oakland, Calif. She spoke in a Kaiser Permanente news release. Klein is also a leader… read on > read on >
Miami publicist Robin Diamond is “step-obsessed.” She aims for 10,000-plus steps every day using her Apple watch and even bought a treadmill during the COVID-19 quarantine to make sure she reaches her daily goal. The 43-year-old has lost 15 pounds since April 2019 and feels better than ever before. “Walking saved my sanity and restored… read on > read on >
Opposition is mounting among U.S. and international health experts against President Joe Biden’s push to make COVID-19 booster shots available later this month. The scientific evidence simply isn’t there to support booster shots, and those doses would be better used in the arms of the unvaccinated around the world to prevent future mutations of COVID,… read on > read on >
As the school year gets underway across the United States, new data shows that coronavirus cases among children are climbing. Since the pandemic began, children have represented 14.8% of total cases, but for the week ending Aug. 26, that percentage jumped to 22.4%, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. While child COVID-19 cases declined… read on > read on >
Former Marine Cpl. Claudia Mitchell can hold a banana or a water bottle in her left hand without squishing it as she opens it. She can use her left hand to help cut peaches for a pie. She can hold someone’s hand without squeezing too hard, and she can grab her makeup bag with just… read on > read on >
COVID-19 care is likely to get more expensive for Americans with the expiration of insurers’ temporary waivers on costs associated with treating the illness. Earlier in the pandemic, patients didn’t have their normal co-payments or deductibles for emergency room visits or hospital stays for COVID-19, and most tests were also free, The New York Times… read on > read on >
Smaller packages of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine that could be available this fall might improve vaccine access and reduce the number of wasted doses, government documents show. The Pfizer vaccine has been available in two packages, one with 450 doses and another with 1,170, but the vaccine’s storage requirements make it difficult for smaller facilities to… read on > read on >
A new, huge study provides real-world proof that mask-wearing limits the spread of the coronavirus. “I think this should basically end any scientific debate about whether masks can be effective in combating COVID at the population level,” Jason Abaluck, a Yale University economist who helped lead the study, told the Washington Post. He called the… read on > read on >
