Moderna Inc. announced Wednesday that it has launched a trial that will study the power of a redesigned booster shot — one that hones in on the highly contagious Omicron variant. The news comes just one day after Pfizer announced that it has started testing its own Omicron-specific shot. In announcing its trial, Moderna also…  read on >  read on >

They’ve gotten some media headlines recently, but potential menstrual changes associated with getting a COVID vaccine are typically minor and temporary, two new international studies confirm. That’s great news for women, said an expert in fertility and reproductive health. “The studies coming from the UK, US and Norway provide us with significance reassurance that the…  read on >  read on >

U.S. hospitals continue to reel from the pressure posed by the ongoing pandemic, facing critical workforce shortages and rising labor costs that amount to a “national emergency,” hospital executives say. Nearly 1,400 hospitals — 31% of the nation’s total — are on the verge of critical staffing shortages, according to the American Hospital Association (AHA).…  read on >  read on >

The Biden Administration on Tuesday withdrew an emergency COVID-19 vaccine-or-test mandate for workers at large companies following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling against the requirement. The mandate, which required businesses with 100 or more staff to ensure their employees were either vaccinated or were tested weekly and wore masks, will no longer be in…  read on >  read on >

COVID-19 vaccines don’t affect the outcomes of in-vitro fertilization (IVF), according to a new study. It’s more evidence that the shots won’t harm fertility, researchers said. The results “will give people comfort to know that the COVID-19 vaccine does not affect their reproductive potential,” said senior study author Dr. Alan Copperman, director of reproductive endocrinology…  read on >  read on >

Remember when everyone was disinfecting their groceries at the start of the pandemic, fearful that the new coronavirus could be spread simply by touching a surface on which the virus had landed? New research confirms that much of that cleaning was unnecessary because people are unlikely to get COVID-19 from contaminated surfaces. “Early on in…  read on >  read on >

Saline intravenous (IV) fluids are as effective as more costly solutions in treating intensive care patients and keeping them alive, Australian researchers report. “Just about every patient admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) will receive intravenous fluids for resuscitation or as part of standard treatment,” noted the study’s lead author Dr. Simon Finfer. He’s…  read on >  read on >

Living through the pandemic has not been easy for kids, but it has really thrown off children who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), new research warns. Though they were not more likely to catch COVID-19, they were more likely to experience symptoms if they were infected. But the damage did not stop there: These children were…  read on >  read on >