COVID-19 outbreaks among unvaccinated NFL players could result in forfeited games and loss of pay, the league announced Thursday. The policy sends a strong message about COVID-19 vaccines and is likely to be followed by others in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, told CBS News. The NFL has…  read on >  read on >

Urinary tract infections: They’re the bane of millions of women, and a new study finds that many sufferers are unhappy that diagnosis and treatments are still limited for this painful condition. One of the biggest concerns researchers found was that many women think frequent antibiotic use to treat urinary tract infections (UTIs) might not be…  read on >  read on >

Black Americans admitted for inpatient hospital care are far more likely than white patients to experience safety-related health complications — even when both are treated in the same facility, a new report warns. And having good insurance didn’t appear to bridge racial differences in patient safety, investigators found: Even when Black patients had coverage similar…  read on >  read on >

Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine provides surprisingly robust protection against the highly infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 — but only if you’ve gotten both doses. Fresh data out of England shows that two doses of the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine is 88% effective in protecting people against the Delta variant, compared with about 94% effectiveness against the…  read on >  read on >

As he urged Americans who are still hesitant to get vaccinated, President Joe Biden told an Ohio town hall on Wednesday night that he expected the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would soon give final approval to COVID-19 vaccines. At the moment, all three vaccines being used in this country have only emergency use approval.…  read on >  read on >

Changes in Americans’ grocery shopping habits during the pandemic made pre-existing gaps in access to food even worse, researchers report. While many wealthier people switched to online ordering and did more stocking up, most low-income people still had to shop in-person at local small grocers and dollar stores and do so regularly because they couldn’t…  read on >  read on >

Thinking of starting a family? Start getting your heart in shape. New research suggests that how healthy a woman’s heart is before conception affects outcomes in her pregnancy. Study author Dr. Sadiya Khan said the findings make a case for more comprehensive heart assessments prior to pregnancy rather than focusing on isolated individual risk factors,…  read on >  read on >

Here’s yet another reason to limit screen time and get moving: Boosting your activity levels could reduce your risk of sleep apnea, according to a new study. Compared to the most active people in the study, those who spent more than four hours a day sitting watching TV had a 78% higher risk of obstructive…  read on >  read on >