The highly contagious Delta variant now accounts for more than half of all new coronavirus infections in the United States, new government data shows. The dangerous variant that crippled India recently currently makes up 51.7% of new infections in this country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time,…  read on >  read on >

Lotteries that pay cash and prizes to Americans who get vaccinated sound like a sure-fire recipe for success, but a new study finds they don’t actually boost vaccination rates. After media reports suggested that Ohio’s “Vax-a-Million” lottery increased vaccination rates, other states decided to use lotteries to reinvigorate slowing vaccination rates. “However, prior evaluations of…  read on >  read on >

Want to be good to your ticker? Load up on veggies — especially beans, Italian researchers recommend. They’ve published a comprehensive review of research on eating habits and heart disease that provides consistent evidence that eating less salt and animal proteins and more plant-based foods is associated with a lower risk of heart disease. Those…  read on >  read on >

Women who are breastfeeding and wonder if COVID-19 vaccination is safe for their baby may be reassured by the results of a new study. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, report that “vaccine-associated mRNA” — the active components of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines — “was not detected in 13 milk samples collected…  read on >  read on >

Key immune system cells in folks who’ve had COVID-19 or the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are able to recognize and mount a defense against highly contagious coronavirus variants, new research shows. In both groups, CD4+ “helper” T-cells and CD8+ “killer” T-cells can recognize the Delta mutation and three other widespread variants of concern. That’s key…  read on >  read on >

Most cancer patients have a good immune response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, new research shows. Two of the three approved vaccines in the United States — Pfizer and Moderna — are mRNA vaccines. Researchers assessed 131 cancer patients and found that 94% developed antibodies to the new coronavirus three to four weeks after their second…  read on >  read on >