The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday endorsed the emergency use of Pfizer’s booster shots for children ages 12 to 17, expanding protection to adolescents and teens as students return to classes and the highly contagious Omicron variant surges across the country. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky backed a recommendation that came hours…  read on >  read on >

Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is safe in pregnancy, experts have been saying for months. Now, a new study adds evidence to support that advice. “Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is important for preventing severe illness in pregnant people,” said study author Dr. Heather Lipkind, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the Yale…  read on >  read on >

While the Omicron variant appears wily enough to evade people’s antibodies, researchers report that it should have a much harder time slipping past a person’s T-cells. “Despite being a preliminary study, we believe this is positive news. Even if Omicron, or some other variant for that matter, can potentially escape antibodies, a robust T-cell response…  read on >  read on >

That sing-song speech parents use when talking to their babies is universal, and infants tend to prefer it. So, when a baby doesn’t seem to engage with this melodic “motherese,” or baby talk, it can be an early sign of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Researchers at the University of California, San Diego used numerous techniques…  read on >  read on >

Babies born at the height of the pandemic appear to suffer small but significant delays in their motor and social development, a new study reports. Babies were particularly at risk if their mothers were in the first trimester of their pregnancy during spring 2020, when the United States entered lockdowns. “It’s important to recognize these…  read on >  read on >