The rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. increased by nearly 20% from 2019 to 2020 in a potential indication of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on maternal health outcomes. The gap between Black and white women also increased during the first year the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, new data shows. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-02-23/u-s-maternal-mortality-rate-surged-in-2020 

USA Today (February 15, 2022) – Babies younger than 6 months old wouldn’t be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine even if the shots now under consideration for younger children were authorized. A new study indicates most of the infants wouldn’t need them to avoid severe disease as long as the mother got the vaccine during […]

Medscape (February 11, 2022) – This week’s announcements from several governors about easing COVID-19 mask mandates are “probably premature, but it’s a tough call,” President Joe Biden said on Thursday. He said the pandemic has had a “profound impact on the psyche of the American people” and called the changing guidelines “confusing.” Lifting Statewide Mask […]

CNBC (February 14th, 2022) -The Food and Drug Administration’s plan to fast-track Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for children under 5 years old was delayed because of a “low number of cases overall in the clinical trial,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday. “Most kids are not getting symptomatic Covid,” said the current Pfizer board member and […]

Medscape (February 3, 2022) – Americans who have received a COVID-19 booster shot are 97 times less likely to die from the coronavirus than those who aren’t vaccinated, according to a new update from the CDC. In addition, fully vaccinated Americans — meaning those with up to two doses, but no booster — are 14 […]

Medscape (February 2, 2022) – The Biden administration has enough doses for the 18 million children under 5 years old who may become eligible for COVID-19 shots in the coming weeks and has already started coordinating vaccination sites, according to White House officials. White House Prepares for Vaccines for Kids Under 5 (medscape.com)

The Hill (January 26th, 2022) – The average number of U.S. COVID-19 deaths this week surpassed the height of the delta surge earlier this fall and is at its highest point since last winter, when the nation was coming out of the peak winter surge. The seven-day average of deaths hit 2,166 on Monday, according […]

WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) – The United States has shipped 400 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as part of its earlier pledge to donate about 1.2 billion doses to low-income countries, the White House said on Wednesday. U.S. has sent 400 mln COVID vaccine doses to 112 nations -White House | Reuters

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) — More than 1.1 million American kids were diagnosed with COVID-19 during the week ending Jan. 20, new data show. That’s 17% higher than the 981,000 cases diagnosed the week before and double the number from two weeks before that. More Than 1 Million U.S. Kids Diagnosed With COVID […]

WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service has begun shipping free at-home rapid COVID-19 tests after millions of orders were placed through a new federal website launched this week, the White House said on Friday as the rise in Omicron-related cases shifted nationwide. US starts shipping free COVID tests amid Omicron -White House […]

Jan 21 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization on Friday recommended extending the use of a reduced dosage of Pfizer’s (PFE.N) COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 5 to 11 years old. The recommended dosage for the younger population is 10 micrograms instead of 30 micrograms offered to those 12 years and older. WHO recommends reduced dose […]

CNBC (January 21st, 2022) reports that the number of children hospitalized with COVID hit a pandemic high during the omicron variant’s surge. While more children are hospitalized with COVID, due to omicron’s high level of transmissibility, they don’t appear to be getting sicker than they did with previous strains, physicians say. Kids’ Covid hospitalizations hit […]

The Wall Street Journal (January 23rd, 2022) – Pressure has begun to ease on U.S. hospitals hit by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, while some European governments took steps to reopen activities that were closed during the worst of the wave. The seven-day average of total people in U.S. hospitals declined for the second consecutive day, […]

MONDAY, Jan. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The coronavirus can leave more than 40% of children hospitalized for COVID-19 with headaches and other lingering neurological symptoms, a new study claims. COVID Can Affect Brains of Hospitalized Kids – Consumer Health News | HealthDay

The Hill (1/18) reports, “At least 20 percent of Americans have now been infected with” coronavirus, “according to data from Johns Hopkins University.” The data reveal that “more than 66,400,000 Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since the pandemic began in early 2020,” but the total number “could be much higher due to asymptomatic […]

The Hill (January 20, 2022) – Nearly 1 million children were infected with COVID-19 in the last week according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, four times the rate of the peak of last winters’ surge. The Hill adds, for the week ending Jan. 13, more than 981,000 child COVID-19 cases were reported, a 69 […]

Medscape (Jan. 14th, 2022) – Nearly all teenagers admitted to intensive care units because of COVID-19 were unvaccinated, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Two doses of the vaccine “were highly effective against COVID-19–related hospitalization and ICU admission or the receipt of life support,” the authors of the […]

Medscape (Jan. 14th, 2022) – The U.S. health care industry was already stretched thin by two years of the COVID-19 pandemic when the Omicron variant struck. As hospitals fill with patients again, experts and workers say damage to the industry may be long-lasting. A record 1.34 million COVID cases were reported in the United States […]

The Wall Street Journal (Jan 4th, 2022) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that many children with weakened immune systems get a booster from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE four weeks after their second shot. The agency issued the recommendation for moderately and severely immunocompromised children 5 to 11 years. CDC Backs […]

FDA (Jan. 7th, 2022) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine to shorten the time between the completion of a primary series of the vaccine and a booster dose to at least five months for individuals 18 years of age and older. Coronavirus (COVID-19) […]

FDA (Jan. 03, 2022) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to: Expand the use of a single booster dose to include use in individuals 12 through 15 years of age. Shorten the time between the completion of primary vaccination of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 […]

TIME (Jan. 7th, 2022) – Hospitalizations of U.S. children under 5 with COVID-19 soared in recent weeks to their highest level since the pandemic began, according to government data released Friday on the only age group not yet eligible for the vaccine. https://time.com/6137814/covid-hospitalizations-us-children/   

The Washington Post (Dec. 28th, 2021) – Federal health officials on Monday shortened the recommended time Americans infected with the coronavirus should isolate from 10 days to five if they are asymptomatic — a decision they said was driven by a growing body of research about when people are most infectious. CDC cuts isolation time recommended for […]

The Hill (Dec. 24, 2021) – Short-staffed children’s hospitals were slammed with increased emergency department visits for mental health, suicide and self-injury cases in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period last year. Officials warn children’s mental health worsens amid pandemic | TheHill

The Washington Post (Dec. 24, 2021) – Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania and New York have been hit particularly hard. As of Thursday, there were 1,987 confirmed or suspected pediatric covid-19 patients hospitalized nationally, a 31 percent jump in 10 days, according to a Washington Post analysis. Omicron and children: Pediatric hospitals in parts of U.S. filling […]