Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center. The COVID-19 pandemic is imperiling the worldwide, 3-decade drive to wipe out polio. In an unprecedented move, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has recommended suspending polio vaccination campaigns to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. On 24 March, GPEI’s leadership called on all […]

A new potential vaccine against the coronavirus sweeping the world has showed promise in mice, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said Thursday. In a peer-reviewed study published in the medical journal EBioMedicine, the researchers said their new development comes from earlier vaccines they had created to fight the two other deadly coronavirus […]

AAP News reported the AAP recommends that pediatricians “use either flu shots or nasal spray flu vaccines for their patients during the 2020-’21 season” for everyone who is at least six months old. Dr. Yvonne A. Maldonado, FAAP, chair of AAP’s Committee on Infectious Diseases, said, “Given that vaccine effectiveness can vary year-to-year and the […]

(HealthDay News) — Texans who are college-educated, live in suburban or urban areas, have higher median incomes, and are ethnically white are less likely to vaccinate their children, according to a study published online March 10 in PLOS Medicine. Maike Morrison, from the University of Texas at Austin, and colleagues studied the socioeconomic and geographic drivers […]

Troy Brown, RN Medscape COVID-19 may be the dominant public health concern at present, but the flu is still a dire threat. Influenza-related hospitalization rates are the highest on record for children younger than 5 years and adults aged 18 to 49 years, according to the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). […]

By Jan Hoffman Brad Bigford, a traveling nurse practitioner from Boise, Idaho, jumped at the invitation: spend an afternoon at Fred’s Reel Barber Shop in nearby Meridian, offering the flu vaccine to customers. “Ladies, send your guys for a trim and a flu shot,” Mr. Bigford posted on Facebook. He added, “Anti-vaxxers need not reply.” […]

By Denise Grady The first testing in humans of an experimental vaccine for the new coronavirus began on Monday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced. The main goal of this first set of tests is to find out if the vaccine is safe. If it is, later studies will determine how well […]

By Troy Brown, RN Thirteen children died from influenza-related illness during the week ending February 15, for a total of 105 this season. This is the second highest number of flu deaths in children since the inclusion of such deaths as a nationally notifiable condition in 2004, according to a February 21 report from the Centers for Disease Control […]

By RONALD A. DEPINHO As the father of three teenagers, as a son whose father lost his battle with cancer, and as a physician-scientist who specialized in cancer research for more than four decades, I was heartened by the recent and welcome news of continued declines in US cancer mortality rates, driven by continued reductions in tobacco […]

By Dr. Yalda Safai ABC News One-third of children between the ages of 19-35 months don’t receive vaccines on time, leaving them vulnerable to preventable infectious diseases, and their complications, a new study finds. The study revealed that 63% of children received vaccines on time before the age of three, as per Centers for Disease Control and […]

(HealthDay News) — Most pediatricians report that the Vaccines for Children Program (VFC) has high perceived benefits, according to a study published online Feb. 21 in Pediatrics. Sean T. O’Leary, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Colorado in Aurora, and colleagues conducted an electronic and mail survey from June to September 2017 among 372 pediatricians to […]

By Erika Edwards A first look at how well the flu vaccine is working suggests it’s better than last season’s shot — so far. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that the overall effectiveness of the shot in the current flu season is 45 percent. The CDC evaluates the annual vaccine on how well it […]

By KATE THAYER CHICAGO TRIBUNE  Under newly introduced state legislation, parents in Illinois would no longer be able to claim religion as a reason to refuse vaccinations for their children — a move backed by public health officials as a way to stave off outbreaks of diseases once thought to be eradicated, and shunned by groups […]

BROOMALL, PA — After one of its elementary students died from complications due to influenza, a Philadelphia-area school district is warning families that other students may have been exposed to the virus. The Marple Newtown School District district said Sunday that Matthew David Wzorek, 7, died from complications related to the flu. Wzorek, known to his family as […]

(HealthDay News) — The hexavalent combined diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis (DTaP) adsorbed, inactivated poliovirus (IPV), Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) conjugate (meningococcal protein conjugate), and hepatitis B (HepB; recombinant) vaccine (DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB) has been included in the federal Vaccines for Children program, according to research published in the Feb. 7 issue of the U.S. […]

(CNN) While much of the world’s attention has been focused on the Wuhan coronavirus, there’s another virus that has been keeping doctors offices around the country incredibly busy this time of year. Flu activity continued to increase and remained high in the United States in the week ending February 1, according to new data from […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Up to 45 million children in seven developing countries will be immunized against measles in a series of major vaccination campaigns to try to halt a global surge in the viral disease, the GAVI vaccine alliance said on Wednesday. Measles cases have risen dramatically in all parts of the world in recent […]

Sean T. O’Leary, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP February 04, 2020 The 2020 child and adolescent immunization schedule released today includes changes to recommendations for hepatitis A and tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccines. In addition, the terms “individual clinical decision-making” and “clinical discretion” have been replaced with “shared clinical decision-making.” The schedule for the use of […]

By  Carolyn Y. Johnson  Jan. 30, 2020 at 11:06 a.m. EST In a suburb south of Boston, robots have already started manufacturing a potential vaccine against the fast-spreading coronavirus. Another candidate vaccine — developed when a similar virus terrified the world — sits in deep freeze in a repository in Houston, ready to be thawed and […]

FDA Approves Novel Pandemic Influenza Vaccine – Medscape – Feb 03, 2020. Megan Brooks The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first and only adjuvanted, cell-based pandemic vaccine to provide active immunization against the influenza A virus H5N1 strain. Influenza A (H5N1) monovalent vaccine, adjuvanted (Audenz, Seqirus) is for use in individuals aged 6 months and older.  It’s designed […]

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices issued updated vaccine guidelines in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report recommending the use of either tetanus and diphtheria vaccine or tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis, or Tdap, vaccine for Td booster shots every 10 years and tetanus prophylaxis for wounds in people with prior Tdap vaccinations. […]

Youths who received complete flu vaccinations had a 54% lower likelihood of flu-related hospitalizations, researchers reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The findings, based on 2015 to 2018 data involving 3,746 hospitalizations among Israeli children ages 6 months to 8 years, also showed the vaccine’s efficacy against varying circulating viruses across three different flu seasons. Read […]

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Among findings in pregnant women hospitalized for influenza in high-income countries is a substantially higher prevalence of preterm deliveries, according to an international group of researchers. Writing in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Fatimah Dawood of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues note that […]

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates among young adults in the United States continue to trend upward, nearly doubling, according new data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage of adults aged 18 to 26 years who reported ever having received one or more doses […]