NPR (June 2, 2022) The White House laid out the federal government’s plans to make the first COVID-19 vaccines available for very young children. COVID-19 vaccinations for kids younger than 5 could start right after the Juneteenth holiday. In a White House briefing on Thursday, Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, said […]
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) May 31, 2022 — An important consumer alert regarding strawberries. Food safety regulators are warning they could be linked to an outbreak of hepatitis A. According to the Food and Drug Administration, 17 cases of hepatitis A have a possible link to organic strawberries and 12 people have required hospitalizations. Hep A […]
NBC10 Philadelphia (June 2, 2022) – The first confirmed case of monkeypox, a disease similar to smallpox that is spread by person-to-person contact, was reported Thursday in Philadelphia. It’s also the first confirmed case for Pennsylvania. Monkeypox Case Reported in Philadelphia, 1st Confirmed for PA – NBC10 Philadelphia (nbcphiladelphia.com)
Centre Daily Times (June 7, 2022) All but one Pennsylvania county is in the red zone for community transmission of COVID-19, as the coronavirus continued to blaze across the state this week. On Friday, Juniata County was the only county in the state to remain outside of the “high” category for community transmission of COVID-19, […]
RheumatologyAdvisor (June 3, 2022) – Policy reforms and legislation to enhance the authority of pharmacists to administer vaccines may lead to increased immunization rates among individuals in low-income communities, especially older adults. These findings were published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. The Case for Expanding Pharmacists’ Authority to Administer Vaccines – Rheumatology Advisor
MedPage Today (6/1) reports, “Infants born to mothers who were vaccinated against COVID-19 during pregnancy had a lower risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, even when the Omicron variant was dominant, Norwegian researchers found.” During the Omicron wave, “infants whose mothers received a second or third dose of COVID vaccine during pregnancy had a 33% […]
CNN (6/1) reports new research suggests the next influx of COVID-19 infections “will probably come from the newer Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, two closely related viruses.” Study researchers “tested antibodies from the blood of vaccinated and boosted people” and found “that BA.4 and BA.5 viruses are more than four times as likely to escape […]
The Washington Post (6/1) reports Pfizer on Wednesday completed submitting its “application for regulatory authorization of a coronavirus vaccine for children younger than 5.” The announcement “comes a week after Pfizer and BioNTech announced that three shots of their low-dose pediatric vaccine triggered a robust immune response in young children and was safe. The companies […]
The AP (5/26) reports “the coronavirus mutant that is now dominant in the United States” – BA.2.12.1 – “is a member of the Omicron family but scientists say it spreads faster than its Omicron predecessors, is adept at escaping immunity and might possibly cause more serious disease” because “it combines properties of both Omicron and […]
Reuters (5/23) reports the “Food and Drug Administration set June 14-15 as the new meeting date to review Moderna Inc’s emergency authorization request for its COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6 months to 5 years and [Pfizer-BioNTech’s] vaccine for those aged 6 months through 4 years.” In a Monday statement, the FDA said, “In light […]