Vaccines

Health officials continue to track Florida's measles outbreak after the Florida Surgeon General defied health orders to contain an outbreak at an elementary school. Although it is unknown whether the new cases are related to the elementary school outbreak, Florida's measles cases join the other 11…

A bill called HB5105 was passed on Monday by the West Virginia House of Delegates which eliminated school vaccine requirements for people who claim religious exemptions. The bill was expanded to remove vaccine requirements for all students in virtual public schools who will not participate in in…

A new variant of COVID-19 has spiked, making up 86% of cases in the country. The variant, JN.1, has surged due to a lack of COVID-19 vaccinations and because our immune systems haven't been able to keep up. The most recent vaccinations from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax are all expected to…

According to the WHO, there has been a 45 fold increase in measles cases in the UK. In 2022, there was a recorded 91 cases of measles, and in 2023, 42,200 cases were recorded. UK health officials speculate that the rise in cases in the last year is a result of declining vaccination rates amongst…

Malaria is the leading killer in Africa, with 95% of the disease burden lying on the continent. However, a new vaccine is currently being rolled out across the continent, with Cameroon launching the program Monday. The vaccine will start to be administered in 19 countries in addition to Cameroon…

A mobile game called Cranky Uncle, first released in 2020 and repurposed in order to combat climate change and vaccine misinformation, is being rolled out. The game teaches players how to identify various methods used to spread misinformation and the players then utilize the tools in order to…

According to a recent study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, the percent of Americans who believe that vaccines are approved for safe use in the US has dropped since April 2021 to 71% and the percent of adults who believe the approved vaccines are unsafe increased to 16%. They found…

A new malaria vaccine is being distributed next year to 12 African countries. The vaccine requires multiple doses to be effective and according to scientists, needs to be used with other manual malaria prevention measures, like bed nets. To read the full article on Wired by Maryn Mckenna, click…

 Recent research published in the journal JAMA Network Open analyzed data from over 100,000 pregnancies and found that the original COVID-19 booster shots were not associated with miscarriages in early pregnancy. The study examined cases where spontaneous abortions occurred, and it revealed that…

A clinical trial tested the use of an mRNA vaccine against patients who had received surgery for pancreatic cancer. The small trial showed that half of the patients who received the vaccine after surgery did not have recurrence of the tumor a year and a half later.  To read the full article from…

Long COVID, a condition with long-term symptoms and health problems following SARS-CoV-2 infection, shows differing likelihoods of diagnoses. A study supported by RECOVER found that from a sample of more than 30,000 with a Long COVID diagnosis, the majority of the patients were White, non-Hispanic,…

An advisory committee to the US health regulator has recommended Pfizer’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for older adults, voting 7-4 in favor of its efficacy and safety in preventing lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in people aged 60 and above. However, some members…

Near California’s southern border with Mexico, buses and vans pull up to three state-funded medical screening centers. Along with water and food, migrants are given face masks and are tested for coronavirus. They offer vaccines as well as isolation for those who tested positive. With a $22.5…

Moderna plans to charge around $130 per dose for its next version of the vaccine tailored to target new strains of the virus. This cost will be passed on to individual patients if their health insurance does not cover it, prompting outrage from some politicians. The Senate Committee on Health,…