Younger Kids ‘Should’ Get COVID Booster, Says CDC Panel
Similar to their older peers, children ages 5 to 11 should get a third dose of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty), the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) said on Thursday. In an 11-1 vote, with one abstention, the committee agreed that children ages 5 to 11 should receive an additional dose of the mRNA […]
As Cases Tick Up, Officials Warn on Lack of COVID Funds
With a third of the nation now living in areas of medium to high COVID-19 transmission, White House officials are warning of stalled progress in access to vaccines, treatments, and testing without Congressional funding. Developers are already planning potential vaccines for the fall, but the U.S. government has yet to start negotiating to secure supplies, […]
Mental Health Issues Common, Often Overlooked in Prostate Cancer
NEW ORLEANS — More than a third of men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer had at least one mental health issue, which had a strong association with prior psychological wellbeing, a prospective cohort study showed. Almost 30% of the men had a fear of cancer recurrence or poor prognosis, and 22% met diagnostic criteria for […]
COVID Was Third Leading Cause of U.S. Deaths in 2021, Says CDC
While COVID-19 in 2021 was again the third leading cause of death in the U.S., racial and ethnic disparities narrowed from the year before, provisional CDC data indicated. Overall, 65.2% of the COVID-19 deaths in 2021 were among white individuals, 16.5% were among Hispanic individuals, and 13.3% were among Black individuals. In 2020 these proportions […]
Abortion Stays in Spotlight at SCOTUS Nominee’s Senate Hearing
WASHINGTON — During the third day of her Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing, Republican senators continued peppering President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson Wednesday with questions about her views on abortion. “Can an unborn child feel pain at 20 weeks?” asked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “I don’t know,” replied Jackson, who, if confirmed, […]
Commuting’s Harsh Toll On Your Health
Huffington Post’s Third Metric seeks to redefine success beyond money and power. As part of our ongoing series, we take a look at the toll commuting takes on our daily lives. How does time spent commuting impact our health?
COVID Vax Response Still Impaired in Some MS Patients After Third Shot
Immune response was attenuated after a third COVID-19 vaccine dose for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients taking certain disease-modifying treatments, interim data from a longitudinal study showed. Two weeks after a third shot, many MS patients on anti-CD20 drugs and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulators still had significantly reduced total spike and receptor-binding domain (RBD) antibody responses, […]
Another PARP Inhibitor Active in BRCA-Mutant Prostate Cancer
A third of patients with previously treated BRCA-mutant metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) responded to the PARP inhibitor niraparib (Zejula), a prospective phase II study showed. The results showed that 26 of 76 patients with measurable disease had objective responses, 35 of whom had at least a 30% decrease in tumor size. An exploratory analysis […]
Third COVID Vaccine Dose Boosts Protection in Solid Tumor Patients
A third dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2; Comirnaty) could offer increased protection for cancer patients on active treatment, a new study suggested, as these patients typically don’t produce antibody responses on par with healthy individuals. One week after the administration of a third vaccine dose, neutralizing antibody responses improved in 80% of solid tumor […]
FDA Authorizes One More Dose of Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine for Some
A third dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) was authorized for use in older adults and high-risk populations, the FDA announced late on Wednesday. The agency amended Pfizer’s emergency use authorization (EUA) for the vaccine to include a third dose at least 6 months following the primary series in adults 65 and older, adults ages […]