All posts tagged "Vaccinesandimmunizations"

MIAMI — There's no big rush to get the new COVID-19 vaccine, according to health experts. Many patients are hesitant to get the shot for a variety of reasons, including vaccine fatigue, fear of side effects and the feeling that COVID is over. But there’s a new variant spreading, and public health agencies and many doctors say the new vaccine, which rolled out in November, can help keep people healthy during this holiday stretch of traveling and gathering. Pharmacies and the drug companies are aggressively pushing the new vaccines in ads and texts. Here’s what to know about the new COVID vaccin......

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri House approved an anti-vaccination measure Tuesday that could tie the hands of health professionals to address future pandemics. The proposal, sponsored by Republican Rep. Bill Hardwick of Waynesville, would bar governments from being able to mandate a COVID-19 vaccine or future potential medical technologies like microchips placed under someone’s skin. The measure would require private employers, including small business owners, to provide exemptions to any vaccination requirements if an employee has a “sincere” religious belief about the health benefits of ......

NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul, noting that New York state is now home to more than 25% of U.S. monkeypox cases, declared a state disaster emergency to secure additional vaccines and slow the spread of the virus. “We need to utilize every tool in our arsenal as we respond,” said Hochul on Friday night as the number of statewide cases hit 1,345. “It’s especially important to recognize the ways in which this outbreak is currently having a disproportionate impact on certain at-risk groups.” According to the governor, her executive order will allow the state to amp up its response to the monkeypox c......

Coronavirus booster shots covering BA.5 may be little more than a month off, but Dr. Anthony Fauci says his retirement is far more distant. Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, gave the positive diagnosis of the vaccine development — and his own professional longevity — this week as COVID hospital admissions climbed, driven by the new viral variant. BA.5, the ultra-contagious and now-dominant omicron COVID subvariant, has been charging across America throughout the summer. In New York City, test positivity rates have stayed in double digits for more than a month, according ......

In a briefing to a congressional subcommittee Tuesday, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo confirmed that the state decision to block county health departments from obtaining COVID-19 vaccines for young children may prohibit an estimated 30,000 disadvantaged kids from obtaining access to the vaccines. But the state’s top health official also doubled-down on his criticism of the vaccine as appropriate for that age group. “In Florida, we don’t recommend” coronavirus vaccines for children under 18, Ladapo told the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, according to a statement provided ......

Pfizer’s two omicron-focused booster vaccines massively improve a person’s immune response against the COVID variant, the company said Saturday. Across clinical trials involving more than 1,200 people, Pfizer tried two different omicron boosters: one focused solely on the omicron variant (called a monovalent vaccine) and one that used Pfizer’s initial vaccine but tweaked it to also combat omicron (called bivalent). The monovalent booster increased immune response between 13- and 19-fold, a massive increase that varied based on the dose size. The bivalent shot boosted immune response between 9-......