Medicine

The Associated Press reports: Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday. The effort, though marred by persisting inequities, prevented deaths on an unimaginable scale, said Oliver Watson of Imperial College London, who led the …

New York City’s NBC News affiliate reports: New York City will begin offering vaccination against monkeypox to at-risk groups on Thursday, as authorities scramble to contain a global outbreak. Some 28 people have tested positive for the virus in the city since early May, almost all of them men who have sex with men. The Health Department on Thursday announced …

CBS News reports: Health officials on Wednesday recommended that men in Florida who have sex with other men get a meningococcal vaccine following what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called “one of the worst outbreaks of meningococcal disease among gay and bisexual men in U.S. history.” The CDC said in a statement that there have been at least …

The Telegraph reports: Polio is spreading in Britain for the first time in nearly 40 years, health officials have warned, as they declared a national incident and urged people to make sure they are vaccinated. Britain was proclaimed polio-free in 2003 and the last wild case was detected in 1984, making the current outbreak the first transmission event since the …

NBC News reports: The Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines for young children, though the CDC still needs to sign off before shots can be administered. The Pfizer vaccine was authorized for children ages 6 months to 4 years, while the Moderna vaccine was authorized for children ages 6 months to 5 years, …

Reuters reports: The World Health Organization will convene an emergency committee on Thursday next week to assess whether the monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern. That is the highest level of warning issued by the U.N. agency, which currently applies only to the COVID-19 pandemic and polio. There have been 1,600 confirmed and 1,500 suspected cases …

The Hill reports: Health officials announced on Friday that the White House has ordered 500,000 more doses of a vaccine believed to be effective against monkeypox. Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced during a press briefing that the U.S. had ordered half a million liquid, frozen doses of …

Agence France-Presse reports: A US citizen with monkeypox escaped from a hospital in a Mexican resort and fled the country, local health authorities said Wednesday. When he arrived at the hospital, the patient had symptoms of “cough, chills, muscle pain and pustule-like lesions on his face, neck and trunk,” the agency said. After fleeing the medical facility, the Texan then …

The Washington Post reports: A panel of independent vaccine experts recommended Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration authorize a coronavirus vaccine developed by the Maryland biotechnology company Novavax, paving the way for the fourth shot in the United States. The experts’ vote was 21 in favor of authorizing the Novavax vaccine, with one abstention. But it remained unclear when …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday it had removed a mask recommendation from its monkeypox travel notice to avoid “confusion” over the disease, which primarily spreads through direct contact. “Late yesterday, CDC removed the mask recommendation from the monkeypox Travel Health Notice because it caused confusion,” a CDC spokesperson said on Tuesday. …

NBC News reports: The CDC is raising its alert level for monkeypox to level two, all at an abundance of caution. This means health officials are recommending that travelers wear masks on planes and other public transits. “The number of cases of monkeypox has continued to increase to almost 1,000 people now with confirmed or suspected cases in more than …

NBC News reports: Pharmacies, states, U.S. territories and federal agencies discarded 82.1 million Covid vaccine doses from December 2020 through mid-May — just over 11 percent of the doses the federal government distributed, according to data the CDC shared with NBC News. Two retail pharmacy chains, CVS and Walmart, were responsible for over a quarter of the doses thrown away …

The Daily Beast reports: In a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a group of researchers led by neuroscientists at Yale University uncovered an experimental drug taken orally that appears to reverse brain damage in mice afflicted by Alzheimer’s, and could protect the brain from future damage for at least one month. If its success and remarkable …

Axios reports: As one of America’s first big bets under Operation Warp Speed, Novavax’s COVID vaccine is notably late to the party as the Maryland biotech seeks a potential FDA emergency use authorization for its COVID shot. But company leaders say they see a clear runway to market success for its protein-based product — not only as a booster for …

The New York Daily News reports: The persistence of the virus means yearly vaccine booster shots could be in store for everyone, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical adviser, told PIX 11 in an interview. “We’re going to be dealing with this virus on a chronic basis,” Fauci said. “We really hope … it will reach a level …

Via press release from the World Health Organization: Since 13 May 2022, monkeypox has been reported to WHO from 23 Member States that are not endemic for monkeypox virus, across four WHO regions. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing. The vast majority of reported cases so far have no established travel links to an endemic area and have presented through primary care …

ABC News reports: Abbott Laboratories said Thursday that it is working to develop a test that it would then provide to partners of its Pandemic Defense Coalition, a spokesperson said. Abbott’s announcement comes one day after Roche announced it had developed three kits to detect the virus. Roche, which is based in Switzerland, said one test detects orthopoxviruses, which is …

CNN reports: The US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention has identified nine monkeypox cases in seven states as of Wednesday, Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a news briefing on Thursday. Cases have been identified in Massachusetts, Florida, Utah, Washington, California, Virginia and New York. All of the cases “are within gay, bisexual men and other men who have …

CNBC reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday alerted gay and bisexual men that monkeypox appears to be spreading in the community globally, cautioning people to take precautions if they have been in close contact with someone who may have the virus and to be on the lookout for symptoms. Dr. John Brooks, a CDC official, emphasized …

Reuters reports: The World Health Organization was due to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection more common to west and central Africa, after more than 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe. In what Germany described as the largest outbreak in Europe ever, cases have been reported in at …