A group of World Health Organization experts is recommending COVID-19 booster shots for people at the highest risk of severe illness and death. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization or SAGE, which met in extraordinary session August 11, issued its updated guidance Thursday. SAGE recommends continued use of the two-dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.…
read moreThe White House announced Thursday it will make an additional 1.8 million doses of monkeypox vaccine available for distribution beginning next week. At a news conference, White House national monkeypox response coordinator Bob Fenton said the additional doses will be available for U.S. jurisdictions to order starting Monday, through the Department of Health and Human…
read moreToday’s sharks have nothing on their ancient cousins. A giant shark that roamed the oceans millions of years ago could have devoured a creature the size of a killer whale in just five bites, new research suggests. For their study published Wednesday, researchers used fossil evidence to create a 3D model of the megalodon —…
read moreA federal judge in Cleveland awarded $650 million in damages Wednesday to two Ohio counties that won a landmark lawsuit against national pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, claiming the way they distributed opioids to customers caused severe harm to communities and created a public nuisance. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster said in the ruling…
read moreStudies are underway to see whether genetic changes in the monkeypox virus are driving the rapid spread of the disease, the World Health Organization told AFP on Wednesday. The two distinct clades, or variants, of the virus were called the Congo Basin (Central African) and West African clades, after the two regions where they are…
read moreThe head of the top U.S. public health agency on Wednesday announced a shake-up of the organization, intended to make it more nimble. The planned changes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — CDC leaders call it a “reset”— come amid ongoing criticism of the agency’s response to COVID-19, monkeypox and other public…
read moreDespite a nationwide vaccination campaign that started in May, Malawi is struggling to contain a cholera outbreak that has infected more than 1,073 people and caused 44 deaths. The figures from the Malawi Ministry of Health, updated as of Aug. 16, 2022, are triple the numbers recorded when the vaccination campaign was launched three months…
read moreChina’s dominance in global sector creates supply chain and national security concerns, says US solar manufacturer …
read moreNASA’s gigantic Space Launch System moon rocket, topped with an uncrewed astronaut capsule, is set to begin an hourslong crawl to its launchpad Tuesday night ahead of the behemoth’s debut test flight later this month. The 98-meter-tall rocket is scheduled to embark on its first mission to space — without any humans — on August…
read moreA measles outbreak in Zimbabwe has killed at least 157 children, with more than 2,000 infections reported across the country, the government said Tuesday. Cases have been growing rapidly in the southern African nation since authorities said the first infection was logged earlier this month, with reported deaths almost doubling in less than a week.…
read moreNew York health officials announced in July that an unvaccinated adult man from Rockland County had been diagnosed with polio—the first case of the life-threatening disease in the United States since 2013. The virus that causes polio was later detected in New York City wastewater, and city and state health officials now say the virus…
read moreThe widely used tuberculosis vaccine also fends off a slew of unrelated infectious diseases, and its immune boost can protect newborns for more than a year, researchers in Australia have found. The bacillus calmette-guérin (BCG) vaccine for tuberculosis causes front-line immune cells to make long-lasting biological “marks” on their DNA, changing how they read genetic…
read moreBanks along parts of the Colorado River where water once streamed are now just caked mud and rock as climate change makes the Western U.S. hotter and drier. More than two decades of drought have done little to deter the region from diverting more water than flows through it, depleting key reservoirs to levels that…
read moreIn an effort to boost monkeypox vaccination rates, Los Angeles County is organizing pop-up clinics where eligible individuals can get the shot. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Vazgen Varzhabetian …
read moreU.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday he tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time this year and is experiencing mild symptoms. The Pentagon chief said in a statement that he will continue to work a normal schedule but do so virtually from home. Austin said he would quarantine for the next five days…
read morePeople who live in the poorest regions of England are diagnosed with serious illnesses earlier and die sooner than their counterparts in more affluent regions, according to a new study. The Health Foundation study, published Monday, found that “A 60-year-old woman in the poorest areas of England has a level of ‘diagnosed illness’ equivalent to…
read moreNASA researchers are studying “Mars-like” salt lakes in Western Australia in their hunt for extra-terrestrial life. Experts from the United States say the region, with its pink-hued water and distinctive trees, is more like Mars than almost any other location on Earth. The Yilgarn Craton is a vast mineral-rich region about 400 kilometers east of…
read moreA measles outbreak has killed 80 children in Zimbabwe since April, the ministry of health said, blaming church sect gatherings for the surge. In a statement seen by Reuters Sunday, the ministry said the outbreak had now spread nationwide, with a case fatality rate of 6.9%. Health Secretary Jasper Chimedza said that as of Thursday,…
read moreChina’s financial hub Shanghai said on Sunday it would reopen all schools including kindergartens, primary and middle schools on Sept. 1 after months of COVID-19 closures. The city will require all teachers and students to take nucleic acid tests for the coronavirus every day before leaving campus, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission said. It also…
read morePoland’s environment minister says laboratory tests following a mass fish die-off have detected high salinity levels but no mercury in the Oder River. That means the mystery is continuing as to what killed tons of fish in Central Europe. …
read moreIdaho’s top court on Friday refused to stop a Republican-backed state law criminalizing nearly all abortions from taking effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade that had recognized a constitutional right to the procedure. In a 3-2 ruling, the Idaho Supreme Court rejected a bid by a Planned Parenthood…
read moreTalk about hot nights. America got some for the history books last month. The continental United States in July set a record for overnight warmth, providing little relief from the day’s sizzling heat for people, animals, plants and the electric grid, meteorologists said. The average low temperature for the Lower 48 states in July was…
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