The US has decided to stop funding 22 mRNA vaccine projects worth $500 million. This move, led by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, has sparked debate. Critics argue it might be a big mistake, while supporters claim it's a necessary shift. Kennedy believes mRNA vaccines don't effectively protect against respiratory infections like COVID and flu. He wants to redi...
Africa's dependence on foreign medicines is a big problem. This issue started during colonial times and got worse later on. Many African countries used to make their own medicines, but things changed. The government-run drug factories were closed. Also, rules about patents made it hard for Africa to learn how to make medicines. The COVID-19 pandemic showed just how ...
Susan Monarez is now the official head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Senate voted to confirm her, with 51 votes in favor and 47 against, strictly along party lines. This comes after she was nominated by President Trump in March. He described her as a "dedicated public servant" and highlighted her commitment to safeguarding children and ...
Health workers are under a lot of stress. This stress can affect their decisions and how they care for patients. One big factor is their beliefs about health and their choices about COVID-19 vaccines. Burnout is a big problem. It can make health workers less effective and even impact public health. So, it's important to understand what makes them more likely to burn...
In the past, vaccines had a big problem: bacteria could grow in them and make people sick. To stop this, a preservative called thimerosal was added to vaccines in the 1930s. It worked well for a long time, and the only issues were minor reactions at the injection site. But in 1999, health officials asked vaccine makers to remove thimerosal from vaccines. Why? Becaus...
A nurse practitioner with a background in pediatrics and family medicine is set to discuss thimerosal in flu vaccines at a meeting of new CDC vaccine advisers. Lyn Redwood, former president of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, will present on this topic, raising eyebrows among public health experts. Thimerosal, a preservative once commonly used in va...
As people live longer, keeping them safe from infections has become a big deal. The immune system weakens with age, making it harder for vaccines to work as well as they should. This is why scientists are working hard to find new ways to boost immune responses in older adults. Vaccines for the elderly are not a new idea. There are already shots for flu, pneumonia, C...
Hospitals are super busy places where Covid-19 can easily spread. Just having general rules might not cut it. But there's a cool way to figure out what works best: agent-based modelling. This method lets researchers create a virtual hospital and see how different factors affect the spread of Covid-19. In 2023, a study used this method to look at how things like mask...
The fight against HIV just got a new ally. It is the same technology that made COVID-19 vaccines possible. mRNA, or messenger RNA, is a set of instructions for genes. It is not a new discovery. It has been around for a while. It is only now that it is being used in new ways. Scientists in Australia have found a way to use mRNA to target HIV. This is big news. ...
The US Department of Health and Human Services recently made a bold move. They ended a contract with Moderna. The contract was for developing an mRNA vaccine for bird flu. The reason given was that mRNA technology is not well-tested. This decision sparked a response from Pfizer's CEO, Dr. Albert Bourla. He strongly disagreed with the claim that mRNA vaccines are unde...