CNN – Health

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN As soon as the US Food and Drug Administration authorizes the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 in the United States, pediatricians’ offices, local pharmacies and even some schools will be ready to help get those first doses into young arms. Vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech announced on

By Matt Volz, Kaiser Health News My unvaccinated 7-year-old son began hacking and sneezing in late September as the hospitals in our home state of Montana started buckling under the latest Covid-19 surge. I took him to get tested when his symptoms wouldn’t go away. The cotton swab went up his nostrils and Thomas bucked

By Aya Elamroussi and Mallika Kallingal, CNN The US is making headway in its battle against Covid-19 — with infection and hospitalization rates on the decline after a surge fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant. But, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday, human behavior will ultimately determine how

By Maggie Fox, CNN Two real-world studies published Wednesday confirm that the immune protection offered by two doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine drops off after two months or so, although protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death remains strong. The studies, from Israel and from Qatar and published in the New England Journal of Medicine,

By Madeline Holcombe and Stella Chan, CNN The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to require patrons at indoor spaces such as restaurants, gyms and movie theaters to show proof of full Covid-19 vaccination — starting November 4. The ordinance will also apply to personal care establishments such as spas and hair salons, as well

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN The United States has just recorded its highest increase in rates of homicide in modern history, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, released early Wednesday, suggest the homicide rate for the United States rose 30% between 2019

By Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN A King County, Washington, woman has died from a rare blood clotting syndrome after receiving the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, according to a statement posted online by Public Health — Seattle & King County. The woman, who was in her late 30s, was vaccinated on August 26 and died on

By Jen Christensen, CNN Before vaccines, the San Francisco Department of Public Health needed three whiteboards to capture all the names of senior facilities that had Covid-19 outbreaks. “We had been dealing with outbreaks the whole time. Everywhere, at a ton of facilities, big, small, rich, poor, it didn’t matter,” said Dr. Louise Aronson,a professor

By Madeline Holcombe and Virginia Langmaid, CNN Child deaths from a preventable illness like Covid-19, no matter how few, are motivation for authorizing a vaccine in children, the US Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official said Tuesday. “In this latest wave of Covid-19, particularly down south, there have been thousands of children hospitalized. And,

By Maggie Fox, CNN Dr. Francis Collins, the folksy, guitar-playing director of the National Institutes of Health, announced Tuesday that he plans to step down as head of the gigantic research agency by the end of the year. “It has been an incredible privilege to lead this great agency for more than a decade,” Collins,

By Maggie Fox, CNN After years of suffering, a patient with severe and untreatable depression has finally found relief with an experimental brain implant originally developed to help people with epilepsy, researchers in California reported Monday. It’s only a single patient, but the team at the University of California San Francisco says it has seen

By Megan Marples, CNN High blood pressure in young adults is linked to smaller brain size and increased risk of dementia, a new study has found. Adults who were diagnosed with hypertension between ages 35 to 44 had smaller brain sizes and were more likely to be diagnosed with dementia compared to adults their age

By Ivana Kottasová and Katie Hunt, CNN The 2021 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine has been awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch. The two US-based scientists received the accolade for describing the mechanics of how humans perceive hot, cold, touch and pressure through nerve

By Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Despite hopes that full approval of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine would convince large numbers of vaccine-hesitant Americans to roll up their sleeves, a federal government analysis provided to CNN suggests approval was not a silver bullet. After the US Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to Pfizer’s shot

By Holly Yan and Susannah Cullinane, CNN As Covid-19 numbers gradually improve, health experts have an urgent message: Don’t get cocky and relax. “We can’t get overconfident. Every time we do and we put our guard down … we get another surge with another variant,” said Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, a viral researcher and internal medicine

By Travis Caldwell, CNN With a first-of-its-kind antiviral pill against Covid-19 potentially headed towards distribution, the health care community may soon have another tool to combat a virus that has claimed the lives of more than 700,000 Americans. Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics created an antiviral pill the companies say can reduce risk of Covid-19 hospitalization

By Virginia Langmaid, CNN Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced on Friday early result that indicate their experimental oral antiviral drug molnupiravir might halve the risk of death or hospitalization from Covid-19. In a news release, the company said 7.3% of 385 patients who received the antiviral were either hospitalized or died from Covid-19, compared with

By Aya Elamroussi, CNN A pill that could potentially treat Covid-19 is a “game-changer,” but experts are emphasizing that it’s not an alternative to vaccinations — which remain the most effective path to ending the coronavirus pandemic if enough people get their shots. Roughly 255,767 people are becoming fully vaccinated in the US each day,

By Ada Wood, CNN There is nothing like wrapping yourself up in a fluffy, warm towel after a hot shower or bath. After drying yourself, however, the towel also gets wet. Now it’s the perfect home for germs. Hopefully you’re hanging it up to dry, but that doesn’t keep your towel clean. That’s why CNN

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Over half of people with chronic depression who attempted to stop their antidepressant medication relapsed into depression by the end of a year, compared to those who did not stop medicating, according to a randomized, double-blinded clinical trial released Wednesday. The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found

By Megan Marples, CNN Living life in the fast lane has lost its allure, with many people around the world saying they would opt to pull over and take in the view. Seventy-two percent of adults preferred a calm life to an exciting one, according to a 2020 Gallup poll released Thursday conducted in partnership

By Madeline Holcombe and Christina Maxouris, CNN Some governors are beginning to report encouraging signs in their state’s Covid-19 numbers, but warn of what could come next if more people don’t get vaccinated. Covid-19 hospitalizations and ICU utilization have decreased over the past week in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear announced at a Thursday news conference.

By Maggie Fox, CNN The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an urgent recommendation Wednesday for pregnant women and those who have recently given birth to get vaccinated against coronavirus. Women trying or planning to become pregnant and those who are breastfeeding should also be vaccinated — but only 31% of pregnant people

By Holly Yan, CNN Dr. Adrian Burrowes has seen hundreds of Covid-19 patients. But he’s especially worried about what will happen this flu season — even more so than last year. This fall and winter could mark the first surge of patients infected with both the flu and the Delta variant — the most contagious

By John Duffy, CNN I walk by a grammar school on my way to work. The first day tends to be a big deal, moms parading to the school with kids in tow, cameras flashing to capture the moment. I noticed the first day this year was a bit more celebratory than years past, no

By Madeline Holcombe and Holly Yan, CNN Once heralded as a leader in vaccinations, West Virginia now has one of the lowest rates in the country. And it’s losing dozens of residents every day to Covid-19. “We’re gonna lose a bunch more people, West Virginia, no question about that,” Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday. The

By Nadia Kounang, CNN The US Drug Enforcement Administration on Monday issued a public safety alert about a sharp increase of fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl and methamphetamine. This is the first such alert issued by the DEA in six years. According to the agency, more than 9.5 million counterfeit pills have been seized

By Virginia Langmaid, CNN A new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll found that the highly transmissible Delta variant, overburdened hospitals and knowing someone who has died or become seriously ill from Covid-19 drove recent increases in vaccination. Among those vaccinated since June 1, 39% said they were motivated by transmission of the Delta variant, 38%

By Elissa Strauss, CNN The desire to raise good people is fairly universal among adults with kids in their lives. Most of us want our kids to grow up to be kind and compassionate adults. We mean it, we really do, but our kids often hear something else. Research from the Harvard Graduate School of

By Madeline Holcombe and Theresa Waldrop CNN The daily pace of new Covid-19 vaccinations in the United States is the lowest it has been since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started tracking it in mid-January, data shows. The seven-day average rate of people getting their first shot is 231,695, 31% less than last