What Will Cold-and-Flu Season Mean for the Coronavirus Pandemic?

Oct 02 2020

The other day, as I was driving across the Brooklyn Bridge, the brakes of my car, a twenty-one-year-old Toyota, stopped working. I pressed the pedal. The car kept rolling. I was going slowly enough that I didn’t hit anyone, or anything, but the feeling was nauseating. The emergency brake, thankfully, still worked, and I inched into Manhattan with my hazards on. Afterward, as I sat in the car, safely parked behind City Hall but shaking with fear, it struck me that the incident was a bit too on the nose, too appropriate, for this moment. The public-health system that should have slowed the pandemic has failed. Now, as flu season arrives, the uncertain course of the coronavirus in the U.S. can feel like a queasy ride toward further disaster. What will the crucible of winter hold?

Source: The New Yorker

Should people of color get access to the Covid-19 vaccine before others?

Oct 02 2020

By now, we all know that Covid-19 is not an equal-opportunity killer. Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people are getting the disease more often and suffering more severe outcomes than white Americans. The most glaring statistic: 1 in 1,000 Black Americans have already died in this pandemic. In the US, Black residents have been dying at twice the rate of white residents.

Source: Vox

Denver pharmacies stock up — and some are running short — as more people seek flu shots

Oct 02 2020

Flu season hasn’t hit Colorado yet, but some pharmacies already are running out of shots, as people who wouldn’t normally get vaccinated start to roll up their sleeves. Carly Callan, a pharmacist at Capitol Heights Pharmacy in Denver, said they’ve already gone through their supply of flu vaccine, which would have lasted well into November in a normal year. They bought more doses than usual when they placed their order back in April, but didn’t get the full amount they wanted, she said.

Source: Denver Post

HPV vaccine significantly lowers risk of cervical cancer, large study finds

Oct 02 2020

The HPV vaccine substantially reduces a woman’s risk of developing cervical cancer, especially in women who were immunized at a younger age, a large Swedish study found. The risk of developing cervical cancer was reduced by 88 percent in women who had been vaccinated before age 17, and by 53 percent in those vaccinated between ages 17 and 30, according to the study of nearly 1.7 million girls and women that was published in Thursday’s issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Source: NBC News

Students Roll Up Their Sleeves (and Others’) to Prep for COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign

Oct 01 2020

As Aubree Turner relaxed her arm and waited for the poke, the importance of the vaccination training with her fellow students that September day weighed more heavily on her mind than usual. With flu season near, and a pandemic not relenting, Turner knew this clinical exercise soon would be put to a real test. Demand for the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences students to help with flu-shot clinics has risen to its highest level since 2009’s H1N1 epidemic, said Associate Professor Wesley Nuffer, PharmD. And the COVID-19 pandemic, which recently surpassed the 1 million mark in worldwide deaths, adds an even bigger sense of urgency to the call to service, he said.

Source: CU Anschutz

A Pastor’s Perspective: The Moral Case for Getting a Flu Vaccine

Oct 01 2020

I remember well the day that I got my chickenpox vaccine as a little girl. When I realized that we were pulling up to the office my pediatrician was in, I knew someone was going to stick me with a needle. But what I remember best was my mother in the office with me, seeing my tears and taking me anyway, and then hugging me after it was all done because she knew that this temporary pain would make me healthier in general and keep me from having to go through the pain of having chickenpox later. Now that I am an adult, it is up to me to decide to receive my flu vaccine every year. It would be so easy to skip, to not go to the pharmacy or my doctor and ask for a flu shot. But each year I think of the work I’m called to do, and I go ask someone to give me a quick shot that will help me protect my entire community from the flu.

Source: Shot of Prevention

Women's wellness: Is it safe to get a flu vaccination during pregnancy?

Oct 01 2020

Yes, it's safe to get a flu shot during pregnancy. In fact, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that all women who are pregnant during flu season get a flu shot, regardless of their trimester. A flu shot during pregnancy can help: Prevent the flu and maternal complications.

Source: Medical Xpress

Anti-Vaxxers Are Feeding Off Concerns That Trump Is Rushing A Coronavirus Vaccine

Oct 01 2020

The journalists at BuzzFeed News are proud to bring you trustworthy and relevant reporting about the coronavirus. To help keep this news free, become a member and sign up for our newsletter, Incoming. When news leaked this month that AstraZeneca was halting its coronavirus vaccine trial, the company explained that it was “a routine action.” The goal, to determine whether one participant’s illness was linked to the vaccine, was heralded by scientists as exactly how trials are supposed to work: putting safety first.

Source: Buzzfeed

AAP to feds: Children must be included in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials

Oct 01 2020

The Academy is calling on federal officials to ensure that children are included in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials and that a transparent, deliberate approach is taken so that Americans have confidence that the vaccines are safe and effective. “Children must be included in vaccine trials to best understand any potential unique immune responses and/or unique safety concerns,” AAP President Sara “Sally” H. Goza, M.D., FAAP, said in a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, J.D., and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Steven M. Hahn, M.D.

Source: AAP

Small study finds Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine may work equally well in older people as it does in younger adults

Oct 01 2020

Moderna's coronavirus vaccine appears to create as strong an immune response in older people as it does in younger adults. That's a positive sign, because many vaccines don't work as well in the elderly. A small study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine found the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine elicited an immune system response almost as strong in people over 56 as in adults ages 18 to 55.

Source: USA Today