News & Events

By KATE THAYER CHICAGO TRIBUNE  Under newly introduced state legislation, parents in Illinois would no longer be able to claim religion as a reason to refuse vaccinations for their children — a move backed by public health officials as a way to stave off outbreaks of diseases once thought to be eradicated, and shunned by groups […]

BROOMALL, PA — After one of its elementary students died from complications due to influenza, a Philadelphia-area school district is warning families that other students may have been exposed to the virus. The Marple Newtown School District district said Sunday that Matthew David Wzorek, 7, died from complications related to the flu. Wzorek, known to his family as […]

(HealthDay News) — The hexavalent combined diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis (DTaP) adsorbed, inactivated poliovirus (IPV), Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) conjugate (meningococcal protein conjugate), and hepatitis B (HepB; recombinant) vaccine (DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB) has been included in the federal Vaccines for Children program, according to research published in the Feb. 7 issue of the U.S. […]

(CNN) While much of the world’s attention has been focused on the Wuhan coronavirus, there’s another virus that has been keeping doctors offices around the country incredibly busy this time of year. Flu activity continued to increase and remained high in the United States in the week ending February 1, according to new data from […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Up to 45 million children in seven developing countries will be immunized against measles in a series of major vaccination campaigns to try to halt a global surge in the viral disease, the GAVI vaccine alliance said on Wednesday. Measles cases have risen dramatically in all parts of the world in recent […]

Sean T. O’Leary, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP February 04, 2020 The 2020 child and adolescent immunization schedule released today includes changes to recommendations for hepatitis A and tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccines. In addition, the terms “individual clinical decision-making” and “clinical discretion” have been replaced with “shared clinical decision-making.” The schedule for the use of […]

By  Carolyn Y. Johnson  Jan. 30, 2020 at 11:06 a.m. EST In a suburb south of Boston, robots have already started manufacturing a potential vaccine against the fast-spreading coronavirus. Another candidate vaccine — developed when a similar virus terrified the world — sits in deep freeze in a repository in Houston, ready to be thawed and […]

FDA Approves Novel Pandemic Influenza Vaccine – Medscape – Feb 03, 2020. Megan Brooks The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first and only adjuvanted, cell-based pandemic vaccine to provide active immunization against the influenza A virus H5N1 strain. Influenza A (H5N1) monovalent vaccine, adjuvanted (Audenz, Seqirus) is for use in individuals aged 6 months and older.  It’s designed […]

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices issued updated vaccine guidelines in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report recommending the use of either tetanus and diphtheria vaccine or tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis, or Tdap, vaccine for Td booster shots every 10 years and tetanus prophylaxis for wounds in people with prior Tdap vaccinations. […]

Youths who received complete flu vaccinations had a 54% lower likelihood of flu-related hospitalizations, researchers reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The findings, based on 2015 to 2018 data involving 3,746 hospitalizations among Israeli children ages 6 months to 8 years, also showed the vaccine’s efficacy against varying circulating viruses across three different flu seasons. Read […]

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Among findings in pregnant women hospitalized for influenza in high-income countries is a substantially higher prevalence of preterm deliveries, according to an international group of researchers. Writing in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Fatimah Dawood of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues note that […]

(CNN) This year’s flu vaccine is “not a very good match” for a common strain of the flu that’s especially tough on children, according to the nation’s top infectious disease doctor. “It’s not a very good match for B/Victoria,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, referring to […]

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates among young adults in the United States continue to trend upward, nearly doubling, according new data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage of adults aged 18 to 26 years who reported ever having received one or more doses […]

Seattle Public Schools told parents that students who are not properly vaccinated will not be allowed back to school on Jan. 8 following Christmas break if they are not in compliance with Washington state’s vaccination laws. “Student records must reflect updated immunization status by January 8, 2020, or students cannot attend school until the required […]

(CNN)A single dose of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine may be just as effective as two or three doses at preventing cancer-causing HPV infection, a new study suggests. The study, published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open on Friday, found that compared with unvaccinated women, infection with certain high-risk HPV types was significantly less […]

Author: Robert Kadlec, MD, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Published Date: 12/19/2019 7:31:00 PM Category: Medical Countermeasures; National Health Security; Public Health Preparedness; Response & Recovery; Public-private partners collaborate to prevent the spread of a global health threat Today, we achieved a historic milestone in global health security with the approval of ERVEBO®, […]

California law stopping parents from citing religious or philosophical beliefs to opt out of vaccinating their children has improved rates of shots, a study has revealed. In 2016, a ban on nonmedical exemptions from school entry requirements came into effect. To uncover what effect this had, a team of researchers examined county-level data on measles, […]

(Reuters Health) – Only a quarter of childcare centers in the United States require children in their care to get a flu shot, and even fewer require childcare workers to be vaccinated, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday. Young children are at increased risk of serious complications such as hospitalization and even death from seasonal influenza, […]

(CNN)At least 1,300 people have died from the flu so far this season, according to a preliminary estimate released Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been at least 2.6 million flu illnesses and 23,000 flu-related hospitalizations, according to the analysis. So far this season, the CDC has received reports […]

(Reuters Health) – Even with measles outbreaks common in many parts of the world, doctors and parents are often not opting to have children vaccinated before international travel, a new study suggests. Nearly 60% of children who could have benefited from the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination did not get it during pre-travel doctor’s […]

(Reuters Health) – The first field trial of a new typhoid vaccine that can be used in young children provides protection for 81.6% of recipients, opening the door to better control of a disease that affects 11 million people each year and kills roughly 117,000. The test in Nepal “provides the first evidence of the […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Measles infected nearly 10 million people in 2018 and killed 140,000, mostly children, as devastating outbreaks of the viral disease hit every region of the world, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. WHO said most of last year’s measles deaths were in children under five years old who had not been […]

By Anne-Gerard Flynn There is a 40 percent chance flu season could peak this month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s FluSight Forecasting initiative. The CDC’s flu surveillance report for the week ending Nov. 30 shows the percentage of visits to outpatient providers for influenza-like illnesses has been at or above the national baseline for four weeks. […]

By Stephen Huba A whooping cough outbreak in Indiana County prompted the state Department of Health to host a walk-in vaccination clinic. The clinic will be open from 2-6 p.m. Thursday at the Indiana County State Health Center, 75 N. Main St., Indiana. It is in response to an ongoing outbreak in which 45 confirmed […]

NBC News (11/21) reports, “Doctors have known that mothers pass on measles immunity to their babies…leading to the belief that infants are protected against the disease for most of their first year of life.” Meanwhile, a study of blood samples from 200 babies “found insufficient levels” of measles antibodies “in 20 percent of newborns, 92 […]