Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

It hasnt been even a week since Gov. Phil Murphy was singing Essex Countys praises.

There may be no county in America thats better run than Essex County, he said during WNYCs Ask Governor MurphyprogramWednesday night. There are a handful of the best-run counties in America that are in New Jersey, and Essex happens to be one of them.

But in anew report released Tuesday, a state watchdog says Essex County, which is run by six-term Democrat and Murphy ally Joe DiVincenzo, colossally fumbled oversight of its $40 million COVID-19 vaccination program. County officials flouted federal, state, and local procurement rules and exercised so little control over spending that one politically connected vendor pocketed an identical six-figure payment twice while at least eight workers regularly got paid despite logging full-time hours with other government agencies, the report says.

Acting State Comptroller Kevin D. Walsh found that Essex County officials improperly awarded millions of dollars as emergency contracts continuing to do so long after vaccines were widely available and bypassed the competitive bidding process, public review, and approvals required to guard against overspending and abuse.

The governments obligation to protect taxpayer funds doesnt go away during an emergency, Walsh said in a statement. As we found in Essex County, overusing emergency contracts and failing to monitor vendors and implement basic financial controls increases the likelihood of fraud, waste, and abuse risks that can and should be avoided.

Investigators in the comptroller offices COVID-19 compliance and oversight project launched the probe after an anonymous tipster reported concerns about the program, which administered more than 622,000 vaccines from December 2020 through August 2023 at five sites in Newark, West Caldwell, Livingston, and West Orange, plus from a mobile clinic that traveled around the county.

The investigators found that officials continued to flout the rules around spending federal vaccination funds even though they followed appropriate procedures for other emergencies during the pandemic, such as responses to Tropical Storm Isaias and Hurricane Ida and the handling of indigent burials due to COVID-19, according to the report.

Investigators determined officials failed to document the need for emergency contracts or execute vendor contracts that spelled out the terms required by federal grants, as required. These failures expose the county to the possibility that the federal government could act to recoup the funds, Walshs report notes.

In a statement, DiVincenzo called the comptrollers report an unbalanced, unfair, and inaccurate gotcha document that identifies issues with a small fraction of the funds Essex County spent fighting COVID-19. DiVincenzo also chided Walshs office for not helping local officials prevent the misuse of public funds in the early months of the pandemic.

It would have been helpful to have them stand shoulder to shoulder with us back then rather than have them unfairly criticize our performance years later, the statement says.

The investigators also discovered lax oversight of the 93 outside vendors the county hired to carry out its vaccination program, including 15 payments totaling $871,211 that were made without invoices, making it impossible to validate what goods or services were provided.

In one case, officials paid a vendor $264,000 for advertising services but couldnt confirm those services were performed.

In another case, the county paid Dunton Consulting almost $1.3 million for robocall services from May 2020 through August 2021 without verifying the calls occurred, and even though the firms invoices were riddled with errors and charged fees that varied wildly, without explanation. The company also charged far more 2.8 to 9.8 cents a minute than county officials paid when they eventually put the contract out for competitive, public bidding, the report notes. The county paid less than 1 cent per minute under the newer contract.

County officials also erroneously paid Dunton $110,514.41 twice for the same services, but the East Orange-based firms owner Rasheida Smith and county officials said they didnt notice the error until the Comptrollers office brought it to their attention, according to the report. Instead of ordering the immediate return of the full overpayment, officials agreed Smith could repay a discounted amount, which they characterized as a loan, over five years without interest, the report notes.

Thats a flawed response because the state constitution prohibits governments from loaning public funds to private companies, the loan wasnt signed by any county officials, county commissioners didnt approve it at a public meeting, and the county hasnt shown it has the proper internal controls to monitor a long-term loan, investigators wrote.

Smith is a Democratic political operative and former campaign manager who has worked for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, former Rep. Charles Rangel, and other prominent politicians. She co-founded Dunton with Leroy Jones Jr., a former state assemblyman who now chairs the Essex County and statewide Democratic parties. Jones is no longer affiliated with Dunton, NorthJersey.com reported in 2022.

The Countys contract with Dunton demonstrates that excessive emergency contracting without competitive bidding can result in a shocking price tag for taxpayers, investigators wrote in the report.

Smith could not be reached to comment.

More than 850 people worked in the vaccination program, and county officials allowed them to log their hours remotely and didnt enforce on-site sign-in sheets meant to confirm their presence, investigators found.

As a result, the county spent $17 million on staffing without verifying that workers worked the hours they logged, investigators said.

Eight workers routinely worked other public jobs at the same time they worked for the countys vaccination program, meaning they got paid by both public entities for the same hours including one woman who collected $130,000 over 11 months under the vaccine program, even though the county health officer didnt know who she was or what she did, according to the report.

Even after firing three workers who were found to have fudged their hours, officials didnt tighten its timekeeping system or bother to investigate more broadly, according to the report. Officials also classified the vaccination workers as independent contractors, meaning the county then didnt pay into unemployment funds or provide benefits.

Investigators shared their findings with the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development and other authorities for follow-up action.

DiVincenzos statement says Essex County immediately fired no show employees and when possible, funds were repaid.

Im not saying that we were perfect. But when any wrongdoing was identified, we acted swiftly, it says.

Natalie Hamilton, a Murphy spokeswoman, said the governor is aware of the comptrollers findings but also recognizes that the speed of establishing a fully operational vaccine program in late 2020 and early 2021 was directly correlated with saving lives.

Under the leadership ofCounty Executive Joe DiVincenzo, Essex County had one of the most efficient vaccine programs anywhere in America, helping establish New Jersey as a national leader in vaccine distribution, Hamilton said.

Walsh and his investigators issued three recommendations, urging Essex County officials to:

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Feeble oversight of Essex County's $40M vaccine program spurred abuses, watchdog finds New Jersey Monitor - New Jersey Monitor

International regulators have published a report today presenting the outcomes of a workshop on COVID-19 vaccine strain updates that was organised by the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Currently authorised vaccines, particularly those that have already gone through adaptation of the composition, continue to be effective at preventing hospitalisation, severe disease and death due to COVID-19. However, protection wanes over time and as new SARS-CoV-2 variants emerge. For this reason, update of vaccine composition has to be considered on a regular basis. Meeting participants stressed that international convergence on the process and timing of COVID-19 vaccine strain updates are therefore critical in view of the continuous evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

The meeting report provides an overview of key regulatory considerations related to updated COVID-19 vaccine composition. It also highlights data requirements for authorised vaccines to support the approval of strain changes. Workshop participants also discussed virus evolution and circulation in different regions of the world.

The conclusions detail how international regulators and WHO will put in place a structured process to support and optimise timing around COVID-19 vaccine antigen recommendations.

The workshop brought together representatives of national regulatory authorities, WHO, scientists, and industry to present their perspectives and experience with the updating of the COVID-19 vaccine composition and to propose a way forward. Participants acknowledged that regular meetings with key stakeholders, including vaccine manufacturers, will contribute to timely regulatory approvals and the use of updated COVID-19 vaccines in national vaccination programmes.

The two-day workshop was held virtually on 26 and 27 February 2024. The meeting aimed to identify a structured and aligned process to optimise timely vaccine antigen composition recommendations and regulatory approval for vaccines with an updated composition. Delegates representing more than 35 medicines regulatory authorities globally, as well as experts from WHO, the European Commission and industry engaged in the scientific discussions.

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COVID-19 vaccine strain updates: Global regulators agree on timing and data requirements | European Medicines ... - European Medicines Agency |

Because COVID-19 vaccinations have been associated with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) in teens and young adults, concerns have been raised about possible vaccine-related cardiac fatalities in this age group.

[1]

Although the rate [of myocarditis] was higher during the pandemic year of 2021, myocarditis remained an infrequent cause of death among persons in this age group [between 15 and 34 years old], wrote study authors Juventila Liko, MD, and Paul Cieslak, MD, with the Oregon Health Authority.

Misinformation from anti-vaccination groups including unfounded speculation onsocial mediathat the shots contributed to the collapse of Buffalo Bills safetyDamar Hamlin last year has only served to fuel doubts surrounding vaccination.

There are a lot of anti-vaxxers out there who have promoted the concept that the vaccine will cause myocarditis and kill young men, says Robert A. Kloner MD, director of of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Huntington Medical Research Institutes in Pasadena, California, who was not involved in the research.

[2]

In this analysis, scientists reviewed death certificates from more than 1,200 previously healthy young people, aged 16 to 30 years old, who died from COVID-19, heart-related issues, or unknown causes between June 1, 2021 and December 31, 2022. A total of 925 (72 percent) were male and 367 (28 percent) were female.

For 30 of these individuals, COVID-19 was listed as the cause of death.

For 101 others, a cardiac cause of death could not be excluded. Immunization records were available for 88 people in this group. Of 40 deaths that occurred among people who had received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, three occurred within 100 days after getting the shot.

Two of these deaths were attributed to chronic underlying conditions, and for one death, the cause was undetermined. None of the deaths were attributed to vaccination.

These data do not support an association between receipt of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and sudden cardiac death among previously healthy young persons, concluded the study authors. Detection of a small difference in mortality rate from myocarditis would require a larger sample size.

For Edward Jones-Lopez, MD, an infectious disease specialist with Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, the results provide further confirmation of the vaccines safety, and should encourage all people 6 months and older to get the shot to prevent COVID-19 complications, including death.

Theres no doubt whatsoever that the benefits of the vaccination outweigh the risks, says Dr. Jones-Lopez, who was not involved in the research. This study confirms that mRNA COVID vaccines are not leading to any serious cardiac events or deaths, and they continue to be among the safest vaccines that have ever been produced.

[3]

[4]

The vaccine does not necessarily prevent someone from getting infected, but it lessens the severity of the disease and reduces hospitalizations and death, says Kloner.

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COVID-19 Vaccine Doesn't Lead to Heart-Related Deaths in Young People - Everyday Health

A new study found no evidence of a potential complication of the COVID-19 vaccine myocarditis in cardiac deaths in the state

A study by the Oregon Health Authority found reassuring evidence that a complication of the COVID-19 vaccine myocarditis was not associated with cardiac deaths among previously healthy young people, in the 19 months following the initial vaccine rollout.

However, due to its limitations, the study could not rule out the possibility that in very rare cases, cardiac death may be a complication of the vaccine.

The study was published this week in the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions public health bulletin Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Myocarditis, which is essentially inflammation of the heart muscle, is a known but rare complication of the COVID-19 vaccine. It happens most often to adolescents and young males within seven days after the second dose of an mRNA COVID-19 shot.

The OHA study looked at deaths in Oregon that occurred following the initial rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, from June 1, 2021, to Dec. 31, 2022.

The authors used the Oregon death certificate database to look for people aged 16-30 years old who died of cardiac causes or of undetermined causes during that time.

They found a total of 1,292 deaths among people in that age range. Of those, none had COVID-19 vaccination listed as a cause of death on their death certificate.

The authors then narrowed their focus to 66 males and 35 females whose deaths were due to cardiac events or unknown causes, according to their death certificates.

The researchers used the states vaccination records to see whether any of those young people had died within 100 days of receiving a mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose. They found three deaths that met that criteria.

One male died 21 days after COVID-19 vaccination. His cause of death was listed as congestive heart failure attributed to hypertension and other chronic conditions. A second male died 45 days after vaccination, of an undetermined natural cause. One female died of undetermined causes four days after COVID-19 vaccination. Her death certificate listed chronic respiratory failure as a factor.

Lars Grosse-Wortmann, a pediatric cardiologist at Oregon Health & Science University and an expert on COVID-19 vaccine myocarditis, was not involved in the study.

He said that combining big datasets, as the study did, is a helpful approach to better understand a rare vaccine complication like myocarditis.

To me, the study is reassuring in the way that they didnt find a big smoking gun, Grosse-Wortmann said. They didnt all of a sudden identify a dozen patients where it had that close chronological association with their vaccine.

On the other hand, its neither big enough nor detailed enough for me to say, This study leads me to think theres no risk for sudden cardiac death, he added.

Without detailed medical records for the three patients the study identified who died within 100 days of vaccination, it was hard to draw firm conclusions in those cases.

In particular, the death of the female could plausibly have been vaccine-related, given the timeline in that case, Grosse-Wortmann said.

I would say we dont know, he said. The conclusion from the paper is correct, the data does not support the association, but it does not lay the question to rest whether sudden cardiac death could occur.

Grosse-Wortmann, at the Federal Drug Administrations request, has been leading an effort to compile research and better characterize myocarditis following mRNA vaccination.

That effort has found the prognosis of young patients with myocarditis related to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine is generally positive. People with myocarditis after vaccination typically have mild cases of it, and they tend to recover quickly.

However, Grosse-Wortmann said, some show signs of heart injury and scarring in imaging scans that seem somewhat at odds with the mild clinical presentation of their cases.

Because the first cases were reported in 2021, the longest any patient has been followed is three years.

Thats long enough to say these patients do clinically well, but probably too short to say if the scars that some of them carry in their hearts have any significance for their long term health and survival, Grosse-Wortmann said.

Any risk due to a rare vaccine side-effect, Grosse-Wortmann said, has to be weighed against the benefits of vaccination. In the case of the COVID-19 shots, the potential benefits include protection against death, long ICU and hospital stays, long COVID, and the long-term cardiovascular risk factors of a COVID-19 infection.

The OHA study authors also looked at COVID-19 deaths among adolescents and young people during the same time period in 2021 and 2022. COVID-19 was cited as the cause of death for 30 Oregon residents in that age group. Almost all were unvaccinated.

It is clear that the risk, if any, of cardiac death linked to COVID-19 vaccination is very low, while the risk of dying from COVID-19 is real, said Paul Cieslak, co-author of the study. We continue to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for all persons 6 months of age and older.

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Oregon study: COVID-19 vaccine not associated with cardiac deaths in healthy young people - The Lund Report

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NJ COVID vaccine rollout in Essex County had lots of 'waste' - NorthJersey.com

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is cyclical with a rise in cases every three to five years.

A resurgence of whooping cough, or pertussis, is affecting several European countries.

The highly contagious respiratory infection, sometimes called the 100-day cough because the coughing associated with it can last weeks, is caused by a bacterium.

It is particularly dangerous for infants before vaccination. Heres what you need to know about it.

Increases in whooping cough have been reported since mid-2023 in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, and Norway, with particular increases this year in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

In the Czech Republic, pertussis cases are at the highest level reported since the 1960s, with more than 6,300 cases of the illness between January and the first week of April.

Spain had reported more than 8,200 cases by March, according to a report from health authorities, a large increase compared to the 1,200 cases reported in all of 2023.

The Netherlands reported more than 3,600 cases of whooping cough between January and March 2024, of which 228 were in infants.

Greek health authorities have also reported higher cases than the previous year, with 82 cases of whooping cough since the beginning of 2024. This is compared to just nine cases last year.

Typically, whooping cough cases will peak every three to five years.

The last peak in most European countries was either in 2012 or in 2018, and so it's quite logical to see now a resurgence of pertussis, Sylvain Brisse, Director of the Institut Pasteurs Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens Unit, told Euronews Health.

The unusual thing is that due to the COVID pandemic and the infection control barriers [restrictions]... there was a delay in the resurgence, he added.

During the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, there were almost no cases of whooping cough, so both the pandemic delay and the pathogens cyclical nature could contribute to the latest resurgence, he added.

A spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO)s regional office in Europe specified that across the region, which encompasses Europe and parts of Central Asia, pertussis vaccination coverage has decreased since the pandemic.

Before 2019, almost 70 per cent of countries in the Region reported 90 per cent or higher coverage with a first booster dose of the vaccine. Coverage decreased during the pandemic and has not recovered since, now only about 50 per cent of countries have reported 90 per cent coverage, WHO Europe said.

They added, however, that increases can come from more reporting and awareness about the condition as well.

While symptoms start like a common cold, whooping cough can cause weeks of sudden, violent coughing fits. People can even vomit after the intense coughing fits.

Health authorities say that infants, babies, and young children may have pauses in breathing or turn blue.

The Netherlands public health institute said that more than half of babies with whooping cough are admitted to hospital and can occasionally die from pertussis.

People who are vaccinated, however, will generally have fewer symptoms and may not cough for as long.

Really the severe disease and the deaths are seen only in [newborns up to] six months more or less. They are very fragile, especially before three months when they have not been vaccinated yet or just after the first vaccination, said Brisse.

Unvaccinated adults, meanwhile, can cough for weeks, which is annoying. You don't sleep anymore. In many cases, you have a paroxysmal cough during the night. So that's that's a bit tiring and depressing, he said.

Pertussis is also highly contagious, with one person infecting on average 15 others.

Vaccines are available to prevent whooping cough, but according to Brisse, many countries only require them for children.

The vaccines protect well, but they protect for about 5 to 7 years, and then after that, people become susceptible again. That's why we would ideally need to re-vaccinate perhaps every ten years. But that's not the case, it's only for children in some countries, he said.

Vaccination is also recommended now in most European countries for pregnant women, which is an effective measure for protecting newborn babies from death.

In France, we [have] now recommend vaccination of pregnant womenbut the uptake of this measure is not very high, said Brisse.

In the UK, maternal vaccine uptake fell from nearly 75 per cent in December 2017 to 60 per cent in December 2023, health authorities said.

The Czech Republic imported110,000 vaccines from the UK, Canada, and France last week to vaccinate children and pregnant women as they respond to rising cases of whooping cough. Vaccines for adults will arrive this week, the health ministry said.

In addition to routine infant vaccination and vaccinating pregnant women in the second or third trimester, WHO Europe recommends that people who contract whooping cough are treated quickly with antibiotics and do not come into contact with infants, young children, or pregnant women.

When you are coughing from pertussis, it's recommended to not go to work, at least for two or three days when you take antibiotics and during the [whole] period of contagiousness, so three weeks, if you don't take antibiotics, said Brisse.

It's especially important to protect the young children or the neonates, so for example, if there was a birth and one of the parents coughs, you should avoid approaching the neonate, he added.

According to Public Health France, more than half of children infected with pertussis get it from one of their parents.

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Why are whooping cough cases rising and what are the symptoms? - Euronews

Whooping cough is making a comeback in several parts of the world, with deaths reported in China, the Philippines, Czech Republic and the Netherlands, and outbreaks in countries including the US and UK.

The infection, whose scientific name is pertussis, is difficult to detect early and can be fatal, especially in children and babies. Thirteen deaths were reported in China in the first two months of 2024, with 32,380 cases reported more than 20 times higher than a year earlier, according to the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration. The Philippines this week said infection figures were 34 times higher than last year, with 54 deaths recorded in the first three months of 2024.

Read more from the original source:

All You Need to Know About Whooping Cough as Fatal Outbreaks Rise - Bloomberg

TRENTONAn investigation of Essex Countys $40 million COVID-19 vaccination program found widespread deficiencies, including lax oversight of spending and multiple violations of federal, state, and local procurement rules, the Office of the State Comptroller announced today.

OSCs COVID-19 Compliance and Oversight Project initiated the investigation after receiving an anonymous tip alleging fraud, waste, and abuse in the Essex County program. OSCs investigation found that the County improperly awarded millions of dollars as emergency contracts, bypassing the competitive bidding process, and while using emergency procurement methods, it failed to follow state and local requirements by not documenting the need for the emergency contract and not having the County Commissioners review and publicly approve each contract.

Additionally, the County spent $17 million on staffing costs but failed to implement an effective time-tracking system to verify that the workers were working the hours they logged. OSC found at least eight workers were also full-time employees of other government agencies. One worker was paid $130,000 over 11 months, yet the County didnt know who that person was or what the person did.

The governments obligation to protect taxpayer funds doesnt go away during an emergency, said Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh. As we found in Essex County, overusing emergency contracts and failing to monitor vendors and implement basic financial controls increases the likelihood of fraud, waste, and abuse risks that can and should be avoided.

Essex Countys COVID-19 vaccination program was launched in December 2020 and administered a total of 622,016 doses through August 2023. OSC reviewed nearly $10 million in payments made to 21 business vendors and about $4.6 million in payments made to 63 independent contractors and interviewed multiple county officials and staff. OSC found that even in 2022, the County continued to use emergency contracts without competitive, public bidding. Additionally, the County improperly used multi-year emergency contracts in several cases. Emergency procurement rules allow for a non-competitive bidding process when health and safety are at immediate risk but clearly prohibit multi-year contracts because of the lack of transparency and competition.

OSC also found that the County failed to enter into formal contracts with business vendors that laid out the terms required by the federal grants. This deficiency coupled with the failure to follow state and local emergency procurement rules potentially exposes these funds to recoupment by the federal government.

Essex County also failed to properly oversee its vendors. For instance, OSC found that 15 payments amounting to $871,211 were made to vendors without invoices, making it difficult to validate what goods or services were provided. From May 2020 through August 2021, the County also paid $1.29 million to the East Orange-based Dunton Consulting firm for robocall services. OSC found many of the firms invoices were riddled with errors and used a fee structure that varied wildly, without explanationall of the invoices were nonetheless paid.

When the County finally put the contract out for competitive, public bidding, the winning bidders fee structure was less than one cent per minute call. Duntons rate was four times as much. Based on Duntons last bill, the County could have saved $90,000 on that bill alone if it had contracted with the winning vendor one month earlier.

OSC discovered the County also paid Dunton twice for the same $110,514 in 2021. Instead of demanding immediate repayment of the federal funds, the County negotiated repayment with Dunton's accountant and entered into an agreement that amounts to a zero-interest loan. The generous terms of the agreement allow Dunton to repay less than the full amount of the improper payment over the next five years. The agreement was not signed by any County official, and its not clear how the County would monitor this long-term agreement.

The Countys oversight of more than 800 individuals working in the vaccination program also was deficient. Workers were able to log their hours remotely, from any device, and there was no enforcement of the sign-in sheets which could have provided a paper trail showing workers were on-site as required. Even after the County investigated and dismissed three workers who were found to be logging in hours when they were not at the vaccination sites, the County didnt change its timekeeping system to close this loophole, nor did it initiate a broader investigation at that time. OSC subsequently found numerous irregularities, such as individuals who held full-time jobs while working the same hours for the vaccination program.

The County also classified all of the workers as independent contractors, which meant that the County did not pay into unemployment funds or provide any benefits for those workers. OSC found that the County conducted an inadequate review to determine that all of the workers were contractors. OSC referred the matter to the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

OSC is also making referrals to appropriate agencies to address other findings from this report.

Read the full report.

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To report government fraud, waste, mismanagement, or corruption, file a complaint with OSC or call 1-855-OSC-TIPS.

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Investigation Uncovers Waste, Abuse in Essex County's $40 Million COVID-19 Vaccination Program - NJ.gov

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Every year in the U.S., human papillomavirus (HPV) causes about 37,000 new cases of cancer. These are cancers that could have been prevented with the HPV vaccine.

Unfortunately, only 38.6% of children ages 9 to 17 had received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine in 2022, according to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

UC Davis Health checked in with Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children's Hospital, to learn more. He answers some frequently asked questions about HPV, the HPV vaccine and what families need to know to protect their children from HPV-associated cancers through adulthood.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the U.S. It is spread through genital contact and can cause cancers.

People with HPV can be symptom-free, but they can still be infectious with no visible signs or symptoms. HPV causes a lot of different kinds of cancers in males and femalesincluding cervical cancers and other cancers. These include cancer of the vulva, vagina, penis or anus. HPV can also cause cancer in the throat, tongue and the tonsils.

Genital warts can also result from different types of HPV. Genital warts usually appear as a small bump or group of bumps in the genital area. They can be small or large, raised or flat, or shaped like a small cauliflower. A health care provider can usually diagnose warts by looking at the genital area.

Get vaccinated. The CDC recommends the HPV vaccination for all preteens (boys and girls) at age 11 or 12. Making sure preteens and teens receive their HPV vaccine now will protect them from these cancers when they are adults. It is a two-dose vaccine series for those ages 9-14. Older people can also get the vaccineup to age 45. For those who start the vaccine at age 15 to 45, or for immunocompromised people, it's a three-dose vaccine series.

To reduce the risk of HPV, those who are sexually active can also:

It's been found to have close to 100% efficacy, one month after a person completes the full vaccination series. It prevents future HPV infection and prevents the spread of HPV as well. I let patients know that this is a powerful cancer prevention tool.

The common side effects are pain, redness or swelling in the arm where the shot was given, fever, headache, muscle ache, nausea or dizziness. These side effects should improve within a day.

The vaccine provides a lifetime of protection. There is no need to get a booster for this.

But timing is important. The vaccine does not work to protect against HPV-associated cancers if someone already has HPV. It has to be administered before HPV exposure and infection. The vaccine is offered to preteens so the vaccine can provide that lasting protection into adulthood.

The rest is here:

Q&A: Does the HPV vaccine protect against cancers and genital warts? - Medical Xpress

Background to the scientific opinion

Outcomes

Implications

Different combinations of testing type, sample type, sample size, and sampling interval across different poultry species created a range of effective active surveillance options for the early detection of HPAI outbreaks during emergency vaccination as well as for demonstrating freedom from disease following preventive vaccination. The surveillance strategy should be selected according to the country's specific circumstances and resources.

In relation to active surveillance for the early detection of HPAI outbreaks in vaccinated farms during emergency vaccination:

For active surveillance to demonstrate freedom from disease in vaccinated areas following preventive vaccination:

Passive surveillance in unvaccinated farms in vaccinated areas is always recommended to enhance the overall sensitivity of the surveillance. During vaccination, passive surveillance is also applied to vaccinated flocks if, for example, an unusual increased mortality is observed between two consecutive sampling events.

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Vaccination of poultry against highly pathogenic avian influenza Part 2. Surveillance and mitigation measures - EFSA news