Category: Vaccine

Health district reminds parents to get students vaccinated before first day of school

Las Vegas (KSNV)

The school year is fast approaching and the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) is advising parents/guardians to make sure they are up to date with all school-required vaccines before stepping foot in the classroom.

SNHD encourages parents and guardians to beat the back-to-school rush and make an appointment now for their kindergartners, 7th and 12th graders at one of its immunization clinics for their mandatory school vaccines.

Clark County School District (CCSD) students are required the following vaccinations:

SNHD reminds parents/guardians who recently moved to Nevada that hepatitis A vaccination is required in the state, adding that immunizations that were up to date in other states, that do not require hepatitis A vaccination, might not be current in Nevada.

Students enrolled in the 12th grade in Nevada public, private, or charter schools must also receive the meningococcal vaccine (MenACWY) before the start of the 2024-2025 school year.

SNHD accepts most insurance plans. Not all immunizations are covered by insurance.

Vaccine costs vary based on the type of immunization required. In addition to the vaccine costs, SNHD charges an administration fee of $22 per person for one vaccine and $10 for each additional vaccine.

Mandatory back-to-school vaccinations, as well as recommended vaccinations, are available at the following SNHD locations by appointment only:

Special back-to-school dates and times at this location:

Special back-to-school dates and times at this location:

To make an appointment, call (702) 759-0850 or click here.

For more information on required vaccines, clickhere.

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Health district reminds parents to get students vaccinated before first day of school - News3LV

Typically, Americans learn about the clandestine depravities undertaken abroad by their government only decades after the offenses were committed. But last month, one ugly episode was revealed from the still-inflamed recent past: In a report for Reuters, Chris Bing and Joel Schectman documented that, in 2020 and 2021, the Department of Defense conducted an extensive, international disinformation campaign initially intended to discredit Chinese vaccines in the Philippines, a nominal ally, and later among Muslim-majority countries in Central Asia.

According to Reuters, at the very height of the coronavirus pandemic, with the disease raging through its first winter surge, American intelligence agents were actively spreading lies via social media to disparage vaccines being developed by China, presumably to suppress uptake. When the Pentagon was confronted with the report, its spokeswoman didnt just acknowledge the existence of these sorts of programs; she appeared to defend them.

The Reuters report is very much worth reading in full, a showcase of American recklessness in what may already be a new age of Spy vs. Spy psyops. Over the past few years, Americans trying to make sense of the countrys political fractiousness have been fed a steady diet of scare stories about malevolent meddling by foreign intelligence services most of them about Russia but some about China as well. But weve had very little reporting, or reckoning, with what the American side of that information war might look like. In fact, weve probably heard more complaints that the U.S. government has been doing too much to block the flow of disinformation, foreign or otherwise, than weve gotten accounting of any American information offensives or how fully certain corners of the military have already embraced the anything-goes logic of a Cold War 2.0.

On this point, the Department of Defense was remarkably blunt, acknowledging flatly in its statement about the anti-vaccine campaign that the Pentagon conducts a wide range of operations, including operations in the information environment (O.I.E.), to counter adversary malign influence; that this process is deliberate, methodical and comprehensive; and that this work employs a variety of platforms, including social media, to counter those malign influence attacks. The Chinese have been, predictably, more hyperbolic: An editorial in the Chinese Communist Party-run Global Times called the social media campaign simply brainwashing.

The program is reported to have begun almost as soon as the pandemic itself, in the spring of 2020, inspired at least in part by Chinese efforts to pin the outbreak on a visit to China by an American serviceman, to suggest the disease originated in an American laboratory at Fort Detrick, and more generally to flood social media with suggestions that the United States was behind the novel disease. (These efforts didnt get much traction outside China.) In response, newly created social media accounts that appear to have been operated by the U.S. military asserted that Covid was a purposeful bioweapon; the posts often included a hashtag, in Tagalog, that translates as China is the virus.

At least six State Department officials objected, Reuters reports; the campaign proceeded anyway, consistent with a 2019 order by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper that elevated Americas rivalry with China and Russia to the priority of active combat and allowed the Pentagon to undertake such operations against those countries without State Department approval. By the summer, the propaganda campaign seemed to have moved beyond the origin of the disease to the vaccines developed to protect against it, inflaming anxieties among Muslims that the Sinovac shots from China had been manufactured with pork products prohibited by Islamic law. Quite quickly, Reuters reports, Facebook flagged the accounts as objectionable, but the Pentagon defended them as parts of a legitimate counterterrorism operation, and the accounts remained active through the spring of 2021, when President Biden ordered the operation suspended.

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Opinion | Americas Antivax Disinformation Campaign in the Philippines - The New York Times

Cases of whooping cough, the flu and gastroentiritis have surged, with young children particularly hard hit by the wave of illness which is putting 'unprecedented' pressure on some hospitals.

The winter peak is still yet to be reached in northern Australia popular with holiday-makers, prompting a leading general practitioner to urge everyone to get an influenza vaccination.

More than 170,000 influenza cases have been confirmed so far in 2024, with 29 per cent of them in children under nine years of age.

Infections in 2024 are already 27 per cent higher than the first six months of 2023.

Those figures do not give a complete picture as many people do not get tested, according to Royal College of General Practitioners rural chair Michael Clements.

He said cases are likely to climb as the winter virus peak hits warmer areas in August and September.

'We certainly are concerned that this is going to continue to increase and potentially overwhelm the hospital systems,' the Townsville GP told AAP.

His comments echo NSW Health Minister Ryan Park, who reported 'unprecedented' demand on emergency departments in his state due to a 30 per cent jump in flu cases, combined with fewer GPs working in the community.

Victoria's health department warns vaccine coverage of influenza remains 'low' in all age groups including children, despite a sixfold increase in emergency department presentations due to the flu from April to June.

Dr Clements said COVID-19 infections could have lowered immunity to influenza, and reduced herd immunity across the population.

He also cited more international travel and people going to work while unwell - two factors that were greatly reduced during Covid lockdowns - as factors that spread illness.

Cases of pertussis, known as whooping cough, have already surged past pre-pandemic levels to more than 12,900 so far in 2024, which is four times the number of total infections in 2023.

More than 60 per cent of cases have been in children under 14, with NSW health warning of 'unseasonably high' infections of whooping cough and pneumonia in school-aged children.

It can be deadly for babies, with Dr Clements noting many infants and adult patients with whooping cough have also tested positive to several other viruses at the same time like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) or COVID-19.

'These are spikes, we certainly have to acknowledge that they are big increases on the last years,' he said.

'What's hard to know is how to interpret it, so whether or not we're just interpreting a return to normal behaviour post COVID.'

Cases of a particular gastroenterisis strain have also already tripled the 2023 total, surging to more than 11,700.

Cryptosporidiosis is spread by a parasite in some swimming pools, and anyone with symptoms is advised to stay out of the water for at least four weeks as they could still be shedding the virus, which can survive chlorine.

Dr Clements is concerned about what he described as the 'massive explosion' in preventable illness and said he has noticed fewer campaigns from the federal government encouraging people to get jabbed.

'We can't look into the crystal ball and say whether we're at the peak now or whether we'll have another one,' he said.

'It's never too late to get a vaccine.'

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Continued here:

Urgent warning issued over triple virus threat in Australia: 'It's never too late to get a vaccine' - Daily Mail

Babies exposed to maternal RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccination in the third trimester are not at an increased risk of preterm birth or other poor birth outcomes, according to a study today in JAMA Network Open.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizers Abrysvo vaccine for use in women 32 to 36 weeks pregnant last August based on clinical trial results. Maternal vaccination in late pregnancy is meant to pass protective antibodies on to the newborn, but clinical trial results showing an increased risk in preterm birth shortened the recommended vaccination window from 24 to 36 weeks to 32 to 36 weeks.

Each year, RSV causes 80,000 hospitalizations and up to 300 deaths in children under age 5 in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that pregnant women receive one RSV vaccine dose from September to January to protect infants against the virus.

In today's study, the vaccine was found to be safe and protective in a real-world setting, which included 1,026 vaccinated and 1,947 unvaccinated patients who received care at two New York City hospitals from September 22, 2023, to January 31, 2024. Preterm birth was defined as birth before 37 weeks' gestation.

Sixty patients who had evidence of prenatal vaccination (5.9%) experienced preterm birth, compared with 6.7% of those who did not.

"The real-world evidence provides an additional layer of confidence about the safety of this vaccine during pregnancy," said lead author Moeun Son, MD,associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine in a press release from Weill Cornell. "Randomized clinical trials dont always emulate the populations we see in the clinical setting, but now we have data from multiple populations showing no increase in preterm birth risk."

The real-world evidence provides an additional layer of confidence about the safety of this vaccine during pregnancy.

There were no significant differences in rates of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) births or stillbirth, but there was an increased risk of overall hypertension disorders in pregnancy with RSV vaccination in a time-dependent model (hazard ratio, 1.43; 95% confidence interval, 1.16 to 1.77).

In an editorial on the study, Annette Regan, PhD, MPH, of the University of San Francisco, writes that the findings should reassure clinicians and women that the vaccine is safe, especially after phase 3 clinical data raised concerns regarding a 1% higher rate of preterm birth observed in the intervention arm compared with the control arm.

"Despite the need for further research and surveillance, results from this study should offer initial reassurance to regulators, policymakers, health care professionals, and pregnant patientsas well as additional countries considering the introduction of RSVpreF vaccine programs for pregnant people," Regan writes.

Son said the study should help guide clinicians who are currently providing care for women set to deliver during RSV season.

"As we prepare for the next RSV vaccination season in September, we are going to speak with different communities to help understand what might cause vaccine hesitancy among women or create barriers to access," Son said. "We want to ensure that all who would benefit will receive the vaccine."

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Late-pregnancy RSV vaccination not associated with poor birth outcomes - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

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Moderna wins $176 million to develop bird flu vaccine amid outbreak - USA TODAY

Why Is Vaccine Maker Emergent BioSolutions Stock Trading Higher On Tuesday? (UPDATED)

Editors Note: The story has been updated to replace the erroneous content published earlier.

Tuesday,Emergent BioSolutions Inc.(NYSE:EBS) received more than $250 million in contract modifications from the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the United States Department of Health and Human Services to deliver millions of doses offour medical countermeasures. These contract modifications will help ensure continued supply/stockpiling of critical medical countermeasures to address biological threats and emergencies against anthrax, smallpox, and botulism. The four awards include:

A contract modification valued at $30.0 million to supply Cyfendus (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed, Adjuvanted) this year.

Previously known as AV7909, Cyfendus is a two-dose anthrax vaccine for post-exposure prophylaxis use in individuals 18 and older. This new procurement funding is from Emergents existing 10-year contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

A contract modification valued at $99.9 million to supply ACAM2000 (Smallpox (Vaccinia) Vaccine, Live) this year. This is under Emergents existing 10-year contract with ASPR.

Two new contract options totaling $122.9 million have been awarded to supply the Strategic National Stockpile with VIGIV [Vaccinia Immune Globulin Intravenous (Human)] drug product and BAT [Botulism Antitoxin Heptavalent (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) (Equine)] drug substance and delivery of drug production this year and into early 2025.

VIGIV is used for complications to smallpox vaccination, while BAT is indicated for symptomatic botulism following documented or suspected exposure to botulinum neurotoxin serotypes A, B, C, D, E, F, or G in adults and pediatric patients.

Both are under Emergents existing 10-year contracts with ASPR.

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Price Action:EBS shares are up 13.6% at $8.02 at last check Tuesday.

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Why Is Vaccine Maker Emergent BioSolutions Stock Trading Higher On Tuesday? (UPDATED) - Yahoo Finance

By Stephanie Nolen

Stephanie Nolen interviewed more than 30 scientists, health officials and other key players in the development of the malaria vaccines to report this article.

Nurses in countries from Sierra Leone to Cameroon are packing a new vaccine into the coolers they tote to villages for immunization clinics: a shot to protect against malaria, one of the deadliest diseases for children.

Babies and toddlers in eight countries in the region recently started to get the vaccine as part of their routine childhood shots. Seven other African countries are eagerly awaiting its arrival.

This is a milestone in global health.

But its also a cautionary tale about a system that is ill equipped to deliver critical tools to the people who need them most.

It took decades and at least a billion dollars to reach this point. Even now, only a fraction of the children whose lives are at risk will get the vaccine this year, or next year, or the year after.

Its been clear for some time what went wrong, but almost none of those issues have been fixed. That means that the next desperately needed vaccine stands every chance of running into those same problems.

Take, for example, a new vaccine for tuberculosis that started clinical trials a few months ago. If it works as well as hoped, it could save at least a million lives a year. Well know by 2028 if it stops tuberculosis infections. But if it follows the same trajectory, it will be at least 2038 before its shipped to clinics.

Dr. Joe Cohen, co-inventor of the first malaria vaccine

The U.S. Army started work on a malaria vaccine back in the 1980s, hoping to protect soldiers deployed to the tropics. It teamed up with the drug company GlaxoSmithKline, and together they produced promising prototypes. But the military lost interest after a few years, and that left GSK with a problem.

The people who desperately needed a malaria vaccine were in villages in sub-Saharan Africa. They would not be able to pay for a product that would cost millions of dollars to develop.

GSK needed an altruistically minded partner. It found one in the nonprofit global health agency PATH, and by the late 1990s they had a vaccine to test. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation put up more than $200 million to test it.

The clinical trials were complex, because this was a whole new type of vaccine the first ever against a parasite delivered to children in places with limited health systems. The process took more than a decade.

Finally, in 2014, results showed this vaccine cut severe malaria cases by about a third.

This was a successful result, but not as much protection as scientists had hoped to see. Still, GSK and PATH planned a production facility to make millions of doses. Gavi, the organization that procures vaccines for low- and middle-income countries, with funds from donors, would buy them.

Then the Gates Foundation pulled its support.

There was a shake-up in the malaria division, and the leadership reoriented toward a new goal: eliminating the disease.

The new malaria team said the vaccine didnt work well enough to justify pouring millions more dollars into it. It would be better, they said, to wait for a more effective shot in the future, and in the meantime to fund other strategies, such as genetically modifying mosquitoes.

Dr. Robert Newman, former director, Global Malaria Program, W.H.O.

The decision was driven by researchers who were looking at data. They didnt factor in that the idea of a vaccine, even one with limited efficacy, would be so important to African parents and African governments, which would come to see this as a classic example of a paternalistic donor ignoring their priorities. More than 300,000 children died of malaria that year.

The foundations announcement shoved the vaccine into limbo in ways the foundation today says it did not anticipate.

Dr. Chris Elias, president of global development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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Malaria Vaccine Rollout to Africa Is a Cautionary Tale - The New York Times

The U.S. government will pay the vaccine maker Moderna $176 million to accelerate development of a pandemic influenza vaccine that could be used to treat bird flu in people, as concern grows about cases in dairy cows across the country, federal officials announced Tuesday.

Moderna already has a bird flu vaccine in very early-stage testing that uses the same mRNA technology that allowed rapid development and rollout of vaccines to protect against COVID-19. The new funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services include continued development of the vaccine, including a late-stage trial next year if those early study results are positive.

But the project can be quicky redirected to target another form of influenza if a different threat than the H5N1 form of bird flu emerges, HHS officials stressed.

The award was made through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, a program that focuses on medical treatments for potential pandemics.

The H5N1 virus was detected earlier this year in dairy cows and has spread to more than 135 herds in 12 states and infected three people to date, all with mild cases. Federal health officials stress that the risk to the wider population remains low.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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The US will pay Moderna $176 million to develop an mRNA pandemic flu vaccine - The Associated Press

Youre reading The Checkup With Dr. Wen, a newsletter on how to navigate medical and public health challenges. Click here to get the full newsletter in your inbox, including answers to reader questions and a summary of new scientific research.

Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unanimously voted last week to replicate last years coronavirus vaccine guidance for the coming fall. That means everyone 6 months and older is recommended to receive a newly formulated coronavirus shot later this year.

I understand the rationale behind this decision. Guidance that applies to nearly everyone is simpler to understand and to implement. It also aligns the cadence of the vaccine with that of the seasonal flu. Americans are used to receiving a flu shot every fall; now, they can expect two seasonal shots a year.

But a population-wide recommendation is not nuanced, and there are downsides to choosing simplicity over specificity. There are two particular issues I want to highlight in this weeks newsletter, using new data presented at the CDCs meeting last week.

First, the elderly continue to bear the brunt of severe illness due to covid-19. Of the approximately 50,000 covid-associated deaths in 2023, more than 44,000 or about 88 percent occurred in people 65 and older.

Yet, the vaccination rate among older individuals remains disturbingly low. Even among the highest-risk group, individuals 75 and older, just 36 percent received the booster shot in the fall and winter.

I wrote a series of columns last year about the dismal rates of coronavirus vaccination in nursing homes. My primary concern with a universal recommendation is that it does not focus on people who need the vaccine the most. Put simply, vaccinating a healthy adolescent is not as urgent as vaccinating an elderly nursing home resident.

Older individuals, particularly those residing in congregate living facilities, must hear this message over and over: It is essential for them to receive the updated booster this fall.

Second, the messaging around vaccines needs to account for both their benefits and limitations. I continue to receive countless messages from readers asking why they cant get frequent vaccines to prevent infection. People going on cruises or family vacations want to be sure they wont get covid, so why shouldnt they get top-ups whenever they want?

I have long advised against this, and will continue to do so. Thats because its still possible to be infected despite being recently vaccinated.

As I wrote about before, the coronavirus vaccines effectiveness has changed over time. Earlier in the pandemic, it greatly reduced the chance of infection. But as the virus evolved, and as people gained immunity through infection, the added benefit of the vaccine at thwarting infection decreased.

The CDCs most recent analyses show that in people 50 and older, the vaccine only reduced symptomatic infections by 44 percent. This was specifically for the seven days to two months after a shot was administered, which is when it is most effective. By four to six months after vaccination, it fell to 30 percent.

These numbers are not meant to dissuade people from getting the booster. The primary reason for the shot is to reduce severe illness, which again matters most for older adults.

Moreover, a 44 percent reduction in symptomatic illness is still significant. Even if someone doesnt become severely ill with covid, its not pleasant to have flu-like symptoms, and there is always the chance of developing long covid after infection. Reducing that possibility, even for a short period, is a worthy goal. This is why Ill be getting my coronavirus shot this fall.

Its also reasonable for people to try to time their booster so that they have maximal protection for when they are most likely to be exposed to the virus. Getting the timing right isnt easy, though. There are multiple factors involved and not a small amount of guesswork as to when covid will spike.

In past years, covid levels rose as the weather got cooler. Infection risks were high around the winter holidays, as people gathered indoors during times of higher virus activity.

Some people might choose to wait until a bit closer to the holidays before getting their fall boosters. This is especially advisable if they recently received a spring vaccine or have just recovered from covid infection. Others who have a higher-risk event coming up might choose to get their booster sooner, knowing that effectiveness will wane a bit before the holidays.

None of these choices are wrong, but they are nuanced and wont be answered by broad federal guidance. Nor should they. We have long been in the stage of covid-19 when decisions should be personalized for individual circumstances. Blanket recommendations from the CDC need to be tailored with an emphasis on ensuring that the most vulnerable have access to the tools they need to best protect themselves.

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Opinion | The Checkup With Dr. Wen: Fall covid boosters are coming. Seniors, please get the shot. - The Washington Post

The U.S. government is giving drugmaker Moderna $176 million to develop an mRNA vaccine against the bird flu amid the ongoing outbreak in dairy cows across the country.

The vaccine is in the early stages of development and would not be available until at least next year, Dawn OConnell,assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, said during a call with reporters Tuesday.

The timeline may change, but we anticipate starting phase three trials in 2025, OConnell said. While the vaccine would target H5N1, the mRNA technology would allow manufacturers to pivot quickly if another new flu strain emerges.

Since the outbreak was first detected in March, three people all dairy workers have tested positive for the virus. All had relatively mild cases and have since recovered.

There is no evidence yet that this strain of the bird flu spreads easily from person to person. But the concern is that the longer the virus circulates among mammals, it could mutate into a form that does.

The risk in the general population right now remains low, and CDCs assessment of that has not changed, Dr. Nirav Shah, the principal deputy director at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on the call.

So far, 137 herds have been affected in a dozen states: Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.

Herds in Colorado, Idaho, Michigan and Texas have been hit hardest, with more than 20 cases each.

Modernas vaccine would be separate from the 4.8 million doses of bird flu vaccines already stockpiled by the government. OConnell said she expects those shots, which use traditional vaccine technology, to be available starting in the middle of July. The Food and Drug Administration would have to authorize either of the vaccines before theyre used in the general public.

Shah noted that its too soon to recommend the shots for any group, even dairy workers.

Since the outbreak began in March, more than 780 people exposed to sick cows have been monitored, and 53 were tested for H5N1.

Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the efforts to shore up multiple types of bird flu vaccine are important, but added that the governments response so far hasnt been fast enough or aggressive enough.

Although the virus does not currently pose a direct pandemic threat to humans, its concerning, Rivers said. We have not seen influenza in agricultural animals like this before, and so I think that alone should really push us to be more forward-leaning.

Rivers called for health officials to be transparent, for example, about when they would move forward with rolling out bird flu vaccines to the general public.

Also on Tuesday, health officials reiterated that the commercial milk supply is safe. Last week, the FDA and Department of Agriculture released a study showing that the most common milk pasteurization method heating it to 161F for 15 seconds neutralized H5N1 virus particles that had been added to milk samples.

In each of the nine repeated experiments, the virus was completely inactivated, said Don Prater, acting director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutritionat the FDA.

Erika Edwards is a health and medical news writer and reporter for NBC News and "TODAY."

Excerpt from:

A bird flu vaccine from Moderna is in early stages of development - NBC News