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A new single-dose dengue fever vaccine developed in Brazil was nearly 80% effective in a major trial. Other vaccines for the viral infection already exist, but they are costlier, require multiple doses, and are more complicated to administer. The vaccine could have a huge impact on strained public health systems, one analyst said.

The trial of Butantan-DV developed by the So Paolo-based Butantan Institute is believed to be the largest clinical trial ever in Brazil, which is among the countries most affected by the disease. The researchers hope to have full approval from the countrys health surveillance agency by 2025.

Cases of dengue, which spreads from mosquitoes to people, are skyrocketing around the world: The World Health Organization recorded a ten-fold surge in reported cases from 2000 to 2019. There were six million reported cases and more than 6,000 deaths in 2023, according to one estimate.

A World Health Organization official called recent dengue outbreaks a canary in the coal mine of the climate crisis. The number of cases in Brazil alone this year is four times higher than the same period last year, according to government data, prompting authorities in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to declare public health emergencies.

With temperatures and rainfall increasing, the mosquitoes that carry dengue viruses are extending their range, the Yale School of the Environment said. Meanwhile, record temperatures exacerbated by El Nio are a new and determining factor behind dengues spread, the president of the National Council of Health Secretaries told AFP.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals didnt have much control over public health outcomes. But in the case of dengue much depends on the action of each citizen, said Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, encouraging residents to eliminate sources of still water that can become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Insect repellent, and long, loose clothing, can also reduce risk, health authorities said.

Dengue isnt as deadly as other mosquito-borne viruses, and many infected people never experience symptoms. But large outbreaks can quickly overwhelm health care systems, worsening the toll of other illnesses and medical problems, Vox reported.

The cost of dengue in Brazil is absurd, said one virologist who helped coordinate the latest vaccine trials, so the Brazilian governments investment in the inoculation will have a huge impact on public health.

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New dengue vaccine could have 'huge impact' on public health - Yahoo News

Sometimes its the little things that can have a big impact on our health and we may not even realize that were doing anything good for our brains and bodies at the moment. This weeks health news proves that its not all about popping your vitamins to stay sharp and healthy. For example, staying musical as you age has been shown to significantly improve brain health, including vital memory function. While running has fallen out of favor when compared to strength training and even walking, runners can also rejoice knowing that there are valid weight management reasons to keep hitting the trails or treadmill.

Unfortunately, its not all great news: this weeks health headlines also suggest scaling back on your lip balm habit. Heres what you need to know.

Its never too late to live out your rock star fantasies and theres now an even better reason to pick up an instrument after retirement age. Playing a musical instrument, singing and having an overall musical ability may contribute to improved brain health in older adults, according to a study published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

The U.K.-based study focused on 1,107 participants over 40, with a mean age of 68, and found that those who reported playing a musical instrument particularly the keyboard had better overall brain function that helped them solve problems. Musical ability also heightened working memory, which is important for older adults who may have memory issues.

The study recommended including musical engagement as part of public health interventions for healthy aging and dementia risk reduction. Always wanted to take music lessons? Consider it an investment in your brain health.

Strength training may be all the rage right now, but there are still advantages to running when it comes to managing your weight. A recent study from the University of Jyvskyl in Finland found that consistent running helps to prevent weight or fat gain. Runners, according to the study, maintain lower fat mass levels than similarly active people, including those who compete in strength-based sports.

The key, the researchers noted, is not to replace strength training with running, but instead to combine it for optimal health. Strength training helps build muscle mass, which is critical for overall well-being such as maintaining good bone health as you age. If you want to apply this strategy to your own life, aim for the Department of Health and Human Services recommendation of at least two days of strength training per week, plus 150 minutes of moderate (or 75 minutes of intense) aerobic activity, which can include jogging or running.

Right arm? Left arm? Lets make it both, says new research from Oregon Health & Science University. The research found that alternating arms for multidose vaccines such as those for COVID-19 may result in up to a four-fold increase in immune response, meaning the vaccine could protect you better than if you picked a single arm for your shots.

The study looked at 947 people who received two-dose COVID-19 vaccinations, with the second dose administered either in the same or opposite arm as the first. The research found a substantial increase in antibody response among individuals who received shots in both arms, persisting for over a year and showing enhanced immunity to both the original COVID strain and the Omicron variant. While the cause of this phenomenon is not clear, and further research is needed, one theory is that giving a shot in each arm activates new immune responses in different lymph nodes, potentially leading to improved memory formation.

What's the best way to keep your immune system up when it comes to vaccines? Actually going out and getting your shots, whether its for COVID, the flu or anything else your doctor recommends. .

For years, people have said that using lip balm is addictive. Is that in fact the case? Not quite, but that doesnt mean you shouldnt curb a crazy balm habit.

Experts tell Yahoo Life that while lip balm may not be physically addictive, some people do become fixated on the product and turn its usage into a compulsive habit. This can make your lips worse: According to Dr. Jennifer Gordon, a dermatologist at Westlake Dermatology in Austin, Texas, signs that a person might be using lip balm excessively include lips that are macerated (with the skin breaking down), excessively dry, peeling, burning or exhibiting acne around them. Medicated lip balm and balm with fragrances or color can can dry lips out or make your skin irritated.

You may think your lip balm with a sun protection factor (SPF) is a good thing, but theres a reason to avoid overapplying that too. Balm that contains SPF can sometimes be not as moisturizing, Gordon tells Yahoo Life, so although it is good to always protect your lips, consider this if youre applying multiple times daily and are not outside.

Originally posted here:

Can running help you keep the pounds off? Should you switch arms when getting a multidose vaccine? The latest ... - Yahoo Life

Mothers that were vaccinated against COVID-19 during pregnancy were not connected with increased risks in newborn infants, according to findings published in JAMA. The study was conducted by Swedish and Norwegian researchers that included almost 200,000 newborns. The results showed a decreased chance of serious complications among babies that were born from vaccinated mothers.

Image credit: milanmarkovic78 | stock.adobe.com

We made several attempts to explain this finding. A direct vaccine effect is unlikely. Previous studies have shown that the vaccine does not cross the placenta and that it cannot be found in umbilical cord blood," said Mikael Norman, professor of pediatrics and neonatology at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institute and first author of the study, in a press release.

Data were used from national registers in Sweden and Norway. The researchers included births from gestation at week 22 and forward.

Approximately 196,470 newborns were included in the study. Among the newborns, 43% of mothers were vaccinated with one or more doses of a mRNA vaccine to protect against COVID-19. According to the study authors, nearly 80% of mothers received the Pfizer/Biontech immunization and nearly 20% received the Moderna vaccine.

The first baby included in the study was born June of 2021 and the last baby was born January of 2023, according to study authors. Follow ups were conducted on each of the infants for 1 month after birth or throughout the period they stayed in a neonatal unit.

The researchers created 7 separate subgroup evaluations among the women and babies. The results found that the mortality rate was only half as high in infants that mothers were previously vaccinated, according to study authors.

No matter how we look at it, the finding remains and therefore, we cannot say what the lower risk of death among infants of vaccinated women relates to," said Norman, in a press release.

The study authors noted that 15 neonatal complications were analyzed in the study. In this analysis, the researchers reported additional lower risks in other serious complications that could occur in infants, among mothers that were vaccinated.

"We saw lower rates of cerebral hemorrhages and hypoxia-ischemic conditions of the brain in the newborns of vaccinated than in babies of unvaccinated in pregnancy, while the incidence of other bleedings, blood clots, or inflammation in various organ systems did not differ between the groups," said Norman, in a press release.

Norman noted that the findings could aid health care providers' knowledge when recommending the vaccine for women who could become pregnant in the future.

"COVID-19 is still present in society and is probably something we will have to deal with for a long time. It is therefore very important for the one hundred thousand women who become pregnant every year in Sweden, and the 130 million in the world, to know that vaccination with mRNA-vaccines against COVID-19 is safe for their babies. We found no increased risks, if anything, infants to vaccinated women had lower risks for some severe outcomes, said Norman, in a press release.

Reference

Covid vaccine for pregnant women safe for newborn infants. EurekAlert!. News release. February 6, 2024. Accessed February 8, 2024. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1033094.

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Researchers Find Benefits for Newborns of COVID-19Vaccinated Mothers - Pharmacy Times

Even though weve made it halfway through the winter, we havent yet made it through flu season.

"We do see an earlier spike of flu A cases and then later on in the spring, right around this time of year, we actually tend to see a second spike of flu b infections, said Marielena Velez de Brown, deputy commissioner for Monroe County Department of Health.

And it has less to do with the cold weather than you may think.

"It doesnt really have anything to do with the weather, other than that it's cold, and so folks tend to spend more time indoors, more time around other people," Velez de Brown said.

Health officials are also reminding people that its not just the flu to think about this time of year, as other respiratory illnesses like RSV and COVID are still prevalent.

"Were really encouraging everyone to think about all three of those illnesses together kind of together in a similar manner because those are the viruses that folks can share in these winter months,"Velez de Brown said.

Data from the New York State Department of Health shows that during the first week of February, over 1,300 people were hospitalized with the flu, a 12% increase in hospitalized cases compared with the previous week.

"With flu, with COVID, any of these respiratory viruses, every year the virus is going to mutate a little bit, is going to change. So thats why every year folks have to get a new vaccine," said Velez de Brown.

It's about making vaccines the best way to protect yourself and others and keep hospitalizations down.

"We definitely strongly recommend the flu vaccine, the covid vaccine and the RSV vaccine for general populations but especially for older folks and children,"said Velez de Brown. "Every year we do see hospitalizations and deaths from these conditions and they are completely preventable if folks get there vaccines."

Originally posted here:

Flu season is not over yet for New York, medical professionals say - Spectrum News

"Measles should be a memory, not a present risk," Dr Quique Bassat, director general of the Barcelona Institute of Global Health, told Medscape Medical News.

That is certainly not the case right now in some parts of Europe. The World Health Organization (WHO) says the European Region is experiencing an alarming rise in cases, and urgent action is needed. Healthcare professionals are trying to gain control over measles outbreaks and roll out vaccination catch-up campaigns.

Dr Siddhartha Datta is a European regional advisor on vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization for the WHO. He told Medscape Medical News: "What we are seeing currently is an almost 45-fold rise in measles cases in the WHO European Region. In 2022, there were 940 cases, and in 2023 till November, it was around 42,000 plus. Between 2020 and 2022, we have seen 1.8 million children who have missed their measles vaccine doses."

The overriding reason for the resurgence of measles is a backslide in vaccination coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"During the COVID pandemic, we had a 5% decrease in coverage for most of the vaccines, and we are still seeing the consequences," explained Bassat. "Measles is the perfect example of when you have a small drop of coverage you get outbreaks, as it's extremely infectious and complicated to control."

Reported national coverage with the first dose of measles-containing vaccine in the European Region fell from 96% in 2019 to 93% in 2022. Second-dose coverage fell from 92% in 2019 to 91% in 2022.

"You need to have 95% of the population vaccinated if you want herd immunity," explained Bassat.

The WHO European Region comprises 53 countries, including Russia and some countries in central Asia. Its figures show Kazakhstan had the most recorded cases of measles last year, at more than 13,000, followed by the Russian Federation.

Romania declared a national epidemic in December 2023. Datta said there have also been outbreaks in Austria and France.

The UK Health Security Agency declared a major incident in January 2024 because of a surge in cases. From October 2023 to January 2024, there were 347 lab-confirmed cases of measles in England, with 127 of these confirmed in January. The West Midlands is an area of particular concern.

"It was not as though everything was rosy before COVID," said Datta. "We saw wide variation in the coverage rates before the pandemic. Some countries weren't doing as well. More particularly between some communities or municipalities, there were wide variations, and COVID-19 exacerbated the inequities in coverage. What we are seeing now is a combination of gaps before and after the pandemic, so it's a compound problem."

Belgium has also seen a measles resurgence, but not as many cases as the year before the pandemic. Dr Laura Cornelissen works at the Belgian Public Health Institute, Sciensano, where she leads a team working on vaccine-preventable diseases.

She told Medscape Medical News: "We did observe a significant rise in cases and several clusters in 2023, compared to the very low numbers that were observed during the COVID-19 years. Preliminary figures indicate 85 measles cases for Belgium in 2023, leading to at least 26 hospitalizations. This is compared with eight cases for 2022, seven in 2021, and 47 in 2020; but 480 cases in the pre-pandemic year 2019."

Dr Sabrina Bacci, head of vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization at the European Centre of Disease Control, told Medscape Medical News: "There have been a high number of cases in Romania and smaller outbreaks in other countries. However, there are a number of European countries which haven't seen measles. Even though we have this variation between the different European countries, the tools to respond to outbreaks are the same."

Vaccine hesitance or even refusal is on the rise in Europe and elsewhere in the world.

"We can see from behavioral insights that, during COVID, people's trust on vaccines, healthcare systems, and the government in general has gone down," said Datta. "There had been skepticism before about the MMR jab causing autism, which was proved wrong, but vaccine skepticism shown throughout COVID is now showing its head in routine vaccine systems."

The rise of so-called anti-vaxxers and associated fake conspiracy theories, including a mistrust of Big Pharma, hasn't been helpful for encouraging essential childhood vaccination uptake, like measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR).

But the MMR vaccine backslide does not only originate in the pandemic.

Dr Vanessa Saliba, consultant epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency, said: "MMR vaccine coverage has been falling for the last decade, with 1 out of 10 children starting school in England not protected."

It could be that some people have religious concerns about the use of pork gelatin as a stabilizer in MMR vaccines. An alternative vaccine that does not contain pork gelatin can be requested.

Doctors and others in healthcare have a pivotal role to play when it comes to getting on top of the surges and educating patients, according to Bacci. "Healthcare professionals are the most precious resource we have, as they are the ones on the frontline explaining the importance of vaccination to their patients. It's a very important dialogue."

Intensified routine immunization clinics and catch-up campaigns have been established in countries across Europe where they are needed.

Countries with large outbreaks are carrying out case investigations, identifying and vaccinating susceptible contacts, and generally raising awareness and implementing outbreak response immunization.

"Countries are really making good efforts and are systematically catching up the children who have missed their doses in the last 2 years. But the recovery to the 2019 levels has been slow, and more efforts and energy [need] to be put into this. We understand healthcare systems are stretched out from COVID, but this is not the time to lower our guard," Datta said.

"Some countries are more proactive than others," added Bassat. "Measles is an example of a disease where you typically organize catch-up campaigns. Measles has one of the highest reproductive numbers, as in the absence of preventive measures one infected person infects 14-16 others."

All countries, even if they haven't yet experienced measles outbreaks, are being urged by European healthcare authorities to look at potential immunity gaps and address them immediately.

"Measles was a disease that was targeted for elimination, but because of these outbreaks, we are seeing it almost everywhere again. We need to be careful and get on top of this," warned Bassat.

Datta said it's up to member states, decision-makers, healthcare leaders, and parents to come together to raise the immunity profiles of the European population. "Vaccination is a shared responsibility. The tools are effective. We just need to be ahead of the virus, and that is the challenge."

Bacci added, "We have to remember we are entering the spring, which is a season when, traditionally, the disease can spread more easily, and it can find its way when people are susceptible. The vaccine is the tool that can help, and we have to act now and make sure it's offered on time."

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Europe Needs to Get on Top of Its Measles Outbreak - Medscape

Correction:This story has been corrected to reflect Grace Howats quote during public testimony. She said Idahos current opt-out practice intrudes on the privacy of its citizens and undermines parental rights.

Idaho legislators advanced a bill on Monday that would require parents to opt in to the states vaccine registry, rather than Idahos existing policy that lets them to opt their children out.

Legislators on Idahos House Health and Welfare Committee on Monday advanced a bill that would require medical providers to only share the vaccination status of Idaho kids in a state-run database if their parents or caregivers say so.

Currently, Idahos immunization database, called the Immunization Reminder Information System, lets patients not be part of the database by opting out. If passed, the bill would take effect July 1, 2024.

Some health care professionals said the switch could leave Idaho medical offices with millions more in administrative costs.

Idahos children immunization rates, which have been among the lowest in the nation for years, fell in recent years as more people opted out of vaccines required for school, Idaho Education News reported last fall. Before the pandemic, 86.5% of Idaho kindergartners, first- and seventh-grade students were vaccinated. By 2021-22, only 80.2% were, Idaho EdNews reported.

House Majority Leader Megan Blanksma, R-Hammett, who is sponsoring House Bill 397, said she worried that Idahoans vaccination data including for adults is in Idahos vaccine database without them knowing. She referenced own experience finding out that her childrens and mothers vaccine records were in the state database without their permission, after she opted out for her children. She also said Idahos vaccine database originally was opt in based.

As she closed debate on her bill, Blanksma said many Idahoans who received vaccines dont know that the government was collecting your data on that vaccine because they werent given an informed consent form.

Thats what should scare us more than anything else that theres data collection that people dont know about, are completely unaware of. And thats what this bill fixes, Blanksma said. It makes sure everyone knows where their medical data is going.

Blanksma also said in the hearing that Idahos opt-out rate was low because it is difficult to opt out, and the bill would ensure that medical providers dont opt you in.

Its become more complicated, and less transparent, she said. Anytime the government is collecting your data, it should be transparent.

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The change should not require more state and federal funds, the bills fiscal note estimates. Blanksma also told the committee that she doesnt expect increased costs for providers. She said under Idahos current opt-in model, they are already providing the data to the government.

But Rebecca Coyle, who said she was an expert on immunization registries, said if you assume that this would cost $10,000 to update each system, itd cost over $10 million across the more than 1,000 clinics connected to Idahos vaccine registry. The medical system today is built for an opt-out system, she said, and adding consent files to those systems would be costly.

Its going to push a cost over $10 million in costs back to citizens of this state, Coyle said, for fewer than 1,000 people who have opted out since 2010.

Many rural clinics would likely fail to comply with the bill because of the high costs of changing the reporting system, said Dr. Cristina Abuchaibe, a doctor in eastern Idaho who represented the Idaho chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In order for every single potential patient to be given the choice, it will require extra staff and it will require fancier electronic medical record systems. To be perfectly honest with you, the rural areas dont have the capacity to support, Abuchaibe testified. Were barely surviving now with a lot of the physicians also doing a lot of the staff work and working as a team to be able to keep up.

Idaho Family Policy Center Policy Associate Grace Howat, the only member of the public to testify in support of the bill Monday, said Idahos current opt-out practice intrudes on the privacy of its citizens and undermines parental rights.

Parents are responsible for raising their children, not the state, Howat testified.

Heather Gagliano, an Idaho mom and registered nurse, testified against the bill. She said shes been fully informed of her rights to participate in Idahos vaccine registry for her two children over the years.

And as a public health professional whos given thousands of vaccines, she said shes seen the benefits of Idahos vaccine systems ease of use for medical providers. But when kids immunization records are incomplete, or hand-written and often illegible, she has to delay care, Gagliano said.

Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur dAlene, made a motion that the committee send the bill to the House floor and recommend that it pass. Only the committees three Democrats opposed the vote, after a failed motion by House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, to hold the bill in committee.

House Bill 397 now heads to the House floor, where lawmakers could debate it before sending it through to the Idaho Senate.

Idahos IRIS system is similar to those used by other states. It helps health care providers remind people when they, or their children, are due for vaccines. Child care providers can access it to verify a childs vaccine status. It also maintains a record so that, for example, a patient with a short memory doesnt get a tetanus booster shot every year.

The records are stored securely and made accessible only to health care providers, child care providers and schools. Individual patients also can request their own records, or opt to have their records excluded from IRIS.

Idaho Republican leadership sent a letter to former Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden in 2021 accusing the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare of unlawfully using the states vaccine-record keeping system, calling for the agency to destroy its records on adult immunizations. An attorney for the Idaho Office of the Attorney General replied later that year that the department wasnt unlawfully using the system and that lawmakers were wrong.

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Idaho bill that would require children to opt in to vaccine registry heads to House floor - Idaho Capital Sun

If youve presented the same arm for every dose of a particular vaccine, you may want to reconsider. Alternating arms may produce a more powerful immune response, a new study suggests.

The researchers studied responses to the first two doses of Covid-19 vaccines. Those who alternated arms showed a small increase in immunity over those who got both doses in the same arm.

For individuals who respond poorly to vaccines because of age or health conditions, even a small boost may turn out to be significant, the researchers said. At this point in the pandemic, with most people having had multiple vaccine doses or infections, alternating arms for Covid vaccines may not offer much benefit.

Yet if confirmed by further study, the results could have implications for all multidose vaccines, including childhood immunizations.

Im not making recommendations at this point, because we need to understand this a lot better, said Dr. Marcel E. Curlin, an infectious disease physician at Oregon Health & Science University who led the work.

But all things being equal, we ought to consider switching up the arms.

The few studies comparing the two approaches have been small and have produced mixed results. And none of the studies shown a big difference in immunity.

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Alternating Arms for Vaccines May Boost Your Immunity, Study Says - The New York Times

Florida man bludgeons father to death after learning he got 'the vaccine:' Investigators

by GERSHON HARRELL | WPEC

{p}A man is accused of brutally beating and killing his father because he got a vaccination, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (PBSO) says. According to the arrest report, the woman who placed the 911 call said she could hear the suspect's father screaming "Stop you are killing me." (PBSO){ }{/p}{p}{/p}

WELLINGTON, Fla. (WPEC)

A Florida man accused of brutally beating and killing his father was upset after learning his dad received "the vaccine," investigators say.

The 911 caller, who is a friend of the family, described the suspect, Brian Mcgann Jr., as a "delusional conspiracy theorist."

WPEC asked the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (PBSO) what type of vaccine caused the 44-year-old man to become upset with his father.

The caller told investigators Mcgann Jr. had also recently started "using cocaine."

A%20man%20is%20accused%20of%20brutally%20beating%20and%20killing%20his%20father%20because%20he%20got%20a%20vaccination,%20the%20Palm%20Beach%20County%20Sheriff's%20Office%20(PBSO)%20says.%20(WPEC)

According to the arrest report, the woman who placed the 911 call said she could hear the suspect's father, Brian Mcgann Sr., screaming "Stop you are killing me."

The report from PBSO said the call came in around 11:15 p.m. Sunday when deputies responded to the report of a domestic disturbance on Golden Rod Road.

Deputies arrived to find Mcgann Sr. had been attacked and was lying unresponsive on the floor of the living room. The elder Mcgann's face was extremely swollen, battered, and bruised had suffered significant injuries to his face, deputies reported, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Deputies tracked down the suspect, Mcgann Jr., after following a blood trail from a rear window of the home to a fence, which led them to conclude he had jumped into a neighbor's yard to avoid arrest.

The suspect's hands were swollen, and he was covered in blood, the report stated, leading investigators to conclude he was the man who killed his father.

PBSO interviewed the woman who made the 911 call and told deputies that she had been a family friend of the Mcgann's for years, the sheriff's office said.

She told deputies the younger Mcgann appeared to be intoxicated and paranoid.

The caller said Mcgann Jr. called her at around 12:58 p.m. and they had a three-hour phone conversation, according to the complaint.

The woman said Mcgann Jr. called her back at 10:30 p.m. and asked her to pack her belongings and leave the residence because "He was going to be dead." The arrest report said she found the request strange because she lives in Middleburg, Florida.

At 11:07 p.m. Mcgann Jr. placed another phone call to the woman who said he was pulling into his father's residence, the report said.

The woman claimed Mcgann Jr. called her again at 11:10 p.m. and she could hear him screaming at his father. The report continues, that the altercation continued to get extremely violent and chaotic.

She heard Mcgann say, "He is under my foot."

In the report, the caller said she immediately dialed 911.

Mcgann Jr. faces a first-degree murder charge.

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Florida man bludgeons father to death after learning he got 'the vaccine:' Investigators - WCHS

PULASKI, Tenn. (WKRN) The son of a grieving mother is being used as a poster child on anti-vaccine sites and she wants to clear up the false accusations.

Janaye Creecy said several websites are using her story and family photos for political use, insinuating her son died from the COVID-vaccine.

The Pulaski mother found the unsettling posts as she made plans to bury her child while still waiting on an autopsy to find out why 15-year-old Quinton Cox died.

He was the most kind and gentle person that anybody could ever meet. He had a beautiful heart, everybody saw it, Creecy said while looking at a painting she made of her son.

Through a paint brush, Creecy found some peace making a portrait of her child.

Now that I look at it, I realize I painted him sad and, you know, the picture didnt have an emotion, but the sadness kind of shows, she explained.

Her emotion shines through the watercolors after she found Quinton in his bedroom on Jan. 27.

When I went in, I thought he had fell asleep in his chair, but, unfortunately, that was not the case, Creecy said, adding he was still holding his video game controller and wearing his headphones.

Still unsure of how her son died, Creecy posted about her loss on her personal Facebook page.

About a day after I made the post, I started noticing some really bizarre comments, and they were talking about the vaccine and how I should have known better than to give my child the vaccine and implying that it was my fault that he died because of that, and I had no idea where it was coming from at first. I was like, Where is this coming from? I know my friends arent posting this. I dont know these people. Some of them, I looked at their pages and they were from New Zealand and Canada and all sorts of places, Creecy said.

As she looked further into where the comments were coming from, she found several anti-vaccine websites were using a photo of her son wearing a mask, along with a picture of her insinuating the COVID-vaccine was to blame for Quintons death.

We started Googling once we saw the first article and realized that it was on X, it was on Telegraph, it was on, oh God, there were so many. There were so many that we pulled up where it was being shared and reposted and commented on, and it was just horrible to know that somebodys taking that story about you and your child and using it to try to scare people when they dont know anything about what happened, she explained.

Deepening the heartache, Creecy said Quintons father died from COVID-19 complications in 2020.

First I was angry because I know how angry my son would be at the idea that they were using his picture for that, but then it was just heartbreaking as well because there were so many posts coming to say mean, hurtful things at the worst time in my life. There is nothing, nothing worse for a parent than losing a child. Theres no pain deeper than that, and then to have people tell you that its your fault, that you did something, I cant imagine how people could do that, she said. Nobody should have to bury their child, but also nobody should have to bury their child and be viciously attacked over and over again by people who dont even know you and steal your childs identity to make a political statement of some kind, because its just not the time for that. I cant bring my son back. Theres nothing on the face of this planet that I can do to save him or to help him, but I could speak for him.

Creecy believes her son may have had an enlarged heart, saying he also suffered from sleep apnea. However, she is waiting on an autopsy to uncover exactly how Quinton died.

Originally posted here:

Mother warding off anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists after sons death - WKRN News 2

GSK has announced that its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine has been accepted for priority review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in adults aged 50 to 59 years who are at an increased risk for RSV disease.

If approved, Arexvy would be the first vaccine available to help protect this patient population.

RSV is a common contagious virus characterised by several mild, cold-like symptoms. Although most people can recover within a week or two, certain populations are at a higher risk for severe disease, such as older adults, the immunocompromised and those with underlying medical conditions.

Arexvy has already been approved in the US, Europe and several other countries to protect adults aged 60 years and older against RSV-caused lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD).

GSKs application to extend the indication is supported by results from a late-stage trial evaluating the immune response and safety of Arexvy in adults aged 50 to 59 years, including those at increased risk for RSV-LRTD due to underlying medical conditions.

The company recently shared positive results from the trial, which showed that Arexvy elicited an immune response in this population, including those with chronic pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, liver disease or diabetes, that was non-inferior to that observed in adults aged 60 and above.

The co-primary endpoint was also met for the broader group of adults in this age group, GSK said in the October readout, adding that safety and reactogenicity data was consistent with results from the initial phase 3 programme of Arexvy.

Final results from the trial will be presented at an upcoming medical conference and the company has outlined that the data will be submitted to other regulators to support potential label expansions.

GSK used a priority review voucher to reduce the FDAs review period for the expanded use of Arexvy by four months, with the regulator set to make a final decision in June this year.

GSKs original application for the use of Arexvy in adults aged 60 years and older was supported by positive results from its phase 3 AReSVi-006 trial, in which the vaccine showed 82.6% overall efficacy against RSV-LRTD in this age group.

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GSKs RSV vaccine granted FDA priority review for use in adults aged 50 to 59 years - PMLiVE