Latest - Public Health & Prevention

• Alert FDA Grants Emergency Use to Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine The Janssen/Johnson & Johnson SARS-CoV-2 vaccine becomes the third available to fight the pandemic in the US and the first designed for single-dose administration.
  FDA Approvals, February 27, 2021
• AAAAI 2021 Masks Don't Affect Oxygen Saturation in People With Asthma People with asthma sometimes worry that wearing a mask against COVID-19 won't let them breathe. But a new study demonstrates masks don't affect oxygen saturation.
  Medscape Medical News, February 27, 2021
• J&J COVID-19 Vaccine Wins Backing of FDA Panel An FDA panel voted 22 to 0 in favor of an emergency clearance for Janssen/J&J's COVID-19 vaccine, bringing it a step closer to distribution.
  Medscape Medical News, February 26, 2021
• White House: COVID-19 Numbers Take a 'Concerning Shift' After weeks of declining, COVID-19 numbers are back on the rise and new variants continue to emerge, according to White House officials -- just as states begin to lift restrictions and open doors to restaurants and businesses.
  WebMD Health News, February 26, 2021
• COVID-19 Vaccination Linked to Less Mechanical Ventilation A new report from Israel links COVID-19 vaccination to a drop in the need for mechanical ventilation among people 70 and older.
  Medscape Medical News, February 26, 2021
• EU Should Review Approval of Plastics With Toxic Softener DEHP The European Commission should review a decision to let companies use recycled plastics containing DEHP, a toxic additive, since it failed to properly consider associated health risks.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• NYC Officials Downplay Concern Over New Coronavirus Variant Mayor Bill de Blasio's chief medical adviser downplayed the results of studies that may suggest a new COVID variant found in New York in November will be more resistant to vaccines.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• Weary of COVID Variants, EU Leaders Push to Step Up Vaccination German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union must prepare to vaccinate for new COVID variants over the coming years after EU leaders discussed ways of salvaging tourism.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• Ireland Sees Strong Early Evidence That Vaccines Are Working Ireland is beginning to see strong early evidence that its COVID-19 vaccine rollout is protecting healthcare workers and care home residents from catching the disease, health officials said.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• A Patchwork: Europe and COVID-19 Vaccination Passports European Union leaders moved closer to an agreement on certificates showing that citizens have been vaccinated against COVID-19, a move that could revive international travel.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• Contrary to Popular Belief, Insulin Can Be Stored Outside Fridge In a study, insulin retained its potency in conditions in which the temperature oscillated between 25 and 37 degrees Celsius (77 to 98.6 Fahrenheit) during a 28-day period of use.
  Medscape Medical News, February 26, 2021
• EU Regulator Plans to Fast Track Variant-Modified COVID Vaccines Europe's medicines regulator said it has issued new guidance for drug makers that modify their COVID-19 vaccines to protect against variants of the virus to speed up the approval process.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• Ad Campaign to Combat Vaccine Hesitancy in US With Celebrity Help The Ad Council launched a campaign designed to combat hesitancy about the safety of the coronavirus vaccine, blanketing messages across TV, radio, websites, and social media.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• Regeneron to Stop Placebo in COVID Trial After 'Clear Efficacy' Regeneron said that an independent panel found the company's COVID-19 antibody cocktail to have 'clear clinical efficacy' in reducing the rates of hospitalization and deaths in patients.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• Feb 26 2021 This Week in Cardiology   Risk factors for COVID-19, CMR after COVID-19, and two important obesity studies are discussed in this week’s podcast.
  theheart.org on Medscape, February 26, 2021
• GSK Will Focus on Elderly in Trial to Treat Pneumonia From COVID GlaxoSmithKline will extend a trial testing an experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug on patients suffering from COVID-related pneumonia in order to focus on the elderly.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• Debilitating 'Long-COVID' May Have Severe Health Impacts: WHO Thousands of COVID-19 patients continue to suffer serious symptoms months after their initial infection, with major social, health and economic consequences, European health experts said.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• EU Countries Report Offers for 900 Million COVID Vaccines Several European Union countries have reported offers from 'alleged intermediaries' for 900 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for some 12.7 billion euros, the bloc's anti-fraud agency OLAF said.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021
• How Has COVID-19 Affected MBC Treatment Decisions? Oncologists discuss how they've modified their pre-pandemic practices based on local COVID conditions in an effort to sustain patient care.
  Medscape Oncology, February 26, 2021
• Pfizer-BioNTech Testing Booster of COVID Vaccine in New Trial Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE said they are testing a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine to better understand the immune response against new variants of the virus.
  Reuters Health Information, February 25, 2021