Respiratory Infections News

The federal rollout of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years began in earnest this week, making a pediatric-sized vaccine available to millions of kids for the first time.

Among patients with community-acquired pneumonia, receipt of a positive pneumococcal urinary antigen test was associated with earlier de-escalation of antimicrobials compared with patients who received a negative test, according to a study.

Regeneron said that a single dose of its antibody cocktail REGEN-COV reduced the risk for COVID-19 by nearly 82% up to 8 months after administration in a phase 3 trial.

U.S. data revealed that cytomegalovirus was independently associated with latent tuberculosis infection, and both were associated with high levels of C-reactive protein, suggesting enhanced systemic inflammation, researchers reported.

Pfizer said Friday that its investigational oral antiviral Paxlovid reduced COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths by 89% in phase 2/3 study of nonhospitalized adults at high risk for severe disease.

A recent survey found that 36% of U.S. adults did not intend to receive an influenza vaccine this year. Of those, 8% said this decision was based on the assumption that their COVID-19 vaccine would protect them against influenza.

On the heels of the authorization of Pfizer and BioNTech’s pediatric COVID-19 vaccine, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital introduced a colorful way to help teach children about what happens when they get vaccinated.

The use of nucleic acid amplification testing for tuberculosis increased in the United States between 2011 and 2017, although nearly half of U.S. TB cases did not include one of the tests, according to a study.

A federal effort to vaccinate 28 million American children against COVID-19 will launch fully next week, the White House said Wednesday.

A lower dose of oral amoxicillin was noninferior to a higher dose in children with community-acquired pneumonia who were discharged from an ED or hospital ward, according to results of a 2x2 factorial, randomized clinical trial in JAMA.