Infection Control News

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A study found that having a pre-existing comorbidity was the strongest indicator of risk for severe COVID-19 in children, according to data reported here.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Anne Schuchat, MD, former principal deputy director of the CDC, has a message for pediatricians.

In the United States, COVID-19 vaccinations may have prevented more than 650,000 hospitalizations and 300,000 deaths among Medicare beneficiaries in 2021, according to a new report from HHS.

People who received a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine had reduced symptom severity and duration across delta and omicron variant predominance, according to data from the COVID-Out trial.

Experts said a recently published study that found a possible association between aluminum in childhood vaccines and persistent asthma in early childhood did not prove there was a link.

The CDC recently announced that it is no longer recommending universal masking in health care settings unless the facility is in an area of high COVID-19 transmission.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has amended the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act declaration, expanding the pool of providers authorized to administer vaccines against smallpox and monkeypox.

Following last year’s mild influenza season, U.S. officials are emphasizing the importance of influenza, pneumococcal and COVID-19 vaccinations as they expect a much more severe season in the weeks to come.

Experts involved with an NIH trial of tecovirimat said that even as cases of monkeypox continue to decline nationally, it is important to establish whether the antiviral is effective against the infection.

Although the general understanding of long COVID has improved in the past year, many questions about the persistent sequelae experienced by some people after an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection remain, according to experts.