Vaccination News

As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its 4th year, its effect on children continues to be widely studied. We compiled a list of pediatric COVID-19 stories reported over the course of the past year.

COVID-19 vaccination, regardless of type, was not associated with lower odds of pregnancy by artificial insemination by partner among couples in China, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.

Malaria cases and deaths stabilized in 2021 after increasing in 2020 as the mosquito-borne disease took a back seat to COVID-19 and an exploding pandemic.

Protection against the omicron variant from the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine waned after 3 months in children aged 5 to 11 years but was restored by a booster shot, according to study findings published in JAMA Network Open.

The manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use as additional booster shots in the United States all released positive clinical trial data on their retooled shots ahead of the start of the holiday season.

The risk for severe disease or death among U.S. adults with COVID-19 was highest for unvaccinated inpatients and those infected with the delta variant, according to a recent study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Experts argued for the development of COVID-19 vaccines that can be delivered at the site of infection, but questioned whether it is possible to make a mucosal vaccine that prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection — and not just severe disease.

The Biden administration announced that U.S. households will be able to order four free at-home rapid COVID tests from the U.S. Postal Service.

Real-world data on Paxlovid showed it was associated with a reduced risk for hospitalization or death in outpatients with early COVID-19 “in the context of high vaccination prevalence and an intense omicron epidemic,” researchers reported.

Findings from two real-world studies published Friday in MMWR indicate that bivalent COVID-19 messenger RNA vaccines reduce the risk for severe outcomes from the disease, including hospitalization.