vaccines

6Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Celebrities Have A Moral Responsibility To Help Promote Lifesaving Vaccines

In the heated debate about vaccine mandates, celebrities have not hesitated to raise their voices. Most prominently, Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic has stated he would rather not participate in tennis tournaments than get the vaccine required to play. And Joe Rogan has used his highly popular podcast to spread vaccine misinformation, saying the vaccine could alter one’s genes. While some resistance is based on misinformation or distrust of the vaccines, some is rooted in concerns about bodily autonomy. In January 2022, actor Evangeline Lilly attended a rally protesting vaccine mandates in the name of bodily sovereignty, claiming she was “pro-choice” and stating, “I believe nobody should ever be forced to inject their body with anything, against their will.” Comedian Rob Schneider echo...

More Questions Answered – Will New Vaccines Be Better At Fighting Coronavirus Variants?

4May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

An epidemiologist answers 6 questions – How effective are vaccines against omicron?

The pandemic has brought many tricky terms and ideas from epidemiology into everyone’s lives. Two particularly complicated concepts are vaccine efficacy and effectiveness. These are not the same thing. And as time goes on and new variants like omicron emerge, they are changing, too. Melissa Hawkins is an epidemiologist and public health researcher at American University. She explains the way researchers calculate how well a vaccine prevents disease, what influences these numbers and how omicron is changing things. 1. What do vaccines do? A vaccine activates the immune system to produce antibodies that remain in your body to fight against exposure to a virus in the future. All three vaccines currently approved for use in the U.S. – the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vacc...

Male Infertility And Sexual Dysfunction Could Be Caused By COVID-19 – But Vaccines Do Not

26Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Male Infertility And Sexual Dysfunction Could Be Caused By COVID-19 – But Vaccines Do Not

Ranjith Ramasamy, University of Miami Contrary to myths circulating on social media, COVID-19 vaccines do not cause erectile dysfunction and male infertility. What is true: SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, poses a risk for both disorders. Until now, little research has been done on how the virus or the vaccines affect the male reproductive system. But recent investigations by physicians and researchers here at the University of Miami have shed new light on these questions. The team, which includes me, has discovered potentially far-reaching implications for men of all ages – including younger and middle-aged men who want to have children. What the team found I am the director of the Reproductive Urology Program at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. My col...

Now That Pfizer’s Shot Is Authorized For Kids 12 And Up – Can Schools Require COVID-19 Vaccines For Students

12May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Now That Pfizer’s Shot Is Authorized For Kids 12 And Up – Can Schools Require COVID-19 Vaccines For Students

With the first COVID-19 vaccine now authorized for adolescents, ages 12 and up, a big question looms: Will students be required to get the vaccine before returning to their classrooms in the fall? As a professor of education policy and law and a former attorney for school districts, I regularly think about this sort of question. In the United States, school vaccination requirements are established by states rather than the federal government. The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows states to make regulations protecting public health. Every state currently requires K-12 students to be vaccinated against some diseases, although the requirements – including which shots are deemed necessary and the reasons students can opt out – vary from one state to another. Who can opt out o...

The mRNA The Key Ingredient In Some COVID-19 Vaccines – The Messenger Molecule That’s Been In Every Living Cell For Billions Of Years

9Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

The mRNA The Key Ingredient In Some COVID-19 Vaccines – The Messenger Molecule That’s Been In Every Living Cell For Billions Of Years

One surprising star of the coronavirus pandemic response has been the molecule called mRNA. It’s the key ingredient in the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. But mRNA itself is not a new invention from the lab. It evolved billions of years ago and is naturally found in every cell in your body. Scientists think RNA originated in the earliest life forms, even before DNA existed. Here’s a crash course in just what mRNA is and the important job it does. Meet the genetic middleman You probably know about DNA. It’s the molecule that contains all of your genes spelled out in a four-letter code – A, C, G and T. DNA is found inside the cells of every living thing. It’s protected in a part of the cell called the nucleus. The genes are the details in the DNA blueprint for all the physical charac...

Questions Answered: Comparing Other Coronavirus Vaccines, How Does The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Measure Up

26Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Questions Answered: Comparing Other Coronavirus Vaccines, How Does The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Measure Up

On Tuesday, Feb. 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released the results of its trial of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine. The FDA found the vaccine to be safe and effective and it is expected to grant emergency use authorization in the coming days. Maureen Ferran, a virologist at the Rochester Institute of Technology, explains how this new vaccine works and explores the differences between it and the already approved Moderna and Pfizer–BioNTech vaccines. 1. How does the Johnson & Johnson vaccine work? The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is what’s called a viral vector vaccine. To create this vaccine, the Johnson & Johnson team took a harmless adenovirus – the viral vector – and replaced a small piece of its genetic instructions with coronavirus genes for the SAR...

Understanding SARS-CoV-2 And How It Causes COVID-19 – And Then Developing Multiple Vaccines Was The Top Scientific Breakthrough For 2020

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Understanding SARS-CoV-2 And How It Causes COVID-19 – And Then Developing Multiple Vaccines Was The Top Scientific Breakthrough For 2020

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, has killed approximately 2.2% of those worldwide who are known to have contracted it. But the situation could be a lot worse without modern medicine and science. The last such global scourge was the influenza pandemic of 1918, which is estimated to have killed 50 million people at a time when there was no internet or easy access to long-distance telephones to disseminate information. Science was limited, which made it difficult to identify the cause and initiate vaccine development. The world is 100% more prepared for the current pandemic than it was 100 years ago. However, it has still affected our lives profoundly. I am a physician scientist who specializes in the study of viruses and runs a microbiology laboratory tha...

Here’s How My Team Will Be Getting COVID-19 Vaccines Doses Into Arms Soon

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Here’s How My Team Will Be Getting COVID-19 Vaccines Doses Into Arms Soon

In late October, I received an email from a member of the California Department of Public Health. I called the number in the email and a bright happy voice answered and asked if the University of California, San Francisco would be interested in the early release and distribution of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Of course, I said yes. I am the chief pharmacy executive at UCSF Health and associate dean and clinical professor at the School of Pharmacy. My team and I are responsible for the distribution of all medications and vaccines throughout the health system, and I am also the person running much of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution for UCSF. UCSF will be receiving our first allocation of the Pfizer vaccine around Dec. 15 and the Moderna vaccine sometime soon after that. We project that ...

Are These Game-Changing COVID-19 Vaccines Safe? They Were Developed In Record Time

20Nov

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Are These Game-Changing COVID-19 Vaccines Safe? They Were Developed In Record Time

There are now two COVID-19 vaccines that, at least according to preliminary reports, appear to be 94.5% and 95% effective. Both were developed in a record-breaking 11 months or so. I am an infectious diseases specialist and professor at the University of Virginia. I care for patients with COVID-19 and am conducting the local site for a phase 3 clinical trial of Regeneron’s antibody cocktail as a tool to prevent household transmission of COVID-19. I’m also conducting research on how dysregulation of the immune system during SARS-CoV-2 infection causes lung damage. Despite the vaccines’ relatively rapid development, the normal safety testing protocols are still in place. How long does most vaccine development take? Vaccines typically take at least a decade to develop, test and manufacture....