Month: June 2021

Photo: Rich Pedroncelli (AP) A new birth control product called Phexxi is a non-hormonal contraceptive gel that hopes to appeal to the growing contingent of cis women looking for contraceptive options that don’t involve hormones. The ideal audience for Phexxi is “the women who are using condoms, relying on the pullout method and hoping for the best, or the women using a natural family-planning method,” said Erin Turner, a brand manager at Evofem—the company that produces Phexxi. Although the New York Times description of the Evofem offices sounds like a girlboss version of hell (a hot pink Joan of Arc and a cup with the phrase “Tears of My Enemies” are involved), Phexxi as a product certainly seems to have its benefits. The product works by altering the pH of the vagina to make it mor...

“I very strongly believe that we need a vaccine for adolescents and children, but I want to be sure that the risk of the vaccine is lower than the risk of hospitalization” from covid-19, said H. Cody Meissner, an infectious-diseases physician at Tufts Medical Center, noting that vaccines can carry risks and young children have a very low risk of being hospitalized. “As we generate herd immunity, this disease is disappearing, between the vaccine and natural immunity.”

Oregon health officials announced 370 new coronavirus cases Thursday and 10 newly reported deaths. Gov. Kate Brown is planning to hold a press conference Friday at 11 a.m. to talk about the state of the pandemic and the vaccine drive in Oregon, where fewer than 100,000 Oregonians need to begin the vaccination process for Brown to lift pandemic restrictions. But demand for vaccines has been waning despite an oversupply of doses, including the impending wastage of 120,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses. That’s how many doses of the vaccine will soon expire and, at current vaccination rates, will likely remain unused before then. Oregon is now on pace to at least partially vaccinate 70% of the population June 28. That date fell backward Thursday because the Centers for Disease Contr...

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The more-contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus has been linked to a small number of infections in Ohio, but data has shown COVID-19 vaccines are still effective against it, Ohio’s chief medical director said Thursday. The Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was classified by the World Health Organization as a “variant of concern” after it caused a surge of coronavirus infections in India. The variant has now been found in more than 60 countries, and accounts for approximately 6% of new infections in the U.S., health officials during a White House news briefing earlier this week. In Ohio, the variant currently accounts for less than 1% of cases, said Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the medical director of the Ohio Department of Health. But that percentage could increas...