Month: June 2021

When the Biden administration kicked off a "month of action" this June, aimed at vaccinating 70% of the adult population with at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose by July 4, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy acknowledged it wouldn't be an easy task. "Because we had so much success early on, we are now getting to the part of the campaign which is tougher," Murthy said. "We've got to look further, if you will -- convince more people, get to the right information, increase access even further."  With CDC data showing 64.6% of the adult population vaccinated with at least one dose and vaccines available to Americans 12 and older, pediatricians are now working to fill in some of the gaps in vaccine coverage. One month after Sandhills Pediatrics in Southern Pines, North Carolina started offering...

Moderna's mRNA Covid vaccine and a protein-based shot is safe for use in young children and offers strong immunity response, with no adverse effects, according to a research on baby rhesus macaques. The study by a team of scientists at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian reported that both the vaccines elicited strong neutralising antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19, in 16 baby rhesus macaques. The antibody responses persisted for 22 weeks. The research, published in the journal Science Immunology, suggests that vaccines for young children are likely important, safe tools to curtail the pandemic. "The level...

We're all familiar with songs getting stuck in our head while we're awake, but it turns out this can happen during sleep as well. A new study investigating the phenomenon indicates that earworms invading our brains at night could cause problems in getting to sleep and staying asleep.   "Our brains continue to process music even when none is playing, including apparently while we are asleep," says neuroscientist Michael Scullin from Baylor University. He and colleagues used surveys of 199 people, as well as a sleep lab test involving 50 volunteers, to measure how listening to music before bedtime affects sleep. In particular, the team focussed on catchy earworms, technically known as 'involuntary musical imagery'. In the survey part of the study, participants who frequently listened t...