Month: August 2021

Since Americans first began rolling up their sleeves for coronavirus vaccines, health officials have said that those who are immunized are very unlikely to become infected, or to suffer serious illness or death. But preliminary data from seven states hint that the arrival of the Delta variant in July may have altered the calculus. Breakthrough infections in vaccinated people accounted for at least one in five newly diagnosed cases in six of these states and higher percentages of total hospitalizations and deaths than had been previously observed in all of them, according to figures gathered by The New York Times. The absolute numbers remain very low, however, and there is little doubt that the vaccines remain powerfully protective. This continues to be “a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” a...

Photo: Nathan Howard (Getty Images) Now that we’re seeing more and more businesses asking for patron’s vaccine status when they walk through the door, forged vaccine cards are quickly becoming a hot commodity among folks that are either unable or unwilling to get the real deal. And now, the Justice Department is taking notice. On Tuesday, the agency announced the arrest of one Chicago pharmacist on charges surrounding his alleged side hustle selling off COVID-19 vaccination cards. Per the DOJ’s announcement, the pharmacist in question —34-year-old Tangtang Zhao, of Chicago—was caught after he had sold 125 authentic CDC vaccination cards at roughly $10 a pop using his eBay account. Details in Zhao’s indictment show that those cards were doled out between 11 different buyers, with one s...

A nurse in Guatemala preparing a dose of the Moderna covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala on July 15, 2021Photo: Johan Ordonez/AFP (Getty Images) Perhaps the next best hope for a permanent way to defeat HIV is about to get underway. According to trial registration data, pharmaceutical company Moderna will start a Phase I clinical trial of its HIV vaccine candidate this week, based on the same mRNA platform behind its successful covid-19 vaccine. The trial will test the vaccine’s safety and measure the relevant immune response generated in a small group of healthy volunteers. Moderna announced its latest efforts to develop an HIV vaccine in April, as part of a collaboration with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Bill and Me...

Raleigh, N.C. — A Wake County child died last Friday after developing an illness caused by an amoeba that is naturally present in freshwater, the state Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Tuesday. DHHS officials didn't identify the child, but WRAL News learned it was 6-year-old Aven Moffat of Wake Forest. He became ill after swimming in a private pond on the family's property in early August, officials said. "We are completely broken by the loss of our beloved and amazing Aven," the Moffat family said in a statement to WRAL. To honor Aven, his family hopes to raise awareness and advance medical treatments for amoeba-related illnesses. They founded a non-profit, the Amazing Aven's Quest for Amoeba Awareness. ...