Federal health officials are strengthening their endorsement of RSV vaccinations for people 75 and older.

Reports of a rare nervous system disorder are “more common than expected” in older U.S. adults who got the new RSV vaccines.

An array of advanced tests found no brain injuries or degeneration among U_S_ diplomats who suffer mysterious health problems once dubbed “Havana syndrome.”.

Health officials are investigating whether there's a link between two new RSV vaccines and cases of a rare nervous system disorder.

Women are far more likely than men to get autoimmune diseases, illnesses like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis that occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks their own bodies.

With the growing legalization of marijuana, talking to kids about pot has become different and more complicated for many parents.

If you’re considering taking a calcium supplement, there’s some risks you should know about.

Americans 60 and older can get a new RSV vaccine but should discuss it with their doctor first.

President Joe Biden has tapped a cancer specialist to become director of the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers are now conducting a clinical trial of a plant-based product that has been tested on cigarette smokers to see if it helps people hooked on vaping.

Thousands of Americans who shared their DNA for science are about to learn if they have some particularly worrisome genes.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Rates for uterine cancer are rising in the United States for Black and Hispanic women, and a new study shows that hair straightening products could play a role in the number of cases.

The U.S. government will soon spend $25 million to help patients access experimental drugs for the incurable illness known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, says he plans to retire by the end of President Joe Biden’s term in January 2025.

Some cancer patients can safely skip radiation or chemotherapy after surgery.

Scientists are getting their first peek at the genes of nearly 100,000 Americans in what's considered a uniquely diverse genomic database.

President Joe Biden is replacing a top science adviser who resigned under a cloud with two individuals who will split his positions on an interim basis.

A U.S. health official suggests there may never be a test to measure whether someone who had COVID-19 is still infectious.

With rising numbers of COVID-19 cases predicted this winter, President Joe Biden is appealing for Americans to get their boosters and get behind his plan to tackle the new omicron variant through wider availability of vaccines and shots.

The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis S.

The U.S. government scientist who helped design one of the first COVID-19 vaccines and then tackled skepticism of the shots in communities of color is getting a new research home.

The FDA said J&J’s vaccine offers strong protection against what matters most: serious illness, hospitalizations and death. The J&J vaccine also is easier to handle, lasting three months in the refrigerator compared to the Pfizer and Moderna options, which must be frozen. Like other COVID-19 vaccines, the main side effects of the J&J shot are pain at the injection site and flu-like fever, fatigue and headache. All COVID-19 vaccines train the body to recognize the new coronavirus, usually by spotting the spikey protein that coats it. It’s the same technology the company used in making an Ebola vaccine, and similar to COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca and China’s CanSino Biologics.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON – Days after marking a solemn milestone in the pandemic, President Joe Biden is celebrating the pace of his efforts to end it. On Thursday, Biden marked the administration of the 50 millionth dose of COVID-19 vaccine since his swearing-in. “We’re halfway there: 50 million shots in 37 days," Biden said. “We’ll have the vaccine waiting,” Biden said, predicting that point could come within 60 to 90 days. “We have a plan to roll it out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make it," Biden said.

A federal judge late Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, indefinitely banned President Joe Biden's administration from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)HOUSTON – A federal judge late Tuesday indefinitely banned President Joe Biden's administration from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations. Biden proposed the 100-day pause on deportations during his campaign as part of a larger review of immigration enforcement and an attempt to reverse the priorities of former President Donald Trump. Even without a moratorium, immigration agencies have wide latitude in enforcing removals and processing cases. AdIt was not immediately clear if the Biden administration will appeal Tipton's latest ruling.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden wants to raise refugee admissions to 62,500 for the current budget year, overriding former President Donald Trump’s record-low limit of 15,000, a U.S. official and others said Thursday. Trump set the ceiling on refugee admissions in October when the 2021 budget year started, and it runs until September 30. Biden's proposal of 62,500 would replace that, and the president has already announced plans to raise admissions to twice that amount in 2022. Trump targeted the refugee program under his anti-immigration policies, dropping admissions yearly until they reached a record low of 15,000. Biden, who co-sponsored legislation creating the refugee program in 1980, has said reopening the doors to refugees is “how we will restore the soul of our nation.”Ad___Watson reported from San Diego.

President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, in Bethesda, Md. – President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. will have enough supply of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans. He toured the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory that created the COVID-19 vaccine now manufactured by Moderna and being rolled out in the U.S. and other countries. The U.S. is on pace to exceed Biden’s goal of administering 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office, with more than 26 million shots delivered in his first three weeks. On the tour, Biden was shown the lab bench where researchers sequenced the virus and developed the precursor of the Moderna vaccine.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks after receiving her second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, marking her first call to a foreign leader since entering the White House. The detained Canadians are a top priority for Trudeau, and Canada has pushed Washington to apply pressure on Beijing to release them. AdA senior official familiar with the call said Harris proactively brought up the two detained Canadians herself — something that was appreciated by Trudeau and Canadian officials. Canada has traditionally been the first foreign stop for new U.S. presidents, and Biden's first call to a foreign leader was to Trudeau, made the Friday after he was sworn in.

A group of top public health experts are trying to answer that question by studying public perception of COVID risks and the vaccine. In a six-month span, the likelihood of respondents getting the vaccine dropped significantly, from 54% in May to just 39% in October. “Part of the hesitancy with the vaccine is people don’t know when it’s going to come. Which sources of COVID information do Americans trust? Neuberger and fellow researchers have received additional NSF funding to look at vaccine perceptions following the election, and that study is continuing.

Past studies have shown that women who go through menopause before the age of 45 have an increased risk of early death, cognitive decline, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.

FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2020, file photo Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, prepares to receive his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Dr. Anthony Fauci endorsed the decision of U.S. officials to require negative COVID-19 tests before letting people from Britain enter the U.S. He declined to weigh in on whether that step should have been taken sooner. He said the variant strain is something “to follow very carefully” and “we’re looking at it very intensively now.”He said: “Does it make someone more ill? Fauci spoke on CNN's “State of the Union.”

FDA’s decision could help pave the way for other countries that are considering the Moderna vaccine, the first-ever regulatory clearance for the small Cambridge, Massachusetts, company. Britain, Canada and a few other countries already have cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, with a European Union decision due Monday. The FDA’s main messages:--Both the new Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech shot require two doses several weeks apart. --In a study of 30,000 volunteers, the Moderna vaccine was more than 94% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in people 18 and older. Like with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, expect sore arms, fever, fatigue and muscle aches, which are signs the immune system is revving up.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nearly a dozen hospitals in Northeast Florida are set to receive Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected to receive federal approval soon. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that Florida is preparing to receive 367,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine next week, pending emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. “Moderna and Pfizer both have very similar effectiveness. Both vaccines are said to be 95% effective and both need to be given in two doses, weeks apart. He said it’ll take a long time to get the community to a point of normalcy again.

President-elect Joe Biden speaks at a drive-in rally for Georgia Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – The Latest on President-elect Joe Biden (all times local):7:55 p.m.President-elect Joe Biden has formally announced former rival Pete Buttigieg as his pick to be secretary of transportation. ___1:30 p.m.President-elect Joe Biden says he’s spoken with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after the Electoral College affirmed his victory Monday. ___8:40 a.m.Two foreign leaders who had not congratulated President-elect Joe Biden have now done so. ___7:30 a.m.Top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris should be vaccinated for COVID-19 as soon as possible.

Nurse Melissa Valentin shows a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be applied to medical personnel at the Ashford Presbyterian Community Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. Packed in dry ice, shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine began arriving Tuesday at more than 400 additional hospitals and other distribution sites. That projection assumes swift authorization of the Moderna vaccine, which also requires two shots for full protection. Elsewhere around the world, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is being given in Britain and Canada. The Moderna vaccine was more than 94% effective overall at preventing COVID-19 illness, and 86% effective in people 65 and older.

How could scientists race out COVID-19 vaccines so fast without cutting corners? A head start helped -- over a decade of behind-the-scenes research that had new vaccine technology poised for a challenge just as the coronavirus erupted. Both shots -- one made by Pfizer and BioNTech, the other by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health -- are so-called messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines, a brand-new technology. U.S. regulators are set to decide this month whether to allow emergency use, paving the way for rationed shots that will start with health workers and nursing home residents. Traditionally, making vaccines required growing viruses or pieces of viruses — often in giant vats of cells or, like most flu shots, in chicken eggs — and then purifying them before next steps in brewing shots.

Moderna said its vaccine appears to be 94.5% effective, according to preliminary data from an ongoing study. U.S. officials said they hope to have about 20 million Moderna doses and another 20 million of the vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech to use in late December. Moderna’s vaccine is being studied in 30,000 volunteers who received either the real thing or a dummy shot. Moderna’s vaccine also starts off frozen, but the company said Monday it can be thawed and kept in a regular refrigerator for 30 days, easing that concern. Instead, the vaccine contains a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the spiked protein on the surface of the virus.

Moderna said its vaccine appears to be 94.5% effective, according to preliminary data from an ongoing study. Moderna’s vaccine is being studied in 30,000 volunteers who received either the real thing or a dummy shot. Earlier this year, Fauci said he would be happy with a COVID-19 vaccine that was 60% effective. Moderna’s vaccine also starts off frozen, but the company said Monday it can be thawed and kept in a regular refrigerator for 30 days, easing that concern. Both Moderna's shots and the Pfizer-BioNTech candidate are so-called mRNA vaccines, a brand-new technology.

(AP Photo/Hans Pennink)BOSTON – Microsoft said it has detected attempts by state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers. Chinese state-backed hackers have also been targeting vaccine-makers, the U.S. government said in July while announcing criminal charges. Two others were North Korea’s Lazarus Group and a group Microsoft calls Cerium. The Lazarus Group posed as job recruiters while Cerium targeted spear-phishing emails that masqueraded as missives from World Health Organization representatives, Microsoft said. Optimism about a COVID-19 vaccine has grown since pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced earlier this week that preliminary data showed its vaccine to be 90% effective.

___5:30 p.m.Joe Biden is denouncing disruptive demonstrations by supporters of President Donald Trump across the country. Trump tweeted a video of the caravan and declared, “I LOVE TEXAS!” Biden also referenced reports that Trump supporters shut down a major roadway in New Jersey. ___12:25 p.m.Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris says Black voters are critical to defeating President Donald Trump and electing Joe Biden president. ___11:55 a.m.President Donald Trump is braving flurries and a stiff wind chill as he rallies thousands of supporters in Michigan. Biden’s return to Philadelphia underscores the significance of Pennsylvania, the Rust Belt state that helped deliver President Donald Trump the White House four years ago.

Now, researchers are studying a new method that helps parents help their children. But when the goodnight routine for Nicole Murphy’s son began to stretch for up to three hours, she knew she needed help with his separation anxiety. Parents go through training to help their child face anxiety. Lebowitz said parents also learn to help their child by not accommodating them. In a study of 124 kids and their parents, the Yale researchers examined whether SPACE intervention was effective in treating children’s anxiety.

WASHINGTON – A high-ranking government whistleblower who alleges the Trump administration fumbled its coronavirus response resigned Tuesday, saying he has been forced out. Attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks said NIH superiors ignored a national coronavirus testing strategy that Bright developed because he had become politically toxic within the Trump administration. The Food and Drug Administration ultimately revoked emergency authority for using the malaria drug to treat coronavirus patients. Trump, infected with the coronavirus and hospitalized over the weekend, is now back at the White House. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge.” He says he plans to return to the campaign trail.

In the new guidelines posted on its website, the FDA said vaccine makers should follow trial participants for at least two months to rule out any major side effects before seeking emergency approval. That standard had been a sticking point between the FDA and White House officials, who said it could unreasonably delay the availability of COVID-19 vaccines. On Monday Trump said vaccines are coming “momentarily,” in a video recorded after he returned to the White House. The White House attempt to block the guidance followed a string of instances in which the Trump administration has undercut its own medical experts working to combat the pandemic. Beyond exposing the rift between the White House and FDA, the delay in releasing the guidelines may have had limited practical effect.

“We are working with partners to understand how we might collaborate on the potential development of a COVID-19 vaccine through human challenge studies,” the U.K. Department for Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy said in a prepared statement. Those preliminary steps include examining the ethics of a challenge study, and funding research to create lab-grown virus strains that potentially could be used. The Financial Times newspaper reported Wednesday that the government planned to sponsor a challenge study that is set to begin in January. He told the BBC that there was a “long history” of challenge studies and that the risk to young and healthy people is low. In May, the World Health Organization issued a report on the ethical considerations for conducting a challenge study.

Final-stage testing of the vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., began with volunteers at various U.S. sites given either a real shot or a dummy without being told which. In Washington, the White House disclosed that national security adviser Robert OBrien has the coronavirus the highest-ranking U.S. official to test positive so far. In Binghamton, New York, nurse Melissa Harting received one of the first injections of the Moderna vaccine candidate. But the U.S. requires its own tests of any vaccine that might be used in the country. Every month through the fall, the government-funded COVID-19 Prevention Network will roll out a new study of a leading candidate, each with 30,000 volunteers, to test not only whether the shots work but whether they are safe.

Many scientists dont expect a coronavirus vaccine to be nearly as protective as the measles shot. If the best COVID-19 vaccine is only 50% effective, "thats still to me a great vaccine, said Dr. Drew Weissman of the University of Pennsylvania. About 15 experimental COVID-19 vaccines are in various stages of human studies worldwide. Nothing is going to be easy.The Oxford shot, with a 10,000-person study underway in England, already encountered that hurdle. EXPECT IMPERFECT PROTECTIONAnimal research suggests COVID-19 vaccines could prevent serious disease but may not completely block infection.

Experts say the United States leads the world with the number of COVID-19 cases -- topping one million. But should we be prepared for a second wave of COVID-19 later this year? Now the countrys top infectious disease experts say COVID-19 could also be seasonal. So, it is possible that this may dissipate somewhat in the summer months and come back again in the fall," explained Dr. Raymond Pontzer, an infectious disease specialist at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Experts also said if there is a fall resurgence in the U.S., researchers are working to better test and identify COVID-19, as well as trace contacts.

Dozens of research groups around the world are racing to create a vaccine as COVID-19 cases continue to grow. Inject a vaccine containing that code, called messenger RNA or mRNA, and people’s cells produce some harmless spike protein. Corbett’s team grew spike protein in the lab — lots of it -- and stored it frozen in vials. A MERS vaccine that Inovio designed the same way passed initial safety studies in people, paving the way for testing the new COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Last year, it performed a successful safety test of experimental antibodies designed to fight MERS.

The Dog Aging Project hopes to change that. Dogs' lives are six to 12 times shorter than that of humans, according to a study by the Frontiers in Veterinary Science. All together, it will be the largest-ever study on aging in dogs. Owners can visit the Dog Aging Project's website to nominate their pooch. "Dogs and their owners are the heart of the Dog Aging Project," the researchers said.

A recent study looked at the economic and health benefits that would occur if 30% of the cost of healthy food were covered by insurance for those with Medicare and Medicaid. Those healthy foods include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, seafood and plant-based oils. The model found that healthy food prescriptions could be more effective than certain drug treatments. The researchers say this finding supports the concept that food is medicine. This study was part of a collaboration of researchers working to identify cost-effective strategies to improve health in the U.S.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - For years, the focus on football helmets and concussion safety has been at the NFL level, but now, there's new research on youth football helmets, courtesy of Virginia Tech's helmet lab. With the help of $3 million from the National Institutes of Health, the researchers at Virginia Tech tested every youth football helmet on the market. Bob Sefcik, executive director of Jacksonville Sports Medicine Program, said there's another critical safety factor parents need to double-check: How the helmet fits. "The schools individually purchase the helmets and I am sure they are looking at all of the technology that's available out there," Sefcik said. Sefcik said helmets are a big part of the safety solution, but they aren't the whole answer.