COVID Vaccines for Kids Younger Than Five Get Green Light from Regulators

Sponsored by

    

June 20, 2022

Dear Reader, Last week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration followed the advice of an advisory panel and authorized the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for kids aged six months through four or five years, respectively. The decision was a long time coming for this age group, which has had to wait the longest for access to the vaccines. I wrote about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines, the risks to children from COVID, and what the news means to parents of young kids.

Tanya Lewis, Senior Editor, Health & Medicine

Vaccines COVID Vaccines for Kids Younger Than Five Get Green Light from Regulators An advisory committee voted unanimously to recommend authorizing the Moderna and Pfizer shots for the youngest children By Tanya Lewis

Archaeology Ancient Women's Teeth Reveal Origins of 14th-Century Black Death A medieval cemetery yields DNA evidence of the deadly pandemic bacterium's Central Asian ancestor By Jen Pinkowski

Cancer How Skin Cancer Rates Vary across the Globe This leading cancer affects some populations and regions much more than others By Clara Moskowitz

Sponsor Content Provided by Basic Books NEW from New York Times Bestselling Author Lucy Cooke Whether investigating same-sex female albatross couples that raise chicks, murderous mother meerkats, or the titanic battle of the sexes waged by ducks, Cooke shows us a new evolutionary biology, one where females can be as dynamic as any male.

Pharmaceuticals New COVID Drugs Face Delays as Trials Get Harder to Do The success of vaccines has reduced the pool of people available for studies, among other factors By Saima May Sidik,Nature magazine

Pharmaceuticals Treating Alzheimer's Before It Takes Hold Researchers are giving drugs to healthy people in hope of clearing away toxic proteins in the brain and preventing neurodegeneration. By Alison Abbott,Nature magazine

Nutrition Your Body May Be Able to Repair Its Arthritic Joints with Help from Drugs or Surgery Knees and other joints regrow some lost cartilage with some outside aid, research suggests By Claudia Wallis

Microbiology Acne Inflammation Discovery Could Lead to New Treatments A key player is revealed in the acne-causing immune battle By Maddie Bender

Neurology Why Do Mental Illnesses--From Depression to Schizophrenia--Raise the Risk of Dementia? A combination of biological and social factors most likely explain the strong connection By Claudia Wallis

Health Care Marker Tip--Without Ink!--Makes a Hardy Medical Sampler The marker material conserved samples for up to a week By Maddie Bender

Public Health Bad COVID Public Health Messaging Is Blocking Our Path To A "New Normal" But smarter communications from health agencies can improve the road ahead By Thoai D. Ngo

Genetics 'Frog Skin' Cell Type Found in Mammal Mouths Salivary glands make unexpected use of tiny ionocytes, essential to frogs and fish By Joanna Thompson

Cancer We Must End Ageism in Cancer Clinical Trials Older patients are underrepresented in clinical trial research. Here's how we can change that By Dany Habr

FROM THE STORE Hacking the Immune System The immune system is a marvel, but sometimes those defenses need help. In this eBook, we examine various ways the immune system is being manipulated to fight disease, starting with the science behind the research into COVID vaccines and treatments. We also examine cutting-edge interventions for infectious diseases beyond COVID such as a universal flu vaccine, immunotherapies for cancer and more.

QUOTE OF THE DAY "Not only are you protecting against the rare chance that your child would have severe disease [by vaccinating them], you're also helping them achieve the normality in life that we've all been seeking--to keep all your current activities ongoing without interruptions." Sallie Permar, chair of pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and pediatrician-in-chief at New York–Presbyterian Komansky Children's Hospital, in Scientific American

FROM THE ARCHIVE Fact or Fiction?: Vaccines Are Dangerous Overwhelming medical evidence shows that negative side effects are rare and minor By Dina Fine Maron | March 2015

LATEST ISSUES

Questions?   Comments?

Download the Scientific American App

To view this email as a web page, go here. You received this email because you opted-in to receive email from Scientific American. To ensure delivery please add news@email.scientificamerican.com to your address book. Unsubscribe     Manage Email Preferences     Privacy Policy     Contact Us