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FDA Approves the New Covid Vaccine. Here’s the Best Time to Get It
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the new COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna.
The timing of the new vaccines — last year’s rollout was in mid-September — is significant, since most of the U.S. is still caught in the summer wave of COVID-19 illness.
As of Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the number of people testing positive for Covid keeps rising and that emergency room visits for Covid have been increasing since mid-May. Hospitalizations are rising, too.
The new shots from Pfizer and Moderna are designed to target the KP.2 strain, a descendant of the highly contagious JN.1 variant that began circulating widely in the U.S. last winter.
It’s unclear exactly how effective the vaccines will be against the newer strains, but experts expect that they will protect against severe illness. For this fall, the CDC recommended that all Americans ages 6 months and older get the new shots.
For the young and healthy, it may not be as beneficial to get the vaccine so close to recovery from infection, said Akiko Iwasaki, professor of immunology at the Yale School of Medicine. High levels of antibodies present from recent infection may prevent the vaccine from stimulating new immune cells.
Nearly 60% of Baby Foods in the U.S. Don’t Meet Nutritional Guidelines, Study Says
Nearly 60% of food products made for toddlers and babies did not meet nutrition standards set by the World Health Organization, according to a new study.
Researchers tested 651 products in 2023, across eight food retailers in North Carolina, including Kroger, Walmart, Costco, Ahold Delhaize, Publix, Sam’s Club, Target and Aldi. Other samples were included from the websites of Safeway and H-E-B.
Only about 30% of products complied with the agency’s protein recommendations, while 56% were compliant with sugar guidelines. About 93% of the products aligned with the fat recommendations, according to the study that was published in the Nutrients journal Wednesday.
About 1 in 4 products did not meet calorie requirements and about 20% exceeded recommended sodium limits.
Lead Found in Tap Water of Los Angeles Community After Residents Raised Alarm for Years
A new report has found elevated lead levels in tap water across Watts, a south Los Angeles community that has faced decades of environmental racism, including in the drinking water of multiple public housing developments.
Researchers working with the Better Watts Initiative, a community environmental group, tested tap water at sites across the neighbourhood, and found lead, a neurotoxic metal, at or above U.S. government limits.
The elevated concentrations were most often found in housing developments that have been plagued for decades by toxic contamination from lead and other pollution.
Tap water samples from Nickerson Gardens — the largest public housing development in Los Angeles — had lead levels above the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limit of 15 parts per billion (ppb).
Lead is especially toxic to children, because it can hinder the development of their brain and nervous system. Pregnant women exposed to lead can develop complications including pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, and the exposure is linked to reduced fetal growth.
US Government Report Says Fluoride at Twice the Recommended Limit Is Linked to Lower IQ in Kids
A U.S. government report expected to stir debate concluded that fluoride in drinking water at twice the recommended limit is linked with lower IQ in children.
The report, based on an analysis of previously published research, marks the first time a federal agency has determined — “with moderate confidence” — that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids.
“I think this (report) is crucial in our understanding” of this risk, said Ashley Malin, a University of Florida researcher who has studied the effect of higher fluoride levels in pregnant women on their children. She called it the most rigorously conducted report of its kind.
The long-awaited report released Wednesday comes from the National Toxicology Program, part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It summarizes a review of studies, conducted in Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Mexico, that concludes that drinking water containing more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter is consistently associated with lower IQs in kids.
Malin said it makes sense for pregnant women to lower their fluoride intake, not only from water but also from certain types of tea. It might also make sense to have policy discussions about whether to require fluoride-content on beverage labels, she said.
Social Media Took My Daughter From Me. As a Parent, I’m Fighting Back.
My daughter, Becca Schmill, would have turned 23 this year. Becca was a beautiful, caring person whose smile lit up every room. She had hopes and dreams of her own, but before she was able to begin her first year at the University of Richmond, Becca died after she ingested fentanyl-laced drugs at the age of 18.
Fentanyl may have been the official cause of her death, but the path she went down to get there was paved by social media.
Like many young people at the time, Becca got her first smartphone in middle school. Three years before her death, she was added to an online party chat where she was introduced to a group of 18-year-old boys — one of whom later raped her. She was 15.
The shame and anguish the assault caused — compounded by the cruelty of a few peers on multiple social media platforms — created a hole inside her heart that Becca tried to fill by self-medicating.
My daughter’s story is singular, but her experience with social media is one that millions of kids face daily. They reward despair and outrage and target the most vulnerable among us.
Study Confirms the Utility of Screening to Identify Autism in Toddlers Born Preterm
New research published in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology reveals that children born preterm are more likely to screen positive for autism than full-term children.
For the study, 9,725 toddlers were screened at 15-, 18-, or 24-month well child visits using a test called the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised.
Screening results that were positive for autism were most common among children born extremely preterm (51.35%) and least common among those born full-term (6.95%).
Subsequent evaluations after positive screening revealed the following rates of autism diagnoses: 16.05% of extremely preterm, 2.00% of very preterm, 2.89% of moderately preterm, and 1.49% of full-term births.
Utilizing the screening test at ages unadjusted for early birth was effective for identifying autism, as only a small number of preterm children (1.90%) who screened positive with the test did not receive a diagnosis of autism or other developmental delay following evaluation.
Autism and Ear Infections: Is There a Link?
Up to 80% of children will experience otitis media at least once during their lifetime. While people of any age can develop an ear infection, research suggests that otitis media and other ear, nose and throat (ENT) conditions are common among autistic children.
An observational study from 2023, for example, found that upper respiratory conditions, including ear infections, were more common among children with autistic traits than those without.
Researchers also found that experiencing ENT challenges in early childhood was correlated with an increased likelihood of an autism diagnosis.
A review from 2024 also found autistic children were frequently diagnosed with ear infections, hearing loss, and other ENT conditions compared to neurotypical children. In the research, 5.8% of autistic children had a history of ear infections, compared to 3% of nonautistic children.
Currently, there’s no evidence of a direct cause-and-effect relationship between ear infections and autism.
More research is needed to understand the underlying factors of this association.
