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PA State Health Department to Report Schools’ Vaccination Rates
The Pennsylvania Department of Health will soon disclose online vaccination rates at public and private schools, in response to increasing rates of measles, whooping cough and other diseases across the state.
A letter sent Wednesday, addressed to school leaders and nurses, and signed by state Health Secretary Debra Bogen and Education Secretary Carrie Rowe noted schools must report immunization data to the Department of Health by Dec. 31 of each year.
This fall, school immunization rates will be published on the Department of Health’s website, beginning with data from the 2025-26 school year.
The department will continue to publish county and state level school immunization data online. “At a time when information travels fast and misinformation travels faster, we are counting on your assistance to keep our schools and communities healthy and protected,” the letter stated.
Canada to Ban Social Media for Kids Under 16
Canada is set to ban social media for children under 16, in a move similar to Australia’s historic law. Announced by the Canadian government on Wednesday, the proposed Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34) aims to reduce online harms to children and hold social media and AI chatbot companies responsible for addressing such harms, citing child sexual exploitation, cyberbullying, self-harm, and the impact on mental health.
The proposed law will see the Canadian government restricting users under 16 from holding social media accounts. This also means age verification for online services, and legally mandated safety requirements for social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, and companies with AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.
“We have seen the very serious consequences that online harms can have. As technologies evolve, we must ensure our laws keep pace, because parents cannot face these challenges alone,” reads a statement by Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, who introduced the bill.
Amid Social Media Challenge, Calls to Poison Centers for Benadryl Among Teens More Than Double This Year Than Last
Calls to poison centers involving diphenhydramine — the active ingredient in Benadryl and some over-the-counter sleep aids — and teens in the first five months of 2026 were more than double compared with the same period last year, according to a health advisory from America’s Poison Centers obtained first by ABC News.
Social media users have documented taking excessive amounts of diphenhydramine in an attempt to overcome the medication’s drowsy effects and experience a euphoric feeling.
The advisory comes days after Connecticut officials warned that three children in the state died from apparent diphenhydramine overdoses over the last two months. State officials said they could not confirm whether the deaths were connected to a social media challenge involving the medication.
Rising Social Media Anxiety in Teens: 68% Report Struggles Linked to Digital Life
In a world where social media dominates daily interactions, a recent breakthrough study has unveiled a troubling trend impacting the mental health of adolescents. Conducted by Dr. Emily Carter at the National Institute of Mental Health, the research highlights that a staggering 68% of teens aged 13-18 are experiencing heightened anxiety directly associated with their social media usage.
What’s even more alarming is that many of these teens report spending over five hours a day online, fueling a growing concern among parents, educators, and mental health professionals regarding social media anxiety in teens.
Published on January 15, 2026, this groundbreaking study sheds light on the psychological effects of social media on teenagers. Dr. Carter and her team meticulously gathered data through surveys and interviews with over 2,000 participants across various demographics. The findings revealed two primary factors contributing to social media anxiety in teens: algorithmic pressure and the incessant need for comparison with peers.
MenB Vaccine Offered to Teens and New Students
Year 13 pupils and those under 25 starting university this autumn will be offered the meningitis B (menB) vaccine, the government has announced. The one-off jab programme will offer two doses to youngsters aged 17 to 18 in Year 13, plus those aged under 25 going to university or other residential further education this autumn.
Young people will be offered their first dose from July with a second dose given in August. Two doses, at least 4 weeks apart, are needed for full protection. It comes after a series of outbreaks of meningitis, with the most serious being in Kent earlier this year which left two teenagers dead.
Food Labels and Restrictions Can Lower Childhood Obesity Rates, Study Finds
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Aggressive national food policies can reduce the number of kids with excess weight, a new study says. A Food Labelling and Advertising Law (FLAL) adopted by Chile reduced risk of overweight and obesity among that country’s children, researchers reported June 11 in The Lancet. The law required warning labels and restricted sales and marketing for foods and drinks high in sugars, saturated fats, salt or calories, researchers said.
“Although individual national measures like sugar taxes on soft drinks have been associated with improved health outcomes, this is the first study to plausibly demonstrate that a package of policies can reduce early childhood overweight/obesity risk at the national level,” researcher Guillermo Paraje, a professor of economics at the Adolfo Ibáñez University Business School in Chile, said in a news release.
“These results offer strong evidence for policymakers around the world,” Paraje said. “They support mandatory front-of-pack nutrition warning labels, restrictions on unhealthy food in schools and marketing bans as effective, practical ways to tackle the childhood obesity epidemic.”
For Better or Worse, Young People Are Turning to AI Chatbots for Emotional Support
When today’s teenagers and young adults are struggling emotionally, some are turning not only to friends, family members and therapists but also to artificial intelligence.
Nearly 1 in 5 adolescents and young adults have used AI chatbots for advice or help when they felt upset, nervous or anxious, according to a new study published June 1 in JAMA Pediatrics.
Researchers also found that many of these young people use chatbots repeatedly and consider the advice helpful, suggesting that AI is already becoming part of the mental health information ecosystem for millions of young people. Those insights are raising important questions about how these tools should be used and where their limitations lie.
To help us untangle these questions, I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and clinical associate professor at George Washington University. She previously served as Baltimore’s health commissioner and is the mother of two young children.
