News
Tamiflu-like drugs face long odds against Covid says Schaffner
Jun. 28, 2021—The flu fighter Tamiflu is one of the most recognizable antiviral medications in the world — but its weaknesses suggest that devising a similarly simple treatment for Covid-19 will be challenging. “The benefits are, in an average healthy person, perhaps not that meaningful,” said William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University infectious disease expert who advises the...
Antoon sees spike in RSV cases
Jun. 24, 2021—While the prevalence of COVID-19 is declining in the United States, pediatricians at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt warn parents not to let their guard down. There are still plenty of viral illnesses that can affect children — causing respiratory infections and possible hospitalizations. “We are seeing a spike in respiratory illnesses, especially...
Schaffner comments on Delta variant threat in TN
Jun. 24, 2021—The Biden administration is continuing efforts to push southern states, including Tennessee, to get vaccination rates higher as the threat of the Delta COVID-19 variant continues. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden will be in Nashville Tuesday for a pop-up vaccination clinic. This comes as Tennessee ranks near the bottom among states in vaccination rates with...
Schaffner discusses the link between heat inflammation and the COVID-19 vaccine
Jun. 21, 2021—Heart inflammation cases tentatively linked to the coronavirus vaccine, prompting an emergency meeting of the panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines, may be the result of a microbe known as the enterovirus. Patients and healthcare professionals may be reporting these cases now because they are on heightened alert for possible vaccine-related...
Patrick discusses how COVID-19 has prompted policy shifts
Jun. 17, 2021—The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably shifted family dynamics. Many parents balanced economic challenges. Children developed new ways to socialize, play and learn. The physical and mental effects of these shifts are beginning to emerge, thanks to research led by Stephen Patrick, M.D., a neonatologist at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and director of The...
NBC News talks to Schaffner about the global need for more COVID-19 vaccines
Jun. 15, 2021—The Maryland-based biotech company Novavax reported Monday that its experimental Covid-19 vaccine is safe and 100 percent effective against moderate to severe disease. The results are from the company’s Phase 3 clinical trials conducted in the U.S. and Mexico. The company has already completed a Phase 3 trial in the U.K., but the U.S. trial results...
Creech suggests COVID-19 safe summer activities for kids
Jun. 14, 2021—Last summer, the pandemic saw many families hunkered down at home and avoiding gathering with anyone outside their household. This summer, COVID-19 vaccines will allow more freedom, but with that comes some confusion about how to navigate plans when some family members are fully vaccinated and others are not. Nonetheless, “the effectiveness of the vaccines is holding,...
COVID-19 vaccine surplus continues to grow says Schaffner
Jun. 14, 2021—In Tennessee and North Carolina, demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has slowed down so much that they have given millions of doses back to the federal government, even though less than half of their total populations are vaccinated. In Tennessee, 2.4 million have been returned to the federal pool. It’s a disappointing development to William...
Talbot and Schaffner look at COVID-19 hospitalizations of adolescents
Jun. 10, 2021—Most COVID-19–associated hospitalizations occur in adults, but severe disease occurs in all age groups, including adolescents aged 12–17 years. COVID-19 adolescent hospitalization rates from COVID-NET peaked at 2.1 per 100,000 in early January 2021, declined to 0.6 in mid-March, and rose to 1.3 in April. Among hospitalized adolescents, nearly one third required intensive care unit...
Dusetzina discusses new Alzheimer’s drug pricing
Jun. 10, 2021—Federal regulators have approved the first new drug for Alzheimer’s disease in nearly 20 years, leaving patients waiting to see how insurers will handle the pricey new treatment. Health care experts expect broad coverage of the drug, which was approved Monday. But what that means for patients will vary widely depending on their insurance plan....
Hydroxychloroquine is not effective for the treatment of COVID-19 says Self
Jun. 10, 2021—Hydroxychloroquine is not a proven treatment for COVID-19, as USA TODAY and several other independent fact-checking organizations have pointed out. Large-scale clinical trials in several countries have found no benefit to using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. “The finding that hydroxychloroquine is not effective for the treatment of COVID-19 was consistent across patient subgroups and for all evaluated outcomes, including clinical status, mortality,...
Schaffner comments on the declining COVID-19 cases trend
Jun. 10, 2021—The number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States continues to decline steadily, with increases reported in only three states. According to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average number of new U.S. cases dipped to under 14,000 a day this past week, about 2,000 fewer than the previous week....
Dusetzina comments on proposed prescription drug bill
May. 26, 2021—The Congressional Budget Office said in 2019 that the bill would likely hamper some pharmaceutical development due to lower “potential global revenues” but predicted that “the effects of the new drug introductions from increased federal spending under the bill on biomedical research would be modest and would almost all occur more than 20 years in the future.”...
CNN talks to Schaffner about critical COVID-19 vaccination milestones
May. 25, 2021—As US officials push for more vaccinations amid slowing demand across the country, another state has now crossed an important milestone. Rhode Island is now the eighth state to have administered at least one Covid-19 shot to 70% of its adult population, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state joins Connecticut,...
Edwards discusses COVID vaccine safety communication challenges
May. 21, 2021—Public confidence in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines dipped in the United States after government officials paused vaccinations with the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shot last month, according to a poll. Public-health specialists must always strike a careful balance when communicating about vaccine safety, but the enormous scale of the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out means that safety...