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Clinical studies necessary before vaccinating children for COVID-19 says Creech
Mar. 4, 2021—While similar to adults in some ways, children’s biologies and, in particular, immune systems can differ significantly from those of adults. Look no further than the lower rates of COVID-19 among children — they’re half as likely to get it as adults — as well as child-specific reactions to the disease, such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome. “It’s important...
McPheeters discusses COVID-19 vaccination appointment challenges
Mar. 4, 2021—The nation’s vaccine appointment system is broken in many places, leading to a race to find appointments that in many places works best for the lucky, the internet-savvy or the mobile. “I have plenty of neighbors who are driving hours to get to other counties where they can get vaccinated, but not everybody can do that,” said Melissa...
Schaffner explains the role of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine
Mar. 2, 2021—The U.S. government on Saturday authorized Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, enabling millions more Americans to be vaccinated in the coming weeks and setting the vaccine up for additional approvals around the world. J&J’s vaccine is expected to be used widely around the globe because it can be shipped and stored at normal refrigerator...
Racial disparities in COVID-19 also extend to children says Creech
Feb. 28, 2021—Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the nation’s health inequalities have become even more glaring, with millions of Americans of color, Black and Latino in particular, experiencing more severe illness and death due to COVID-19, than white Americans. Experts are still struggling to understand the extent of this problem, with race data only available for 74% of the...
Neuzil comments on COVID-19 vaccines as makers work to outflank variants
Feb. 28, 2021—Drug companies already have started working on updating their vaccines against new, more transmissible variants — a move encouraged by government officials. While the current shots by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna use a new technology that allows for speedy modifications, changing vaccines adds wrinkles to manufacturing and distribution schemes that are already complex. “It’s a big...
Schaffner comments on lessons learned after a year of COVID-19
Feb. 25, 2021—“First and foremost you have to not reduce the support of local, state, and federal public health departments, which of course we’ve been doing for the past 20 years,” said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. Schaffner likened health departments...
Belcher among Nashville Business Journal ’40 under 40′ honorees
Feb. 23, 2021—Ryan Belcher, M.D., M. P.H. candidate, assistant professor of otolaryngology – head and neck surgery, Vanderbilt School of Medicine, among Nashville Business Journal ’40 under 40′ honorees.
Banerdt finds delirium in hospitalized patients linked to mortality, disability
Feb. 18, 2021—Delirium, a form of acute brain dysfunction, is widespread in critically ill patients in lower resourced hospitals, and the duration of delirium predicted both mortality and disability at six months after discharge, according to a study published in PLOS ONE. Working with partners in Zambia, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers evaluated 711 hospitalized critically ill patients; delirium...
Virtual learning has helped keep flu numbers low says Schaffner
Feb. 15, 2021—This past summer, public health officials sounded warnings about the dangers of an impending flu epidemic on top of the coronavirus pandemic. “Flu has been essentially nonexistent,” Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, said in an interview with Weekend Edition. The mild season has benefitted from measures like masks and social distancing, he said. It...
Creech answers Vanderbilt student questions about COVID-19
Feb. 15, 2021—Vanderbilt first-year students recently met with Buddy Creech, MD, MPH, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program and associate professor of pediatrics, for a special virtual chat to answer some of their COVID-19 vaccine questions.
Schaffner looks at new Tennessee COVID-19 numbers
Feb. 10, 2021—COVID-19 case numbers have taken an optimistic dip in Tennessee, but, according to an infectious disease specialist, it’s too soon to credit the vaccine. “It is definitely nice to talk about this in a guardedly optimistic way,” VUMC Dr. William Schaffner said. “Things seem to be on a reasonable track.” The infectious disease doctor said...
Creech: Studies are unclear if COVID-19 vaccination can prevent transmission
Feb. 9, 2021—Like many questions surrounding Covid-19, there just isn’t enough data yet to say whether vaccines can stop the virus from spreading. “The short answer is we don’t quite know yet,” says Buddy Creech, director of Vanderbilt University’s Vaccine Research Program. “The clinical trials of Covid vaccines thus far have focused primarily on preventing the symptoms and severity of Covid rather...
NPR talks to Schaffner about socializing after receiving a COVID vaccine
Feb. 8, 2021—People 65 years and older account for 80% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is why they have been prioritized for the vaccines. But elderly people with weakened immune systems may not respond to them as well and the FDA has found that the Moderna and Pfizer...
COVID vaccine could require a booster says Schaffner
Feb. 8, 2021—Vaccination prevents disease, but it’s still unclear if, or how much, the vaccine prevents all infections. “The information is less clear whether the vaccines will prevent the virus from infecting us and we can remain without symptoms. That’s still under study.” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist and a professor of preventive medicine in...
The Washington Post talks to Creech about the COVID-19 vaccine and children
Feb. 8, 2021—Children’s immune responses are different from that of adults, so there is a consensus that pediatric trials are critical for testing the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity (or effective immune response) of vaccines on youths. Positive outcomes in adult studies are reassuring and suggest it is safe to proceed in testing kids, said Buddy Creech, a...