Medical Treatments

Catholic health care systems can limit access to birth control.

Health & Safety

Catholic health care's wide reach can make it hard to get birth control in many places

5:01am September 04, 2022

by Maria Godoy

Religious rules guiding Catholic health care systems often mean their doctors can't prescribe contraceptives or perform tubal ligations. And sometimes that leaves patients with few other options.

Vials of the reformulated Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster move through production at a plant in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Health & Safety

CDC recommends new booster shots to fight omicron

10:17pm September 01, 2022

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has signed off on updated versions of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that target the original virus and the omicron subvariants.

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Vials of the newly reformulated COVID-19 vaccine booster are being readied by Pfizer for distribution now that the Food and Drug Administration has authorized the shots for people 12 and older.

Health & Safety

FDA authorizes first revamp of COVID vaccines to target omicron

11:01am August 31, 2022

The new shots from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech target both the original strain of the coronavirus and the omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants that most people are catching now.

This computer-generated image shows the formation of a zygote after fertilization. Some Republican-led states, including Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Oklahoma, have passed laws declaring that life begins at fertilization, a contention that opens the

Health & Safety

When does life begin? As state laws define it, science, politics and religion clash

5:00am August 27, 2022

by Sarah Varney

For decades, the U.S. medical system has adhered to a legally recognized standard for death, one embraced by most states. Why is a uniform standard for the start of human life proving so elusive?

Physician Assistant Susan Eng-Na, right, administers a monkeypox vaccine during a vaccination clinic in New York. New cases are starting to decline in New York and some other U.S. cities.

Health & Safety

Early signs suggest monkeypox may be slowing in the U.S.

8:32pm August 26, 2022

Rates of new cases are declining in major cities, suggesting public health campaigns are working.

A single-use syringe awaits to be filled with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna has sued rival drugmakers for patent infringement.

Health & Safety

Moderna sues Pfizer over COVID-19 vaccine patents

11:23am August 26, 2022

The vaccine maker alleges that its rivals Pfizer and BioNTech used some patented features of its mRNA technology to develop their COVID vaccines.

This carefully-worded and designed infographic from Rockland County, NY describes — in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Yiddish — what polio is and that immunization is the best way to protect yourself and others.

Health & Safety

New York counties gear up to fight a polio outbreak among the unvaccinated

1:38pm August 24, 2022

by Ari Daniel

Polio is spreading in a few New York counties with low vaccination rates. Experts warn that other places in the U.S. could face the same challenge.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases listens as U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions in the press briefing room with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

Fauci to step down in December after decades of public service

2:50pm August 22, 2022

by Richard Harris

Dr. Anthony Fauci helped guide the U.S. through the COVID crisis, and earlier in his career played a key role in the response to AIDS. He has served under seven presidents.

The new booster shot would be an update to Pfizer's current version of the shot, which was designed for the original strain of the coronavirus.

Health & Safety

Pfizer asks FDA to greenlight new omicron booster shots, which could arrive this fall

1:33pm August 22, 2022

Pfizer has submitted data on its bivalent COVID-19 booster shot that specifically targets the latest omicron subvariants. If authorized, the company says the shots could be ready as soon as September.

Facing a monkeypox vaccines shortage, the U.S. is pursuing a new dosing strategy

5:59pm August 18, 2022

The U.S. is facing a shortage of the monkeypox vaccine as the outbreak grows rapidly. The White House is pursuing a controversial strategy where each person only gets a fraction of the full dose.

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