Health News Roundup: CDC recommends pregnant women get COVID-19 vaccine; Age restrictions on AstraZeneca shot have ended reports of rare clots -UK scientists and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. CDC recommends pregnant women get COVID-19 vaccine Pregnant women should be vaccinated against COVID-19, based on a new analysis that did not show increased risk for miscarriage, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

CDC recommends pregnant women get COVID-19 vaccine

Pregnant women should be vaccinated against COVID-19, based on a new analysis that did not show an increased risk for miscarriage, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. The CDC said it has found no safety concerns for pregnant people in either the new analysis or earlier studies. It said miscarriage rates after vaccination were similar to the expected rate. Pregnant women can receive any of the three vaccines given emergency authorization -- Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson.

Age restrictions on AstraZeneca shot have ended reports of rare clots -UK scientists

No new cases of rare and severe blood clots following vaccination with AstraZeneca's COVID shot have been reported in Britain in recent weeks after a decision to restrict its use in under-40s, British scientists said on Wednesday. Vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT) is a combination of blot clots and low platelet levels which has been labeled as a rare side effect of the viral vector COVID vaccines made by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

U.S. FDA set to authorize COVID-19 vaccine boosters for immunocompromised patients - NBC News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize a third booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc for people with weakened immune systems, NBC News reported on Wednesday. The health agency will amend the emergency use authorizations for the two vaccines as soon as Thursday to allow immunocompromised people to get an additional dose, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Sydney seeks to tighten COVID-19 curbs, Canberra to enter lockdown

Extra Australian military personnel may be called in to ensure compliance with lockdown rules in Sydney, the New South Wales state government said on Thursday, as the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant spreads into regional areas. The move comes as Australia's capital, Canberra, 260 km (160 miles) southwest of Sydney, announced a snap one-week lockdown from Thursday evening after reporting its first locally acquired case of COVID-19 in more than a year.

California becomes first state to order teachers to get COVID vaccine or test

California on Wednesday became the first U.S. state to require that its teachers and other school staff be vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19, a move Governor Gavin Newsom called "a responsible step" to ensure the safety of children. The move comes as Texas Governor Greg Abbott's statewide ban on mask mandates hit its second legal setback after a judge in Dallas County temporarily blocked it from being enforced amid a nationwide rise in coronavirus cases.

Elderly Chileans line up for booster jabs to reinforce CoronaVac vaccine

Chile on Wednesday began administering booster shots to those already inoculated with Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine in a bid to lock in early success following one of the world's fastest mass vaccination drives. Lines of elderly citizens eager to participate in the campaign began forming at vaccination centers in neighborhoods across the capital Santiago on a cool winter morning in the Southern Hemisphere.

Kids with COVID-19 often have no symptoms; smoking linked to vaccine response

Here is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. Asymptomatic COVID-19 is very common

U.S. Veterans Health Administration turns down Biogen Alzheimer's drug

The U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) will not include Aduhelm, the $56,000-a-year Alzheimer's drug made by Biogen Inc and Eisai Co Ltd, on its list of approved drugs due to a lack of evidence that it is effective as well as safety concerns, the agency said on Wednesday. "It is not being added to the VA National Formulary due to the risk of significant adverse drug events and to the lack of evidence of a positive impact on cognition," the agency said in an emailed statement.

United CEO expects more companies will heed Biden's call to vaccinate

United Airlines Chief Executive Scott Kirby said he believes more U.S. companies and organizations will begin requiring COVID-19 vaccinations, after a meeting with President Joe Biden on the topic on Wednesday. "A few weeks from now, this is going to be something that's widespread across the country because it's really just a basic safety issue," Kirby told CNN after the meeting.

NIH's experimental antibody drug prevents malaria in small study

An experimental monoclonal antibody developed at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) prevented malaria for up to nine months in volunteers exposed to the disease-causing parasite in a small trial, researchers reported on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Malaria is a preventable disease caused by parasites transmitted to people through bites from infected mosquitoes. According to the World Health Organization, malaria caused an estimated 409,000 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria deaths worldwide in 2019, with 67% being children under 5.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)