Category: Health News

COVID-19 vaccine allergic reactions: Experts offer reassurance

In a recent review, a team of allergists offer reassurance and guidance regarding allergic reactions to the COVID-19 vaccines. The authors, led by allergists at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, conducted a detailed review of issues relating to allergic reactions to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. They conclude that reactions to vaccines are rare, and

The pandemic and childhood weight gain

There’s plenty of talk of the COVID 20—meaning the extra weight that adults are putting on during the pandemic. But what about children? Even before the pandemic, the percentage of American children who have overweight or obesity—defined as body mass index (BMI) being in the 85th to 95th percentiles for children of the same age

New COVID-19 RNA test gives accurate results within minutes

University of Birmingham researchers have invented a COVID-19 test that reduces testing time from 30 minutes to under five, and delivers accurate results. The method is described in a preprint paper (yet to be peer-reviewed) published on MedRxiv, where the researchers also demonstrate the rapidity and sensitivity of their method using patient sample RNA provided

Two Men Opened Up About Living With ‘Long COVID’

Conversations about the effects of COVID-19 tend to be binary. There are the young, who are fortunate enough to be asymptomatic, or to suffer with nothing more than a headache, a sniffle and a temporary loss of taste and smell. Then there are the less fortunate—the vulnerable and sick. But the truth, as ever, is

As China vaccinates, makers say jab works against mutations

Chinese medics in Shanghai were given COVID-19 inoculations this week, as vaccine makers insisted their jab was effective against current virus mutations. China is racing to vaccinate millions ahead of the country’s Spring Festival travel rush. Pharma giant Sinopharm was given “conditional” approval for its vaccine candidate last week, and makers said they were confident

Stressed out in lockdown, America’s young adults are overeating

(HealthDay)—When the coronavirus pandemic started, many people began baking banana bread and sourdough loaves at home. Stress eating is nothing new, and 2020 was a year filled with angst for a lot of people. But researchers at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, wondered, “Are college-aged people overeating, too?” According to their new

How to sleep better in 2021

If you’re like most American adults, you’re not getting enough sleep. This could be the year to change that, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), which recommends adults get at least seven hours of sleep each night. A survey conducted in July showed that 85% of adults in the United States get

New mutant coronavirus strain IS more contagious by nearly 50%

New Kent strain of ‘super-COVID’ is nearly 50 percent more contagious than other varieties, Imperial study confirms Imperial College London researchers analyzed how quickly the new B117 ‘super-COVID’ variant spreads They compared samples of the mutated virus taken from nearly 2,000 people in  the UK to another  84,000 taken from people with other variants B117

These Three Doctors Are Fighting COVID-19 And Protesting Racism

In the past week, hospital staff across the country have joined the protest against the racist murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and countless others. Some have marched in white coats echoing “no justice, no peace” down the streets of their cities. Others have laid down in solidarity for 8 minutes

How and When You’ll Actually Get the COVID Vaccine

Two pharmaceutical companies say they’re ready to begin vaccinating people before the end of December, if their vaccines are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. What does that mean? The two companies have applied to the FDA for emergency use authorization of their Covid-19 vaccines immediately. The FDA will meet on December 10 to