Denver Public Schools has kicked off a free vaccination campaign this school year — one that uses staff who speak the languages and are familiar with the cultures of the students they serve.

The campaign began this month, Hispanic Heritage Month, targeting schools, some of them with fewer than 60 percent of children vaccinated. Colorado as a whole ranks 34th in the nation for children 35 months of age who’ve completed recommended vaccines.

The program — called One School, One Vaccine at a Time — works closely with school districts and providers to address vaccine hesitancy and ensure access to routine childhood immunizations. The partnership includes the district, State Department of Public Health and the Environment, and Julissa Soto, the CEO of Latino Health Equity Consulting.

Read more at Denverite.

A new COVID variant is spreading rapidly and could soon become the dominant variant around the globe. The variant, called XEC, was first detected in Germany in August and appears to have a growth advantage over other circulating variants – but it is not a radically different variant.

XEC is what’s known as a “recombinant variant”. Recombinants can occur naturally when a person is simultaneously infected with two different COVID variants.

XEC is the product of a recombination (exchanged pieces of genetic material between two variants) between the KS.1.1 variant and the KP.3.3 variant. These two parent variants are closely related, having both evolved from JN.1, which was the dominant variant around the world at the start of 2024.

Read more at Gavi.

The number of whooping cough cases have more than quadrupled in the U.S. since last year, according to data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.

Infectious diseases experts attribute the surge in cases of whooping cough — also known as pertussis — to a dip in vaccination rates that began during the pandemic.

“Children during COVID did not see their health care providers and they may have done some telemedicine, but we can’t vaccinate through the computer,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “And we haven’t gotten everyone caught up yet back to their routine vaccination levels.”

Read more at NPR.

Updated COVID-19 vaccines are now available, but they’re no longer free of charge for people without insurance.

Most people with private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid can still get the vaccine without having to pay out-of-pocket. For those without insurance at all or without coverage for the vaccine, Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID shot could cost $200 at a pharmacy.

“It’s a lot more challenging now,” Adriane Casalotti, MPH, chief of government and public affairs of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, told Verywell. “The vaccine has gone back into the traditional healthcare system, which can be difficult to access for people without insurance or who are underinsured.”

Read more at Verywell Health.

Vaccines are one of the most life-saving medical interventions ever created, yet many Americans struggle to stay up to date with their shots every year. Fewer than half of the country’s adults got a flu shot last season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and fewer than a quarter got the most recent COVID-19 vaccine.

Experts who spoke with PBS News say regular vaccination is one of the most important ways to protect yourself against respiratory diseases, including COVID, flu and RSV. Here’s what to know about the vaccinations they recommend adults and children prioritize getting this fall.

Read more at PBS.

While the coronavirus pandemic saw a massive push for vaccinations nationwide, not all states are equal in their general vaccination levels.

While vaccinations prevent the spread of diseases like polio, measles and chickenpox, some Americans choose not to vaccinate due to health concerns, side effects or skepticism in the vaccine itself. In other cases, accessibility issues prevent Americans from getting vaccinated.

In a new report from WalletHub, the following states saw the lowest rates of vaccinations for general diseases: Mississippi, Alaska, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas.

Read more at Newsweek.

Clues from the Southern Hemisphere suggest Colorado has a relatively normal flu season ahead, but experts are less certain about how COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus will behave this fall and winter.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s forecasting center projected the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19, flu and RSV combined would be similar to what it was last year, or slightly lower, director Dr. Mandy Cohen said during a press briefing on Aug. 23.

But the projection could be off if the forecasters misjudged how many people will get vaccinated, she said. The CDC assumed vaccine uptake will be similar to last year, when fewer than half of adults got a flu shot and less than one-quarter got an updated COVID-19 vaccine.

“The power is in our hands,” she said.

Read more at The Denver Post.

Only 61 percent of U.S. 13-to-17-year-olds have been fully vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV), according to research published last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The finding was based on vaccination records of over 16,500 adolescents obtained via the 2023 National Immunization Survey-Teen. The goal was to determine rates for the four routine adolescent vaccines: for tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (Tdap), meningitis (MenACWY), HPV and the flu.

Read more at The Washington Post.

New Covid-19 vaccines, which can help protect against the most common variants of the virus currently circulating, are now widely available.

Doctors say that some people may want to wait until October to get a shot, so they can get vaccinated against flu at the same time and have better protection this winter. But people who are at higher risk for getting seriously sick from Covid, including those who are pregnant, 65 and older or have underlying medical conditions, likely want to get vaccinated as soon as they can. Here’s what to know about the new shots.

Read more at The New York Times.

Flu shot season is upon us.

Pharmacies began giving out the vaccines — which are recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older — last month. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting a flu shot either this month or next, since flu activity typically picks up in the fall, with cases reaching their peak sometime from December to February. 

It takes around two weeks for the vaccine to become fully effective. 

“You really want to think about getting your appointment or making your plan to get vaccinated sometime around the last half of September through the end of October,” said Dr. Judith O’Donnell, chief of infectious diseases at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia.

Read more at NBC.