New research suggests the HPV vaccine is preventing cancer in men, as well as in women, but fewer boys than girls are getting the shots in the United States.

The HPV vaccine was developed to prevent cervical cancer in women and experts give it credit, along with screening, for lowering cervical cancer rates. Evidence that the shots are preventing HPV-related cancers in men has been slower to emerge, but the new research suggests vaccinated men have fewer cancers of the mouth and throat compared to those who didn’t get the shots. These cancers are more than twice as common in men than in women.

For the study, researchers compared 3.4 million people of similar ages — half vaccinated versus half unvaccinated — in a large health care dataset.

Read more at Time.

As concerns mount about a large outbreak of an especially virulent form of mpox in central Africa and an uptick in U.S. cases since early last year, the mpox vaccine appears to give long-term protection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.

In a separate report, the CDC indicated that overall new mpox infections across the U.S. have remained at a steady, low level — about 60 cases weekly, compared with 3,000 cases a week at the outbreak’s summer 2022 peak — in recent months. However, cases so far this year are elevated nationally compared with the same period in 2023 and have seen a sharp increase in New York City. 

People who have gotten two doses of the Jynneos mpox vaccine are protected against infection and don’t need a booster at this time, according to the CDC. 

Read more at NBC.

Colorado has wrapped up its first relatively ordinary respiratory disease season since the pandemic began, with no unusually large or strangely timed spikes in illness.

But with COVID-19 still in the mix, this new normal still means a higher level of severe illness and death than the state experienced before 2020.

In the fall of 2020 and 2021, Colorado and the country as a whole saw large waves of COVID-19, but almost none of the usual illnesses from flu and respiratory syncytial virus. RSV causes colds for most people, but can be severe for babies and older people, particularly those with other health conditions.

Read more at The Denver Post.

A federal program providing free COVID-19 vaccines to uninsured and underinsured adults is shutting down this summer, before the fall rollout of updated vaccines to fight against the latest variants. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said its Bridge Access Program will end in August because of a lack of funding. The program has provided more than 1.4 million free COVID-19 vaccines since it launched in September 2023 at a cost of more than $1 billion. 

The Bridge Access Program was meant to be temporary and was originally scheduled to end in December 2024.  

Read more at The Hill.

With Pride events scheduled worldwide over the coming weeks, U.S. officials are bracing for a return of mpox, the infectious disease formerly called monkeypox that struck tens of thousands of gay and bisexual men worldwide in 2022. A combination of behavioral changes and vaccination quelled that outbreak, but a majority of those at risk have not yet been immunized.

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of a deadlier version of mpox that is ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo and urged people at risk to be vaccinated as soon as possible. No cases of that subtype have been identified outside Africa so far. But the escalating epidemic in Congo nevertheless poses a global threat, just as infections in Nigeria set off the 2022 outbreak, experts said.

Read more at The New York Times.

Before the first COVID-19 vaccine became available, Americans radically changed their behavior to avoid getting the virus by social distancing and wearing masks. New research from CU Boulder says that change, along with vaccines, saved more than 800,000 lives.

The cost — and the payoff — of social distancing

Social distancing allowed 68 percent of Americans to get vaccinated before they contracted the virus, which meant they had much better survival rates than people who contracted the virus before getting vaccinated. Without the behavioral changes, the paper’s authors estimate there would have been 60,000 more deaths each day during the peak of the pandemic.

Read more at CPR. 

The number of children who received their routine vaccinations declined during the pandemic, so public health officials have been focusing on getting kids back up to date. They should also be paying attention to adults as a new, first-of-its-kind report quantifying the economic impact of adult immunizations makes clear.

Researchers at the nonprofit Office of Health Economics, based in London, analyzed four adult vaccine programs — for the flu, pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and shingles — across 10 countries including Australia, France, Japan, and the United States. They found that adult vaccination programs paid for themselves many times over, returning up to 19 times the initial investment in societal benefits.

Read more at STAT.

The first study of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in a large population of adult heart-failure patients suggests that vaccinated participants are 82% more likely to live longer than their unvaccinated peers, according to an analysis presented over the weekend at the Heart Failure 2024 scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Lisbon, Portugal.

More than 64 million global heart-failure patients

Researchers from the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital in Goyang, South Korea, analyzed information on vaccinations and clinical outcomes among 147,118 heart-failure patients from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, which covers nearly all Koreans. 

Read more at CIDRAP.

Don’t let COVID-19 be an obstacle to your health: your immune system needs exercise just like your body.

Running a Spartan Race is a test of both endurance and courage. If you haven’t experienced the adrenaline rush of conquering a Spartan Race, let me tell you that they are crazy fun: a grueling obstacle course, ranging from a 5K Sprint to a staggering 30-mile Ultra, with 20 to over 70 obstacles demanding feats of strength, mental stamina, and, of course, plenty of mud. To complete one has an unparalleled sense of accomplishment which requires hours and hours of proactive training to finish healthy and strong.

Read more at The Idaho Capital Sun.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is extremely common. About 296 million peopleTrusted Source worldwide are currently HBV-positive, and 0.7–0.9%Trusted Source of pregnant women in the United States have chronic HBV.

HBV is harmful and easily contracted via exposure to the blood or bodily fluids of someone who has the virus. If you have not been vaccinated and you have HBV, you are very likelyTrusted Source to transmit the infection to your baby

Universal childhood vaccination against HBV, which was introduced in 1991, has reduced the number of reported HBV infections by 90%Trusted Source. Universal prenatal testing for HBV, treatment for birthing parents who have HBV, and preventive care (prophylaxis) for their newborns can all help prevent birth-related transmission of HBV.

Read more at Healthline.