People who get their news from an ideologically diverse array of sources are more likely to get vaccinated, regardless of their political affiliation, new University of Colorado Boulder research shows.

“This study shows that being exposed to a range of perspectives encourages critical thinking and makes people less likely to get stuck in a bubble or misled by misinformation,” said senior author Leaf Van Boven, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.

The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Read more at Medical Xpress.

Achoo! Cough! Sniff!

Many Coloradans are hearing those sounds, if not experiencing them firsthand or in their homes, as the 2025 winter virus season is hitting hard.

Hospitals reported 257 hospitalizations for influenza, 77 for COVID-19 and 176 for RSV on Wednesday, according to the state’s viral respiratory diseases dashboard. The numbers dropped considerably from the previous week for flu and COVID-19 but were up 18 for RSV. The dashboard, which was developed following the creation of its COVID-19 website, is updated every week on Wednesdays.

Read more at CPR.

Since President Donald Trump tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist — to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, vaccines have once again become a prevailing topic among politicians and the general public alike.

Recent health surveys reveal that skepticism toward vaccines, including the COVID-19 shot and annual flu shot, has grown over the past year. Moreover, despite the surge in COVID-19 cases across the United States, recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control found that only 1 in 10 children and 1 in 5 adults have received the latest COVID-19 booster since its release in August 2024.

Read more at HuffPost.

The polio vaccine is the safest and most effective way to prevent polio, a dangerous and contagious viral infection that attacks the nervous system. Before the vaccine, polio outbreaks caused lifelong paralysis in thousands of people in the United States. 

Read on to learn more about the polio vaccine and how it works.

Read more at Everyday Health.

Every fall and winter, medical professionals preach the same message: Get your flu shot. While getting the flu shot always makes it less likely to get hit hard by the flu, its efficacy fluctuates. Some years the flu shot offers more protection than other years.

Now that we’re well into flu season (widely considered to be between December and February), you may be wondering just how effective this season’s flu shot is proving to be. Well, the latest data is out—and it may surprise you. Here, infectious disease experts offer up their insight into the data and also give the verdict on if it’s too late to get the flu shot this season if you haven’t gotten it already.

Read more at Parade.

Peter Hotez has made every effort to stay up to date with Covid-19 vaccines, starting with the initial two doses and continuing through each booster iteration. “I’ve gotten every one possible,” he said.

Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, has followed the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which currently recommends annual shots for everyone over six months of age. For high-risk groups such as adults over 65 and people who are immunocompromised, the CDC recommends an additional booster six months later.

Read more at Undark.

Immunizations have prevented countless cases of disease and disability, and they save millions of lives each year. Yet there are still people who are sickened or disabled by preventable infectious diseases and families that mourn the devastating loss of loved ones from vaccine-preventable illnesses. That is why it is important to stay up to date on immunizations for the entire family.

About 4 million deaths worldwide are prevented by childhood vaccination every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Meanwhile, more than 50 million deaths can be prevented through immunization between 2021 and 2030. In fact, by 2030, measles vaccination can save nearly 19 million lives while hepatitis B vaccination can save 14 million lives.

Read more at AMA.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)-approved immunization schedules for children and adolescents and for adults for 2025 have been published in the Jan. 16 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Anindita N. Issa, M.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues issued the ACIP-approved “Recommended Immunization Schedule for Children and Adolescents Ages 18 Years or Younger, United States, 2025,” which provides a summary of current recommendations for vaccinating children and adolescents.

Read more at Medical Xpress.

No parent of a new baby likes to take their little one to get shots at the doctor’s office.

Babies are supposed to receive vaccines that protect against about 15 different infectious diseases. Most require more than one dose, which amounts to nearly 30 jabs by age two.

Parents may be tempted to delay or spread out those shots but multiple health experts told USA TODAY that they wouldn’t recommend veering away from the recommended childhood vaccination schedule.

Read more at USA Today.

Outbreaks among the unvaccinated are a predictable consequence of falling immunization rates. But even vaccinated adults may be vulnerable to some illnesses.

There were more than 32,000 cases of whooping cough in 2024, the highest tally in a decade. In California alone, the disease struck 2,000 people between January and October last year.

More than 60 infants younger than 4 months were hospitalized in the state. One died.

Read more at The New York Times.