Fewer Americans today consider childhood vaccines important, with 40% saying it is extremely important for parents to have their children vaccinated, down from 58% in 2019 and 64% in 2001. There has been a similar decline in the combined “extremely” and “very important” percentage, which was 94% in 2001 but sits at 69% today.

The July 1-21 poll also finds 17% of Americans saying it is somewhat important that parents get their children vaccinated, while 5% say it is not very important and 7% say it is not at all important. In 2001, 1% said having children vaccinated was not at all important.

Read more at Gallup.

When Dr. Matthew Daley began his term on a previously little-known advisory committee with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he knew he had a bigger task before him than he had expected.

Daley is a pediatrician with Kaiser Permanente in Denver, but he also does research through KP’s Institute for Health Research. Daley’s work primarily focuses on vaccines — their safety and patients’ hesitancy to get them — and it had long been a goal of his to serve on that obscure committee, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP.

Read more at The Colorado Sun.

The excitement of going off to college is often filled with dreams of independence, new friends and endless opportunities. But amidst the packing, planning and farewells, there’s another essential step that many students and parents overlook – health preparedness.

Before stepping onto your university or college campus, it’s important to ensure that your vaccinations are current. Staying healthy will help you make the most of your college experience. 

Read on to understand why vaccinations are necessary and how to get them done before the big move. 

Read more at Banner Health.

A new study, published today in Nature Communications and involving nearly the whole adult population of England, has found that the incidence of heart attacks and strokes was lower after COVID-19 vaccination than before or without vaccination.

Research led by the Universities of Cambridge, Bristol and Edinburgh and enabled by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Data Science Centre at Health Data Research UK analyzed de-identified health records from 46 million adults in England between 8 December 2020 and 23 January 2022. Data scientists compared the incidence of cardiovascular diseases after vaccination with the incidence before or without vaccination, during the first two years of the vaccination program.

Read more at Medical Xpress.

If you followed the run-up to the Paris Olympics, you may be familiar with the debate over whether it’s safe for triathletes to swim in the notoriously contaminated Seine. The naysayers may have been right: Today, high pollution levels forced organizers to postpone the men’s competition originally scheduled for this morning.

In fact, the Paris Olympics pose a range of potential health risks in addition to sewage in the Seine. Here’s a look at issues both athletes and spectators are facing. 

Read more at Everyday Health.

As summer begins to wind down and many children and teenagers across the U.S. get ready to head back to school next month, it also means updated COVID-19 vaccines are around the corner.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Americans receive the updated 2024-25 vaccine when it becomes available later this year.

Health officials have used the term “updated vaccines” in anticipation of needing to formulate a new vaccine every year to match circulating variants as is done for the flu shot.

Read more at ABC.

It has been more than a year since the World Health Organization declared an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. But while the virus no longer qualifies as a crisis, experts say it will only stay under control if people get vaccinated.

“Population immunity has moved us out of the pandemic,” said Dr. Manisha Patel, chief medical officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “Now the goal is to make sure we keep that immunity up because it does wane. And the way we keep it up is through vaccination. That is the safest way to keep our country healthy.”

Read more at American Heart Association News.

GSK Plc’s shingles vaccine was linked to a longer delay in dementia onset than a competing shot, a finding that suggests superior protective powers against one of the world’s most threatening conditions.

People who received the Shingrix vaccine lived an average of 164 days longer without a dementia diagnosis than those who got Merck & Co.’s Zostavax, according to a study published Thursday in the Nature Medicine journal. The Merck vaccine was linked to lower dementia risk in a study last year.

Read more at Time.

Routine vaccination rates for kindergarteners haven’t rebounded since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to KFF.

At the same time, exemptions from school vaccination requirements are climbing, possibly contributing to surging measles cases.

Shifts in public opinion and rising vaccine hesitancy rooted in misinformation are contributing to the lower vaccination rates, KFF reported. About three-quarters of states reported measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination rates below the 95% Healthy People 2030 target during the previous school year. Meanwhile, 10 states had more than 5% of kindergarteners claim a vaccine exemption during the 2022-2023 school year.

Read more at The Hill.

For nearly four months, the spread of bird flu in the nation’s dairy cattle has stoked fears that, if left unchecked, the virus could eventually unleash a pandemic.

The recent cluster of human cases connected to poultry farms in Colorado only underscores that the threat remains real.

Genetic sequencing of the virus collected from the sickened poultry workers closely resembles what’s circulating in dairy herds, suggesting that cattle somehow introduced the virus into the poultry flock.

At one massive poultry facility, workers culled the birds under particularly dangerous circumstances.

Read more at NPR.