The federal program that funds free COVID-19 vaccines for people without health insurance is ending several months earlier than expected — and uninsured people are now being told it could be their last chance to seek out a free shot before the money runs out for good.

The Bridge Access Program was launched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in September 2023 to provide free COVID-19 vaccinations to the estimated 25 million to 30 million adults in the U.S. without health insurance. The funds were previously forecast to last until December and would have made COVID-19 vaccines accessible to uninsured people through the brunt of another winter respiratory virus season.

However, after March negotiations in Congress resulted in $4.3 billion being withdrawn from the Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 fund, the program is instead ending this month, months ahead of schedule.

Read more at KQED.

If it seems like a lot of people are getting COVID right now, you’re not imagining it.

We’re in the middle of a worldwide summer COVID-19 wave.

A high or very high level of COVID-19 virus is being detected in wastewater in almost every state, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 10 other states have a high amount of COVID in the wastewater.

Read more at NPR.

As schools are getting ready for students to return, it’s important for parents to think about their children’s back-to-school vaccination checklist.

Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases at Mayo Clinic’s Children’s Center, says that parents should check with their primary health care team to make sure their children’s regular vaccinations are up to date before school starts.

After a summer of fun, kids are returning to the classroom and that means close contact with each other.

Read more at Medical Xpress.

Despite historic successes, gaps remain for children living below the poverty level and those without health insurance.

When the Vaccines for Children (VFC) legislation was passed 30 years ago, it was a historic step in improving children’s lives by providing recommended vaccines at no cost to eligible children.

Routine vaccinations are the best defense against illnesses. The VFC program was established to ensure that children below the federal poverty level and those without health insurance have access to critical, lifesaving vaccines that can protect their health throughout their lives.

Read more at CDC Newsroom.

In findings that offer compelling evidence of the power of childhood vaccines, a new government report shows the routine shots have prevented hundreds of millions of illnesses, tens of millions of hospitalizations and more than 1 million deaths among Americans born in the past 30 years.

The new data, published Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, analyzed the benefits of the CDC’s Vaccines for Children Program, which was launched in 1994 to make childhood immunizations more affordable and accessible.

Read more at U.S. News.

How many kindergartners are vaccinated against measles at your son’s school? How many are vaccinated against whooping cough at your daughter’s child care center?

These are the kinds of questions parents can answer quickly using a state database created by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The database lets users search vaccination and exemption rates for child care centers, schools, and colleges statewide, and look at trends over time.

State health officials say the database can help parents make informed decisions about where to send their children to school or child care.

Read more at Chalkbeat Colorado.

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.