Pandemic fatigue and vaccine hesitancy continue to affect global public health, new 23-country study finds (medicalxpress.com)

While it found that global uptake of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose was robust, a new survey published in Nature Medicine revealed mixed signals about the current acceptance of vaccines generally, especially COVID-19 boosters. ...

"The repercussions of pandemic disruptions in health care services, the effects of the inequitable and slow global vaccine distribution, and the prevalence of misinformation and mistrust in health authorities continue to be felt," says Jeffrey V. Lazarus, Professor of Global Health at CUNY SPH, head of the Health Systems Research Group at Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and coordinator of the study.

Teen vaccination cut COVID-19 cases by 37% in California, new data show Researchers also estimated that 230,134 cases were averted in kids aged 5 to 11 years, a 24% reduction. CIDRAP

JAMA Network Open has published a new study showing that, from April 1, 2020, to February 27, 2023, in California, an estimated 146,210 COVID-19 cases were averted by vaccination in teens aged 12 to 15 years, representing a 37% reduction.

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Massive amounts of H5N1 vaccine would be needed if there's a bird flu pandemic. Can we make enough? The first signs that H5N1 avian flu was starting to spread from person to person would trigger a race to produce massive amounts of vaccine. Helen Branswell STAT

There is no way to predict if the virus will acquire the capacity to spread between people, or when and under what conditions it would make that fateful leap if it does.

COVID-19 booster immunity lasts much longer than primary series alone, study shows

A new study coming out of York University's Centre for Disease Modelling in the Faculty of Science shows that immunity after a COVID-19 booster lasts much longer than the primary series alone. These findings are among other—sometimes "unintuitive"—revelations of how factors like age, sex and comorbidities do and don't affect immune response.

The work is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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