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COVID-19

UPMC: Vaccine remains critical

The most important advice regarding COVID-19 vaccinations is what experts have been giving for months: If you’re not vaccinated, get a shot, said two UPMC doctors. While attention this week was on booster shots, Donald Yealy, UPMC’s chief medical officer, and Graham Snyder, UPMC’s medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology, emphasized increasing the number of people vaccinated remains paramount during a virtual news conference Friday. As for booster shots, “It’s important to put in context the changing guidance,” Snyder said. “For any given dose, ...

Williamsburg: District to ask Pa. for COVID controls

WILLIAMSBURG — Arguments erupted between Williamsburg Community School Board members and those in the audience over whether to defy a state mask mandate. Instead the board voted unanimously Tuesday for a resolution asking state officials to give the district control over COVID-19 related ...

Medicare launches vaccine data tool

WASHINGTON — Families and patients have a new online tool to compare COVID-19 vaccination rates among nursing homes, Medicare announced Tuesday, addressing complaints from consumer groups and lawmakers that the critical data had been too difficult to find. The information is now being made available through the “Care Compare” feature at Medicare.gov, the online tool for basic research on quality and safety issues at nursing homes. Consumers will be able to compare up to three nursing homes at the same time, and the webpage shows vaccination rates for residents and staff, as well ...

State readying for vaccine boosters

HERSHEY — Pennsylvania’s network of vaccine providers is ready to deliver booster shots of the coronavirus vaccine as soon as federal authorities sign off, the state’s top health official said Tuesday. More than 2,000 providers have COVID-19 vaccine inventory and will be able to administer the extra doses to people who are eligible, while continuing to offer initial vaccinations against the coronavirus, according to the state Health Department. “Vaccine providers are well prepared to start administering booster shoots as soon as the CDC gives final approval and issues ...

US COVID-19 deaths top 1,900 a day

COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed to an average of more than 1,900 a day for the first time since early March, with experts saying the virus is preying largely on a distinct group: 71 million unvaccinated Americans. The increasingly lethal turn has filled hospitals, complicated the start of the school year, delayed the return to offices and demoralized health care workers. “It is devastating,” said Dr. Dena Hubbard, a pediatrician in the Kansas City, Missouri, area who has cared for babies delivered prematurely by cesarean section in a last-ditch effort to save their ...

Panel backs booster shots only for seniors, high risk

WASHINGTON — Dealing the White House a stinging setback, a government advisory panel overwhelmingly rejected a plan Friday to give Pfizer COVID-19 booster shots across the board, and instead endorsed the extra vaccine dose only for those who are 65 or older or run a high risk of severe disease. The twin votes represented a heavy blow to the Biden administration’s sweeping effort, announced a month ago, to shore up nearly all Americans’ protection amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. The nonbinding recommendation — from an influential committee of outside ...