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COVID metrics showed more declines last week, though deaths from the virus—one of its severity indicators—rose 4.2% compared to the previous week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data update. Deaths were up a bit in a number of states but were up more sharply in Oregon. (Schnirring, 10/20)

Scientists hope that by the end of 2024 COVID may become more flu-like but before that fading immunity means more killer waves are on the way. (Axe, 10/23)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Why Is Finding Covid Shots For Young Children Still So Hard?

On Sept. 12, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the next round of covid shots for everyone 6 months and older. The shots were expected to be available within days in pharmacies and doctor’s offices across the country, the CDC said. But more than a month later, the pediatric versions of the new covid shots, for children 6 months to 11 years old, are still difficult to find. A confluence of problems — from technicalities about who can give shots to small kids to the lack of accurate information online on where the kid-sized doses can be found — are still preventing parents from making sure their children are protected. (Fortier, 10/20)

This rollout is the first time the vaccine had entered the commercial market. Before this, the government was paying for and distributing shots. (Rodriguez, 10/23)

When she stopped getting her period in March 2022, Daryn Schwartz wasn’t especially concerned. At 42, she had recently come off birth control, and figured her cycles were still adjusting. When it hadn’t come back by the summer, she sought gynecological care, but was told to wait it out. So she did, with no changes. (Merelli, 10/20)

Adults who were treated with nirmatrelvir–ritonavir (Paxlovid) for their COVID infections in an outpatient setting during the earlier Omicron variant months had a high prevalence of drug-drug interactions (DDIs), Canadian researchers reported yesterday in PLOS One. In its clinical guidance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urges healthcare providers to be aware of Paxlovid eligibility criteria and the potential for drug interactions. (Schnirring, 10/20)

“You are not a horse. You are not a cow,” the FDA posted to social media in mid-2021, as COVID-19 vaccines were already widely available in the USA. “Seriously, y’all. Stop it.” Those warnings are now the subject of a pending lawsuit by three doctors who claim the FDA overstepped its authority by weighing in with medical advice they say should be left to physicians. The ivermectin suit is one of several working through federal courts challenging the FDA's power to make decisions or dispense information. (Fritze, 10/23)