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An estimated 36 million adults in the United States have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday, according to new data from the federal government. Additionally, about 3.5 million children have also gotten the updated shot, according to the survey, which is a sample size of the U.S. population, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Benadjaoud and Kekatos, 11/14)

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal filed by four New Jersey nurses over the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers. Even though the mandate has since been rescinded, a 2022 lawsuit brought by four nurses from Hunterdon Medical Center was still winding its way through the court system. The nurses had challenged the constitutionality of three of Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive orders requiring health care workers in New Jersey be immunized. (Kent, 11/14)

Back-to-school vaccine clinics got off to a rocky start in some Maryland counties this year after the state health department did not renew a statewide contract with a Baltimore-based nonprofit that supported coronavirus immunization efforts. At least three counties did not hold their usual flu vaccination clinics without the help of nurses from the Maryland Partnership for Prevention or PrepMod, the nonprofit’s scheduling and vaccine documentation software, which they’d used to support those efforts as well. The end of the contract also disrupted flu and back-to-school immunizations in at least two other counties, officials said. (Roberts, 11/14)

With Thanksgiving and other winter holidays on the horizon, families and friends are making plans to gather indoors for customary meals and festivities. For many, the rush to get updated COVID vaccines and flu shots before these celebrations has become almost as traditional in recent years as rounding up the fixings for favorite side dishes and desserts. Now there are also vaccines for RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, to consider to help tamp down respiratory viruses that pose a triple threat as the year comes to a close and a new one begins. (Blythe, 11/15)

A new study has affirmed that 1 in 5 individuals who take the antiviral medication Paxlovid to treat COVID-19 encounters a rebound infection. ... The preliminary research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday, reveals that the phenomenon, known as “viral rebound,” occurred in approximately 21% of Paxlovid recipients, contrasting sharply with the 2% observed in those not prescribed the medication. (Vaziri, 11/14)

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other US institutions have created an mpox severity scoring system that they say could help clinicians track disease progression and response to treatment and guide researchers in identifying risk factors for severe illness and assessing the effectiveness of therapeutics. (Van Beusekom, 11/14)

An expert scientific committee advising the British government recommended for the first time Tuesday that children should be immunized with the chickenpox vaccine — decades after the shots were made widely available in other countries, including the U.S., Canada and Australia (11/14)

In March 2020, Tagide deCarvalho saw something truly strange — something she thinks no other scientist has ever seen before: a virus with another, smaller virus latched onto its “neck.” The backstory of this viral attachment is like a master class in how wild and weird biology can be. The two microbes are both bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, that were harvested from a clump of dirt in Poolesville, Md. Bacteriophages, also called simply phages, are among the most abundant organisms on Earth. There can be millions in a gram of dirt. (Johnson, 11/14)

America’s trust in scientists and positive views of science has continued to decline, according to a new report. The Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank, asked a random sample of 8,842 American adults this fall about their views on science and scientists. They found that roughly a quarter of Americans — 27% — said they have not too much or no confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests, compared to 12% who said the same in April 2020. (Nayak, 11/14)