COVID 2024-25 vaccines 33% protective against emergency room or urgent care visits, data reveal Data were too limited to draw conclusions about VE against critical illness for adults of all ages, the authors note. CIDRAP

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UN appeals for funds to help contain Uganda Ebola outbreak

KAMPALA, March 4 (Reuters) - The United Nations has launched an emergency appeal to raise $11.2 million to help fund Uganda's response to an Ebola outbreak that has killed two people, after the country's health budget was strained by U.S. cuts to foreign aid. ...

Vaccination rates are declining and might get worse as states relax rules More states are loosening vaccine mandates, scaling back vaccine promotion efforts and taking other steps likely to lower vaccination rates—even as a major measles outbreak spreads in Texas. Shalina Chatlani Medical Xpress

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West Texans, Mennonites at center of measles outbreak choose medical freedom over vaccine mandates Measles has sickened nearly 150 mostly unvaccinated people in rural West Texas, and a school-age child has died. AP News

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a document Friday proposing to strip public participation from much of the business his department conducts. The move comes during a time of major upheaval across federal health agencies, and as the public waits to see how Kennedy will enact his pledge of “radical transparency” at the department.

The statement, placed in the Federal Register, said HHS would rescind its longtime practice of giving members of the public a chance to comment on the agency’s plans....

U.S. actions may set polio eradication back, WHO says

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began firing staff on Thursday, continuing a wave of government-wide layoffs ordered by the Trump administration. The terminations, which include staff at the National Weather Service, could impact weather forecasting used by many people and industries across the U.S. economy.