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A report showing the efficacy of the covid-19 vaccine that was previously delayed by the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been blocked from being published in the agency’s flagship scientific journal, according to three people familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The report showed that the vaccine reduced emergency department visits and hospitalizations among healthy adults by about half this past winter. (Sun, 4/22)

A comparison of the relative infection frequency across different age groups for currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants showed that BA.3.2 infects young children significantly more often than other variants. In Scotland and England, where the variant has spread widely, an increase in COVID-19 cases among children has been observed—while case numbers among older individuals remained stable. The reasons for this unusual preference are not yet known. (Diederich, 4/20)

Oral nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) failed to spare COVID-19-vaccinated individuals from the worst outcomes if they got sick, though it may have helped speed recovery time and cut viral loads, according to two community-based clinical trials. (Rudd, 4/22)

“Children do get long COVID, but it doesn’t always look the same as it does in adults,” said Melissa Stockwell, a pediatrician at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and a lead researcher with the pediatric cohort of the National Institutes of Health’s RECOVER initiative, a program created to better understand and treat long COVID. Researchers with the program published a study last year that estimated long COVID potentially affects nearly 6 million children in the United States, which would make it more common than asthma. (Datta, 4/23)

Findings indicate long-COVID leads to academic and social difficulties in children, highlighting the importance of addressing their unique educational needs. (Dutta, 4/23)

Exercise has been touted as a tool for managing and treating long covid, but much of the evidence has neglected one of its most debilitating symptoms: post-exertional malaise. (Thompson, 4/22)

Results from a small randomized controlled clinical trial show promising findings about a new type of therapy for patients experiencing brain fog as part of long COVID. Brain fog affects more than 1 in 5 people with long COVID, according to a review of multiple studies published in 2024, while long COVID itself affects 45% of COVID survivors. (4/20)

Georges Benjamin, CEO of the American Public Health Association, told Military.com it is “an irresponsible decision that will undermine the medical readiness of our troops.” He feels strongly about the issue because he is familiar with it. He is a former military physician who trained in the U.S. Army and was ER director for four years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He also served on the public health advisory committee of the Defense Health Board. “If you go back and look at the 1918 influenza, when we didn't know what it was, it had a devastating impact on our troops,” Benjamin said. “We know what flu does to troops who are quartered closely together, who share food, who share rooms, and contagious diseases like influenza can put a whole unit out of service. (Mordowanec, 4/22)

There was a possible measles exposure at Logan Airport in Boston last week, Massachusetts health officials say. The Boston Public Health Commission and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said Wednesday that a traveler with measles passed through Terminal C shortly after midnight on April 14. (Riley, 4/22)

Travelers at Newark Liberty International Airport may have been exposed to an individual with measles, New Jersey health officials warn. The state Department of Health announced Wednesday that a Hudson County resident was diagnosed with measles after traveling internationally. This is the first confirmed case of measles in the state so far this year. (Houlis, 4/22)