The AMA announced an editorial update to Current Procedural Terminology, the leading medical terminology code set for describing health care procedures and services, that includes a newly assigned provisional CPT code for vaccines to protect patients against the H5N8 strain of avian influenza (bird flu).
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By Gil Dror – The monkeypox outbreak has accelerated with more than 3,000 cases in the US (according to CDC data) and the vaccine nationwide has been hamstrung by logistical and technical errors. The World Health Organization has declared the monkeypox outbreak to be a global health emergency.
By Liz Szabo – The billions of dollars invested in covid vaccines and covid-19 research so far are expected to yield medical and scientific dividends for decades, helping doctors battle influenza, cancer, cystic fibrosis, and far more diseases.
By Arthur Allen – On March 31, 1977, as a measles epidemic swept through Los Angeles, the county health department issued an ultimatum to the parents of the county’s 1.6 million schoolchildren: Get your kids vaccinated within a month or keep them home.
By JoNel Aleccia – Within a few weeks, perhaps before many Americans finish decorating for the holidays, the U.S. could have access to a new antiviral pill from Merck expected to alter the deadly trajectory of the covid-19 pandemic — with a second option from Pfizer to follow shortly after.
By Victoria Knight – The steady stream of spurious claims surrounding the covid vaccines and treatments that swirl around the public consciousness. The physician voices are of particular concern because their medical credentials lend credence to their unproven, often dangerous pronouncements.
By Amanda Michelle Gomez – Of the 203 million people who have received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine, more than 9 million have enrolled in a program to share information about their health since getting the shot.
By Elisabeth Rosenthal & Glenn Kramon – America’s covid-19 vaccination rate is around 60% for ages 12 and up. That’s not enough to reach so-called herd immunity, and in states like Missouri — where a number of counties have vaccination rates under 25% — hospitals are overwhelmed by serious outbreaks of the more contagious delta variant.
By Liz Szabo – Upon first inspection, the mutations in the highly contagious delta covid variant don’t look that worrisome. For starters, delta has fewer genetic changes than earlier versions of the coronavirus.