John Parkinson

6 days ago | contagionlive.com | John Parkinson |William Schaffner

Last week, the leaders of the National Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services, and FDA, announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the CDC immunization schedule for pregnant women and healthy children in a video social media post. "I couldn't be more pleased to announce that, as of today, the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule," Kennedy said in the video.

1 week ago | contagionlive.com | John Parkinson

May 31, 2025The company's vaccine, mRNA-1283, becomes the first approval under the new federal guidelines. The federal agency has given the nod to the latest Moderna COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1283 (mNEXSPIKE). This becomes the first vaccine approved under the new federal guidelines that change who is eligible for the immunizations.

1 week ago | contagionlive.com | John Parkinson

This week, Moderna announced the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) terminated the company's award for late-stage development of an avian influenza (H5) vaccine. In the award termination statement, Moderna also announced positive interim data from its phase 1/2 clinical study evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of its investigational vaccine, mRNA-1018.1Despite this news, Moderna plans to explore alternatives for late-stage development and manufacturing of the H5 program.

1 week ago | contagionlive.com | John Parkinson

In a study being presented at MAD-ID, oral cephalosporins were found to be non-inferior to oral penicillins for the treatment of gram-negative Enterobacterales bloodstream infections. “Step-down therapy with oral cephalosporins was non-inferior to step-down with oral penicillins for treatment failure (7.1% vs. 7.1%; 95% CI [-0.064, 0.064], p = 0.002),” the investigators wrote.

1 week ago | contagionlive.com | John Parkinson

In new research being presented at this week’s MAD-ID meeting, a large 2-year study reveals that the majority of patients seen in outpatient facilities for sinusitis-related complaints were prescribed antibiotics. Of more than 37,000 primary care encounters, 79% of patients received a prescription for this class of medication.