Global survey shows COVID booster uptake in question A new survey of 23,000 adults in 23 countries taken in October 2023 finds a lower intent to get a COVID-19 booster vaccine (71.6%), compared with 2022 (87.9%). CIDRAP

...

Moreover, 60.8% expressed being more willing to get vaccinated for diseases other than COVID-19 as a result of their experiences during the pandemic, while 23.1% reported being less willing. ...

Officials warn of risks to ‘certain groups’ of people amid bird flu outbreak in cows - POLITICO

The Biden administration said Wednesday it’s working to strengthen federal testing guidance and the overall public health response should the bird flu outbreak in cows spread among humans.

State health labs have sent “around 25” human test samples to the CDC for reference testing amid the current dairy outbreak, according to officials. More than 100 workers are being monitored. Officials declined to answer questions from reporters about where in the country the monitored workers are, saying only that officials are “following the herd” of infected cows.

...

EU drug watchdog urges COVID-19 vaccine update The EU's drug watchdog urged Tuesday that anti-COVID jabs be updated before another round of vaccinations to counter a new variant of the virus, which is still claiming thousands of lives. Science X Medical Xpress

...

The most widely circulating COVID variant worldwide is now JN.1, having overtaken the XBB family that is the target of the most recent vaccines, the European Medicines Agency said.

...

Research finds negativity about vaccines surged on Twitter after COVID-19 shots became available There was a marked increase in negativity about vaccines on Twitter after COVID-19 vaccines became available, according to a presentation at the ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID) in Barcelona, ... Science X Medical Xpress

...

The analysis also found that spikes in the number of negative tweets coincided with announcements from governments and health care authorities about vaccination.

Pandemic fatigue and vaccine hesitancy continue to affect global public health, new 23-country study finds (medicalxpress.com)

While it found that global uptake of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose was robust, a new survey published in Nature Medicine revealed mixed signals about the current acceptance of vaccines generally, especially COVID-19 boosters. ...

"The repercussions of pandemic disruptions in health care services, the effects of the inequitable and slow global vaccine distribution, and the prevalence of misinformation and mistrust in health authorities continue to be felt," says Jeffrey V. Lazarus, Professor of Global Health at CUNY SPH, head of the Health Systems Research Group at Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and coordinator of the study.

Impaired sense of smell still common 1 year after COVID-19 Participants with a history of COVID-19 were more likely to experience some degree of smell loss compared with those without a history. CIDRAP

Sense of smell—but not taste—was still impaired in some COVID patients at 1 year, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. 

...

Global measles cases nearly doubled in one year, researchers say | CNN The number of measles cases around the world nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023, researchers say, presenting a challenge to efforts to achieve and maintain elimination status in many countries. Katherine Dillinger CNN

...

Almost half of this year’s cases have been in WHO’s European Region, with the highest incidence in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Yemen.

US respiratory virus levels continue to decline as officials track shift in SARS-CoV-2 proportions Amid further declines in COVID activity, the CDC reported a steady rise in JN.1 spinoffs that have 2 added spike mutations, part of a group nicknamed FLiRT. CIDRAP

...

The Power of Us: Climate change has disproportionately impacted these vulnerable US communities, experts say The disproportionate impacts of climate change on the poorest communities are already affecting pockets of the U.S. ABC News ABC News

...