Free Republic

A new study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirms what Mayo Clinic and other experts have been saying: COVID-19 booster vaccinations improve protection against severe illness and hospitalization. The study examined people who had three doses of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, as well as whether it was a booster dose or the No. 3 dose for people who are immunocompromised. "The third dose actually decreased COVID-19-associated hospitalizations significantly ― more than the two doses alone," says Dr. Abinash Virk, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist. Dr. Virk says much has been learned about the effectiveness...

A Rhode Island hospital is dealing with a Covid-19 outbreak with patients after it asked staff who had tested positive, but were asymptomatic, to come in due to a staffing shortage. Eleanor Slater Hospital, a state-run facility with campuses in Cranston and Burrillville, reported it had 28 infected patients as of Thursday, according to the Boston Globe. The hospital has roughly 200 patients. On Saturday, the hospital had two Covid-positive staff members come into work and three on Monday, according to a memo posted on the official Rhode Island state website. "The decision to utilize covid-positive staff who are asymptomatic...

NPR's A Martinez speaks with Dr. Daniela Lamas, a pulmonary and critical-care physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, about the risk of compassion fatigue for the unvaccinated. A MARTINEZ, HOST: With the highly infectious omicron variant sweeping across the country, many health care workers are facing a deja vu this winter. As American ICUs fill up with mostly unvaccinated patients, doctors and nurses are once again faced with difficult decisions. Dr. Daniela Lamas of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston worries that this prolonged situation could lead to compassion fatigue among staff. I asked Dr. Lamas about that...