Vaccines

The flu vaccine takes around two weeks to fully take effect. St. Louis County Executive Sam page is encouraging residents to book shots soon to protect themselves and others from getting sick over the holidays.

As levels of the coronavirus have increased in Missouri and across the country, the federal government has approved updated vaccines to protect against COVID-19. The virus itself has changed, and along with it, guidelines for how to keep others safe.

Researchers at the University of Missouri say they’ve created a new vaccine to protect cattle from bovine anaplasmosis. The disease is estimated to cost U.S. ranchers millions each year.

Although the smallpox-related virus is surging in other parts of the world, doctors in St. Louis said cases are still low in the region. But they say vaccinations can keep the risk of future spread low.

Since 2017, the percentage of Missouri's kindergarten-age children who have received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has dropped from 95% to around 90%, according to state health officials.

Wastewater tests are designed to provide an early warning system so that public health officials can ward off outbreaks.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force is calling on older people and pregnant women in the region to get the newly approved RSV vaccine as hospitals fill up with people sick with respiratory illnesses.

Scientists at SLU think they can use an existing immunization to test how well people respond to tuberculosis vaccines in development. Scientists are on the hunt for a more effective vaccine to protect people from the bacterial infection, which kills more than 1 million people a year globally.

The federal goverment has approved updated COVID-19 vaccines that protect people against getting dangerously sick. But the shots are being distributed through commercial means for the first time, and patients have reported canceled appointments and insurance denials.

St. Louis University is enrolling people between 12 and 50 years old to participate in a clinical trial to test if the mpox vaccine works as well in teens as it does in adults. The federal government has approved the vaccine for emergency use in minors, but it hasn’t given full approval.