Health

Flu shot scheduling: When is the best time to get the vaccine?

Published

5 days ago

September 22, 2024

Flu shot scheduling: When is the best time to get the vaccine?

With flu season right around the corner, when is the right time to get the influenza vaccine?

For most people who only need one dose of the flu shot, September and October are generally the best times to get vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s website.

The agency noted that “ideally, everyone should be vaccinated by the end of October.”

FLU SHOT RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE CDC: ‘VACCINATION SHOULD CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE SEASON’

Other groups, including those over 65 years old and pregnant women, should not get vaccinated earlier than September, as protection may decrease over time, the agency said.

September and October are generally the best times to get vaccinated against the flu, the CDC suggests. (iStock)

“However, early vaccination can be considered for any person who is unable to return at a later time to be vaccinated,” the CDC stated.

“It takes about two weeks after the vaccine for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against the flu.”

Among children, some will need two doses of the vaccine, the agency said.

Those include children 6 months to 8 years old who are getting the shot for the first time, those who have not received a total of two or more flu shots in their lifetime, or those whose influenza vaccination history is unknown.

Early vaccinations, in July and August, can be considered for children who only need one dose, according to the CDC. (iStock)

For those children, the CDC recommends that the first dose is administered as soon as it’s available, as there should be at least four weeks between the two shots.

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Early vaccinations can be given in July and August for children who only need one dose and for people who are in their third trimester of pregnancy at that time, according to the agency.

Pregnant women should not get vaccinated earlier than September, according to the CDC’s guidance. (iStock)

“This can help protect their infants for the first few months after birth (when they are too young to be vaccinated),” the CDC noted.

Flu shots can be given to anyone 6 months and older through age-appropriate options, including injectables and a nasal spray.

“Ideally, everyone should be vaccinated by the end of October.”

Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Fox News Digital that “the time to get a flu shot is over the next month or two.”

“The flu shot lasts six to nine months, and flu season generally peaks in January or February,” he added.

Vaccination should continue throughout the season for as long as flu viruses are circulating, according to a Walgreens spokesperson. (iStock)

A spokesperson from Walgreens reiterated the CDC’s recommendations of getting the shot before the end of October, but added that vaccination should continue throughout the season for as long as flu viruses are circulating.

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“It takes about two weeks after the vaccine for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against the flu,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

“Getting your vaccine now ensures that you and your loved ones have the best protection as kids are back in school and as we enter the holiday season.”

Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle reporter for Fox News Digital.

Health

In the Weight Loss War, Eating Bean & Veggie Soups May Be More Effective Than Keto

Published

9 hours ago

September 26, 2024

Press Room

In the Weight Loss War, Eating Bean & Veggie Soups May Be More Effective Than Keto

Top Doctor’s Plant-Based Soup Diet Tames Hunger and Burns Fat | Woman’s World

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Health

Federal judge orders EPA further regulate fluoride in drinking water due to concerns over lowered IQ in kids

Published

9 hours ago

September 26, 2024

Press Room

Federal judge orders EPA further regulate fluoride in drinking water due to concerns over lowered IQ in kids

It has been added to municipal water for decades, but a federal judge in California has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to further regulate fluoride because high levels could pose “an unreasonable risk” to the intellectual development of children.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled Tuesday that the scientific evidence of fluoride’s health risks when ingested at current prescribed levels requires stricter regulation under the 2016 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The act provides a legal pathway for citizens to petition the EPA to consider whether an industrial chemical presents health risks.

Chen, in his 80-page ruling, wrote there is “little dispute” over whether fluoride is hazardous and ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.

“Indeed, EPA’s own expert agrees that fluoride is hazardous at some level of exposure,” the judge said. “And ample evidence establishes that a mother’s exposure to fluoride during pregnancy is associated with IQ decrements in her offspring.”

FLUORIDE IN WATER LINKED TO LOWER INTELLIGENCE

A drop of water drips from a leaky faucet. (iStock)

“Between 1981 and 1984, fluoride’s association with adverse effects including osteosclerosis, enamel fluorosis, and psychological and behavioral problems was contested,” Chen said.

At the same time, he wrote that the court’s finding “does not conclude with certainty that fluoridated water is injurious to public health,” Chen said. “Rather, as required by the Amended TSCA, the Court finds there is an unreasonable risk of such injury, a risk sufficient to require the EPA to engage with a regulatory response.

“This order does not dictate precisely what that response must be. Amended TSCA leaves that decision in the first instance to the EPA. One thing the EPA cannot do, however, in the face of this Court’s finding, is to ignore that risk,” Chen added.

“If the Court finds anew that the chemical at issue presents an unreasonable risk, it then orders the EPA to engage in rulemaking regarding the chemical,” the judge said. “The EPA is afforded in the first instance the authority to respond; regulatory actions can range from requiring a mere warning label to banning the chemical.”

An EPA spokesperson, Jeff Landis, told The Associated Press that the agency was reviewing the decision but offered no further comment.

It’s the first time a federal judge has made a determination about the neurodevelopmental risks to children of the recommended U.S. water fluoride level, said Ashley Malin, a University of Florida researcher who has studied the effect of higher fluoride levels in pregnant women.

She called it “the most historic ruling in the U.S. fluoridation debate that we’ve ever seen.”

Currently, more than 200 million Americans, or about 75 percent of the population, drink fluoridated water.

Close-up view of open toothpaste tube, cap and tooth brush in front of a blue backdrop.

Fluoride is added to many brands of toothpaste (iStock)

DOES FLUORIDE IN DRINKING WATER HURT YOUR BRAIN?

In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and they continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first city in the world to fluoridate its water supply.

Critics have long said that washing teeth with fluoride is not comparable to the risks posed by ingesting fluoride, with the latter potentially triggering harmful neurotoxic effects.

Since 2015, federal health officials have recommended a fluoridation level of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water. For five decades before that, the recommended upper range was 1.2 “after evidence increasingly established fluoride’s connection to adverse effects, including severe enamel fluorosis, risk of bone fracture, and potential skeletal fluorosis,” the judge wrote. Skeletal fluorosis is a potentially crippling disorder which causes weaker bones, stiffness and pain.

The World Health Organization has set a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water of 1.5. Separately, the EPA has a longstanding requirement that water systems cannot have more than 4 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water.

The case was brought by Food and Water Watch, an advocacy organization which petitioned the EPA to investigate lowered IQs in children allegedly caused by fluoride. The EPA denied the group’s 2016 petition calling for the agency to ban or limit the fluoridation of drinking water.

Food & Water Watch and several co-petitioners subsequently sued the EPA to compel action citing the mounting scientific evidence of toxicity when fluoride is ingested.

“Today’s ruling represents an important acknowledgment of a large and growing body of science indicating serious human health risks associated with fluoridated drinking water,” the group said in a statement.

A water utility foreman at a plant where fluoride is added to the drinking water in Healdsburg, California. (Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

“This court looked at the science and acted accordingly. Now the EPA must respond by implementing new regulations that adequately protect all Americans – especially our most vulnerable infants and children – from this known health threat.”

Tuesday’s ruling cited a review of 72 human epidemiological studies and available literature by the U.S. National Toxicology Program which concluded that fluoride is connected to reduced IQ in children.

“Notwithstanding recognition by EPA’s expert that fluoride is hazardous, the EPA points to technicalities at various steps of the risk evaluation to conclude that fluoride does not present an unreasonable risk,” Chen said. “Primarily, the EPA argues the hazard level and the precise relationship between dosage and response at lower exposure levels are not entirely clear. These arguments are not persuasive.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

READ THE RULING BELOW — APP USERS CLICK HERE:

Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.

You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.

Health

Mom issues warning after health scare, plus 'therapy ponies' and a new COVID strain

Published

20 hours ago

September 26, 2024

Press Room

Mom issues warning after health scare, plus 'therapy ponies' and a new COVID strain

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