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Medicine Tag

Of all the organizations issuing untrustworthy guidance and confusing recommendations, perhaps the World Health Organization has been the worst. As we end 2020, with the pandemic lockdowns destroying businesses and driving people to despair, WHO officials are ginning-up more fear.

The second promising coronavirus vaccine from Moderna has tested 94 percent effective at preventing symptomatic illness and appears to prevent the spread of the virus as well. It looks like all systems are go for FDA "emergency use" approval by the end of the week.
The high efficacy of the Moderna vaccine was noted after two doses given 28 days apart. This is about the same level of effectiveness as the Pfizer vaccine.

Los Angeles area public health officials have reported that more than 1,000 homeless people died in the county last year, double the number of deaths from six years ago.
The LA county public health department reported this week that 1,047 homeless people died last year, a number that has steadily increased every year since 2013, when 536 people died. The leading causes of death were coronary heart disease, which accounted for 22% of deaths, followed by alcohol and drug overdose at 21%, transportation-related injuries at 9%, homicides at 6% and suicides at 5%.

It was only three weeks ago that the US was declared measles-free. Now, Los Angeles health officials are warning that a person diagnosed with measles visited Disneyland followed by a stop to a popular Starbucks location, exposing thousands to the illness.
The theme park draws an average of 44,000 people every day from all over the country and the world - and any of the visitors that day could have come into contact with the infected Los Angeles resident.

As measles cases in the country rise to the highest level in over two decades, health officials have weighed a travel ban that would prohibit those believed infected with the disease from flying.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 60 new individual instances of measles in Monday’s update, bringing this year’s tally to 940. It's the largest total since 1994, falling just short of the 963 cases reported that year. Efforts to fight off a disease that has spread to 26 states have led state and local officials to consider requesting the imposition of a rarely used travel ban on infectious passengers, The Washington Post reported.

Scientists at Tel Aviv University announced the creation of a 3D heart that has cells and blood vessels, The Jerusalem Post reported Monday. While the heart is small and not yet functional, it shows that, in the future, a heart could be made, which would help eliminate the need for transplants for patients suffering from heart failure. The 3D heart is about the size of a rabbit's heart, but scientists could use this process to create a larger organ to fit a human.