Items

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  2020-12-14

  The U.S. Approves a Vaccine

  The Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use on Friday, clearing the way for millions of highly vulnerable people to begin receiving inoculations within days. The authorization is a turning point in a pandemic that has taken more than 290,000 lives in the United States. With the decision, the United States becomes the sixth country — in addition to Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico — to clear the vaccine. Today, we ask the science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. what might happen next.
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  2021-04-15

  The Klamath Tribes halt use of Johnson and Johnson vaccine

  The Klamath Tribes stopped administering the J&J vaccine on April 9, 2021 after concerns of major side effects, a few days before the FDA and CDC paused administering of the vaccine.
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  2020-08-21

  Calls for plasma in COVID fight conflict with decades-old restriction on blood donations

  The frustration of many within the LGBTQ+ community over blood donations has been especially pronounced in the middle of the pandemic. The FDA recently moved the requirements for gay men to be abstinent from 12 months to 3 months. Activists and others point out that because blood can be screened for HIV, and that the rules are outdated and don't make sense. It is tragic that those who are capable of donating blood in this moment of crisis are unable to do so based on these current regulations. It brings back images of gay men that tried to donate blood after the Pulse nightclub massacre, but were turned away.
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  2020-05-31

  FDA Loosens Labeling Rules

  Consumers have seen a shortage of ingredients and food like yeast, beef, or eggs. The same goes for food companies. The article by Food & Wine addresses how the FDA has loosened its regulations on ingredient substitutions due to the coronavirus pandemic. While some of these substitutions may seem inconsequential and even good, like not bleaching bread flour because the bleaching agent is out of stock. Why are we still bleaching bread flour anyways? The issue is how this will affect ingredient substitutions in the future as there is no set end date for these new rules. Wiggle room with ingredients can get dangerous for consumers, and while it may be necessary for the moment, it will have an effect on our food in the future.
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  2020-03-19

  Trump says potential COVID-19 treatment drugs won’t have to be approved by FDA

  The Suffolk Journal, Suffolk University's student run newspaper, reports on federal politics during the pandemic.