Category: Health Facts

Health care professionals act as science communicators when they translate complex statistics to inform their patients about medical issues and motivate behavior change to improve health. Traditionally, the focus of such discussions has ranged from medication side effects to rationales for cancer screening. But communications involving statistics can be challenging, as the Covid-19 pandemic has shown. Although solving communication problems alone won’t always lead to behavior change — especially among skeptics — evidence shows that people are more likely to understand and be motivated by statistics if communicators present them thoughtfully and strategically.^1.2

We believe that some foundational behavioral-science principles can enable health professionals to use statistics in ways that inform and promote action rather than confuse or dissuade. Though these lessons are broadly applicable, they are especially relevant to the current need to swiftly and effectively communicate the health and equity implications of climate change to patients and

FDA Emergency Use Authorization allows for alternative dosing regimen; increases JYNNEOS supply by up to five-fold

Combatting the monkeypox outbreak is a top priority of the Biden-Harris Administration. Today, as part of the Administration’s comprehensive effort to mitigate the spread of monkeypox, the Administration announced that it has taken action to increase the number of vaccine doses available by up to five times through an alternative dosing regimen. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced it is granting Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the JYNNEOS vaccine to be administered intradermally. Because intradermal administration requires a smaller dose, this change allows the number of available doses to increase by as much as five-fold while continuing to ensure the vaccine meets high standards for safety and quality.

The White House National Monkeypox Response team today outlined its plan to implement this approach and ensure providers and public health officials put the

The claim: Apple AirPods destroy your health, emit 5 times more radiation than over-ear headphones and emit “more radiation than a microwave”

A post circulating on Facebook captions a photo of Apple AirPods with an arresting warning: “There is no nice way to say this,” the post reads, “but if you use these, let your child use these or buy these for a family member or friend, you are helping to destroy your and their health.”

Text circulating in numerous identical posts claims AirPods are more dangerous than other devices, including over-the-ear headphones and microwave ovens, because of their proximity to the skull and their radiation emissions.

“These emit 5x the radiation of over the ear blue tooth[sic] headphones because the AirPod literally sits in the ear and into the cavity leading to the skull,” reads a Facebook post from Lisa’s Natural Herb and Wellness Shop that has been shared

Our nation’s young people are facing an unprecedented mental health crisis. Even before the pandemic, rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts among youth were on the rise. The pandemic exacerbated those issues, disrupting learning, relationships, and routines and increasing isolation – especially among our nation’s young people. More than 40 percent of teenagers state that they struggle with persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and more than half of parents and caregivers express concern over their children’s mental well-being.

To address this crisis, President Biden put forward in his first State of the Union a comprehensive national strategy to tackle our mental health crisis, and called for a major transformation in how mental health is understood, accessed, treated, and integrated – in and out of health care settings.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced two new actions to strengthen school-based mental health services and address the youth mental health crisis.

Since the first reported case of monkeypox in the United States on May 18, HHS has communicated public health information about the virus to patients and health care providers, provided access and significantly increased supply of vaccines and treatments, and significantly expand the availability of tests. HHS has distributed nearly 200,000 JYNNEOS vaccines in recent weeks, accelerated the inspection of approximately 800,000 vaccines for delivery this summer while procuring millions more for delivery in mid-2023, and ensured that tens of thousands of tests per week would be available to physicians and patients .

Over the coming days and weeks, HHS will continue to strengthen and accelerate its strategy on combatting monkeypox and work closely with public health officials and stakeholders in high-risk communities to get vaccines, testing, and treatments out to communities across the country.

Within days of the first case of monkeypox in the US, HHS activated a multi-pronged

Today, Congress answered President Biden’s call to strengthen health care and benefits for America’s veterans and their survivors by passing the bipartisan Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act. The PACT Act is the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans in more than 30 years.

In his first State of the Union address, President Biden called on Congress to send a bill to his desk that would comprehensively address toxic exposures that have impacted veterans, as well as their families and caregivers, and provide them with the health care and benefits they have earned and deserved. Thanks to the bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate Veterans Committees, the PACT Act does just that.

President Biden believes that our nation has a sacred obligation to properly prepare and equip the troops we send into harm’s way – and