Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of Aug. 25, 2025–Aug. 29, 2025.
U.S. infants, adolescents less likely to reach adulthood than foreign peers
Stateline (8/28, Vollers) reports a study published in JAMA found that “babies and children in the United States are nearly twice as likely to die before reaching adulthood compared with their peers in other wealthy countries.” The study “compared infant and child deaths in the U.S. with the figures from 18 other high-income nations between 2007 to 2023. U.S. infants, children and teens were about 1.8 times more likely to die before reaching adulthood compared with young people in peer countries, researchers discovered.” They observed that for babies, the leading causes of death “with the biggest gaps between the U.S. and the other countries were prematurity – being born too early – and sudden unexpected infant death. For children and teens, the biggest gaps were in firearm-related incidents and car crashes.” Furthermore, deaths from prematurity, firearms and sudden unexplained infant death “are up to four times more likely among Black youth than their white counterparts.”
FDA limits approval for updated COVID-19 vaccines to older adults, high-risk patients
The New York Times (8/27, Jewett, Fortin) reports the FDA on Wednesday approved “updated COVID vaccines for the fall season and limited who can get the shots, the federal government’s most restrictive policy since the vaccines became available.” The agency “authorized the vaccines for people who are 65 and older, who are known to be more vulnerable to severe illness from COVID.” Meanwhile, adults will only be eligible for the vaccine “if they had at least one underlying medical condition that would put them at risk for severe disease. Healthy children under 18 could still receive the shots if a medical provider is consulted.” According to the Times, the action marks “the first fall/winter season that COVID shots were not widely recommended to most people and children.”
Editor’s Note: Click here to learn why the AMA and 79 medical societies back vaccination against respiratory viruses
More than half of infants received RSV immunization by early 2025
MedPage Today (8/26, Rudd) reports, “More than half of infants received respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunization by early 2025, CDC researchers said.” Researchers found that “in preliminary data from the 2024-2025 respiratory virus season, RSV immunization coverage increased to 57% nationally among infants younger than 8 months through maternal vaccination (Abrysvo) or the long-acting monoclonal antibody nirsevimab (Beyfortus).” This figure “was an improvement from the estimated 28.9% of infants born from October 2023 to March 2024.” The findings were published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
You may also be interested in: RSV vaccines: Questions patients may have and how to answer
HHS confirms travel-linked human New World screwworm case in Maryland resident
Reuters (8/25, Garrison, Polansek, Douglas) says the Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday “reported the first human case in the United States of travel-associated New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, from an outbreak-affected country.” The case was investigated by the CDC and the Maryland Department of Health and later confirmed by the CDC as New World screwworm on August 4. It involved “a patient who returned from travel to El Salvador, HHS spokesman Andrew G. Nixon said in an email to Reuters.”
The AP (8/25, Stobbe) reports the individual “has recovered, and investigators found no transmission to any other people or animals, Maryland health officials said.” According to officials, the CDC is collaborating with the U.S. Agriculture Department to inhibit additional spread.
Nearly half of unvaccinated patients willing to get shots during ED visit, study finds
Healio (8/22, Stulpin) reported a study found that a recent emergency department-based survey “of more than 3,000 adult patients found that nearly 90% had missed at least one CDC-recommended vaccine–half had not even heard of some of the vaccines–but also that many were willing to be vaccinated in the ED.” The research team surveyed non-critically ill adult patients from 10 EDs in five states between April and December 2024. Among 3,285 survey participants, “nearly half (49.4%) had not heard of one or more CDC-recommended vaccines for their age group and 85.9% had not received one or more of them.” Among those “who were not up-to-date with recommended vaccines, 46.4% said they would accept one or more missing vaccines if they were provided during their ED visit, whereas 86.7% said they would accept all missing vaccines, the researchers reported.” The study was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
AMA Morning Rounds news coverage is developed in affiliation with Bulletin Healthcare LLC. Subscribe to Morning Rounds Daily.
