Health

(NEW YORK) — Every year, approximately 38 children die from being left in a hot car, according to Kids and Cars Safety, a national nonprofit that tracks hot car deaths and aims to prevent vehicle-related risks to children and pets.

As the U.S. heads into more heat waves this summer and temperatures in the Midwest, South and West soar into the triple digits, there is a concern for parents about hot car deaths. One parent, Peter Hansen, opened up about the issue on social media.

“I have severe anxiety about leaving our kids in a hot car on accident,” Hansen, a father of three in Chicago, wrote in a LinkedIn post. “It’s 100 degrees in Chicago today and the heat is intense across the country. Working from home has me multitasking more than usual, which can distract me from the kids some days, especially if driving on a work call. This is simply a post to make sure your kids are not left in your car in this heat.”

The 40-year-old told Good Morning America a recent episode with two of his three kids one morning gave him a scare and prompted him to reflect on the dangers of hot cars and how easily things can go wrong.

“We got doughnuts and came back in the house,” Hansen recalled. “It’s still 7 in the morning – it wasn’t 100 degrees yet – but five minutes later, I was in the house and my four-year-old walked through the door five minutes later, she’s like, ‘Daddy, you forgot me.’ And it was like, I swear I saw her get out of the car … but I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ It really terrified me that I thought both of them got out of the car together like they normally do.”

Data from Kids and Cars Safety indicates over 1,000 children, with 87% of them age 3 and under, have died from heatstroke after being in a hot car since 1990 and so far, six hot car deaths have occurred this year, including one in Houston where a 5-year-old boy was reportedly in a car for several hours on a day when the Texas city reached 102 degrees.

Amber Rollins, a director at Kids and Cars Safety, said the issue is often misunderstood and even dismissed by many parents and caregivers.

“I think the No. 1 misconception is that this will never happen to me and that it only happens to bad parents and nothing could be further from the truth,” Rollins told GMA. “I’ve worked with families that this has happened to for 16 years and they are engineers, school teachers, principals, nurses, doctors, you name it. It’s the type of people that I aspire to be as a parent, the kind that read every safety book about the most expensive car seat and strapped him in so tight and covered every outlet. That’s the kind of person this is happening to.”

According to Rollins, hot car deaths have also been trending upwards for the last three decades, with an exception during the last two years of the pandemic when more families stayed at home.

“In the ’90s, we realized children were being killed by overpowered airbags and children are still safer riding in the back seat. We moved them to the back seat because that’s where they’re the safest. However, now they’re out of sight of the driver,” Rollins explained. “So they’re in the back seat, they’re rear-facing now until age 3 or even longer, depending on the size of the child. And that car seat looks the same for the driver whether there’s a baby in there or not.”

“This is not like parents didn’t just all of a sudden overnight become neglectful and irresponsible,” she added. “This is an unintended consequence of moving them to the back seat.”

How to prevent hot car deaths

Multiple solutions have been proposed to avert a hot car death before they occur. Among the high-tech options include carbon dioxide detection, lidar or light detection and ranging technology, car alarm systems, car camera systems and car seats with weight sensors, each with its own pros and cons.

A new idea, called “Cabin Awareness,” from Toyota would use radar technology, powered in part by a car’s battery, to notify drivers who have left a Toyota vehicle that a child or a pet remained inside the car.

Brian Kursar, chief technology officer for Toyota Connected North America and Toyota Motor North America, has led the “Cabin Awareness” project since its inception in 2018 and said the project is moving now toward a testing phase with May Mobility, a Michigan-based company that develops autonomous technology, including vehicles.

“The ‘Cabin Awareness’ concept uses millimeter-wave radar to detect micro-movements and so micro-movements really are the things that a camera can’t see. So it’s also able to understand breathing, heartbeat, and ultimately provides us a solution to something that we’ve not been able to really touch, which is the ability to understand life in a vehicle,” Kursar explained to GMA, adding that radar could “see through things like cloth” and go beyond a camera’s line of sight.

Toyota’s “Cabin Awareness” could link up to a driver’s cell phone, a smart device — such as smart lights, a smart speaker, or smart TV — inside their home, or possibly other Toyota vehicles in an environment such as a parking lot and ultimately, contact emergency services when other alerts go unanswered.

“Based on our algorithms, we’re able to understand where in the vehicle that movement is coming from. And then we’re able to now take a number of options to escalate, to let the customer know that there is life potentially at risk in a vehicle,” Kursar said.

“We see this as an opportunity not just to contact the customer. You can give the system a list of contacts such as grandma, right, such as your neighbor, right, and these are additional folks that can start helping to resolve this problem with the vehicle,” Kursar added. “Maybe we can now do a vehicle-to-vehicle ping to say, if you’re within proximity of a child or an adult at risk in a car, now you have this almost community outreach where people in their cars, they turn on their cars, and it says, [someone in] a green Sienna within your proximity, may be at risk for heat exhaustion.”

For now, “Cabin Awareness” is not available in Toyota vehicles just yet and the timeline for a potential rollout will depend on testing results.

In the meantime, Kids and Cars Safety’s Rollins recommends several solutions that parents can keep in mind and adopt this summer.

Adopt the “look before you lock” habit.

“We want to use that habit system to prevent it from happening,” Rollins said. “No matter what, even if the child is not with you, open the back door and check the back seat. Every single time you leave the car.”

“It takes two seconds,” she continued. “And it’s a great way to make sure you’re never forgetting anything, including your children or inanimate objects that aren’t as important but make that a 100% habit.”

In addition to being left in a car, a child or pet can gain access to a car when they’re unlocked, so Rollins also emphasized the importance of utilizing car door locks. “You want to keep your car locked 100% of the time, even if you don’t have children. Little ones can get into neighbors’ cars. It happens all the time. You want to keep keys and remote openers out of reach of children 100% of the time and childproof your home.”

“You want to check the inside trunk and floorboards of all vehicles in the area immediately, even if they’re locked,” Rollins added. “A lot of times, kiddos will get in and they try to get out and they push the lock button. And so people don’t think they’re in there if it’s locked, but they definitely can be.”

Rollins suggests keeping a physical object, like a diaper bag, in the front seat or playing a kid’s song to remember that you’re traveling with your child. “If you’re not a diaper bag person 100% of the time, create a reminder object in your car. So throw a stuffed animal in the car seat. And then anytime you put the child in the car seat, that stuffed animal comes up to the front seat with you as your visual cue that the baby is with you,” Rollins said.
Enlist the help of others.

“If you take your child to daycare or anyone, a family member that watches them, whoever it is, you want to make a policy with them. They would call you immediately if your child didn’t show up as scheduled and I mean immediately,” said Rollins. “That one phone call could have been the difference between life or death for hundreds of children.”
Make kids aware of the hazards of a hot car.

“Talk to your kids about how dangerous it is to get into a car without a grown-up and talk to them about never allowing a grown-up to leave them in the car,” Rollins said.

Use stick-on door alarms.

Inexpensive door alarms can be more accessible for parents than full-fledged home security systems in the short term and peel-and-stick options are sold online and in stores.

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(WASHINGTON) — As reactions to the Dobbs decision roll in, Congressional Democrats are outraged. But don’t expect that outrage to translate to passable legislation anytime soon.

Any effort to codify a woman’s right to choose would need to clear the Senate filibuster. That means 60 votes. And those votes are nowhere to be seen in the Senate.

Undoubtedly, today’s Supreme Court decision will reignite discussion among some progressives about overturning the filibuster to try to codify the rights previously enshrined in Roe v. Wade. They’ll have to wait to see if those discussions gain any traction, but 50 votes are needed to change the Senate rules.

That will need the support of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who has been exceptionally clear that he doesn’t support a filibuster carve out. Without his support, the Senate rules can’t be changed.

In a statement today following the ruling, Manchin said he’s hopeful for a bipartisan solution (which, if some are reading the Joe Manchin tea leaves, likely means a path forward that does NOT involve a change to the Senate rules).

“Let me be clear, I support legislation that would codify the rights Roe v. Wade previously protected,” Manchin said in a statement. “I am hopeful Democrats and Republicans will come together to put forward a piece of legislation that would do just that.”

When the draft Dobbs decision leaked in May, reporters chased after Manchin to ask him if he’d support a filibuster carve out to codify Roe. He held the line then on defending the Senate rules. He was asked if he’d be willing to get rid of the filibuster in light of the ruling if it meant Democrats could be successful in their efforts to codify Roe.

“The filibuster is the only protection of democracy,” he said.

When reporters pushed him on women who are going to be affected by the ruling, he said, “We’ve protected women’s rights with the filibuster, so we have to look at it. But the bottom line is it is the only check and balance we have.”

It’s deeply unlikely Manchin will have a change of tone. Which means any legislative efforts are going to be largely for show. That’s a road that Democrats have already gone down. Democrats forced a vote on the Senate floor on the Women’s Health Protection Act in May. It failed 49-51 (Sen. Joe Manchin opposed it because he felt it was more sweeping than simply codifying a right to an abortion).

Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said they support codifying a woman’s right to choose, but their support isn’t enough to get to 60.

Collins said in a statement Friday she’s working with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on bipartisan legislation to codify Roe.

“Our goal with this legislation is to do what the Court should have done — provide the consistency in our abortion laws that Americans have relied upon for 50 years,” she said.

If that effort fails to gain traction, where does that leave abortion rights supporters? Looking toward the 2022 election. That’s why Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and others today have been calling on Americans to take to the polls in November.

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(NEW YORK) — Violence against abortion providers significantly rose in 2021, according to a report from the National Abortion Federation published Friday.

The report, which measures a variety of acts of violence and disruption, found the most significant increases were in stalking, blockades, hoax devices/suspicious packages, invasions and assault and battery, compared to 2020’s findings.

Vandalism and assault and battery continue to be the most common offenses, but other acts have seen major jumps, with stalking increasing 600% from 2020, according to the report.

Overall, the new data has found increased reported incidents of anti-abortion individuals “pushing, shoving, using pepper spray against, slapping, kicking, and physically fighting clinic escorts, staff and others outside of clinics.”

Melissa Fowler, chief program officer at National Abortion Federation, said that NAF found that abortion clinics are not facing peaceful protests, but rather a “coordinated campaign” that threatens abortion providers.

“It’s really important that people understand the trends… and also the people behind those numbers,” Fowler said. “We can’t sit back and let it be socially acceptable to harass abortion providers.”

The report also draws specific attention to the Jan. 6 insurrection, as NAF has found that many of those known to commit violence and disruption against abortion clinics have also been found to have been a part of the riots at the Capitol in early 2021.

Fowler told ABC News that it was important for the organization to include those details because they feel that it is important to make people aware of the overlap in activity by “extremist groups.”

Amanda Kifferly, vice president of abortion access and clinic security director of The Women’s Centers, told ABC News that while for many Americans the behavior of insurrectionists was shocking on Jan. 6, abortion providers like herself were familiar with it.

She said that she actually looked up one of the usual protestors at her clinic on Facebook and watched as he live streamed his participation in the Capitol attack.

“We were so familiar with the tactics that we saw. The bullying, the loud noises, the militia gear, the harassing language that was used,” she said. “They are pro-violence and the words that they were saying like ‘hang people’ was very familiar.”

Fowler said the connections between anti-abortion and white supremacy groups are not new and they’ve been noted since abortion was legalized in the 1970s.

Kifferly and Dalton Johnson, the CEO of Alabama Women’s Center, said that’ve had to work to have law enforcement officials, different security providers and deescalation tactics implemented to address the violence and disruption that their clinics face.

The report also found that the pandemic affected the type of violence and disruption against abortion providers, as well as how many incidents were actually reported.

At a Thursday press call, Fowler said that many of their member facilities struggled to stay open due to regulations from the government, as well as from staffing issues. The strain of the pandemic, Fowler said, also meant that providers were not as capable of recording all incidents of harassment.

Kifferly said that she and her clinic staff experienced this, as they were “exhausted and became under more scrutiny.” Specifically, Kifferly said she and her staff had difficulty proving they were essential workers during the pandemic.

Fowler, Kifferly and Dalton all said that they don’t believe that the anti-abortion protestors that they have encountered are able or willing to have respectful conversations about the issue of abortion.

NAF reports have found acts of violence and disruption not only committed at abortion clinic sites, but also at the homes, churches and schools of the children of abortion providers.

Fowler said that NAF’s priority continues to be the safety and well-being of their providers and their patients, and working to get patients the care that they need.

The NAF has been collecting data on incidents of violence and disruption against abortion providers since 1977, according to the release.

To do so, they collect monthly reports from their member facilities and allied organizations and conduct follow-up reports.

For the 2021 report, NAF received reports from 80% of their facility members, and suspect that there is underreporting in some areas, such as picketing, hate mail and calls, hate email, internet harassment, obstruction and trespassing.

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(NEW YORK) — If you could give your child the gift of life, would you?

Pamela Bish, a Georgia mom of three, recently got the chance to do so and she immediately jumped at the opportunity. Her youngest son, Carter Bish, 2, needs a new kidney, and after multiple tests and processes, doctors finally gave her the green light to undergo the live organ donation.

Now, Pamela Bish and her son’s procedures are scheduled to go ahead on July 8.

“It’s not just about being a match. There’s other things that they have to consider,” Bish told Good Morning America.

“My vessels have to be a certain size. They had to make sure I had two kidneys. They had to make sure that I didn’t have any cysts on my kidneys. They had to make sure I don’t have high blood pressure. They have to make sure I’m not pre-diabetic,” she explained. “So there were all kinds of things that I had to go through in order to make sure that I, as a donor, could continue to be healthy and live a healthy life with only one kidney.”

She remembers the day she got the critical phone call telling her she was cleared.

“When I got that final call of, ‘I have good news. You have been approved,’ it was instant relief, and just instant peace and calm. And then, the excitement just kicked in,” Pamela Bish said.

Although Carter is only 2 years old, his health challenges began before he was even born.

“I went in for my 20-week ultrasound and the radiologist came in and they said that Carter, there was a lot of things wrong with him and he was not compatible with life, that he wouldn’t make it, he wouldn’t be able to live because I didn’t have much amniotic fluid,” Bish said. “[They said] his kidneys just looked awful. They looked just filled with cysts and a lot of fluid.”

It was devastating news for Pamela Bish and her husband, Dale Bish, who are both originally from Pittsburgh but moved to Dacula, Georgia, partway through her pregnancy with Carter. They decided to get a second opinion from doctors at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where they were told it appeared that Carter had a urinary blockage.

“Throughout all those weeks, between weeks 20 and 30, I would have some fluid and then it would go down and Hopkins just said they wouldn’t recommend any other interventions because he does have a little bit of fluid and if he has enough to just breathe it in and develop his lungs enough, that he could make it,” Pamela Bish said.

“He would likely need dialysis and he would likely need a transplant down the road. But we just had to wait and see, and that was probably the most difficult part, carrying him knowing that we weren’t sure if we were going to have a baby to bring home or not.”

Against the odds, Carter did make it, and shortly after he was born, he was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta, where he was put on a ventilator and received various treatments before he could be placed on peritoneal dialysis, a type of treatment for kidney failure, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

Pamela Bish estimates that her son has had at least 11 surgeries, and multiple setbacks and different health issues, but her little boy has fought through them all. She describes Carter as a happy child who loves baseball and was, naturally, one for Halloween this past October.

Last year, Carter’s kidneys also improved to the point where he could even be removed from dialysis.

“He made it a year without dialysis treatment and maintaining his levels. But then things just started to get bad again. His labs started to look not so good,” Pamela Bish explained. “He could create urine but his urine was not good urine, so it wasn’t clearing his body of all the toxins.”

Carter started undergoing dialysis again but would eventually need a transplant. He also had to recover from hip surgery before he would be well enough to receive a kidney.

Now, his mother is looking forward to being the lifeline he needs and giving him a shot at what she hopes is a long life ahead of him.

“I want him to know that during the times in his life that people were telling him that his life wasn’t worth saving or keeping, that his family and his friends and the people around him never believed that for one minute,” Pamela Bish said. “They all believed that his life was worth it and that he would be OK.”

“If you would see him today, you would not know a thing is wrong with him. He is the most adorable, cutest, sweetest little guy. He never stops talking. He has won the hearts of everyone around him,” she added.

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(ATLANTA) — A committee of advisers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously Thursday to greenlight the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 6 to 17, clearing the way for parents to have one more vaccine to choose from when considering whether to inoculate their children against the virus.

At this time, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is the only shot available for children and adolescents 5 years old and older.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration completed the first step in the authorization process, when it signed off on the use of Moderna’s COVID-19 shots for children ages 6 and older, following a unanimous vote from their advisers.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is now expected to issue her official recommendation for use.

However, even with another COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, health experts question how much the Moderna shot will truly move the needle with hesitant parents.

Children 5 years and older became eligible for a primary series of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in November. Even with the shots available for nearly eight months, more than 25.4 million children over the age of 5 are still completely unvaccinated against COVID-19, with just 44% of the age group now fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

Despite slow uptake, scientists from the CDC stressed on Thursday that vaccination against COVID-19 for children remains critical, as young people are not immune to severe disease or the long-term consequences of the virus.

As parents consider getting their children vaccinated, scientists from Moderna reported that their COVID-19 shots are safe and effective for use in children.

Myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation that can occur following vaccination, remains “rare,” according to officials. The greatest risk for the heart inflammation appears to be in adolescents 12 to 17 years old.

For children ages 5 to 11 years old, there have been no statistical significance for myocarditis, and the risk level remains “very low” for younger children, Dr. Tom Shimabukuro of the CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Coordination Unit reported.

Although officials acknowledged that adverse events following vaccination can occur, most people recover in the subsequent weeks and months.

“In general, most adverse events reported after COVID vaccines are mild and transient events like injection site and systemic reactions,” one official said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday it is taking Juul Labs e-cigarettes and other products off the market.

It comes after the federal health agency completed a nearly two-year review of the manufacturer’s application to sell its vaping device and tobacco- and menthol-flavored pods.

Ultimately, the FDA decided to block Juul’s application.

“Today’s action is further progress on the FDA’s commitment to ensuring that all e-cigarette and electronic nicotine delivery system products currently being marketed to consumers meet our public health standards,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf said in a statement. “The agency has dedicated significant resources to review products from the companies that account for most of the U.S. market. We recognize these make up a significant part of the available products and many have played a disproportionate role in the rise in youth vaping.”

Juul Labs said it would seek a stay of the decision and was “exploring all of our options under the FDA’s regulations and the law, including appealing the decision and engaging with our regulator.”

The company has long claimed it’s product is important as a tool to stop smoking cigarettes.

“We remain committed to doing all in our power to continue serving the millions of American adult smokers who have successfully used our products to transition away from combustible cigarettes, which remain available on market shelves nationwide,” Juul Labs said.

After hitting the market in the mid-2010s, Juul became the most popular brand of e-cigarettes available, in large part due to its wide variety of flavors, including creme, mango and mint.

Politicians and anti-tobacco advocates have accused the company of using these flavors — along with a sleek design resembling a USB flash drive — to market vaping to U.S. children and teenagers.

More than 2 million American middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in 2021 — with 8 in 10 students saying they use flavored e-cigarettes, according to the FDA.

The 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey found Juul was the most popular e-cigarette brand used by adolescents with 25.4% of high school e-cigarette users and 35.1% of middle school users saying Juul was their most used brand.

Nicotine exposure from e-cigarettes can hinder brain development in adolescents and young adults, which can continue into the mid-20s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Just one Juul pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of 20 traditional cigarettes, the manufacturer has said.

The CDC also says e-cigarettes can contain heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals that can damage the lungs.

The American Heart Association applauded the decision, saying in a statement, “We call on Juul to immediately comply with the FDA order so these products no longer threaten public health, and we urge the FDA to take swift and severe enforcement action if the company defies the order.”

Juul did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Stock in major tobacco firm Altria Group, which holds a 35% stake in Juul, fell 9% Wednesday morning after The Wall Street Journal reported the FDA decision was coming.

Parent company Pax launched the Juul e-cigarette in 2015. After success with initial sales, Juul spun out from Pax as a separate company in 2017.

In 2018, when Altria acquired its stake in Juul, the e-cigarette company represented 75% of the tobacco vaping market, according to a Wells Fargo analysis of Nielsen data. By 2021, Juul’s share of the market had fallen below 50%, The New York Times reported.

Juul CEO Kevin Burns stepped down in 2019 as the company faced sharp scrutiny over the health effects and the addictive nature of its products. He was replaced by longtime tobacco executive K.C. Crosthwaite, who currently leads the firm.

In 2009, Congress gave the FDA authority to regulate the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of tobacco products.

E-cigarette manufacturers, including Juul, were required to submit their products to the FDA to review by September 2020 but were able to sell products while the FDA review was under way.

ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — COVID-19 vaccines began to be rolled out for children between six months and 4 years old across the United States this week.

This means roughly 20 million babies, toddlers and preschoolers under age 5 are now eligible for shots after they were authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week.

As of Wednesday, 2.7 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s vaccines have been delivered nationwide, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told ABC News.

Parents looking to schedule appointments can visit vaccines.gov, a website jointly run by the HHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and VaccineFinder from Boston Children’s Hospital.

Vaccines.gov launched Tuesday, a few days earlier than planned. There are currently 1,591 locations on the website that include a mix of children’s hospitals, doctor’s offices, community sites, clinics and pop-ups offering the shots.

To use the tool, people can click on the button on the homepage that reads, “Find COVID-19 Vaccines.”

On the next page, users enter their ZIP code and click on the type of vaccine, depending on the age group they would like to receive.

It’s important to select the correct age group because Pfizer’s three-dose vaccine for kids is three micrograms each, one-tenth the dose offered to adults, while Moderna’s two-dose vaccine is 25 micrograms each, one-quarter of its adult-sized dose.

Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said the number of locations is expected to increase to more than 10,000 in the coming weeks are more locations get their shipments delivered

“Of course, we understand there’s a lot of anxiety and parents have been waiting a long time to get these vaccines,” Brownstein said. “At some point, the supply will outstrip the demand. Any parent will have access in the coming days. It will take time to get vaccines, but there will be enough to supply.”

The Biden administration has said it eventually expects that 85% of kids under age 5 will live within five miles of a potential vaccination site.

“HHS has received orders for approximately 4.2 million doses to date,” the agency told ABC News. “We made 10 million doses of vaccine available for ordering initially, with millions more available soon, so supply should not be a barrier to someone getting their young child vaccinated.”

For those who may not have access to the internet or are not internet literate, they can call 1-800-232-0233, which offers help to schedule appointments in English, Spanish and other languages.

Brownstein also recommends that people contact their family physicians or pediatricians to either schedule an appointment or ask where to find appointments.

“It absolutely makes sense [to contact them],” he said. “That’s where you have a formal relationship.”

It could prove challenging to get this youngest age group vaccinated if it’s not convenient to do so.

According to the CDC, only about 30% of American children between ages 5 and 11 have been vaccinated compared to 75% of kids above age 12.

Adding to the challenge is that many young children will not be able to receive their vaccines at pharmacies, because many states do not allow pharmacists or trained pharmacy staff members to vaccinate children under 3 years old.

ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Nearly 1 in 5 American adults who have had COVID-19 are still suffering from long-haul symptoms, according to new data collected by the Census Bureau and Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

The data, collected from June 1 to June 13, 2022, showed that more than 40% of adults in the United States reported having been infected with COVID-19 in the past, with 19% reporting that they are currently still experiencing symptoms of “long COVID.”

Overall, approximately 1 in 13 adults in the U.S. — or 7.5% — have long COVID-19 symptoms, which the groups define as symptoms that were not experienced by individuals prior to their COVID-19 infection, and these symptoms have lasted three or more months after first contracting the virus.

The new data showed that older Americans are less likely to suffer from long COVID-19, as compared to younger adults. Nearly three times as many individuals, in the 50-59 category, currently have long COVID, as compared to their counterparts, who are 80 years and older.

Women were also more likely than men to have long COVID-19, with 9.4% of women currently reporting long-haul symptoms, as compared to 5.5% of men.

Nearly 9% of Hispanic adults reported that they currently have long COVID, a percentage that is higher than non-Hispanic white (7.5%), Black (6.8%) and non-Hispanic Asian adults (3.7%).

Bisexual adults and transgender adults were also found to be more likely to suffer long COVID-19 symptoms as compared to adults of other sexual orientations and gender identities. An estimated 15% of transgender adults were reported to have long COVID-19 symptoms, compared to 5% of cisgender male adults and 9% of cisgender female adults.

MORE: COVID-19 nurse reflects on 1 million American virus deaths: ‘We are still mourning losses’
Further explanation as to why some groups may have had higher rates of long COVID-19 was not specified.

Kentucky (12.7%), Alabama (12.1%), Tennessee and South Dakota (11.6%) were found to have the highest percentage of adults who currently have long COVID-19 symptoms.

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(WASHINGTON) — Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid has been hailed as a breakthrough in the fight against COVID-19. The pills have shown to dramatically reduce the risk of being hospitalized or dying for people who are at high-risk of COVID-19.

But mounting evidence suggests Paxlovid may not benefit everyone equally. The company recently announced the results of a new study that found the drug did not meaningfully benefit people without underlying medical conditions or no previous infection of COVID.

This comes weeks after the Biden administration announced plans to purchase 20 million treatment courses of the drug as it focuses on the Test-to-Treat initiative as part of the National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan.

Some infectious disease experts interviewed by ABC News said the new study could influence the way doctors prescribe the drug, potentially declining to prescribe it to vaccinated, otherwise healthy patients.

But overall, demand for the drug is likely to remain high because 60% of Americans are living with a chronic disease that qualifies them for the drug under its current authorization.

“Paxlovid is something that is targeted towards high-risk individuals, so the fact that it doesn’t have a benefit to low-risk individuals isn’t surprising to me,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, told ABC News.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided guidance that the drug is recommended for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 among people at high risk for severe disease.

“At this stage, the current recommendation under the EUA is for Paxlovid to be given to any high-risk patient who has symptomatic COVID, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, as long as it is within five days of the onset of symptoms,” Dr. Todd Ellerin, chief of medicine and director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health, told ABC News.

“If you’re older, particularly over age 65, if you have underlying illnesses, if you’re immunocompromised, those groups I think will continue to be targeted for Paxlovid,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News.

While the CDC has published a list of medical conditions that would put someone at high risk for severe illness, some experts argue there may be ambiguity.

“High-risk isn’t necessarily only objective criteria, like age, heart disease, etc. It’s also a situation, like socioeconomic status and some of those disparities that exist. When you add all that up, I think that a large swath of people do qualify for Paxlovid potentially as high-risk,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the drug would continue to be an important treatment option.

“With up to 40-50% of people around the world estimated to be high risk, we believe there remains a significant unmet need for treatment options to help combat this disease, and we will continue to prioritize efforts to advance the development of Paxlovid,” Bourla said in a press release.

Experts tried to compare that global context to the United States.

“When you look at the average body mass index (BMI) of men and women in the United States is 26, that puts you at a high-risk category and eligible for Paxlovid. So at least 50% of the country is eligible for Paxlovid that is infected with COVID,” Ellerin said.

The CDC defines overweight people as those with a BMI of 25-30 and obese as those with a BMI over 30.

Doctors said there are serious considerations to weigh before prescribing Paxlovid. Drug-drug interactions may lead to serious or life-threatening drug toxicities, including medications such as cardiovascular agents and anticonvulsants. Meanwhile, Paxlovid carries a low risk of something called “COVID-19 rebound,” where individuals experience a recurrence of symptoms or a new positive viral test after having tested negative, according to the CDC.

“When it comes to Paxlovid, at the individual level, there may not be so much downside, but we don’t want to be inappropriately giving drugs to people where there would be no benefit and potentially some downside,” said Dr. John Brownstein, Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News medical contributor.

A recent, small study estimated that less than 1% of patients experience a rebound of symptoms.

Brownstein remains optimistic that further research will clarify guidance on how best to prescribe the drug.

“I think there is a lot that needs to be understood, we have a lot of real-world data and so I think it is reasonable to understand how well it’s working and because it is so widely available, this will not be a hard drug to study like many others. So, we should have a lot of evidence to support a very specific recommendation,” Brownstein said.

Youri Benadjaoud is an MPH candidate at Brown University and a contributor to the ABC Medical Unit.

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(NEW YORK) — Women are significantly more likely than men to experience long-term symptoms of COVID-19, a new review suggests.

Researchers from Johnson & Johnson’s Office of the Chief Medical Officer for Women’s Health analyzed data from studies involving 1.3 million patients.

The results, published Tuesday in the journal Current Medical Research and Opinion, showed females are 22% more likely to develop long COVID than males.

“Knowledge about fundamental sex differences … of COVID-19 is crucial for the identification … of effective therapies and public health interventions that are inclusive of and sensitive to the potential differential treatment needs of both sexes,” the authors said in a news release.

Long COVID occurs when patients who have cleared the infection still have symptoms lasting more than four weeks after recovering. In some cases, these symptoms can persist for months, or even years.

Patients can experience a variety of lingering symptoms including fatigue, difficulty breathing, headaches, brain fog, joint and muscle pain, and continued loss of taste and smell, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s unclear what causes people to develop long COVID but there are several theories among experts including lingering virus in the body, damage to nerve pathways caused by the virus and the immune system remaining active following infection.

The study found the most common symptoms for women within four weeks of testing positive included ear, nose and throat (ENT) issues; muscle aches and pain; shortness of breath and psychiatric or mood disorders such as depression.

Meanwhile, men were more likely to have renal disorders such as acute kidney injury.

Not only were symptoms during COVID-19 infection different among males and females but the symptoms were also different after the development of long COVID.

For women, they had higher rates of long-term symptoms including fatigue; ENT; gastrointestinal; neurological; skin and psychiatric and/or mood disorders.

Women were at least twice as likely to have ENT long-term symptoms and 60% more likely to have gastrointestinal symptoms.

On the other hand, men had higher rates of renal disorders as well as endocrine disorders, including diabetes.

Several studies in the past have looked at differences in hospitalization, ICU admission and death from COVID-19 broken down by sex.

But the researchers noted that, out of more than 600,000 articles analyzed for this study — published between December 2019 and June 2021 — only 35 provided data about COVID-19 symptoms and aftereffects in enough detail to understand how males and females may experience the disease differently.

“Unfortunately, most studies did not evaluate or report granular data by sex, which limited sex-specific clinical insights that may be impacting treatment,” they wrote.

It’s unclear why women are more susceptible to long COVID than men, but the authors said it could be due to differences in how women’s immune systems respond to infection compared to those of men.

“Females mount more rapid and robust innate and adaptive immune responses, which can protect them from initial infection and severity,” they wrote. “However, this same difference can render females more vulnerable to prolonged autoimmune-related diseases.”

Additionally, the team said women may be at greater risk of COVID-19 because certain professions, such as nursing and education, are largely made up of females, which could — in turn — make them more likely to develop long COVID.

What’s more, “there may be disparities in access to care based on gender that could affect the natural history of the disease, leading to more complications and [aftereffects],” the authors wrote in the release.

The team said it hopes more researchers include detailed data about COVID-19 symptoms and effects broken down by sex in their studies to further study how differently men and women are affected and if different treatments are needed.

The authors did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.

Dr. Roberto Herrera contributed to this report.

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