Men more likely than women to develop COVID-19 pneumonia, research suggests Also, California health officials report another illness in a dairy farm worker, pushing the national total this year to 55. CIDRAP

A study of sex-based differences in the risk of COVID-19 pneumonia finds that men were more likely to develop the complication than women (12.0% vs 7.0%) during the declared pandemic period and the early months of the endemic phase of the disease in Mexico.

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Analysis of 25 studies shows reduced risk of long COVID after vaccination Two doses of COVID vaccine before infection was tied to a 24% reduced odds of having long COVID. CIDRAP

A new meta-analysis of studies involving more than 14 million people published in the Journal of Infection shows that COVID-19 vaccination is associated with a lower risk of developing long COVID, with two doses reducing the odds by 24% and one dose reducing the odds by 15%.

Study: No unexpected COVID vaccine safety concerns in kids Postvaccination reactions were reported for 47% of children. CIDRAP

A new research letter published yesterday in JAMA Network Open shows no new safety concerns or reactogenicity signals among babies and toddlers who received their first COVID-19 vaccines by the age of 2.

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A more severe strain of mpox has been detected in the U.S. for the first time The patient was traveling from East Africa, where the mpox disease is endemic. The CDC says the strain does not present a high risk to the general population. NPR

California's health department confirmed the case through lab testing. The patient contracted it after traveling from East Africa, where there has been an outbreak of the clade I strain. The person was treated in San Mateo County and then released. The person is at home recovering, the CDC said Saturday.