Vaccines and Immunizations

Journalists and experts discuss the latest news, including new vaccine research, a bill concerning gender identity in schools, the governor's renewed push for private school scholarships and more.

Maurine Neiman, a University of Iowa biology professor, lost her 3-year-old son J.J. to influenza. Today, she advocates for the importance of vaccinations and other health precautions.

The new bivalent booster shot offers protection against two strains of the coronavirus, including the omicron variant, which accounts for the majority of cases.

Updated COVID vaccine boosters are now recommended, for those ages 12 and older, that target the two omicron subvariants which are causing most of the current infections.

It's back-to-school time in Iowa. With students back on campuses across the state, The Gazette's higher education reporter Vanessa Miller joins the program to discuss the challenges college students, faculty, and administration are facing. IPR's Natalie Krebs discusses pre-back-to-school vaccines. Then two Iowa teachers have been awarded funding from the Society for Science so they can better help students, especially those from underserved and low-income communities, pursue a passion in science.

A pediatrician shares the benefits of COVID-19 vaccinations for children, and the creator of Iowa Vaccine Alerts talks about the limited availability of doses.

Federal health officials have given the green light to vaccinate children ages 6 months to 4 years against COVID-19, and experts are urging parents to get their young children vaccinated as soon as possible.

Host Ben Kieffer talks with three Statehouse reporters about the legislative proposals that did and didn't clear the second procedural hurdle of the session, and which could still potentially be resurrected.

A proposal that would ban COVID-19 vaccine mandates by employers, schools, businesses and government entities failed to pass in the Iowa House of Representatives Wednesday.

Many of the things people did to protect themselves from COVID are slowly becoming a thing of the past as we approach two years of living in the pandemic. But, many of the state’s Latino communities are still having trouble getting good information about resources for getting through the pandemic.