A collaborative team from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Pfizer has shown that the common mutation N501Y from the newly emerged SRAS-CoV-2 strains does not compromise Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. This is the first study to investigate if the fast-spreading new virus strains affects the vaccine’s effectiveness. The study is currently available in bioRxiv (https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.07.425740).

It’s music to many physicians’ ears to hear people clamoring for their COVID-19 vaccine. The virus has damaged the economy and taken far too many lives. A year ago, it was unbelievable that effective, safe vaccines could be delivered in less than a year from the first identification of a new pathogen.

January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month, so it is an appropriate time to recognize and share the knowledge that some steps can be taken to prevent certain birth defects.

Two COVID-19 vaccines have received Emergency Use Authorization in the United States. They’re commonly referred to as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Both are messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines and use a technology developed over the last decade.

Surgeons at UTMB Health’s Clear Lake Campus recently performed the hospital’s first craniotomy for brain tumor removal and the first intracranial aneurysm clipping, which represent an expansion of services offered at the campus as the hospital continues to find new and innovative ways to provide world-class treatments to the growing communities it serves.

The fantastic news about the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines has led many to ask when things will return to normal.

Overactive bladder (OAB) affects almost 50 percent of women in the United States, presenting as urinary urgency and frequency, with or without urinary leakage.