Hospital data from a CDC network that monitors influenza revealed that adults hospitalized for COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic were 20x more likely to die compared to hospitalized influenza patients.

COVID-19 is still very much part of our daily lives, and infection rates are on the increase in the community. VUMC continues to effectively manage COVID-19, and outpatient and inpatient volumes are back to pre-COVID levels.

Last week, Vanderbilt University Medical Center announced that COVID-19 vaccinations for leaders will become mandatory. This was a carefully considered step forward in VUMC’s ongoing efforts to protect its patients and employees from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants.

Sue Perron, a Vanderbilt intensive care nurse, told the story of the patient with COVID she called the Butterfly Man

A massive worldwide collaboration including researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has identified several genetic factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 illness.

“We are seeing a spike in respiratory illnesses, especially RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and parainfluenza, which cause croup and bronchiolitis in young children and flu-like symptoms in older children and adults,” said James Antoon, MD, PhD, FAAP, assistant professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Five monoclonal antibody “cocktails,” including one developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), are protective in animal studies against several variant strains of COVID-19, according to a report this week in the journal Nature.