Keipp Talbot Archives
Risk of household flu spread skyrocketed during pandemic
Feb. 2, 2023—A Vanderbilt study found that the household spread of flu during the 2021-2022 season was more than twice as high as it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emerging Infections Program lands national award for COVID response
Jan. 19, 2023—Vanderbilt's Emerging Infections Program (EIP) recently received the Toby Merlin Award for Excellence in Emergency Response, presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Flu season came early, hit hard in Tennessee
Dec. 21, 2022—Flu season came a month early this year in Tennessee and hit hard, disproportionately affecting children, according to Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Tennessee Department of Health and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
‘DNA’ podcast Season 2 explores COVID, science and trust in communities
Aug. 23, 2021—Listen to Episode 1, Blueprint for a Pandemic-Ready Society, and subscribe on your favorite platform. The first episode of the second season of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s original podcast series, Vanderbilt Health DNA: Discoveries in Action, tackles bold questions and issues pushed to the surface by COVID-19. This season, the award-winning 10-episode series delves into...
Influenza network sizes up COVID
Jul. 22, 2021—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.
VUMC study finds faster, wider spread of COVID-19 in U.S. households
Oct. 30, 2020—COVID-19 spreads faster and more widely throughout U.S. households than previously reported, according to new preliminary research from a multicenter study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers and published in, a weekly report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Vaccine narrows racial disparities in pneumococcal disease
Aug. 31, 2020—In a major public health success, the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine PCV13, or Prevnar 13, in 2010 in the United States is associated with reduction in socioeconomic disparities and the near elimination of Black-white-based racial disparities for invasive pneumococcal disease.
New study examines coronavirus transmission within households
Jun. 30, 2020—Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators are leading a new study that examines the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, within households in Nashville.
Vaccine study seeks to halt flu’s most severe side effects
Oct. 9, 2019—Vanderbilt University Medical Center is leading a multicenter national study to evaluate the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine for preventing the flu’s most serious side effects — admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), organ failure and death.
Older adults less likely to receive flu tests: study
Mar. 1, 2018—An influenza diagnosis for people 65 and older is serious. Up to 85 percent of influenza-related deaths occur in older adults, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention reports.
High-dose flu vaccine more effective in elderly, Vanderbilt-led study shows
Aug. 13, 2014—High-dose influenza vaccine is 24 percent more effective than the standard-dose vaccine in protecting persons ages 65 and over against influenza illness and its complications.
Vanderbilt researchers work to balance flu vaccine debate
Apr. 4, 2013—Research in the last two years to examine the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine has raised public doubt about the flu shot's effectiveness. But two Vanderbilt researchers co-wrote an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently to help balance the current debate.