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FRIDAY, May 28, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Seventy percent of American adults could be vaccinated by this summer, a new poll suggests.The survey results bode well for the country and likely mean that President Joe Biden's goal of 70 percent vaccine coverage for adults by July 4 will be reached.The Kaiser Family Foundation's latest survey found 62 percent of respondents said they had received at least one dose of a vaccine, up from 56 percent in April. Even better, about a third of those had taken the stance of "wait-and-see" said they had already made vaccine appointments or planned to do so soon.Vaccine expert Dr. William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, was heartened by the results."I think there are many people who were on the fence who...

FRIDAY, May 28, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Surgery soon after a diagnosis of early-stage lung cancer is crucial in reducing the risk of recurrence and death, a new study finds."Patients with early-stage cancer have the best chance for survival," said senior author Dr. Varun Puri, a thoracic surgeon and professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "That's why it's critical for patients to promptly seek treatment within 12 weeks after they've been diagnosed."But some patients postpone surgery. They have a variety of reasons for doing so, including getting second opinions, economic or social factors, or even family events such as child's wedding or a vacation, researchers noted.Since last year, concerns about contracting COVID-19 in the hospital also led...

FRIDAY, May 28, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- If more proof of the safety of vaccines is needed, a new study delivers fresh evidence that they carry few harms for children, adults and pregnant women."This in-depth analysis found no evidence of increased risk of serious adverse events following vaccines, apart from a few — previously known — associations," said Susanne Hempel, director of the Southern California Evidence Review Center at the University of Southern California.The researchers analyzed 338 studies of vaccines for diseases such as influenza, measles, mumps, shingles, whooping cough, tetanus and human papillomavirus (HPV). COVID-19 vaccines weren't among the vaccines reviewed in the study.The investigators found strong evidence that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine...

FRIDAY, May 28, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers who pinpointed 178 gene variants linked to major depression say their findings could improve diagnosis and treatment of a disorder that affects 1 in 5 people.The study draws on a huge database, analyzing the genetic and health records of 1.2 million people from three databanks in the United States, the U.K. and Finland, and another databank from the consumer genetics company 23andMe.The findings were then crosschecked with an analysis of separate data from 1.3 million 23andMe customer volunteers.Findings from the genome-wide association study were published May 27 in the journal Nature Neuroscience."What is most heartening is we could replicate our findings in independent data sets," said co-lead study author Daniel Levey, an...