. Hundreds more positions will be elected in 2027.

There is “legitimate debate about who should be boosted, how frequently they should be boosted and the value of boosting low-risk individuals,” said Hopkins’ Adalja. But he stressed that CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has the proper expertise to be making those decisions.And other experts say simply updating the strain that a COVID-19 vaccine targets doesn’t make it a new product — and real-world data shows each fall’s update has offered benefit.

“The data are clear and compelling” that vaccination reduces seniors’ risk of hospitalization and serious illness for four to six months, said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease researcher.Nor could that kind of study be accomplished quickly enough to get millions of people vaccinated before the yearly winter surge, said Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, a former FDA vaccine chief.“You’d always be doing clinical trials and you’d never have a vaccine that was up to date,” he said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.WASHINGTON (AP) — In just two months as the federal health secretary,

has made sweeping changes to the Department of Health and Human Services — and its priorities.

, met with state governors who want to restrict unhealthy foods in taxpayer-funded programs and delivered an inconsistent message on vaccines as measles outbreaks across the country have sickened hundreds. Last week, he promised to find some of the causes of rising U.S.Liam Karr, the Africa team lead at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute’s critical threats project, said the Trump administration and its advisers know enough to avoid the risks, including those of getting American security forces directly involved.

The larger risk is that American intervention meets the fate of U.N. and African peace efforts before it, Karr said. “And this just kind of falls flat on its face, and doesn’t go anywhere.”Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Justin Kabumba in Goma, Congo, and Jean Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A suicide bomber in theon Sunday targeted young recruits waiting to register at a military camp, killing at least 13 and wounding 21 others, witnesses said.