Week in Review: June 18

The Week in Review provides an overview of the past week’s top health care content, including industry news and trends, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Laboratories news, and upcoming events.


Industry News

Novavax Offers U.S. a Fourth Strong Covid-19

Novavax, a small American company buoyed by lavish support from the U.S. government, announced on Monday the results of a clinical trial of its Covid-19 vaccine in the United States and Mexico, finding that its two-shot inoculation provides potent protection against the coronavirus. In the 29,960-person trial, the vaccine demonstrated an overall efficacy of 90.4 percent, on par with the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, and higher than the one-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. The Novavax vaccine showed an efficacy of 100 percent at preventing moderate or severe disease. Via New York Times

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Pockets of Unvaccinated Americans Threaten to Prolong Pandemic

 As much of the country emerges from masking and social distancing, under vaccinated pockets in the U.S. still threaten to bring the virus roaring back. Less than 25% of the population is fully vaccinated in at least 482 counties, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data by Bloomberg News. Many of these counties are more rural and less economically advantaged than the rest of the U.S., and a majority of their voters in the last presidential election chose Donald Trump, according to the analysis of 2,700 U.S. counties. Though more than 174 million Americans have received at least one dose of a vaccine, accounting for about 64.6% of the adult population, such averages belie stark gaps in vaccination rates at a local level. Via Bloomberg

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Minnesota companies learning to walk the walk on diversity

In the racial reckoning following George Floyd's death, that meant re-evaluating and rooting out practices, policies and programs that were forged in a different era. Top Workplaces sought fresh and innovative ways to recruit, retain and engage BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) employees. A number of employers also placed emphasis on creating a workplace culture that was intentionally friendlier to LGBTQ and female employees. This year Affinity Plus updated its employee handbook to use gender-neutral pronouns and added guidelines and resources to support staff members going through gender transitions. Via Star Tribune

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Mayo Clinic News

How to keep your cool: These tips may help you avoid a heat-related illness

Dr. David Nester from the Mayo Clinic told reporters on Wednesday there are different levels of heat illness.  He says the first thing is heat cramps, which also include heavy sweating and thirst. Next is heat exhaustion, which includes a rapid heart rate. The last, and most severe level, is heatstroke which can cause permanent damage to your body. “This is a true medical emergency,” Nester said. “It can absolutely result in death.” Via USA Today

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Nervous about resuming activities? How to manage 'COVID transition anxiety'

 We asked Reese Druckenmiller, a therapist with Mayo Clinic Health System, and Dr. C. Sophia Albott, a psychiatrist with University of Minnesota Health, about why this period of transition can be so difficult and what we can do to make it go more smoothly. Answers have been edited for space and clarity. Via Star Tribune

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Mayo Clinic ranked among 'Best Children's Hospitals' – again

Mayo Clinic Children's Center is again ranked as a top-performing children's hospital on U.S. News & World Report's 2021-2022 "Best Children's Hospital's rankings. Mayo Children's Center in Rochester is ranked the No. 1 hospital in Minnesota and the five-state region of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Via Yahoo! News

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Samantha Rossi

Samantha Rossi is a Digital Marketing Manager at Mayo Clinic Laboratories. She supports marketing strategies for product management and specialty testing. Samantha has worked at Mayo Clinic since 2019.