Health News Roundup: Half of U.S. population fully vaccinated against COVID-19: CDC; New Jersey to require masks in schools as Delta variant spreads and more

The European Medicines Agency said its safety committee had studied cases of menstrual disorders reported after vaccination, adding it had requested more data from vaccine developers to assess the issue. EU: too early to say if COVID booster needed as Germany, France press ahead There's not enough data to recommend using COVID-19 vaccine boosters, the European Union's drugs regulator said on Friday, after major EU states said they would roll out a third dose for the most vulnerable from September.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Heart, stroke risks climb after COVID-19; flu shots may be protective

The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19. Heart attack, stroke risks rise in COVID-19 patients

U.S. nurses' COVID-19 grief pours out online: 'I just don't want to watch anyone else die'

Nichole Atherton couldn't take it anymore. The intensive care nurse watched helplessly last year as COVID-19 sufferers died in her Mississippi hospital - slowly, painfully and alone. Then in July she was again confronted with a wave of deathly ill patients, even though almost all likely could have saved themselves by getting the coronavirus vaccine.

Half of U.S. population fully vaccinated against COVID-19: CDC

One out of two Americans were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The milestone comes roughly eight months after the United States launched its mass vaccination drive.

Argentina partially reopens as it approaches 5 million COVID-19 cases

Argentina will relax coronavirus restrictions as infection and mortality rates falls, the government announced on Friday, even as the South American nation approached 5 million cases with more than 107,000 deaths. The government said its plan includes an increase in the number of people who can meet in person, re-opening of schools and an increase in the number of people allowed to enter the country to 1,700 per day from the current 1,000. Argentina has a total population of about 45 million.

Vaccines less protective in Colorado county with Delta variant surge - CDC study

COVID-19 infections in a Colorado county with a Delta variant surge this spring were more common among fully vaccinated people than in the state's other counties where it was circulating at lower levels, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released on Friday showed. The study also found that the Delta variant caused more severe illness. Cases, hospital intensive care unit admissions and deaths were higher in Mesa County, Colorado, than anywhere else in the state, it said.

New Jersey to require masks in schools as Delta variant spreads

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Friday said kindergarten through 12th-grade students and staff must wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status when public schools open, as the Delta variant of coronavirus increasingly threatens Americans. Reversing his earlier stance to conform with updated federal guidance, Murphy told a news conference the shift is a reaction to the worsening COVID-19 indicators in the state.

No link found so far between menstrual disorders and COVID-19 vaccines, EU says

No causal link between COVID-19 vaccines and menstrual disorders has been found so far, Europe's drugs regulator said on Friday, separately recommending that three new conditions be added as possible side-effects of J&J's coronavirus shot. The European Medicines Agency said its safety committee had studied cases of menstrual disorders reported after vaccination, adding it had requested more data from vaccine developers to assess the issue.

EU: too early to say if COVID booster needed as Germany, France press ahead

There's not enough data to recommend using COVID-19 vaccine boosters, the European Union's drugs regulator said on Friday, after major EU states said they would roll out a third dose for the most vulnerable from September. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) had said in mid-July that more data was needed before it could make a recommendation on boosters, but the EU's biggest countries Germany and France are ploughing ahead with plans to roll out some anyway.

Biden says COVID-19 cases will go up before they come down

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that COVID-19 cases will go up before they come down and that the new Delta variant is taking a needless toll on the country. "Cases are going to go up before they come back down," Biden said in a White House remarks. "This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated."

U.S. FDA approves another Sanofi drug for rare muscle disorder Pompe disease

Sanofi's treatment for muscle disorder Pompe disease received the U.S. health regulator's nod on Friday, strengthening the French drugmaker's hold on the market for drugs to treat the rare but potentially fatal disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed Nexviazyme, an enzyme replacement therapy administered by injecting into a vein, to be used in patients aged at least a year, and above with late onset of Pompe disease.

(With inputs from agencies.)