Dr. Klotman’s Week 318 video address is available here for your viewing. My summary notes follow.
US Fertility rates
- US fertility rates have been declining since at least 2007 – coincident with the “great recession”
- There’s been a significant decrease in teenage pregnancies
- People are still getting pregnant and having babies, only at a later age. The increase is among women 30+ years of age
- Similar trends of declining fertility rates are observed in Europe, Asia, China, and worldwide except for Africa where there is still a downward fertility trend but from a higher baseline
- The gist is that most countries are growing grayer with the passing of time
- Immigrants tend to be younger (20-35yo), working age folks wanting to create families – think about that!
Science Research
- In the past, the US has been the unquestioned leader in scientific discovery and innovation – publications in scientific journals document that
- More recently, China has gone from 0% to 32% representation in scientific publications
- More recently, China has secured the #1 position in Chemistry, Health, Environmental and Physical sciences
- 37% of newly licensed molecules were developed in China
- Cuts to US research universities and NIH grants have compromised America’s ability to keep its lead in biomedical innovation
Shingles vaccine
- The current Shingles vaccine is Shingrix. It is a dead virus vaccine that confers 90% effectiveness for 7-10 years
- The earlier weakened live virus vaccine, Zostavax, was not as effective and is no longer available.
COVID
- The CDC has not published the most recent evaluation of COVID vaccine efficacy over the leadership’s concerns regarding the methodology that shows that the vaccine is safe and effective. This is an ideological-political decision without scientific merit (IMHO).
- Most folks should get a COVID vaccine in late May or early June in anticipation of a summer COVID surge (IMHO)
Hepatitis B