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Millions of people still can’t get a COVID-19 vaccination booster, remaining ineligible because they fall outside the new guidelines approved by federal regulators. But experts say if you find yourself in that position, don’t worry too much about getting that extra shot.

BOSTON — Late October and it’s still 70+ degrees in central Massachusetts. At Worcester’s Elm Park, it was a scene out of the ‘Before Times.’ Residents fed ducks, pushed strollers and relaxed on benches. What they didn’t do was don masks.

But across the street at the Price Chopper, the continuing reality. With Worcester entering the second month of an indoor mask mandate, shoppers had no choice but to cover mouths and noses.

With people younger than 12 possibly becoming eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, Worcester-based UMass Memorial Health has started ordering doses.

The system ordered 1,500 doses on Wednesday for the medical center, officials said, 1,200 of which will go to the university campus and the other 300 to the memorial campus. Community sites do not plan to order at this time, according to officials.

October 21, 2021 - Hospitals and health systems continue to face an overwhelming amount of cyberattacks, spoofing and phishing incidents, and breaches resulting from unauthorized email access.

WORCESTER - UMass Memorial Health is donating $1 million to the city to help establish the Worcester Health Equity Fund, supporting a range of health initiatives.

The city will disburse $200,000 annually into the fund over the next five years.

Guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics help guide families on how to manage and move on from trauma.

Most people don’t make it through childhood without some degree of trauma. Some people have the resilience to handle this trauma without ongoing effects, but for others it’s more difficult.

he United States is entering its second flu season in the COVID-19 pandemic. The convergence of the two could pose a risk to those infected, and to hospital capacity. Dr. Robert Klugman with UMass Memorial Medical Center and the UMass Medical School joined GBH’s All Things Considered with Arun Rath to discuss. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.

U.S. hospital and health system workers have been serving nearly two years on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. To recognize these workers, organizations have offered bonus payments during the public health crisis. It has been part of an ongoing effort to retain and recruit employees as hospitals deal with staff shortages and burnout during surges of the virus.

Becker's reached out to three healthcare leaders to see if these bonuses have boosted retention. 

After the most mild flu season on record in 2020, the virus could come back early and hit harder this year, some doctors are predicting as they urge people to get a flu shot.

“The worry is that we are out of isolation and we didn’t get some of the natural immunity from last year, so we could see a surge in flu from last year,” said Dr. Robert Klugman, the medical director of employee health at UMass Memorial Health.