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Though kids ages 5 to 11 are starting to get vaccinated against COVID-19, one Central Massachusetts physician said a big drop-off in case counts isn’t expected.

The state’s largest health systems are terminating hundreds of health care workers for failing to meet vaccine mandate deadlines. 

Demand for monoclonal antibodies to treat coronavirus has surged at Massachusetts hospitals in recent months as awareness about the once-little-known drug and its incredible effects is increasing, bringing patients in from a dozen different states.

WORCESTER – Kevin Moore was skeptical.  

He wasn’t sure he should get an infusion of monoclonal antibodies to fight off early symptoms from his COVID-19 infection. 

Now that children ages five to 11 are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, some epidemiologists are holding out hope that it might be possible to achieve “herd immunity,” which happens when enough people are immune to a virus to make spreading it unlikely.

THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE will consider a health care bill that would impose increased scrutiny on hospital expansions, House Speaker Ron Mariano said Thursday. 

MASS. - Jacqueline Fitzpatrick has her 5-year-old son’s COVID-19 vacation appointment booked. She says he has asthma and is immunocompromised.

“I’ve been worried about him this whole time. I mean, if he gets a common cold, he could end up in the ER with complications," Fitzpatrick said. "So I am nervous, but I’m really excited." 

One of the myriad negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a trend of people missing out on regular cancer screenings.

And while patients are starting to head back to hospitals for services like mammograms more regularly compared to the onset of the pandemic in 2020, one UMass Memorial Health doctor said, there has been a slight decline in the number of people coming in for screenings.

WORCESTER, Mass. — Throughout the pandemic, one of the challenges for the medical community has been finding ways to treat a new disease.

Hope is now emerging as some promising new drugs become available.