Friday on Political Rewind: The COVID-19 vaccines have been crucial to protecting health as the latest surge of COVID-19 cases continues to roll across Georgia and other states. Today, we explored the fascinating history of vaccines with one of the genuine heroes of global health, Dr. Bill Foege.

The pandemic has parents across Georgia feeling stressed as districts adapt on the fly to soaring numbers of sick children.

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 surge around Georgia, Emory Healthcare postponed some elective surgeries this week due to a shortage of beds and continues to evaluate “elective surgical cases on a daily basis across all our hospitals,” the hospital system said.

Two state government websites in Georgia recently stopped posting updates on COVID-19 cases in prisons and long-term care facilities, just as the dangerous delta variant was taking hold.

A new study looks at how kids diagnosed with cancer react to a COVID-19 infection compared to the general population of youngsters.

While Chatham’s average is slightly higher rate than Georgia’s overall vaccine rate of 42%, it falls woefully short of the levels needed to achieve “herd immunity,” when enough of the population is vaccinated in order to protect those that can’t be, such as children and immunocompromised people. 

Four Middle Georgia high school football games have been canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.

Only a few weeks into the school year, the delta variant of the coronavirus is already upending life for some Georgia students.

For the second year in a row, Atlanta will go without its yearly Pride parade this October because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is implementing new policies for its employees as the COVID-19 delta variant continues to take a toll on hospital systems across the country, including charging employees $200 per month if they fail to get vaccinated.

Plenty of evidence exists supporting vaccination mandates in schools, workplaces and health care settings, doctors with Emory University School of Medicine said this week after full approval came from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine.  

The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, says that after vaccine companies submit their trial data, the FDA will have to review it, which could take time.

 With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations still on the rise in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp deployed the Georgia National Guard Tuesday to hospitals across the state. Kemp announced that 105 members of the Guard with medical training will head t0 10 hospitals.

The Pfizer mRNA vaccine is now not only safe and effective against COVID-19 serious illness and death: It’s also fully FDA approved. 

Dr. Cecil Bennett of Newnan says the most important thing is to listen to patients who have not yet been vaccinated and try to understand their concerns. 

After vaccination, antibody levels can help predict how much protection a COVID-19 shot offers, scientists are learning. The finding could speed up the development of future vaccines.