Free Republic

The U.S. delivered 36 ultra-low temperature freezers Tuesday to the Ministry of Health at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) in Hanoi. The freezers are the first of 111 ultra-low temperature, medical-grade storage units worth approximately $1 million that the U.S. Department of Defense is providing to Vietnam, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. With a capacity of minus 40 degrees Celsius to minus 90 degrees Celsius, the freezers can store vaccines that require extremely cold temperatures, including the Pfizer vaccine, which must be stored at minus 70-80 degrees Celsius. Of the 77 freezers originally offered to...

For many people who contract mild, moderate, or severe COVID-19, the disease's effects don't disappear when the infection fades. A systematic review and meta-analysis published Monday to the journal Scientific Reports found that 80% of cases result in at least one long-term symptom. The authors of the report scoured more than 18,000 publications, seeking studies assessing the long-term effects of COVID-19 with at least 100 subjects. They found fifteen studies, which collectively followed 47,910 patients for as long as 110 days post-infection. They then pooled the data to discern the prevalence of chronic side effects. "The five most common symptoms...