Health

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A meeting Tuesday of South Carolina lawmakers considering how to best counter future pandemics was dominated by vaccine skeptics pushing concerns about COVID-19 immunizations that are unaccepted by the greater medical community.

SURREY, B.C. — A long-awaited and often promised second hospital for the City of Surrey took a step closer toward reality Tuesday with Premier David Eby announcing the completion of construction of the new facility by 2029.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The leading decongestant used by millions of Americans looking for relief from a stuffy nose is no better than a dummy pill, according to government experts who reviewed the latest research on the long-questioned drug ingredient .

OTTAWA — Canada's senior public health officials are urging Canadians to get an updated COVID-19 vaccine this fall after the first shot targeting the latest variants was authorized for use on Tuesday.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama families with transgender children asked a full appellate court Monday to review a decision that will let the state enforce a ban on treating minors with gender-affirming hormones and puberty blockers.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — More women across the U.S. filed lawsuits on Tuesday challenging abortion restrictions that went into effect in Republican-led states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A new Florida law restricting health care for transgender people can still be applied to adults while it is being challenged in court, a federal judge ruled Monday.

The number of prescription opioid pills shipped in the U.S. in the second half of the 2010s decreased sharply even as a nationwide overdose crisis continued to deepen, according to data released Tuesday.

An outbreak of E. coli infections at several Calgary day centres has infected more than 200 people, most of them children.

NEW YORK (AP) — Melinda French Gates says she takes personally the deaths of hundreds of thousands of women and babies during child birth each year and believes more people should get involved in the fight for improving maternal health care.