Experts warn Houston should prepare for a potentially severe respiratory season after new vaccination data shows declines in several adult vaccines and public trust in health authorities is weakening.

The measles outbreak in West Texas didn’t happen just by chance.

On the fifth anniversary of the start of the COVID pandemic, we discuss the measles outbreak and the state’s ability to respond to health crises.

Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the details of the 73rd annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday.

Dr. Peter Hotez revealed Monday that he has tested positive for COVID-19. The message was sent out via his verified Twitter account.

Corbevax, a low-cost coronavirus vaccine created in Houston, could be a better weapon against COVID-19 by reaching the unvaccinated in poorer countries.

Dr. Peter Hotez was honored by the American Medical Association (AMA) with an honor only four Texas doctors have received: The 2022 Scientific Achievement Award.

Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher nominated Dr. Peter Hotez and Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize for their work to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines to people around the world.

The Texas Department of State Health Services, which tracks the number of coronavirus vaccinations, cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the state, won’t be updating its daily dashboard Friday through Sunday both this week and next over the holidays.

Hospitalizations related to the virus remain low in the state, but the number of people testing positive is rising and once again fueling worries about the struggling health care system’s ability to weather a new surge.

A Houston vaccine team would like a U.S. distributor but for now focuses its efforts abroad to inoculate those in countries where COVID-19 variants surface more quickly.

When it comes to extending protections under hate crimes laws, groups already protected have varying opinions.

The Texas Medical Center is reporting a rise in COVID cases with hospitalizations up over 400 percent this past month.

KPRC 2 will livestream a community conversation event about COVID-19 with Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, State Rep. Ann Johnson and Dr. Peter Hotez, expert on contagious diseases and vaccine development, on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Houston city workers are being told they must resume wearing masks while on the job, a requirement that could go against Gov. Greg Abbott’s most recent executive order banning such mandates.

He’s become a household name during the pandemic as the leading infectious disease expert.

This week we’ve heard a lot about the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

Texas Medical Center hosted a brief discussion about the latest COVID-19 trends, breakthrough cases and the impact of the Delta variant in the Houston area.

Experts are still cautioning against attending big sporting events during the pandemic, but say there are ways to make it safer if you go.

Dr. Peter Hotez takes part in Antone’s Famous Po’ Boys ‘H-Town Originals’ initiative, crafting his own sandwich to help raise funds to support vaccine development at Texas Children’s Hospital. In collaboration with Antone’s Famous Po’ Boys, Houston’s Dr. Peter Hotez has created the next ‘H-Town Originals’ sandwich to raise funds to support vaccine development at Texas Children’s Hospital. Antone’s ‘H-Town Originals’ initiative invites local celebrities and chefs to create their own sandwiches to be sold at the restaurant, which will raise proceeds for particular causes and organizations. AdAntone’s will be donating 50% of the proceeds earned from its ‘H-Town Originals’ sandwich with Hotez to support the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital. His work has been and will continue to be life-changing for millions,” CEO of Antone’s Famous Po’ Boys, Craig Lieberman said.

HOUSTON – Two new cases of the UK variant were reported in the Houston area on Monday, including a man in his 50′s who is currently hospitalized, health officials said. The hospital’s lab helped discover the two new cases, along with a case of the South African variant in Fort Bend County. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the UK variant spreads more easily and quickly than other variants, and Dr. Anthony Fauci said it could become dominant in the U.S. by the end of March. Dr. David Persse, Houston’s health authority, said the city has found evidence of the UK variant in very low levels of its wastewater as well. Harris County Public Health reported the first known case of the UK variant in Texas on Jan. 7.

Evan Smith, CEO of The Texas Tribune. (Audio unavailable. Click here to listen on texastribune.org.) In the latest episode of our podcast about the Texas Legislature, Evan Smith talks to Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and co-director of Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, about mask mandates, vaccine availability, reopening schools and businesses, and the trajectory of the pandemic.

Data shows 42,102 people are fully vaccinated, which is 1.2% of the total population of people over 16 years old. Data shows 6,949 people have received both doses, which is 1.1% of the total population of people over 16 years old. Moreover, Dr. Hotez said while the vaccine rollout has been slow, outreach to communities of color has been, as well. The latter speaks vaccination’s importance, Dr. Hotez said, but trust remains another one of the challenges at hand. “Some of the African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods, some of the low income neighborhoods – those are pharmacy deserts,” Dr. Hotez said.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 06: A protester holds a Trump flag inside the US Capitol Building near the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)1 (2021 Getty Images)What drove thousands of Trump supporters to Washington, D.C. on January 6th? Thousands of them rioted and attacked the U.S. Capitol during a joint session of Congress, upset with election results that showed former Vice President Joe Biden beating President Trump.

“There’s a huge advantage to starting with a half dose- we can dose more people around the world,” said Rudd Dobber, exec. They said 1,000 people will receive the vaccine and 500 will receive a placebo. Greg Abbott, healthcare workers will be the first to have access to a vaccine once one is approved. None of the local hospital systems have a date for when they’ll receive that yet but they are working on plans for who within their health system would get a vaccine first. UTMB said they also anticipate they’ll receive the Pfizer vaccine and have the freezer capability to store the drug.

HOUSTON – The latest COVID-19 vaccine study is enrolling participants in the Houston area. Privia Health and research partner Javara are looking for volunteers in The Woodlands, as part of a trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Also this week, Pfizer and Moderna said their respective vaccines are around 95 percent effective against the coronavirus. “Any vaccine that’s authorized by the FDA, I will take and if it turns out that one of these doesn’t last very long, ya know what? “When the vaccine comes out, we’re not going to have enough to vaccinate everyone simultaneously so it’ll be in stages,” McDeavitt said.

HOUSTON – The Houston-area doctor featured in a controversial, viral video claiming anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, is a cure for COVID-19, offered to treat White House staff Friday after President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump announced they had COVID-19. PREVIOUS INTERVIEW: Houston-area doctor in viral video touting hydroxychloroquine as virus cure doubles down on claims“This virus has a cure, it’s called hydroxychloroquine,” she said at the time. “Everyone in the White House get on HCQ twice a month. Everyone in the White House get on HCQ twice a month. Read the full memo tweeted by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany below:Watch Immanuel’s full interview with KPRC 2 from July below and read the transcript here.

HOUSTON – A doctor with Baylor College of Medicine said it’s too early to know how things will play out now that President Trump is being treated for COVID-19. So we need to be very careful with the president of the United States' health,” said Dr. Thomas Giordano, the chief of infectious disease at Baylor. The president gave the thumbs up as he approached Marine One to head to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday. Trump’s doctor said the president received an experimental antibody cocktail from Regeneron. Giordano said it can take days for people with COVID-19 to get very sick, so the president isn’t in the clear just yet.

HOUSTON – President Donald Trump is experiencing “mild symptoms” of COVID-19 after revealing that he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus. I would have a very low threshold for admitting him to Walter Reed National Medical Center.”Furthermore, Hotez said the president should begin receiving prescription drugs right away. Watch the full interview below:Dr. Hotez speaks with me about President Trump testing positive for coronavirus. However, Hotez could not conclude if that exposure is where President Trump contracted the virus or if it could have also placed his running mate, former Vice President Joe Biden, at risk. READ: Joe Biden, wife, Jill Biden, test negative for coronavirus“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19.

Texas has emerged as a leading site for COVID-19 research. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas TribuneIn the race to develop a vaccine and other stopgap treatments for coronavirus patients in the meantime, Texas has emerged as a leading site for COVID-19 research. U.S. health officials announced last week that they had approved another large-scale COVID-19 vaccine trial, which reportedly has plans to recruit participants in Texas. A recent Axios-Ipsos poll found that 6 in 10 Americans say they would not take a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it is available. At the same time, leaders of vaccine clinical trials say they’ve seen unprecedented numbers of people asking to sign up.

HOUSTON – Sam Houston State University and the Texas State University System are aiming to hire approximately 200 COVID-19 contact tracers statewide ahead of an expected resurgence of the novel coronavirus this fall. Greg Abbott in April set a goal of employing 4,000 contact tracers by June 1 as part of his phased reopening plan. In late April, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials estimated that Texas would need almost 9,000 contact tracers. The state partnered with the Texas State University System to “provide additional flexibility as the pandemic continues,” he said. “As it stands, there are enough contact tracers in the call center to handle the current workload,” Van Deusen said.

People might think we're out of the woods, said Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston. The last time Texas coronavirus hospitalizations were this low was in late June. Some Texas schools have begun in-person instruction, while many others are waiting to reopen after Labor Day or later in the fall. School leaders must weigh the public health risks of reopening against the social and developmental harm of keeping kids out of school. In Texas, about 53% of public school students are Hispanic, and about 13% are Black.

HOUSTON Less than half of Americans say they will get the coronavirus vaccine if one is approved by the government. A third say theyre not sure. I think you can be pretty confident that those vaccines, no vaccine is going to be out there unless it works or its safe, Dr. Hotez said. Since scientists across the globe have turned their focus on coronavirus, and thousands of volunteers are rolling up their sleeves to take part in these trials, Hotez has confidence one will be safe when it becomes available. Even though he thinks it may take a few generations of a vaccine before we get the best one.

HOUSTON – The Houston-area doctor featured in a controversial, viral video claiming an anti-malarial drug is a cure for COVID-19 is sharing her side of the story with KPRC 2 Investigates. “This virus has a cure, it’s called hydroxychloroquine,” claimed Dr. Stella Immanuel at a press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. But that bold proclamation goes against what the World Health Organization, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and most medical experts say about the drug. But the consensus among the worldwide medical community is that there is currently no cure for COVID-19. “I’m a warrior, sniper in the kingdom of God.”Watch the full interview below and read the transcript here.

How many positive COVID-19 cases there are, how many people have died and how many have recovered. But for many patients that are in the “recovered” category, the battle still rages long after the virus is gone. During her initial hospitalization, she suffered cardiac arrest, a collapsed lung, an intestinal virus separate from COVID-19, and required temporary dialysis. ‘You’re not done’Sheldon Weisfeld knows “recovered” doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods. “You see, people think you’re COVID-negative and that you’re done,” he said.

(CNN) In the span of a week and a half, the number of coronavirus cases in the United States has doubled, yet officials are saying this is still the first wave of the pandemic. "We are still knee-deep in the first wave of this," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a Facebook and Twitter livestream Monday. On the same livestream with Fauci on Monday, Dr. Francis Collins, the National Institutes of Health director, tried to reassure Americans the country would get through the pandemic. The state reported 9,999 new coronavirus cases Sunday, bringing Florida's total to more than 200,000 infections. Florida authorities failed to contact traceA CNN investigation found Florida health authorities often failed to perform contact tracing, which has long been considered a key tool in containing coronavirus outbreaks.

HOUSTON – To help create additional capacity for adult hospitals in the Houston area, Texas Children’s Hospital is now admitting adults, a spokesperson said. Other hospitals in Greater Houston are prepared to “activate surge plans.”COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas have more than doubled in the last month, Gov. “There is a limit to the number of hospital beds that we currently have and hospitals are seriously considering activating their surge plans,” Houston Health Authority Dr. David Persse said. A surge plan is an emergency plan to expand available ICU beds above normal maximum capacities. “When challenged with those surge plans, (which) are very resource-intensive, and that’s probably not something they would be able to do for a long period of time,” Persse said.

HOUSTON A couple of weeks ago, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced a color-coded four-level scale that is meant to inform the public of the coronavirus threat in the county. Level 4, which is green, means residents can resume normal activities. Level 1, which is red, means residents should stay home. He said one of the ways to do that would be to move the county to a red alert. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Monday shared Hotezs concern, saying she is worried the county may need to be moved up to red soon.

HOUSTON – Right now, the University of Houston calls it the greatest unmet medical need before all humankind -- a vaccine for COVID-19. There are some vaccine candidates saying they can begin the final stage of development soon. “That covers more than one platform so hopefully we can have a more unique advantage.”So far, Zhang says the results look good in mice and he believes his vaccine will be approved at a later stage. Hotez said so far, the vaccine he worked on lacks funding to progress to human trials. There are other treatments that could be available sooner than a vaccine.

We used our Trust Index to look into this debate and help clear up some confusion about a potential vaccine. In the race to find a COVID-19 vaccine, there is a new spin to an old debate. COVID-19 vaccine won’t be ready soonAs the debate heats up, it could be a while before we even see a COVID-19 vaccine on the market. Also, they are short term antibodies that last for a couple of weeks.”What is the Trust Index? Trust Index is Graham Media Group’s initiative to combat misinformation and provide viewers and readers fact-checked information to share with others.

HOUSTON On Monday, the Greater Houston area reported 1,052 new cases of COVID-19, which was the highest daily count announced. The numbers may be due to a lag in reporting, according to Dr. David Persse with the Houston Health Department. For the city of Houston, we arent reporting numbers on Sunday," he said. Im less concerned about a one-day spike and more concerned about what we may see in the summer and fall, said Hotez. Hotez said now that the Houston area has eased up on social distancing there may be an increase in COVID-19 cases in the coming months.

Now, the messaging from Harris County Public Health is “keep the distance, stop the spread”. That seems like a reasonable answer since the goal is to stop the pandemic, even if the virus is unstoppable. “I like the message because you know ‘flatten the curve’ is a little abstract for people,” he said. What is the Trust Index? We rate this a yellow on our Trust Index for “be careful.” Keeping the distance slows the spread and may eventually stop the pandemic, but that’s not as catchy.

HOUSTON From the number of infections to total deaths, theres no shortage of COVID-19 models that are trying to predict whats going to happen with the coronavirus. KPRC 2 Investigative Reporter Joel Eisenbaum put these models through the Trust Index. RELATED: Weeks earlier than expected: April 19 named new projected peak date for coronavirus in TexasOn April 1, total deaths predicted by August 4 in Texas were 6,392. Trust Index: Be CarefulSo can you trust the COVID-19 prediction models? So we rate this be careful on the Trust Index.

HOUSTON – With many cities and states anxious to reopen after seeing a decline in COVID-19 cases, Dr. Peter Hotez of Baylor College of Medicine said the country may see a second wave in the fall. The mayor is receiving backlash for saying that she will not take ownership for businesses to open safely after stay-at-home orders have lifted. Fed Govt punting to the states, governors kicking it to the mayors, now mayors telling local businesses to figure it out. We’ll have a 2nd #COVID19 peak by fall https://t.co/DJ0ZTVxprc — Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) April 22, 2020“Across America we’re seeing the following situation unfold for testing, tracing, surveillance.” he said, “no one taking ownership. Hotez made an appearance with Cooper on Thursday to discuss New York City’s coronavirus epidemic and the possibility that America may have had COVID-19 cases much earlier than predicted.

HOUSTON – Doctors at the Baylor College of Medicine are working around the clock to bring out a preliminary vaccine to combat the coronavirus, or COVID-19, according to The Associated Press. However, a previously frozen vaccine could effectively protect people. Hotez worked with his colleague, Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi on the SARS vaccine. Researchers are still working on a vaccine entirely from scratch that will take them several years to develop. Baylor College of Medicine is still working on funding for the vaccine, which could take at least one 1 1/2-2 years to accomplish.