California officials have confirmed that nine more elephant seals, a sea lion, and an otter have died from avian flu H5N1 at Ano Nuevo State Park in San Mateo County.

“As you probably imagine, this count reflects only the animals that have gone through sampling and confirmatory testing in multiple labs,” Christine Johnson, VMD, PhD, director of the Institute for Pandemic Insights at University of California, Davis told local media. “So there are likely more animals that we will be updating on in the coming weeks.”

There are likely more animals that we will be updating on in the coming weeks

So far, 16 elephant seals have died due to H5N1, in addition to the otter and sea lion. The outbreak, which started at the end of last month, marked the first H5N1 detection in marine mammals in California and was discovered when seals at the state park were observed with abnormal respirations, tremors, and neurologic symptoms. 

Seal tours remain closed 

The park has closed the sea-viewing areas to visitors, many of whom visit the area to see the 5,000 seals who migrate to Ano Neuvo State Park during the winter breeding season. Officials said they were encouraged because roughly 80% of the adult female seal population had migrated away from Ano Nuevo prior to the outbreak.

Previously, H5N1 decimated large swaths of Argentina’s southern elephant seals in 2023. The virus also killed a number of northern fur seals on Tyuleniy Island in Russia's Sea of Okhotsk in 2023. 

A research letter published yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics suggests that while most teens seen in Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) primary care clinics completed the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series before becoming sexually active, 12% had not received any doses, representing a missed opportunity for cancer prevention. 

The researchers analyzed the electronic health records (EHR) from 9,491 patients aged 13 to 18 years seen at 31 CHOP-affiliated primary care practices from September 2023 to September 2025. The teens had reported sexual activity on the Adolescent Health Questionnaire.

The average patient age was 17.0 years, 47% were girls, 40% were Black, 40% were White, 9% were Hispanic, 11% were another race, 44% were Medicaid-insured, and 33% lived in very low Child Opportunity Index neighborhoods.

Starting series at age 9 reduced unvaccination rates

In total, 79% of teens had completed the HPV vaccine series before becoming sexually active, 12% hadn’t received any dose, and 9% had started but not completed the series. Of patients who were unvaccinated before starting sexual activity, 70% were never vaccinated, 23% later initiated the series, and 7% completed the series after becoming sexually active. Unvaccinated teens were disproportionately White (49%) and commercially insured (59%).

Given that all adolescents had recent primary care visits, family acceptance of vaccination, physician recommendation practices, and clinic workflows, rather than health care access, likely drive missed opportunities.

Clinic-level pre-sex vaccination rates ranged from 5% to 47%. Greater neighborhood opportunity, commercial insurance, and longer distance from the main hospital were linked to an increased likelihood of not being vaccinated before initiation of sexual activity. Clinics that more often initiated HPV vaccination at age nine had lower unvaccination rates (−0.89%).

“Given that all adolescents had recent primary care visits, family acceptance of vaccination, physician recommendation practices, and clinic workflows, rather than health care access, likely drive missed opportunities,” the study authors wrote.

The finding of higher vaccine uptake in clinics that more often started HPV vaccination earlier in life supports offering HPV vaccination at age nine or 10. “Additional strategies to routinize HPV vaccination and reduce variation should include presumptive communication, staff training, and workflow redesign,” they wrote. 

Shingles vaccination may halve the one-year risk of serious cardiac events among older adults who have heart disease, adding to accumulating evidence that the vaccine may protect against health conditions in addition to shingles (herpes zoster), University of California researchers say.

The study findings will be presented at the upcoming American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in New Orleans. 

Previous studies have suggested that shingles can lead to the formation of blood clots around the brain and heart, posing a risk of heart attacks, strokes, and venous blood clots. Preventing shingles infection through vaccination is believed to prevent these clots.

Risk reduction on par with quitting smoking

The investigators analyzed electronic health record data from 246,822 US adults aged 50 years and older diagnosed as having atherosclerotic heart disease (plaque buildup in the arteries) from 2018 to 2025. Participants were 123,411 people who had received at least one dose of either the Shingrix or Zostavax shingles vaccine and the same number of unvaccinated controls.