High winds and cold temperatures are expected to trigger a massive release of mountain cedar pollen. Adults and children who are allergic may experience itchy eyes, nose and throat, and they may have a cough or a runny nose.

Curious children and young adolescents have little fear of playing with shiny objects that they find. That’s why, this holiday season, take steps to make sure that the shiny object isn’t a gun.

Although the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine is now here, cases and hospitalizations continue to soar and holiday travel and gatherings are cause for concern for many. However, recent guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide recommendations for safely celebrating the winter holidays.

“We face a triple threat: Infection by two respiratory viruses, inflammation by tobacco smoke, plus a major allergen,” said Claudia S. Miller, MD, MS, a professor emeritus and environmental health expert. “Lungs, and their owners, can only take so much.”

UT Health San Antonio made history when the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was administered to the university’s front-line health care workers, physicians, nurses and students.