Health Highlights: Sept.1, 2021

Here are some of HealthDay's top stories for Wednesday, Sept. 1:

Big uptick seen in U.S. COVID vaccinations in August. As the Delta variant surges and with full FDA approval of COVID vaccines underway, resistance to immunization may be crumbling at last. Nearly 14 million Americans got their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine in August, a steep rise from July, White House officials said Tuesday. Read more

Equine therapy: Horses help veterans battling PTSD. Returning U.S. soldiers bearing the mental scars of combat overseas may be helped by an innovative program that pairs them with horses. Eight weeks of weekly 90-minute sessions with the horses appeared to help ease the veterans' PTSD. Read more

Unvaccinated Americans shouldn't travel this Labor Day weekend: CDC. With hospitals around the nation filling up with people sickened by COVID-19, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky urged Americans who haven't been vaccinated to refrain from travel over the coming long weekend. Read more

Why do college freshmen often pile on pounds? It's not down to snacking or excess drinking, a new report finds, but may be due to the sudden absence of the structured physical activity -- school sports, for example -- they left behind as they graduated from high school. Read more

Sports-linked concussions are rising among girls. Between 2000 and 2019, there was a threefold jump in sports-linked concussions seen among high school-aged girls in the United States, a new study finds. Increased participation in sports, as well as better detection, may be driving the trend. Read more