If someone told you in March, when the World Health Organization finally called the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic, that we’d have three strong coronavirus vaccine candidates by mid-November, you might have called that person delusional. Yet with Monday’s news from AstraZeneca and University of Oxford that early results from their phase 3 trial demonstrate their … Continue reading "Why the AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid-19 vaccine is different"

On Wednesday, under increasing criticism for the state’s slow vaccine rollout, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced that all Californians 65 and older will be eligible for the shot. But if you were a Californian who wanted to find more information about where to get that shot for yourself or your loved one, you would’ve been … Continue reading "How Californians are resorting to crowdsourcing to get their Covid-19 vaccine"

MAYO HAVE MADE five changes for Saturday night’s trip to Omagh for a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final against Tyrone. David McBrien comes in at full-back for his first league start of the season, with Castlebar Mitchels youngster Donnacha McHugh named to start alongside him. Fionn McDonagh, Jason Doherty and Paul Towey are the … Continue reading "Mayo make five changes for trip to Omagh to face Tyrone"

President-elect Joe Biden announced a plan on Friday for what will likely be his most pressing challenge when he takes the White House next week: fixing America’s messy Covid-19 vaccine rollout. The plan builds on Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic stimulus proposal, which included a $400 billion Covid-19 plan, announced on Thursday. It seeks more support … Continue reading "Biden’s plan to fix the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, explained"

There’s a reason why a new, more contagious variant of SARS-CoV-2 appeared first in the UK: The country does a lot of viral genetic sequencing. Since the start of the pandemic, researchers in the UK have uploaded 151,859 individual SARS-CoV-2 sequences to GISAID, an international platform for sharing viral genomic data. That’s the highest number … Continue reading "Why the US may not see the next dangerous coronavirus variant coming"

For the nearly 100 million people around the world who’ve been infected with the coronavirus, new science offers some comfort: Reinfections appear to be rare, and you may be protected from Covid-19 for at least five months. The study, the largest of its kind, followed more than 20,000 health workers in the UK, regularly testing … Continue reading "Natural immunity after Covid-19 could last at least 5 months"

We knew it was going to be a long, dark winter. But unfortunately, it’s now looking even more grim. Just as the first coronavirus vaccines began rolling out in the US and countries around the world in December — offering hope for the end of the Covid-19 pandemic — two fast-spreading variants of the SARS-CoV-2 … Continue reading "How the new Covid-19 variants could pose a threat to vaccination"

The number of confirmed Covid-19 deaths in the United States has now surpassed 400,000, and that devastating toll is set to grow in the coming weeks with the US still averaging more than 3,300 deaths every single day. In just the 11 months since the country’s first confirmed death from Covid-19, the disease has killed … Continue reading "America’s Covid-19 death toll has surpassed 400,000"

People who are pregnant are now eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine in more than 40 states — typically ahead of their lower-risk peers. And more than 60,000 of them have already rolled up their sleeves, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the Covid-19 vaccines authorized in the US were not … Continue reading "The evidence that Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective in pregnancy is growing"

President Joe Biden on Thursday set a new goal for Covid-19 vaccines in the US: 200 million shots in his first 100 days in office. That’s up from Biden’s original goal of 100 million in 100 days. “I know it is ambitious — twice our original goal,” Biden said. But the goal of 200 million … Continue reading "Biden now promises 200 million vaccine shots in 100 days. The US is already on track for that."