Tech

Despite unknowns, FDA officials make the case for annual fall COVID shots

Enlarge / Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research within the Food and Drug Administration, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the federal coronavirus response on Capitol Hill on March 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty | Pool) The pandemic coronavirus will likely […]

COVID 19 Tech

Omicron is trouncing the argument for “natural immunity” to COVID

Enlarge / A 13-year-old celebrates getting the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Hartford, Connecticut, on May 13, 2021. (credit: Getty | JOSEPH PREZIOSO ) So-called “natural immunity” against COVID-19 has always been a dodgy argument for avoiding vaccination during the pandemic. But amid omicron, natural immunity is clearly rubbish. Unvaccinated people who have recovered from an […]

COVID 19 Tech

Moderna says its COVID vaccine generated strong antibody levels in kids

Enlarge / Avery, 6, and Aidan, 11, got their second Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on Friday, June 25, 2021, as part of the KidCOVE study evaluating the safety and efficacy of the particular Moderna vaccine in young children. (credit: Getty | MediaNews Group ) Wednesday brought some potentially […]

COVID 19 Tech

2nd rapid COVID test after a positive swab boosted accuracy from 38% to 92%

Enlarge / A pharmacist at the Community Pharmacy of Saco demonstrates how Abbott’s BinaxNow COVID-19 Ag Card Home Test works by using a nasal swab and a solution onto a test strip. (credit: Getty | Portland Press Herald) To quickly confirm an asymptomatic case of COVID-19, a second rapid test within an hour of a […]

COVID 19 Tech

Murky case for fourth doses now with FDA as protection wanes, BA. 2 looms

Enlarge / The US Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring, Maryland. (credit: Getty | Xinhua News Agency ) Vaccine-makers Moderna and Pfizer have now both submitted requests for the US Food plus Drug Administration to authorize fourth doses—second boosters—of their COVID-19 vaccines. Pfizer, along with vaccine partner BioNTech, announced Tuesday that they had asked […]

COVID 19 Tech

COVID cases are again on the rise globally as testing, health measures decline

Enlarge / World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (L) and WHO Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove attend a daily press briefing on COVID-19 at the WHO headquarters on March 2, 2020, in Geneva. (credit: Getty | Fabrice Coffrini) After weeks of decline, the global tally of COVID-19 cases is now ticking back up. […]

COVID 19 Tech

Pfizer CEO pushes for fourth shots as anxiety over BA.2 subvariant rises

Enlarge / Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla speaks onstage at the 2022 SXSW Conference at JW Marriott Austin on March 14, 2022 in Austin. (credit: Getty | Chris Saucedo) While US health experts closely monitor upticks of COVID-19 cases in Europe as well as the global rise of the omicron subvariant BA.2, Pfizer […]

COVID 19 Tech

Delta-omicron recombinant virus no reason for panic, health experts say

Enlarge / Transmission electron micrograph of a SARS-CoV-2 virus particle isolated from a patient sample and cultivated in cell culture. (credit: Getty | BSIP) Researchers in France have reported the first compelling genetic evidence of a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 virus that contains elements of both the omicron coronavirus variant and the delta variant. However, health experts […]

COVID 19 Tech

How kids’ COVID vaccines are holding up in the real world amid omicron surge

Enlarge / A nurse gives a 16-year-old a COVID-19 vaccine. (credit: Getty | Sopa images) New data on the real-world effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in children and teens largely mirrors what we’ve seen in adults so far: Vaccine effectiveness is strong against the delta coronavirus variant but takes a significant hit when up against omicron. […]

COVID 19 Tech

COVID’s spread within hospitals hit all-time high amid omicron wave

Enlarge / A health care worker treats a patient inside a negative pressure room in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, Missouri, on Tuesday, August 3, 2021. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg) Spread of COVID-19 within US hospitals hit a record high in January, with more than 3,000 hospital-acquired infections each […]