Antibody treatments: Vaccines are in demand while other effective drugs go unused. Here’s why

Antibody treatments: Vaccines are in demand while other effective drugs go unused. Here’s why

Hospitals and clinics, staggered by the needs of the sick and gearing up to help administer the new coronavirus vaccines, ...
'Cancer is a life sentence. But Covid is a death sentence': Patients with compromised immune systems unable to access vaccines

‘Cancer is a life sentence. But Covid is a death sentence’: Patients with compromised immune systems unable to access vaccines

Dani Blum | New York Times |
Facing conflicting guidance and logistical chaos, many cancer patients are struggling to navigate the bumpy rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination ...
AI writing test accurately predicts Alzhiemer’s years before symptoms appear

AI writing test accurately predicts Alzhiemer’s years before symptoms appear

Gina Kolata | New York Times |
People with a wide variety of neurological illnesses have distinctive language patterns that, investigators suspect, may serve as early warning ...
UK COVID variant now spreading across the US likely deadlier than original virus

UK COVID variant now spreading across the US likely deadlier than original virus

[British scientists recently said] that there was a “realistic possibility” that the variant was not only more contagious than others, ...
Evolution and the pandemic: How COVID could develop resistance to vaccines over time

Evolution and the pandemic: How COVID could develop resistance to vaccines over time

Carl Zimmer, James Gorman | New York Times |
With the emergence of what seem so far to be safe and effective vaccine candidates, it appears that humanity may be ...
Viewpoint: Why you shouldn’t be worried about potential reactions to COVID vaccines

Viewpoint: Why you shouldn’t be worried about potential reactions to COVID vaccines

Aaron Carroll | New York Times |
Anaphylaxis — a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction — is nothing to be ignored. It’s most commonly associated with allergies to ...
Fauci: “This phenomenon is quite real and extensive’. More needs to be done to treat COVID ‘long haulers’

Fauci: “This phenomenon is quite real and extensive’. More needs to be done to treat COVID ‘long haulers’

Pam Belluck | New York Times |
In a two-day meeting [January 14-15], the federal government’s first workshop dedicated to long-term Covid-19, public health officials, medical researchers ...
Pregnant COVID survivors appear to pass protective antibodies on to their babies

Pregnant COVID survivors appear to pass protective antibodies on to their babies

Christina Caron | New York Times |
[New findings, published January 29 in JAMA Pediatrics, offer] more evidence that Covid-19 antibodies can cross the placenta.  “What we ...
When we get COVID-19 under control, here's what it might turn into

When we get COVID-19 under control, here’s what it might turn into

Apoorva Mandavilli | New York Times |
The coronavirus is here to stay, but once most adults are immune — following natural infection or vaccination — the ...
Infographic: ‘You’re not going to wipe this thing out by achieving herd immunity.’ Vaccines alone will not contain COVID-19

Infographic: ‘You’re not going to wipe this thing out by achieving herd immunity.’ Vaccines alone will not contain COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic in the United States has raged almost uncontrollably for so long that even if millions of people ...
1918 redux: Phony virus cures proliferate like they did during the Spanish flu pandemic

1918 redux: Phony virus cures proliferate like they did during the Spanish flu pandemic

Tiffany Hsu | New York Times |
More than a century [after the Spanish influenza outbreak of 1918], not much has changed. Ads promoting unproven miracle cures — including ...
HIV patients can now get monthly, FDA-approved injections, replacing multiple daily treatments

HIV patients can now get monthly, FDA-approved injections, replacing multiple daily treatments

Apoorva Mandavilli | New York Times |
The Food and Drug Administration on [January 21] approved a combination of two monthly shots for treatment of H.I.V. in ...
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How the ‘Japan model’ – limited testing with robust contact tracing – kept the country from being initially overwhelmed by COVID-19

Ben Dooley, Makiko Inoue | New York Times |
[At the beginning of the pandemic,] Japan went its own way, limiting tests to only the most severe cases as ...
Book review: Who knew the world of paleoanthropology could be so cutthroat?

Book review: Who knew the world of paleoanthropology could be so cutthroat?

Steve Brusatte | New York Times |
[T]he scientists looking for ever older bones of our ancestors always seem to be squabbling. At least that’s their reputation ...
Recovery is elusive for this COVID longhauler

Recovery is elusive for this COVID longhauler

Pam Belluck | New York Times |
Since getting sick with the coronavirus in March, Mr. Long, 54, has fallen into a distressing new cycle — one ...
Where does my body begin and machine end? How AI is keeping my pancreas, and me, alive

Where does my body begin and machine end? How AI is keeping my pancreas, and me, alive

Mark Taylor | New York Times |
I have Type 1 diabetes, so my pancreas does not produce the life-essential insulin that a normal pancreas secretes. Instead, ...
COVID vaccine benefits appear to outweigh minimal potential dangers for pregnant and breastfeeding women

COVID vaccine benefits appear to outweigh minimal potential dangers for pregnant and breastfeeding women

Apoorva Mandavilli | New York Times |
[T]he American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the S.M.F.M. and other organizations have been calling on the F.D.A. to allow pregnant and lactating ...
How the Chinese government suppressed the real story of the country’s coronavirus catastrophe

How the Chinese government suppressed the real story of the country’s coronavirus catastrophe

The news was spreading quickly that Li Wenliang, a doctor who had warned about a strange new viral outbreak only to be ...
‘The Pattern Seekers’: What autism can tell us about the evolutionary tipping point that made us human

‘The Pattern Seekers’: What autism can tell us about the evolutionary tipping point that made us human

Christine Kenneally | New York Times |
[In “The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention,” psychologist Simon] Baron-Cohen argues that humans split off from all other ...
'25 days in China that changed the world': How the country's COVID bungling helped accelerate a global disaster

’25 days in China that changed the world’: How the country’s COVID bungling helped accelerate a global disaster

[The January 23 Wuhan] lockdown was the first decisive step in saving China. But in a pandemic that has since ...
Africa has largely avoided the COVID scourge to date. Here’s why that may change

Africa has largely avoided the COVID scourge to date. Here’s why that may change

Sheri Fink | New York Times |
In South Africa, a crush of new cases that spread from Port Elizabeth is growing exponentially across the nation, with ...
Which provides longer-lasting immunity: Getting COVID or a vaccine?

Which provides longer-lasting immunity: Getting COVID or a vaccine?

Apoorva Mandavilli | New York Times |
Which produces a stronger immune response: a natural infection or a vaccine? The short answer: We don’t know. But Covid-19 ...
COVID-19 vaccine tracker: What’s the status of all vaccines in development?

COVID-19 vaccine tracker: What’s the status of all vaccines in development?

Vaccines typically require years of research and testing before reaching the clinic, but in 2020, scientists embarked on a race ...
Interactive: What’s your place in the COVID-19 vaccine line?

Interactive: What’s your place in the COVID-19 vaccine line?

Health officials are considering vaccine timelines that give some Americans priority over others. If you’re a healthy American, you may ...
What you need to know about the fast-mutating strains of COVID-19

What you need to know about the fast-mutating strains of COVID-19

It’s still unclear how successful a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, can be. A lot will depend ...
Voter fraud truthers add vaccine conspiracies to their social media disinformation efforts

Voter fraud truthers add vaccine conspiracies to their social media disinformation efforts

Davey Alba, Sheera Frenkel | New York Times |
As Mr. Trump’s challenges to the election’s results have been knocked down and the Electoral College has affirmed President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ...
Ellume: 91%+ accurate at-home COVID test given first emergency authorization in the US

Ellume: 91%+ accurate at-home COVID test given first emergency authorization in the US

Katherine Wu | New York Times |
The Food and Drug Administration on [December 15] issued an emergency authorization for the country’s first coronavirus test that can run from ...
Viewpoint: How Trump and Steve Bannon aided by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and Lou Dobbs promoted the ‘China created COVID in a lab’ conspiracy myth

Viewpoint: How Trump and Steve Bannon aided by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and Lou Dobbs promoted the ‘China created COVID in a lab’ conspiracy myth

[Chinese researcher Dr. Li-Meng Yan] appeared in the United States on Fox News making the unsubstantiated claim to millions that ...