About Helen @HelenBranswell
Helen Branswell is STAT’s infectious diseases and public health reporter.
Helen’s Recent Stories
Health Sep 21
What to expect from COVID-19 this winterA COVID season + a flu season = a whole lot of bad news.
Health Sep 03
COVID-19 vaccines never promised perfection. Experts say it’s time to curb our highest expectationsIt is increasingly clear mRNA vaccines aren’t going to prevent infection in the upper respiratory tract of some proportion of the vaccinated.
Health Aug 18
How health experts are navigating daily life amid the delta variant surgeWith the highly transmissible Delta variant spreading, caution prevails.
Health Aug 11
Scientists debate potential benefits of intranasal COVID-19 vaccinesVaccines that are injected into the arm don't generate the kind of protection in nasal passages that would be needed to block all infection.
Health Jul 02
12 lessons COVID-19 taught us about developing vaccines during a pandemicExperts weigh in on what we did right when developing the COVID-19 vaccine. And what we did wrong.
Health May 28
As COVID dissipates in the U.S., cold and flu viruses may return with a vengeanceSome experts point to a series of factors that could make for a rough re-entry to the mixed microbes world of cold and flu viruses.
Health May 14
International panel calls for overhaul of pandemic preparedness effortsThe experts say the COVID-19 crisis should trigger a series of actions to ensure this pandemic is the last of its kind the world ever faces.
Health Oct 22
WATCH: FDA advisory committee assesses COVID-19 vaccine developmentThis week's meeting, while likely dry and technical, "shows the public that this is how FDA is going about its decisions," one expert said.
Health May 21
Why experts are cautious about Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine trialWhile Moderna blitzed the media, it revealed very little information — and most of what it did disclose were words, not data.
Health Apr 06
CDC director on coronavirus, masks, and the agency in the midst of the pandemicSTAT News spoke with CDC Director Robert Redfield about COVID-19, the agency’s muted role, and how he sees the pandemic unfolding.