Dec 08 As U.S. reaches 200 million vaccine milestone, COVID cases continue to spike By Sophia Tareen, Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press The U.S. has reached a COVID-19 milestone of roughly 200 million fully vaccinated people, but cases and hospitalizations are still spiking, even in highly immunized pockets of the country like New England. Continue reading
Dec 08 Pfizer says COVID booster offers protection against omicron variant By Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said lab tests showed a booster dose increased by 25-fold the level of so-called neutralizing antibodies against omicron. Continue reading
Dec 07 WATCH: White House COVID task force holds news briefing By News Desk and Associated Press U.S. health officials said Sunday that while the omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading throughout the country, early indications suggest it may be less dangerous than delta, which continues to drive a surge of hospitalizations. Continue reading
Dec 07 European drug regulator supports mixing COVID-19 vaccines By Associated Press The European Medicines Agency said in a statement that using different types of vaccines together, known as heterologous vaccination, can provide protection against COVID-19. Continue reading
Dec 06 Watch 8:27 Could omicron lead to more breakthrough COVID cases? Here’s what we know By John Yang, Courtney Norris For the first time in nearly two months, the United States is averaging more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases daily. Roughly one-third of states have also now detected the new omicron variant. John Yang reports. Continue watching
Dec 06 NYC mayor gives deadline for private sector vaccine mandate By Associated Press Mayor Bill de Blasio says all New York City employers will have to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for their workers by Dec. 27. Continue reading
Dec 05 Fauci says early reports encouraging about omicron variant By Gene Johnson, Associated Press “Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” Fauci said. “But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn’t cause… Continue reading
Dec 03 Watch 7:37 NIH director on the spread of the omicron variant amid the ongoing pandemic Maryland, Nebraska and Pennsylvania are the latest states reporting cases of the new omicron variant in the U.S., while it has now spread to more than 40 nations worldwide. And the CDC director said Friday the omicron variant could become… Continue watching
Dec 02 Watch 5:15 U.S. launches new effort to fight omicron variant’s spread with ‘science and speed’ By Yamiche Alcindor, Dorothy Hastings The United States’ COVID-19 watch has turned up more cases of the omicron variant Thursday. They appeared as President Joe Biden unveiled new initiatives on vaccines, masking and treatment. White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor reports. Continue watching
Dec 02 Travel bans punish countries for doing necessary work to end the pandemic, South Africa epidemiologist says By Kenichi Serino When omicron, a new variant of Covid-19, was discovered by South African scientists, the United States moved quickly to implement a travel ban against the country, a move the country's leading epidemiologist has called "outrageous" and "an overreaction."… Continue reading