Month: December 2021

Test your knowledge of this week’s health news. View original article Contributor: Toby Bilanow

The emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, which was first detected in South Africa and other southern African nations, is casting a harsh new spotlight on vaccine inequality. For months, health experts have warned that low vaccination rates in the developing world make it more likely for dangerous new mutations to form as the SARS-CoV-2 … Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A person in California who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 became the first in the U.S. to have an identified case of the omicron variant, the White House announced Wednesday as scientists continue to study the risks posed by the new virus strain. Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters that the person was … Read more

Many public health experts were opposed to a boosters-for-all approach. The new variant is changing some minds. View original article Contributor: Apoorva Mandavilli

The agency said it was ‘issuing this directive to prevent the importation and spread of a communicable disease of public health importance,’ an apparent reference to the new Omicron variant. View original article Contributor: Roni Caryn Rabin and Niraj Chokshi

Taken together, the provisions in the social policy bill represent the biggest step toward universal coverage since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. View original article Contributor: Reed Abelson, Sarah Kliff, Margot Sanger-Katz and Sheryl Gay Stolberg

An international survey found that the pandemic had enhanced public faith in researchers and science, up from 2018. View original article Contributor: Sabrina Imbler

Simple activities like walking boost immune cells in the brain that may help to keep memory sharp and even ward off Alzheimer’s disease. View original article Contributor: Gretchen Reynolds

WASHINGTON (AP) — A panel of U.S. health advisers on Tuesday narrowly backed a closely watched COVID-19 pill from Merck, setting the stage for a likely authorization of the first drug that Americans could take at home to treat the coronavirus. A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel voted 13-10 that the drug’s benefits outweigh … Read more