TimeMagazine

The Indian government is demanding that social media companies remove all references to the “Indian variant” of COVID-19—saying the term is not scientifically accurate and hurts the country’s image. Tech companies are unlikely to comply with the sweeping request, which would involve removing countless pieces of content including news articles. But it is bringing attention … Read more

As demand for vaccinations drops in the U.S., states are turning to increasingly dramatic measures—Dinner with the governor! Multi-million-dollar lotteries!—to convince people to get their shots. But perhaps the boldest incentive yet has come from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which said on May 13 that fully vaccinated people can go … Read more

The vaccines are here. Why do we still need testing? Testing is our eye on the virus. Without testing, we can’t see where it is or where it is going. As fall and winter set in, outbreaks will again occur, sparked by the unvaccinated. And most people become infectious before they know they are infected. … Read more

In a release on May 25, Moderna says its vaccine is safe and efficacious among 12- to 18-year olds. The company reported results from its combined Phase 2 and 3 study involving more than 3,700 teens who were randomly assigned to receive either two doses of its COVID-19 vaccine or two doses of placebo. The … Read more

The darkness descends slowly for people with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative eye disease that affects 2 million people worldwide. The condition is typically diagnosed in childhood or adolescence, but it can take until middle age before a person’s vision has deteriorated severely enough that they are fully or effectively blind. When the lights finally … Read more

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) announcement last week that fully vaccinated people no longer have to wear masks or socially distance came as a great relief to millions of people who have been vaccinated. But it has also led to confusion and chaos in workplaces and other locations where vaccinated and … Read more

Everest South Base Camp lies at an altitude of 17,598 feet (5,364 m), but it is no refuge from the global pandemic. The Nepali Sherpas who, in normal times, share the camaraderie of climbers on the world’s highest mountain, now enforce strict social-distancing rules, remaining within their separate camps—indeed, mostly inside their own tents. “We … Read more

All it took to break down the world’s most vaunted COVID-19 defense was a little secret tea. After almost 18 months of nearly unblemished success keeping the coronavirus pandemic at bay—including the world’s longest streak of case-free days—Taiwan is now in the grip of its first major COVID-19 surge. Total cases, which had been below … Read more

On May 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the time that Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine can be stored in the refrigerator. The vaccine, which people get in two doses, still needs to be shipped frozen at ultra-cold temperatures in the companies’ special thermal shipping container. Doses can be kept frozen in these containers for … Read more

As conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas continues to claim lives in the Gaza Strip, health experts are calling attention to another potential crisis: a worsening COVID-19 outbreak in the area. The number of COVID-19 infections in Gaza was “just leveling off, and then this hit,” a United Nations official told the … Read more