TimeMagazine

Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine Gets a Major Endorsement from FDA Committee

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In a 17-4 vote (with one abstention) the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) vaccine advisory committee recommended that Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine should be distributed to the American public. With that recommendation hand, an FDA team led by the agency’s commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn will now make a final decision about whether to issue an … Read more

U.K. Regulator Says People With Severe Allergies Should Not Receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine

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The U.K.’s medicines regulator has warned England’s health service not to give the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to people with a “significant” history of allergic reactions, after two people who received it on Tuesday developed reactions. The advice comes just a day after hospitals began administering the vaccine to patients and medics on Tuesday, making the … Read more

A Mysterious Illness Has Sickened 500 People in India. Here’s What We Know – and What We Don’t

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The headlines have been startling: More than 500 people sickened by a mysterious illness in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh—and doctors can’t figure out what is causing it. The news has spread across the world in viral fashion, not least because it bears faint echoes of the initial reports—nearly one year ago—of a … Read more

Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine Is 86% Effective, UAE Says

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China’s state-backed coronavirus vaccine protected 86% of people against Covid-19 in trials conducted in the United Arab Emirates, state media there reported, giving credence to the quickly developed shot that Beijing intends to distribute around the developing world. The data was from trials that included 31,000 volunteers in the UAE, which found the vaccine was … Read more

FDA Finds Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine Safe and Effective

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In a review of data from late-stage trials of Pfizer/BioNTech’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine, scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found the vaccine had a “favorable safety profile, with no specific safety concerns identified that would preclude issuance of an emergency use authorization.” The review is part of Pfizer and BioNTech’s request for emergency … Read more

COVID Questions: How Should My Family Handle a Coronavirus Christmas?

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Welcome to COVID Questions, TIME’s new advice column. We’re trying to make living through the pandemic a little easier, with expert-backed answers to your toughest coronavirus-related dilemmas. While we can’t and don’t offer medical advice—those questions should go to your doctor—we hope this column will help you sort through this stressful and confusing time. Got … Read more

Don’t Hug Anybody Over the Holiday Season, the World Health Organization Says

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GENEVA — The World Health Organization has an unwelcome but potentially life-saving message for the holiday season: Don’t hug. To stop the spread of the coronavirus, WHO’s emergencies chief said Monday that the “shocking” rate of COVID-19 cases and deaths, particularly in the U.S., means that people shouldn’t get too close to their loved ones … Read more

The Housing Market Is Booming, But Millions of Americans Face Eviction—and the Gap Is Getting Worse

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In late February, Jessica Bonner-Gomez, an elementary school speech-language pathologist, signed a yearlong lease for an apartment in Birmingham, Ala. She and her husband, a hospital nurse, thought it would be a temporary move. The couple had recently qualified for a real estate purchase in a housing subdivision, but could only afford the down payment … Read more