TimeMagazine

Many parents in the U.S. have been waiting to hear that the nation’s youngest children—those under 5 years old—can be vaccinated against COVID-19. Finally, on June 15, an expert panel convened by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that two vaccines, made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, are safe and effective for children ages … Read more

It took two years and nearly 50 emergency-room visits for Dr. Ardeshir Hashmi to realize he didn’t need to prescribe pills for his 93-year-old patient’s excruciating chest pains. He needed to prescribe ballroom dance. Ruth—a pseudonym used for privacy—hadn’t always been a frequent flier in the ambulance. But beginning in 2015, a tight, suffocating pressure … Read more

Pfizer Inc. plans to stop enrollment in a study of its COVID-19 drug in patients who aren’t at high risk of severe disease after the pill didn’t help alleviate their symptoms, a major setback for broader use of the treatment. The New York-based drugmaker said Tuesday that it would stop adding new participants to a … Read more

It only took about a month for BA.2.12.1, an Omicron subvariant, to cause most of the new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. since scientists first spotted it in the country. But even newer iterations of the Omicron variant are spreading rapidly through the U.S. and are poised to outcompete past versions of the virus, reinfect … Read more

The World Health Organization said it’s creating a new vaccine-sharing mechanism to stop the outbreak of monkeypox in more than 30 countries beyond Africa. The move could result in the U.N. health agency distributing scarce vaccine doses to rich countries that can otherwise afford them. To some health experts, the initiative potentially misses the opportunity … Read more

A dog’s sense of smell is thousands of times stronger than a human’s. Their superior snoots are why canines are used in law enforcement; once they’re trained to detect certain scents, like narcotics and explosives, they can pick up traces that human noses could never notice. The same skill translates to medicine. Research shows that … Read more

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) advisory committee voted unanimously on June 14 to recommend the emergency-use authorization (EUA) of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages six to 17 years. If it’s also recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Moderna’s will be the second COVID-19 vaccine available to this age … Read more

Lyme disease was first named nearly 50 years ago in Lyme, Connecticut, but the tick-borne disease is now found around the world. A new study published in BMJ Global Health estimates that 14.5% of the world’s population has, at some point, been infected with Lyme disease, which can cause short-term symptoms including a skin rash, … Read more

The World Health Organization will officially rename monkeypox, in light of concerns about stigma and racism surrounding the virus that has infected over 1,600 people in more than two dozen countries. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director general, announced Tuesday morning that the organization is “working with partners and experts from around the world on … Read more

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as hospitals facilitated goodbyes over iPads and funeral homes buried dead without services, families were left with a uniquely isolating grief, devoid of the rituals that traditionally surround death. For Black Americans, who were 1.9 times more likely than white Americans to die of COVID-19 at the start … Read more