Teens Aged 12 to 15 Can Now Get Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in the U.S.

On May 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extended authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to 12- to 15-year-olds. It’s the first COVID-19 shot authorized for this younger population. “I cannot tell you how many people have been anxiously awaiting this day to get their kids vaccinated,” says Dr. Flor Munoz, a pediatric … Read more

Free COVID-19 Vaccines Are Luring Visitors to Dracula’s Castle in Transylvania

Residents of Romania who find themselves in central Transylvania this May now have the option of getting vaccinated at a legendary location from horror history: Bran Castle. Every weekend this month, the fortress that’s believed to be the inspiration behind Count Dracula’s lair in Bram Stoker’s 19th-century gothic novel Dracula will be home to a … Read more

WHO Panel Authorizes Emergency Use of China’s Sinopharm Vaccine

(GENEVA) — The World Health Organization gave emergency use authorization Friday to a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China’s Sinopharm, potentially paving the way for millions of the doses to reach needy countries through a U.N.-backed program rolling out coronavirus vaccines. The decision by a WHO technical advisory group, a first for a Chinese vaccine, opens … Read more

‘Needle Phobia’ May Be Keeping Some From Getting Their COVID-19 Vaccine. Here’s How to Cope

Alex Denley, a 23-year-old philosophy doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, doesn’t seem like someone who would be vaccine hesitant. They’re determined to stop COVID-19 from spreading, and haven’t fallen for any vaccine conspiracy theories. However, getting the coronavirus shot was tremendously stressful for Denley. They feared it could trigger a terrible … Read more

‘How Can Modi Be Forgiven?’ India’s COVID-19 Crisis May Be Turning the Middle Class Against the Prime Minister

On April 24 at 3:22 a.m., a doctor in Delhi’s Guru Tegh Bahadur hospital sent an urgent plea via Whatsapp to a colleague. She had just finished her shift at the COVID-19 ward in the hospital, where her mother was also undergoing treatment. A patient was in critical condition when she finished her shift. If … Read more

Pfizer-BioNTech Has Requested Full Approval of Their COVID-19 Vaccine From the FDA

Pfizer-BioNTech announced on May 7 that they have requested that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) start the process of fully approving their COVID-19 vaccine. The companies will continue to supply the agency with additional data on vaccination safety and effectiveness on a rolling basis over coming weeks. The FDA issued an emergency use … Read more

Novavax’s COVID-19 Vaccine Was Shown to be 51% Efficacious in South Africa, Where More Infectious Variants Are Spreading

In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the Maryland-based biotech firm Novavax report that the company’s COVID-19 vaccine is 51% efficacious in protecting people from disease. The results come from a Phase 2 study of the two-dose vaccine, which uses a different technology than the three COVID-19 shots currently … Read more