Omicron Is Likely to Weaken COVID Vaccine Protection—but Boosters Could Restore It
The rapid spread of new variants such as Omicron offers clues to how SARS-CoV-2 is adapting and how the pandemic will play out over the next several months
Boosters Can Help End the COVID Pandemic
The extra shot doesn’t mean that vaccines are ineffective; our bodies just need a reminder
How Scientists Can Update COVID Vaccines against Omicron
A microbiologist explains how Pfizer and Moderna would rapidly adjust mRNA vaccines
COVID Quickly, Episode 20: The Omicron Scare, and Anti-COVID Pills Are Coming
Today we bring you a new episode in our podcast series COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between.
You can listen to all past episodes here.
How the Omicron Variant Got So Many Scary Mutations So Quickly
The numerous changes in the coronavirus’s spike protein could have arisen in an isolated population or an immunocompromised person—or animals
The Benefits of Vaccinating Kids against COVID Far Outweigh the Risks of Myocarditis
Vaccination is likely to prevent many more COVID cases than it is to cause a rare and nonfatal heart side effect in five- to 11-year-olds
Why COVID Deaths Have Surpassed AIDS Deaths in the U.S.
On World AIDS Day, why global COVID deaths are a fraction of global AIDS deaths
How the New Antiviral Pills Help Thwart COVID
A drug made by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics—which an FDA panel recently greenlit—and one made by Pfizer work in different ways, but both prevent the virus from replicating
Omicron Is Here: A Lack of COVID Vaccines Is Partly Why
Global players need to get more vaccines to African nations and convince more people to take them
Heavily Mutated Omicron Variant Puts Scientists on Alert
Researchers are racing to determine whether a fast-spreading coronavirus variant poses a threat to COVID vaccines’ effectiveness
We Need School-Age Vaccine Mandates to End the COVID Pandemic
Vaccine refusal by parents is not about a lack of education, but amassing social status
Do Childhood Colds Help the Body Respond to COVID?
A mechanism known as “original antigenic sin” protects some people from flu. Whether it helps immune reactions to coronaviruses is still unclear