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Watch: One city’s effort to raise vaccination rates among Black residents

About 72% of Americans have received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine. During much of the vaccine rollout, Hispanic and Black Americans have been less likely than white Americans to get vaccinated.

23 Dec 2021

Study reports that children develop sustained cross-reactive adaptive immunity against coronaviruses

A new study shows that both antibody and cellular arms of the adaptive immune response against SARS-CoV-2 are displayed strong, sustained, and cross-reactive against other coronaviruses, in young children than the immune responses in adults.

23 Dec 2021

As patients fell ill with covid inside hospitals, government oversight fell short

One by one, the nurses taking care of actress Judi Evans at Riverside Community Hospital kept calling out sick.

23 Dec 2021

Boceprevir-based molecules show high antiviral potency against SARS-CoV-2

In a study posted to the bioRxiv* pre-print server, a team of researchers conducted a structure-activity relationship study of boceprevir-based molecules to find antiviral drug candidates targeting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) protease MPro.

22 Dec 2021

Survey finds acceptable levels of COVID-19 awareness and preparedness among healthcare workers

A survey of healthcare workers in 57 countries found that while overall preparedness for and awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic were at levels deemed acceptable during the first wave, significant differences in these levels were seen across worker groups and countries.

22 Dec 2021

The transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV2 Omicron variant

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers developed a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) model-inference system in South Africa to determine transmission dynamics and immune evasion associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus disease (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant.

22 Dec 2021

How the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant grew to dominate the UK epidemic

Researchers examine SARS-CoV-2 genomes in England to evaluate the effectiveness of COVID-19 policies.

22 Dec 2021

Decline in protection against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron in prior infected and fully vaccinated

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers investigated the distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta and Omicron variants among coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive individuals who were either naive, fully vaccinated, or had a previous infection to further investigate possible escape from vaccine- or infection-induced immunity by Omicron compared to Delta.

22 Dec 2021

Scientists develop methods to quantify the transmissibility of new COVID-19 variants

As the discovery of the new omicron variant illustrates, new COVID-19 variants will continue to regularly emerge.

22 Dec 2021

T-cell response to Omicron after an mRNA COVID vaccine booster

In a recent prospective observational study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers determined Omicron variant-associated T cell responses before and after a third dose of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccination against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in anti-CD20-treated multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

22 Dec 2021

More breakthrough infections but less severe COVID-19 with Omicron

In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* pre-print server, an international team of researchers reported the occurrence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) breakthrough infections (BTIs) among health care workers (HCWs) participating in a phase III vaccine trial in Sisonke, South Africa.

22 Dec 2021

Infect, replicate, and rapidly mutate: Computational virus modeling study

A new bioRxiv* preprint study led by Barbara A Jones of IBM Research-Almaden in San Jose, California, used computational modeling to investigate how viruses rapidly mutate as well as how they respond or adapt to different host conditions. They observed a range of behaviors from glassy dynamics, bimodal quasispecies distributions, and periodic steady states.

22 Dec 2021

Protein-based nanoparticle vaccines for protection against SARS-CoV-2

A recent review article discusses recent advances in protein-based nanoparticle vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

22 Dec 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Manchin blows up Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) dashed the hopes of President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats for passage of the giant "Build Back Better" bill before the end of the year, when he announced his opposition to the measure in an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

22 Dec 2021