In advance of a scientific meeting on Thursday, officials proposed offering new shots to Americans each fall, a strategy long employed against the flu. By Apoorva Mandavilli Americans may be offered a single dose of a Covid vaccine each fall, much as they are given...
Will Covid Boosters Prevent Another Wave? Scientists Aren’t So Sure.
The shots may help vulnerable Americans dodge serious illness or death. But some experts believe boosters must be improved and are calling for a new strategy. By Apoorva Mandavilli As winter looms and Americans increasingly gather indoors without masks or social...
This Is Not the Monkeypox That Doctors Thought They Knew
The patients turning up at clinics often have a range of symptoms that are not typical of the infection. Some of the infected seem to have no symptoms at all. By Apoorva Mandavilli Early in the monkeypox outbreak, a man in his 20s arrived at an emergency department in...
W.H.O. Declares Monkeypox Spread a Global Health Emergency
There have been more than 16,000 cases in 75 countries, overwhelmingly among men who have sex with men. By Apoorva Mandavilli For the second time in two years, the World Health Organization has taken the extraordinary step of declaring a global emergency. This...
The U.S. May Be Losing the Fight Against Monkeypox, Scientists Say
Longstanding weaknesses in the public health system are giving the virus a chance to become entrenched. By Apoorva Mandavilli As epidemics go, the monkeypox outbreak should have been relatively easy to snuff out. The virus does not spread efficiently except through...
Vaccines for Young Children Are Coming, but Many Parents Have Tough Questions
The vaccines seem safe for children and are likely to protect against severe illness. But data on efficacy are thin, and most children have already been infected. By Apoorva Mandavilli t’s a moment many parents have anxiously awaited for months: Children younger than...
How often can I be infected with the coronavirus?
By Apoorva Mandavilli Originally published May 16, 2022 A virus that shows no signs of disappearing, variants that are adept at dodging the body’s defenses, and waves of infections two, maybe three times a year — this may be the future of Covid-19, some scientists now...
U.S. health officials and scientists are debating plans to pair coronavirus and flu vaccinations in the fall.
By Apoorva Mandavilli As the coronavirus morphs into a stubborn and unpredictable facet of everyday life, scientists and federal health officials are converging on a new strategy for immunizing Americans: a vaccination campaign this fall, perhaps with doses that are...
How Often Can You Be Infected With the Coronavirus?
The spread of the Omicron variant has given scientists an unsettling answer: repeatedly, sometimes within months. By Apoorva Mandavilli A virus that shows no signs of disappearing, variants that are adept at dodging the body’s defenses, and waves of infections two,...
Most of us have had Covid
Three in five Americans have been infected. What does this mean for immunity and for the future of the pandemic? New York Times Daily Podcast with Apoorva Mandavilli https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/podcasts/the-daily/most-of-us-have-had-covid.html This week, the...
Omicron Blunted Vaccine Protection Among Adolescents
The vaccines shielded adolescents only against life-threatening Covid, not less severe illness, scientists reported. Still, hospitalizations remained rare in children, compared with adults. By Apoorva Mandavilli In yet another twist to the debate over how best to...
Got a Covid Booster? You Probably Won’t Need Another for a Long Time
A flurry of new studies suggests that several parts of the immune system can mount a sustained, potent response to any coronavirus variant. By Apoorva Mandavilli As people across the world grapple with the prospect of living with the coronavirus for the foreseeable...
New C.D.C. data adds to evidence that boosters’ protection against severe Covid plunges after four months.
By Apoorva Mandavilli Covid booster shots lose much of their potency after about four months, raising the possibility that some Americans — specifically those at high risk of complications or death — may need a fourth dose, data published on Friday by the Centers for...
F.D.A. Advisors Weigh Shots for the Very Young, With Key Data Outstanding
Two doses have little effect on those under 5; results from testing three doses are weeks away. Liberal-leaning states like New York, Illinois and Massachusetts are letting mask mandates expire, getting ahead of federal guidance. By Apoorva Mandavilli Scientific...
Younger Americans Benefited Less From Booster Shots Than Older People
Among those under age 50, vaccination even without a booster protected strongly against hospitalization and death, according to new C.D.C. data. By Apoorva Mandavilli The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday night published new data on the risks of...