By Helen Branswell he director of a Boston University laboratory that conducted potentially controversial research on the viruses that cause Covid-19 said his institution didn’t clear the work with the National Institutes of Health because it wasn’t funded...
Boston University researchers’ testing of lab-made version of Covid virus draws government scrutiny
By Helen Branswell Research at Boston University that involved testing a lab-made hybrid version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is garnering heated headlines alleging the scientists involved could have unleashed a new pathogen. There is no evidence the work, performed under...
Public health experts sketch a roadmap to get from the Covid pandemic to the ‘next normal’
By Helen Branswell A new report released Monday charts a path for the transition out of the Covid-19 pandemic, one that outlines both how the country can deal with the challenge of endemic Covid disease and how to prepare for future biosecurity threats....
Will we always need Covid-19 boosters? Experts have theories
By Helen Branswell With the world facing the latest in a seemingly endless stream of coronavirus variants — and with bullish talk from manufacturers about a need for even more vaccine shots — you wouldn’t be alone if you were wondering: Are Covid boosters...
A conversation with Bill Gates on how public health has fared in the midst of the pandemic
By Helen Branswell he Covid-19 pandemic has, of course, been devastating over the past year. But by other measures of public health, the year wasn’t quite as calamitous as Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates feared when they wrote their annual report in...