By Elizabeth Cooney Since long Covid emerged, how best to define it, predict it, and treat it has been up for debate, but perhaps the most urgent question for patients and providers alike has been how long it lasts. A new study analyzing nearly 2 million patient...
By Elizabeth Cooney Long Covid has begun appearing on death certificates for a small percentage of people who have died during the pandemic, but that tiny fraction of records only hints at the whole story, two experts told STAT, while another has doubts about drawing...
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...
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...
By Elizabeth Cooney Among the many worrying consequences of Covid-19, neuropsychiatric conditions rank high. A year ago researchers from Oxford University reported that 1 in 3 patients experienced mood disorders, strokes, or dementia six months after Covid...
By Megan Molteni Hours after a federal judge struck down the federal mask mandate covering air travel and other public transportation last month, Delta Airlines celebrated the move in a statement saying that Covid-19 “has transitioned to an ordinary seasonal...
By Andrew Joseph A horseshoe bat.MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Climate change will force animals to migrate, and in turn, some species — and the pathogens they harbor — will come into contact for the first time. In a new modeling study, scientists forecast that...
The U.S. is approaching a million deaths due to Covid-19. It isn’t just the staggering number of them that makes them unknowable. By Eric Boodman In the first piece of science journalism I ever wrote, I compared deciphering the effects of climate change to baking a...
By Andrew Joseph and Matthew Herper hen the Food and Drug Administration last month announced it would be holding another meeting of its panel of outside vaccine experts, it seemed like it would be a general discussion about a second set of Covid-19 boosters:...
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....
By Faye Flam The most powerful forms of deception rely more on emotional manipulation and misdirection than outright lies. That’s what I’ve observed in nearly a year of research into the murky world of medical misinformation. Take the episode of “The Joe...
By Matthew Herper , Nicholas Florko and Helen Branswell Plans to attempt to authorize the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine for children under 5 before full data are available appear to have run aground. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday canceled a key meeting...
By Lev Facher Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has refused to say whether he’s received a booster shot. He’s suggested, misleadingly, that Covid-19 vaccines cause infertility. He hired a surgeon general who has questioned the data surrounding vaccines and called those who...
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...
The past two months have brought extremely good news in the fight against Covid-19. Two different oral treatments have proved effective at both preventing people newly diagnosed with Covid-19 from entering the hospital and from dying. “We’re accelerating our path out...