The new SARS-CoV-2 variant’s increased transmissibility is believed to come from a change in the spike protein, visible here in yellow under an electron microscope.
National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases
The new SARS-CoV-2 variant is already spreading in the US and could be dominant by March, the CDC warns. Here’s what that means for the masks you choose and how you practice social distancing.
Achieving high COVID-19 vaccine uptake among health workers will not only protect these critical staff members, it will also support high levels of uptake among the general public.
A 1975 stamp printed in St. Vincent shows U.S. presidents George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who were all vocally pro-inoculation and vaccination.
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In the early years of the United States, several American presidents were in favour of public health inoculation and vaccination strategies.
South Africa’s Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize (centre). The government has been criticised for not having an actionable plan on vaccines.
Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Critics of the South African government argue that it has done too little too late to secure vaccines, and that it doesn’t have a proper plan in place for rollout.
New variants will push the number needed to reach herd immunity up.
B117, the SARS CoV-2 variant that was first detected in the U.K., has been found to be 30%-80% more transmissible.
Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
A biologist who studies the evolution of diseases explains what’s different about the two new virus strains that have been found recently, and what that means for vaccine effectiveness.
Rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has begun. But getting the jab doesn’t mean abandoning masks, distancing and handwashing. Here’s why the current preventive measures must continue post-vaccine.
By mid-January, only about a quarter of the COVID-19 vaccines distributed for U.S. nursing homes through the federal program had reached people’s arms.
Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
There is talk of delay, but the Scottish parliament has been working since last year to make sure this vote can be held safely.
COVAX aims to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines and guarantee access to all countries.
Photo illustration by STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images
It’s unlikely South Africa will have a substantial number of vaccines until the second half of this year. Most of the vaccines produced in Europe or America have been bought by other countries.
Nurses in the isolation unit at Tygerberg Hospital in the Western Cape.
Misha Jordaan/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Creating a space where people feel safe to voice opinions, make mistakes and risk ridicule when offering an idea can have a significant effect on teams.
Staff help a patient off the ambulance outside the hospital in Wuhan, China, January 2020.
Yuan Zheng/EPA
Massive vaccine distribution efforts take a lot of coordination. The rollout of the Salk polio vaccine in the US in 1955 holds lessons for those delivering COVID-19 shots today.
Jean McCarthy helps a first-grade student at South Boston Catholic Academy on Sept. 10, 2020.
David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
When a community reopens its schools and COVID-19 rates increase, other factors – not the reopening of schools – may still be to blame, new research finds.
A woman reacts after receiving the vaccine outside the Ashton Gate stadium in Bristol, which has become a COVID-19 vaccination centre.
EPA-EFE
In our first weekly update on COVID vaccines, we consider how roll-out plans are being tweaked and when it’s likely we’ll start to see vaccines having an impact.
Intensive care staff have faced, and continue to face, high mortality rates among their patients.
Terelyuk/shutterstock.com
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand